ABOUT

Purpose of the Society

The purpose of the Virginia Society of Clinical Social Work (VSCSW) is to promote the highest standards of professional education and clinical social work practice throughout Virginia. VSCSW’s consists of local chapters in the Blue Ridge, Richmond, Roanoke, and Eastern Virginia. State-wide VSCSW coordinates the activities of its local chapters in seeking to educate the public about the specialized skills of clinical social workers and collaborate with other health/mental health care professions on issues of common concern. VSCSW works to protect the rights of clinical social workers to practice; and to advocate for adequate and appropriate mental health services and insurance coverage for all at the state and national levels.

Our History

The Virginia Society for Clinical Social Workers Inc. was formed in October of 1976 as a result of the efforts of a small group of clinical social workers who wished to join together to share practice concerns. Since that time the Society has grown in the strength of its membership and its commitment to maintain and advance the highest standards for clinical practice. In March of 1991, new by-laws were approved by the membership merging chapters into a statewide organization to be governed by a State Board of Directors elected by the general membership. Wayne A. Martin, LCSW, BCD, from the Eastern Virginia Chapter, was elected President. The first meeting of the newly formed State Board of Directors took place on July 20, 1991. Today we are continuing to grow and to keep abreast of issues concerning clinical social work.

Charter Members
Myriam Cain
Fran Raphael
Adele Karp
Mary Lou Shoemaker
Beverly Lordi
Lewis Weber
Betty Massie
Bernadette Winters
Henry Morris
Jerry Zimmerman
Helen Pinkus

THE VIRGINIA SOCIETY FOR CLINICAL SOCIAL WORK, INC.

BY-LAWS REVISED AND APPROVED May 2, 2016

What has VSCSW done for social work lately?

“Behind the Scenes” By: Joseph G. Lynch LCSW

June 15, 2018

Occasionally this question comes up. When I think about the answer I realize that VSCSW does many things “behind the scenes” and therefore the members and others don’t really have a chance to know about this important work. The Bylaws of VSCSW state seven “Purposes of the Society.” The one that I want to focus on is #6 “To protect the rights of clinical social workers to practice.”

That purpose may seem a bit odd today. Obviously clinical social workers have the right to practice their profession. But I am part of the history of social work in Virginia and have a unique perspective on the path we have traveled to acquire that right and to maintain that right to practice. Some examples are:

• I helped accomplish vendorship for LCSW’s in Virginia so we could bill insurance companies directly for the services we delivered without paying a “kickback” to another professional.
• I helped to establish the Privileged Communication statute in Virginia so the clients of LCSW’s (and other licensed mental health providers) have Privileged Communication and their records may not be subpoenaed in civil cases.
• I helped get legislation passed to require licensed mental health professionals to educate their clients of the client’s right to file a complaint against a previous provider who may have violated the code of ethics of that profession.
• I helped get the Department of Health Professions to change their policy so that any person who had a license that was revoked due to disciplinary actions would have their name continue to be in the “License Look-up” database so consumers could be informed of that history and be protected from providers who continued to practice but used a non-regulated title.

I continue to be involved in monitoring social work regulation in Virginia by attending most of the Virginia Board of Social Work (VBSW) board meetings and the Regulatory Committee meetings. Below are two recent “behind the scenes” efforts that myself, the legislative committee and VSCSW-GWSCSW have been involved with on behalf of clinical social work…..