Michael Mallory, MSW, LCSW, Chicago District Chair
Happy rainy spring morning! Hoping all of you are safe and well. I’m sure many of you are feeling the business of the season as we emerge from our winter hibernation. April was a busy month for the chapter—thank you to those who cast their votes in this year’s chapter board elections. We anticipate results of the election being announced in the next few days.
Additionally, our Director of Legislative Affairs has been incredibly busy advocating for our profession. Recently, an important piece of legislation was passed through the Illinois House of Representatives which mandates insurance providers to align reimbursement rates for mental health and substance use services to align with rates paid for by other healthcare services. This important piece of legislation was made possible by the joint advocacy efforts from Thresholds and NASW-IL. We are incredibly appreciative of our fellow NASW member and advocate, Illinois State Representative Lindsey LaPointe, who was able to push this bill through. I encourage you to read more about House Bill 4475 by clicking HERE. The month of April also hosted our annual Advocacy Day at Springfield which had about 350 social work students and professionals. Our colleagues feverishly advocated for compensation for social work field placements, equity in access through providing accommodations for licensing exams, and for saving lives to help support social workers in their work on the front lines of the opiate crisis. I encourage all of you check out the article about Advocacy day. Click ME to read more. For those of you curious about other legislative items that our chapter is working on or tracking, please consider looking at this awesome tool – click ME.
I have provided some additional chapter updates below. I highly recommend that you check out the updates related to IDFPR rule changes as there is a significant proposed change that would require all LCSW holders to obtain 6 horus of supervisory training. Please scroll through to see the links associated to each update.
Humbly yours,
Michael
Advocacy/Legislative Updates:
Ask NASW-IL: How can I utilize the alternative to the ASWB exam to get my LCSW?
An updated version of the social work license application utilizing the alternative to the ASWB clinical exam for clinical (LCSW) licensure in Illinois has been released by the Illinois Department of Financial & Professional Regulation (IDFPR). This updated application incorporates an allowance provided by House Bill 2365, and provides a way for applicants who were unable to pass the ASWB clinical exam an alternative path to obtaining their LCSW. Read more about how to utilize the alternative to the ASWB exam for getting your LCSW by clicking here.
Licensure Renewal Updates
2025 IDFPR Proposed Rule Changes
There are severl proposed changes to the Administrative Code that would apply to social workers. These changes include the addition of a 6 CEU requirement for supervisory training, clinical supervision must be provided by an in-state LCSW, changes to what is considered a CE hour, and that out of state CEs must be provided by an approved provider. Please read more detail HERE.
2025 NASW-IL Guide to Licensure Renewal
This renewal period already has some confirmed changes and like other cycles there will be more to come. I highly encourage all of you to check out the changes. There are some new CE requirements including implicit bias awareness and mandated reporting with implicit bias. Also, with the removal of the in-person CE requirement the state is now requiring any virtual training program to include an examination. Please check out the more detailed article about these changes HERE.
Clarification on CEU courses and fulfilling 2-ceu requirements at once:
With the addition of new CEU requirements there is potential for overlap in training topics and that a course may appear to cover topics applicable to multiple requirements. Unfortunately, you will not be able to count that specific training toward multiple CEUs. I encourage you to read this article to learn more about this issue. Click ME!