Florida at a crossroads: Expanding behavioral health training amid licensing hurdles
Acceptance and treatment of mental health and behavioral issues have been at the forefront of discussions about medical care for years now.
Right now, the state of Florida is at a crossroads where action must be taken or the need for care will simply overwhelm the resources available. State lawmakers have poured funding into expanding programs at state colleges and universities to train the next generation of Behavioral Health professionals.
CBS12 News Reporter Stefany Valderrama is looking into an issue that some worry is keeping qualified people from being able to do their part.
“I, myself, have been in long-term recovery for over 24 years,” said Susan Silverstein Knee, a primary therapist.
Silverstein-Knee has firsthand experience of therapy from both sides, as a patientand a provider. After decades working in the fashion industry, the New Yorker got her Masters in Social Work in 2017 and moved to Florida to pursue her new career.
“I have been working in the addiction treatment space since then… where we treat concurring mental illness and addiction,” she told CBS12 News.
Along with her advanced degree, she has years of experience and multiple professional licenses. But the one thing Silverstein-Knee doesn’t have is a Clinical Social Worker License. That credential would allow her to move up in her facility, provide out-patient care, or even set up a private practice.
The problem is she can’t pass the exam.
“How much time and money have you invested into getting this certification?” AskedCBS12 News Reporter Stefany Valderrama.
“A few thousand dollars,”Silverstein-Knee answered. “Time? A lot. I have been trying to pass this for almost 4 years. You can take it every 90 days, but every time I take it, and I don’t pass, it just sets me back emotionally.”
Her story is not uncommon
In 2022, the Association of Social Work Boards put together an extensive analysis of data collected over a decade. The information is all self-reported by test takers, so it isn’t perfect, but it does provide a picture of who is passing this test and who isn’t.
Between 2011 and 2021, the number of people taking the test, which has different versions for Clinical, Masters, Bachelors, and Associate levels, has steadily increased. It’s a positive sign people from all backgrounds and age groups, want to join the field.
The analysis also determined more women pass than men, young people pass at a higher rate than older folks, as do those for whom English is their native language, and Black test takers fail at a higher rate than most other groups.
That led the National Association of Black Social Workers to demand changes to address the disparity in pass rates, and to remove the institutional barrier which it said was not the fault of the test takers, but the testing process.
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