**Addressed to the leadership of our three national bodies:  Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB), the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) and National Association of Social Work (NASW).

Across the USA, the title “social worker” is used inconsistently and inappropriately to describe many types of people with varying experience and training. This misrepresentation and lack of standardization not only negatively impacts the integrity of our profession and licenses.  It also creates confusion regarding our qualifications and expertise for our providers and colleagues in organizations across the US such as hospitals, schools, and mental health facilities.

We need to remember that the "title ‘social worker’ invokes the shared history, training, ethics and practices of a 115-year-old profession.” “We need to ensure that anyone who uses the title meets those well-established standards. This is about truth in advertising.”  (Eggman, CA, 2013)

When one becomes a social worker, “the title presumes a high standard of education, a solid grounding in professional ethics, and rigorous real-world training. A consumer has the right to assume that a person with the title meets a high standard of competency and integrity, which cannot be guaranteed when services are provided without a social work degree.” (Yamada, CA, 2013)

We need your support and the support of ALL NASW chapters as we request that NASW, ASWB and the CSWE work together to create national legislation ensuring standardization of social work practice and title protection for social workers across the US and action for misrepresentation. Further, that any individual classified as a social worker must have earned a degree in social work from an accredited CSWE college or university.

In 2019 Connecticut passed legislation for Social Work Title Protection:

Social Work Title Protection Statute; Provisions of Public Act 19-164.  Reserves the title of Social Worker to those individuals who hold a baccalaureate or master’s degree in social work from a Council on Social Work Education accredited program or a doctoral degree in social work. Only those with such a degree can call themselves a social worker or use the title of social worker.

Additionally, Connecticut’s mandatory licensing laws in regarding to clinical social work: Clinical social work is defined as: “the application, by persons trained in social work, of established principles of psychosocial development, behavior, psychopathology, unconscious motivation, interpersonal relationships and environmental stress to the evaluation, assessment, diagnosis and treatment of biopsychosocial dysfunction, disability and impairment, including mental, emotional, behavioral, developmental and addictive disorders, of individuals, couples, families or groups. Clinical social work includes, but is not limited to, counseling, psychotherapy, behavior modification and mental health consultation”.

THIS IS A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF WHAT SOCIAL WORKERS WOULD LIKE TO SEE HAPPEN NATIONALLY.

So how do we proceed?

We as social workers need to take responsibility for our profession and advocate for what we need. Advocacy is part of self-care. 

Sign this petition, contact your local NASW chapter to start the discussion on title protection, join our Facebook group, “Social Workers for Title Protection USA,” and insist that ASWB, CSWE, and NASW work together to protect us as and protect our clients. 

NASW Code of Ethics - 5.01 (e) Social workers should act to prevent the unauthorized and unqualified practice of social work.