The DiNitto Career Center provides information on social work licensure for the state of Texas. Due to COVID-19 and our current remote working environment, we are no longer checking out physical copies of our SWTP study guides. Online Practice Exam remain available for free. To register for an Online Practice Exam for LBSW, LMSW, or LCSW, please email our office at dccs@austin.utexas.edu.
For more information about the process of Social Work licensure in Texas, please reference the following documents. They are housed on a secure UT Box server, but you DO NOT NEED an account to access. Just click and download:
As all UT Austin events and classes are currently remote, ALL DiNitto Center Workshops and Events will be held via ZOOM, which you can download at the link provided.
Beyond that, we at the DiNitto Career Center want you to know that you are not alone. We are in this TOGETHER! Our team is working diligently to make sure you have virtual access to all of our regularly scheduled workshops, but not just for UT students.
Now ALL DiNitto Career Center workshops and events are open to anyone who would like to join. That means you don’t have to be a UT student to attend. Students from any school, in or out of Texas are welcome at these workshops.
Do you know a student from another school who would benefit from attending our career programming? Tell them to email us directly at dccs@austin.utexas.edu to get registered for events and access to ZOOM code invites!
NASW Licensing Update
We want to remind everyone that after September 1, 2020, the Texas State Board of Social Worker Examiners (TSBSWE) will move out of the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) and relocate to the Behavioral Health Executive Commission (BHEC). The TSBSWE will remain an autonomous board with full control over our licenses, rules and profession. BHEC will assume administrative functions, such as processing license issuances and renewals, handling investigative complaints before potentially sending them to our board, and ensuring the background operations run smoothly, so that our board can operate as effectively as possible.
There are a couple of important details we want to share with you as we prepare for this move. One impacts people whose license expires in August, and the rest pertains to all license holders.
AUGUST RENEWALS: The online licensing system will be unavailable August 16-August 31. This means that if your license expires on or before August 31, 2020 or is currently expired, you will need to renew your license online PRIOR to August 14. If you choose to renew by paper or coupon, renewal applications must be RECEIVED in the PLCU office by August 14 in order to process them and avoid any late fees. Late fees will not be waived. Paper or coupon renewal applications received after this date will be returned, and you will have to renew online beginning September 1, 2020 and pay a late fee. You can find more info on the TSBSWE website.
ALL LICENSE HOLDERS:Last session, HB 2059 passed and it requires all medical and mental health professionals to complete a Human Trafficking Course before they have their license renewed. The Health Care Practitioner Human Trafficking Training website from HHSC has more info on the course, and also has a link to a free online course you can take. You will need to create an account, but you will get a free CEU for the class. You must complete an approved course and show proof to BHEC to have your license renewed. This goes into effect on September 1, 2020.
ALL LICENSE HOLDERS: Starting March 31, 2021 (so anyone renewing after that date), all persons renewing their license must undergo a fingerprint-based criminal history check as a condition of licensure, per Council rule 882.40(c). Instructions on how to undergo a fingerprint-based criminal history check will be posted on the Council’s website, www.bhec.texas.gov, in advance of the renewal deadlines beginning in March of 2021.
We thank you for your membership and are looking forward to hearing about your experiences with BHEC after September 1, as that will impact our advocacy next session.
Will Francis, LMSW
He/Him/His
Executive Director
National Association of Social Workers –Texas Chapter
@socialworkwill wfrancis.naswtx@socialworkers.org
Effective March 17, 2020: The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is responsible for enforcing certain regulations issued under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), as amended by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, to protect the privacy and security of protected health information, namely the HIPAA Privacy, Security and Breach Notification Rules (the HIPAA Rules). OCR will exercise its enforcement discretion and will not impose penalties for noncompliance with the regulatory requirements under the HIPAA Rules against covered health care providers in connection with the good faith provision of telehealth during the COVID-19 nationwide public health emergency. Please read the entire OCR Notification of Enforcement Discretion.
In light of recent events and in accordance with the recommendations of Governor Abbott’s Texas Safety Action Report, the Texas State Board of Social Worker Examiners would like to remind its licensees that Section 611.004(a)(2) of the Texas Health and Safety Code authorizes behavioral health care providers to report confidential information to law enforcement should the provider determine their client poses an imminent risk of physical harm to themselves or to others. The board also urges its licensees and all behavioral health care providers to be vigilant in assessing their clients’ potential to harm and to warn the appropriate authorities if imminent harm is likely.
