New Jersey Administrative Code › Title 13 - LAW AND PUBLIC SAFETY › Chapter 44G - STATE BOARD OF SOCIAL WORK EXAMINERS › Subchapter 1 - PURPOSE AND SCOPE; DEFINITIONS › Section 13:44G-1.2 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 14, July 15, 2024
The following words and terms, as used in this chapter, shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
"ASWB" means Association of Social Work Boards.
"Board" means the State Board for Social Work Examiners.
"Clinical social work" means the professional application of social work methods and values in the assessment and psychotherapeutic counseling of individuals, families, or psychotherapy groups.
"Clinical social work services" means social work services that may be performed only by an LCSW or an LSW under supervision pursuant to N.J.A.C. 13:44G-8. Clinical social work services include, but are not limited to, the following:
1. Clinical assessment, defined as the process of evaluation in which an LCSW or an LSW conducts a differential, individualized, and accurate identification of the psychosocial/ behavioral problems existing in the life of the individual client, the family, or psychotherapy group for the purpose of establishing a plan to implement a course of psychotherapeutic counseling. A clinical social work assessment includes, but is not limited to, a mental status examination and a psychosocial history. The clinical social worker may utilize currently accepted diagnostic classifications including, but not limited to, the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, as amended and supplemented.
2. Clinical consultation, defined as ongoing case discussion and evaluation focusing on, but not limited to, client-centered advocacy provided as part of the psychotherapeutic process, clinical social work data, clinical goals, and treatment plans for the implementation of psychotherapeutic counseling with individuals, psychotherapy groups, and families. Clinical consultation may also include intervention with appropriate individuals and entities;
3. Psychotherapeutic counseling, defined as ongoing interaction between a social worker and an individual, family, or psychotherapy group for the purpose of helping to resolve symptoms of mental disorder, psychosocial stress, relationship problems, or difficulties in coping with the social environment; and
4. Clinical supervision of individuals pursuant to the standards set forth in 13:44G-8.1.
"CSW" means a New Jersey certified social worker.
"LCSW" means a New Jersey licensed clinical social worker.
"LSW" means a New Jersey licensed social worker.
"Social work" means the activity directed at enhancing, protecting or restoring a person's capacity for social functioning, whether impaired by physical, environmental, or emotional factors.
"Social work services" means concrete, non-clinical services, which may be performed only by a Board licensee or certificate holder. Social work services include, but are not limited to, the following:
1. "Social work assessment," defined as identifying problems and gathering sufficient information to make referrals and to determine and implement a plan of social care and action;
2. "Social work counseling," defined as the professional application of social work methods and values in advising and providing guidance to individuals, families, or support/psycho-educational groups for the purpose of enhancing, protecting, or restoring the capacity for coping with the social environment, exclusive of the practice of psychotherapy and includes giving advice, delineating alternatives, providing supportive counseling, helping to articulate goals and providing needed information.
3. "Social work consultation," defined as discussion and evaluation focusing on data, goals and objectives, including intervention with individuals, agencies, businesses, organizations, groups and communities for purposes of problem solving;
4. "Social work planning," defined as specifying future objectives, evaluating the means for achieving them, including identifying appropriate resources, and making deliberate choices about appropriate courses of action in order to enhance social well-being;
5. "Social work community organization," defined as the process of social interaction and the method of social work concerned with meeting broad needs and bringing about and maintaining adjustment between needs and resources in a community or other areas; helping people to deal more effectively with their problems and objectives by helping them develop, strengthen and maintain qualities of participation, self-direction and cooperation; and bringing about changes in community and group relationships and in the distribution of decision-making power. The community which is the primary client may be an organization, neighborhood, city, county, state or national entity;
6. "Social work policy," defined as the practice concerned primarily with translating laws, technical knowledge and administrative rulings into organizational goals and operational policies to guide organizational behavior; designing organizational structure and procedures or processes through which social work goals can be achieved; securing resources in the form of material, staff and clients; and obtaining the public support necessary for attaining social work goals;
7. "Social work administration," defined as applying specialized social work knowledge, skills and techniques to the coordinated totality of activities in a social welfare organization in order to transform policies into services; also, a method of practice by which the social worker plans, assigns, coordinates, evaluates and mediates the interdependent tasks, functions, personnel, and activities that are called upon to achieve the mission of the organization;
8. "Social work research," defined as the formal organization and the methodology of data collection and the analysis and evaluation of data; and
9. "Social work client-centered advocacy," defined as the service in which the social worker functions on behalf of individual clients, support/psycho-educational groups, or other entities including, but not limited to, social work and governmental agencies, and specific issues related to those organizations. The purpose of client-centered advocacy is to bring about or influence change to improve the quality of life, enhance empowerment, and assure the basic rights of the entity or individual being served by the social worker.