Texas Administrative Code › Title 22 - EXAMINING BOARDS › Part 34 - TEXAS STATE BOARD OF SOCIAL WORKER EXAMINERS › Chapter 781 - SOCIAL WORKER LICENSURE › Subchapter A - GENERAL PROVISIONS › Section 781.102 - Definitions

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
The following words and terms, when used in this chapter,
					 shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates
					 otherwise.
(1) Accredited colleges or
				  universities--An educational institution that is accredited by an accrediting
				  agency recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, the Texas
				  Higher Education Coordinating Board, or the United States Department of
				  Education.
(2) Act--The Social Work
				  Practice Act, Texas Occupations Code, Chapter 505, concerning the licensure and
				  regulation of social workers.
(3)
				  Agency--A public or private employer, contractor or business entity providing
				  social work services.
(4)
				  Assessment--An ongoing process of gathering information about and reaching an
				  understanding of the client or client group's characteristics, perceived
				  concerns and real problems, strengths and weaknesses, and opportunities and
				  constraints; assessment may involve administering, scoring and interpreting
				  instruments designed to measure factors about the client or client
				  group.
(5) Association of Social
				  Work Boards (ASWB)--The international organization which represents regulatory
				  boards of social work and administers the national examinations utilized in the
				  assessment for licensure.
(6)
				  Board--Texas State Board of Social Worker Examiners.
(7) Case record--Any information related to a
				  client and the services provided to that client, however recorded and
				  stored.
(8) Client--An individual,
				  family, couple, group or organization that receives social work services from a
				  person identified as a social worker who is licensed by the Council.
(9) Clinical social work--A specialty within
				  the practice of master social work that requires applying social work theory,
				  knowledge, methods, ethics, and the professional use of self to restore or
				  enhance social, psychosocial, or bio-psychosocial functioning of individuals,
				  couples, families, groups, and/or persons who are adversely affected by social
				  or psychosocial stress or health impairment. Clinical social work practice
				  involves using specialized clinical knowledge and advanced clinical skills to
				  assess, diagnose, and treat mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders,
				  conditions and addictions, including severe mental illness and serious
				  emotional disturbances in adults, adolescents and children. Treatment methods
				  may include, but are not limited to, providing individual, marital, couple,
				  family, and group psychotherapy. Clinical social workers are qualified and
				  authorized to use the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
				  (DSM), the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), Current Procedural
				  Terminology (CPT) codes, and other diagnostic classification systems in
				  assessment, diagnosis, and other practice activities. The practice of clinical
				  social work is restricted to either a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, or a
				  Licensed Master Social Worker under clinical supervision in employment or under
				  a clinical supervision plan.
(10)
				  Confidential information--Individually identifiable information relating to a
				  client, including the client's identity, demographic information, physical or
				  mental health condition, the services the client received, and payment for
				  past, present, or future services the client received or will receive.
				  Confidentiality is limited in cases where the law requires mandated reporting,
				  where third persons have legal rights to the information, and where clients
				  grant permission to share confidential information.
(11) Conditions of exchange--Setting
				  reimbursement rates or fee structures, as well as business rules or policies
				  involving issues such as setting and cancelling appointments, maintaining
				  office hours, and managing insurance claims.
(12) Counseling, clinical--The use of
				  clinical social work to assist individuals, couples, families or groups in
				  learning to solve problems and make decisions about personal, health, social,
				  educational, vocational, financial, and other interpersonal concerns.
(13) Counseling, supportive--The methods used
				  to help individuals create and maintain adaptive patterns. Such methods may
				  include, but are not limited to, building community resources and networks,
				  linking clients with services and resources, educating clients and informing
				  the public, helping clients identify and build strengths, leading community
				  groups, and providing reassurance and support.
(14) Council--the Texas Behavioral Health
				  Executive Council.
(15)
				  Consultation--Providing advice, opinions and conferring with other
				  professionals regarding social work practice.
(16) Continuing education--Education or
				  training aimed at maintaining, improving, or enhancing social work
				  practice.
(17) Council on Social
				  Work Education (CSWE)--The national organization that accredits social work
				  education schools and programs.
(18) Direct practice--Providing social work
				  services through personal contact and immediate influence to help clients
				  achieve goals.
(19) Dual or
				  multiple relationship--A relationship that occurs when social workers interact
				  with clients in more than one capacity, whether it be before, during, or after
				  the professional, social, or business relationship. Dual or multiple
				  relationships can occur simultaneously or consecutively.
(20) Electronic practice--Interactive social
				  work practice that is aided by or achieved through technological methods, such
				  as the web, the Internet, social media, electronic chat groups, interactive TV,
				  list serves, cell phones, telephones, faxes, and other emerging
				  technology.
(21) Examination--A
				  standardized test or examination, approved by the Council, which measures an
				  individual's social work knowledge, skills and abilities.
(22) Equivalent or substantially equivalent -
				  a licensing standard or requirement for an out-of-state license that is equal
				  to or greater than a Texas licensure requirement shall be deemed equivalent or
				  substantially equivalent.
(23)
				  Executive Director - the executive director for the Texas Behavioral Health
				  Executive Council. The executive director may delegate responsibilities to
				  other staff members.
(24)
				  Exploitation--Using a pattern, practice or scheme of conduct that can
				  reasonably be construed as primarily meeting the licensee's needs or
				  benefitting the licensee rather than being in the best interest of the client.
				  Exploitation involves the professional taking advantage of the inherently
				  unequal power differential between client and professional. Exploitation also
				  includes behavior at the expense of another practitioner. Exploitation may
				  involve financial, business, emotional, sexual, verbal, religious and/or
				  relational forms.
(25) Field
				  placement--A formal, supervised, planned, and evaluated experience in a
				  professional setting under the auspices of a CSWE-accredited social work
				  program and meeting CSWE standards.
(26) Fraud--A social worker's
				  misrepresentation or omission about qualifications, services, finances, or
				  related activities or information, or as defined by the Texas Penal Code or by
				  other state or federal law.
(27)
				  Full-time experience--Providing social work services thirty or more hours per
				  week.
(28) Group supervision for
				  licensure or for specialty recognition--Providing supervision to a minimum of
				  two and a maximum of six supervisees in a designated supervision
				  session.
(29) Health care
				  professional--A licensee or any other person licensed, certified, or registered
				  by the State of Texas in a health related profession.
(30) Impaired professional--A licensee whose
				  ability to perform social work services is impaired by the licensee's physical
				  health, mental health, or by medication, drugs or alcohol.
(31) Independent clinical practice--The
				  practice of clinical social work in which the social worker, after having
				  completed all requirements for clinical licensure, assumes responsibility and
				  accountability for the nature and quality of client services, pro bono or in
				  exchange for direct payment or third party reimbursement. Independent clinical
				  social work occurs in independent settings.
(32) Independent non-clinical practice--The
				  unsupervised practice of non-clinical social work outside of an organizational
				  setting, in which the social worker, after having completed all requirements
				  for independent non-clinical practice recognition, assumes responsibility and
				  accountability for the nature and quality of client services, pro bono or in
				  exchange for direct payment or third party reimbursement.
(33) Independent Practice Recognition--A
				  specialty recognition related to unsupervised non-clinical social work at the
				  LBSW or LMSW category of licensure, which denotes that the licensee has earned
				  the specialty recognition, commonly called IPR, by successfully completing
				  additional supervision which enhances skills in providing independent
				  non-clinical social work.
(34)
				  Individual supervision for licensure or specialty recognition--Supervision for
				  professional development provided to one supervisee during the designated
				  supervision session.
(35)
				  LBSW--Licensed Baccalaureate Social Worker.
(36) LCSW--Licensed Clinical Social
				  Worker.
(37) License--A regular or
				  temporary Council-issued license, including LBSW, LMSW, and LCSW. Some licenses
				  may carry an additional specialty recognition, such as LMSW-AP, LBSW-IPR, or
				  LMSW-IPR.
(38) Licensee--A person
				  licensed by the Council to practice social work.
(39) LMSW--Licensed Master Social
				  Worker.
(40) LMSW-AP--Licensed
				  Master Social Worker with the Advanced Practitioner specialty recognition for
				  non-clinical practice. This specialty recognition will no longer be conferred
				  after September 1, 2017. Licensees under a supervision plan for this specialty
				  recognition before September 1, 2017 will be permitted to complete supervision
				  and examination for this specialty recognition.
(41) Non-clinical social work--Professional
				  social work which incorporates non-clinical work with individuals, families,
				  groups, communities, and social systems which may involve locating resources,
				  negotiating and advocating on behalf of clients or client groups, administering
				  programs and agencies, community organizing, teaching, researching, providing
				  employment or professional development non-clinical supervision, developing and
				  analyzing policy, fund-raising, and other non-clinical activities.
(42) Person--An individual, corporation,
				  partnership, or other legal entity.
(43) Psychotherapy--Treatment in which a
				  qualified social worker uses a specialized, formal interaction with an
				  individual, couple, family, or group by establishing and maintaining a
				  therapeutic relationship to understand and intervene in intrapersonal,
				  interpersonal and psychosocial dynamics; and to diagnose and treat mental,
				  emotional, and behavioral disorders and addictions.
(44) Recognition--Authorization from the
				  Council to engage in the independent or specialty practice of social work
				  services.
(45) Rules--Provisions of
				  this chapter specifying how the Council implements the Act-as well as Title 22,
				  Chapters 881-885 of the Texas Administrative Code.
(46) Social work case management--Using a
				  bio-psychosocial perspective to assess, evaluate, implement, monitor and
				  advocate for services on behalf of and in collaboration with the identified
				  client or client group.
(47) Social
				  worker--A person licensed under the Act.
(48) Social work practice--Services which an
				  employee, independent practitioner, consultant, or volunteer provides for
				  compensation or pro bono to effect changes in human behavior, a person's
				  emotional responses, interpersonal relationships, and the social conditions of
				  individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. Social work
				  practice is guided by specialized knowledge, acquired through formal social
				  work education. Social workers specialize in understanding how humans develop
				  and behave within social environments, and in using methods to enhance the
				  functioning of individuals, families, groups, communities, and organizations.
				  Social work practice involves the disciplined application of social work
				  values, principles, and methods including, but not limited to, psychotherapy;
				  marriage, family, and couples intervention; group therapy and group work;
				  mediation; case management; supervision and administration of social work
				  services and programs; counseling; assessment, diagnosis, treatment; policy
				  analysis and development; research; advocacy for vulnerable groups; social work
				  education; and evaluation.
(49)
				  Supervisor, Council-approved--A person meeting the requirements set out in
				  §
										781.402
				  of this title (relating to Clinical Supervision for LCSW and Non-Clinical
				  Supervision for Independent Practice Recognition), to supervise a licensee
				  towards the LCSW, Independent Practice Recognition, or as a result of a Council
				  order. A Council-approved supervisor will denote having this specialty
				  recognition by placing a "-S" after their credential initials, e.g., LBSW-S,
				  LMSW-S or LCSW-S.
(50)
				  Supervision--Supervision includes:
(A)
				  administrative or work-related supervision of an employee, contractor or
				  volunteer that is not related to qualification for licensure, practice
				  specialty recognition, a disciplinary order, or a condition of new or continued
				  licensure;
(B) clinical supervision
				  of a Licensed Master Social Worker in a setting in which the LMSW is providing
				  clinical services; the supervision may be provided by a Licensed Professional
				  Counselor, Licensed Psychologist, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist,
				  Licensed Clinical Social Worker or Psychiatrist. This supervision is not
				  related to qualification for licensure, practice specialty recognition, a
				  disciplinary order, or a condition of new or continued licensure;
(C) clinical supervision of a Licensed Master
				  Social Worker, who is providing clinical services and is under a supervision
				  plan to fulfill supervision requirements for achieving the LCSW; a Licensed
				  Clinical Social Worker who is a Council-approved supervisor delivers this
				  supervision;
(D) non-clinical
				  supervision of a Licensed Master Social Worker or Licensed Baccalaureate Social
				  Worker who is providing non-clinical social work service toward qualifications
				  for independent non-clinical practice recognition; this supervision is
				  delivered by a Council-approved supervisor; and
(E) Council-ordered supervision of a licensee
				  by a Council-approved supervisor pursuant to a disciplinary order or as a
				  condition of new or continued licensure.