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.
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