Across New Jersey, a mental health crisis is brewing with
potentially dire consequences. On the heels of the COVID-19
pandemic, the demand for mental health services has increased
exponentially. While providers of mental health services are
working tirelessly to support community members through
telehealth and a moderated return to in-person services, there
are simply not enough licensed clinical social workers to meet
the demand. At the same time, qualified mental health
professionals stand ready to meet these needs, but cannot due to
a significant backlog in issuing licenses. Applicants for
licensure are waiting a minimum of three months, and some more
than a year, for paperwork to make its way through a licensing
system that is not working.
According to the National Association of Social Workers New
Jersey (NASW-NJ), dozens of calls and e-mails from social workers
who have passed the licensing exams and completed all necessary
steps for licensure, but who cannot get responses from the
licensing board (the State Board of Social Work Examiners
[BSWE]), are received every day. They say applicants cannot reach
anyone at the BSWE and their e-mails are going with response. One
applicant shared that he/she passed the required exam in
September 2020 and sent all the requirements by regular mail and
e-mail to the BSWE, but has not received any correspondence to
date and cannot reach anyone by phone.
Meanwhile, leadership at mental health agencies are struggling to
hire to meet the increase in demand for their services. Adding to
the problem of the BSWE backlog, there is a scarcity of testing
sites, and long waits to be pre-approved for a testing site.
These issues are seriously impacting providers' ability to hire
and respond to demand for services.
It is imperative that the BSWE take whatever actions are
necessary immediately so that licensure can be achieved within a
reasonable time frame. Moreover, there must be transparency in
the process, allowing applicants to see the status of their
pending licensure and any missing information.
