NEWS OF THE SOCIETIES

AN E D I T O R I A L F R O M T H E WISCONSIN

N E W S L E T T E R

In response to a n u m b e r of inquir ies f rom n o n m e m b e r s , we shall expla in the i n t e n t o f th i s newsle t te r . Firs t , it serves as a means of convey ing r epo r t s of meet ings and reviews of m a t t e r s of in- te res t to ou r m e m b e r s w ho miss a mee t - ing.

B e y o n d tha t , however , we have also made t he dec is ion to send the Courrier to near ly five h u n d r e d n o n m e m b e r s w i t h o u t cos t to t h e m , to pursue two purposes , t h a t of shar ing open ly , w i t h as m a n y o f t he clinical social work profes- sionals in Wisconsin as we can iden t i fy , t he goals, ph i lo sophy , and ac t ions o f the WSCSW, and to a t t e m p t to educa te non- m e m b e r s as well as m e m b e r s on issues wh ich are of vital conce r n to cl inicians, to the i r pa t i en t s or cl ients, and to t he c o m m u n i t i e s we serve. F o r example , how m a n y social worker s are unaw are of t he imp l i ca t ions of PSRO or even w h a t t hose ini t ials s t and for? Federa l law will s t r i ngen t ly d ic t a t e how, when , and w h a t we will do in ou r indiv idual pract ices.

How m a n y social workers were aware of t he r ecen t " S m i t h b a c k Memo- r a n d u m " wh ich migh t well have severely c i r cumscr ibed social work prac t ice here in Wisconsin had i t no t been " c u t o f f a t t he pass" b y a few knowledgab le clini- cians?

How m a n y social worker s are aware of t h e impl i ca t ions of the Torres Bill in Cal i fornia (of w h i c h m o r e la ter ) o r o f

t he I n o u y e Bill (S .3470) in the U.S. Congress?

How m a n y clinical social worker s realize tha t wi th Na t iona l Hea l th Insur- ance looming ever nearer , we may all be driving taxis unles we accompl i sh a great m a n y major steps in very s h o r t o rde r (l icensing, PSRO, etc . )?

The m e m b e r s of the WSCSW are ded ica ted to the a d v a n c e m e n t of clinical pract ice wi th these objec t ives :

" T h e i m p r o v e m e n t of qua l i f i ca t ions and usefulness of clinical social worker s t h r o u g h high s t andards of profess ional educa t ion , exper ience , e thics , c o n d u c t , and a c h i e v e m e n t s . "

" T h e active p r o m o t i o n of the publ ic image of clinical social work and t he deve lopmen t of t he s t a tu re of clinical social work in keeping w i t h o t h e r pro- fessions in the m e n t a l h e a l t h f i e ld . "

" T h e increase and d i s semina t ion of knowledge t h r o u g h research, meet ings , profess ional con tac t s , repor t s , discus- sion, and pub l i ca t i ons . "

We in t end to achieve legal regula- t ions to ensure c o m p e t e n t service to t he publ ic ; to d e m o n s t r a t e t he special skills of clinical social w o r k in o rde r t h a t pub- lic s u p p o r t c o n t i n u e s t o be assured; to digest and d i ssemina te i n f o r m a t i o n re- garding federal , s tate , and local con- t rac tua l and vendor ing bene f i t s ; t o press for upgraded clinical social w o r k cur- r icula in ou r univers i t ies w i t h emphas i s o n academic excel lence and profess iona l c o m p e t e n c e ; to e f fec t the inc lus ion of clinical social workers as i n d e p e n d e n t providers of m e n t a l h e a l t h services in p e r t i n e n t federal and s ta te legis la t ion in

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order to ensure o p t i m u m heal th care for all ci t izens of our s ta te ; and to adhere in our individual pract ices to our already adop t ed s t r ingent code of ethics.

The Courrier then, is one of the tools we are using to fos ter these goals; it is not in t ended to recruit members , as we feel s t rongly tha t clinical social

workers who concur wi th our philoso- phy and act ions will recrui t themselves into the WSCSW. We will be very happy to con t inue to share open ly wi th non- members .

Ian Keith, Editor