If you have been licensed as a Social Worker for any length of time you most likely already know the answer to this question. Changes in the requirements are not common. But what if there have been changes? Or, what if you are newly licensed and don't know what is required to renew your license? The answer is sometimes hard to find, if you are unfamiliar with where to search. As soon as you find out where to search, you will be able to go directly to the source easily.
You will want to begin at the home page of your licensing board's website. As an example, if you are a Social Worker licensed in Oregon, you will pull up the Oregon Board of Licensed Social Workers official home page (located at http://www.oregon.gov/BLSW/index.shtml). The majority of data is being loaded on the internet. Your state board's info is no exception. The information found here is plentiful and useful. You may even want to bookmark your Board's website in your browser for easier future access.
The next step will be to locate the link to the Board's "Rules and Regulations". This is usually located in a list of links either on the left or right side column. This link will either take you directly to the "Rules and Regulations" document, or to a new page within the Board's website that contains yet another link to the actual document. For Oregon, it is the latter, but the link is titled "Laws and Rules".
After getting to the rules document you will need to find the CE section titled "Continuing Education" or "Continuing Education Requirements". The title of this section for those in Oregon is "Continuing Education Reporting Requirements". In this part of the rules document you will find the answer to the question in the beginning of this article. In spite of how much you have gone through this process, you should still look up this information before each renewal just in case there have been changes. As they say "ignorance of the law is now excuse". The renewal of your license is no exception.
For those that are interested in an online CE provider, go to Aspira Continuing Education at http://www.aspirace.com. Aspira CE has an easy to navigate website with affordable prices. Aspira is a leader in online Social Worker CE. The customer service is top notch. Let Aspira help you fulfill your online Social Worker CE.
