Addressing Racism in Social Work Licensing #StopASWB – Charla Yearwood, LCSW; Cassandra Walker, LCSW, CCTP; Alan Dettlaff, PhD, MSW

Episode 56 Guests: Charla Yearwood, LCSW; Cassandra Walker, LCSW, CCTP; Alan Dettlaff, PhD, MSW Host: Shimon Cohen, LCSW

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In this episode, I talk with Charla Yearwood, Cassandra Walker, and Dr. Alan Dettlaff about the recent report from the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) where they finally release their social work licensing exam pass rates based on race and age. For years, people have been pushing them to release their pass rates by race, and ASWB denied that they even had this data. The report shows large differences in pass rates by race and provides clear data for what many of us have known is a racially biased exam that significantly discriminates against Black, Latinx, and Indigenous social workers. There have been many questions about what makes this exam racist, and ASWB and others have placed the blame elsewhere. We get into all of that in our discussion. We recorded this podcast so we could quickly get information out to folks about this racist exam and continue to be part of a movement to end this exam. So, please check out the conversation and get involved. There are links below to a #StopASWB petition and a recording of a recent #StopASWB press conference, and resources will be updated as available. I hope this conversation inspires you to action.

Charla Yearwood, LCSW www.charlayearwood.com www.connectedincommunity.org LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/charlayearwood

Cassandra Walker, LCSW, CCTP www.i-cch.com Bluesky @intersectionscch.bsky.social Instagram intersectionsllc

Alan Dettlaff, PhD, MSW LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/alandettlaff

#StopASWB Petition: https://www.change.org/p/aswb-end-discriminatory-social-work-licensing-exams

#StopASWB Press Conference Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kE_p6b6x06U

 

Music credit: "District Four" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/