November Consortium Minutes
Present:
H. Diaz, K. Canaday, M. Moyer, J. Corley, P. West-Okiri, A. Russell, J. Harrison, E. Lightfoot, T. Arguello, E. Costilla, E. Tontodonati, M. Nienow, Y. Cordova, M. Montoya, J. Jimenez Jr, K. Knox, E. Gamelsky, C.Tollett, J. Panhorst, L. Davis, T. Bobadilla, A. Vilas, E. Fresquez III, A. Nelson, E. Moore, 2 unknown participants
Approval of Agenda & Minutes
Motion: Tollett/Knox
2nd: Nienow
Opposed: 0
Abstentions: 0
Passed.
New attendee introductions
Tony Bobadilla, new WNMU faculty and new to NM
Erica Tontodonati – child welfare scholar coordinator at NMSU (ericat@nmsu.edu)
Lindsey Davis – NM CYFD training and coaching initiatives for CPS workforce
elifresquez@yahoo.com
LHHS Legislative Update (if available) – Rep. Chavez is stuck in traffic
Center for Excellence Update (Nelson)
No updates from the Center at this time. Nelson expressed gratitude to WNMU and NMSU for the visit – she is looking forward to ENMU’s visit in January. Macro practice certificate available in an accelerated method. MSW (and potentially BSW – with ACOSA approval? – this would be a phase 2 of the project) graduates could have a clear path to this professional certification. She is looking for macro syllabi from all schools to create a crosswalk to be delivered through The Center for graduates as a part of the Dept of Labor grant.
Scheduled Feb 26 student legislative action day with $50 stipends to offset travel costs for students.
Social Work Education Summit with national speaker – March 28-29
Updates from Executive Committee (Moyer)
Licensure pass rates and alternative licensure.
Alvin helped Eleanor Chavez and Carol S. draft a document related to licensure pass rates and alternative licensure pathway exploration. She would like to share this with the exec and licensure work group and ask for recommended edits. This was drafted to address myths in the state that students were passing at rates as low as 5-10%. Patti shared concerns that previous data requests related to social work retention rates were conflated with this.
Addressing myths.
NM Health Alliance meeting this morning talked about a concern that LCSWs were prohibited from delivering telehealth.
ASWB 2023 pass rates have been released. Demographics of students was not shared. https://www.aswb.org/exam/exam-scoring/exam-pass-rates/
| National | NM | |
| BSW | 67.9% | 51.2% (N=41) |
| MSW | 72.5% | 75% (N=284) |
| Clin | 73.4% | 72.2% – 1st time pass rate |
By school:
| EMNU | ENMU – BSW 56 | ||
| NMHU | BSW 44.4 (N=9) | MSW 76.1 | Clin 64.8 |
| NMSU | 45.5 (N=11) | MSW 72.4 | Clin 72.2 |
| WNMU | 25 (N=8) | MSW 71.7 | Clin 77.5 |
CUP was supposed to meet again to call together the schools of social work to develop standardized metric for all schools. This is a concern as each school has a system in place and they vary from school to school.
Q: Ask for licensing to approach racial/ethnic disparities in pass rates. Understanding that schools of social work are passing on par with other schools in the nation. Licensing is exploring options such as alternative pathways. This brought great conversation forward. Those with practice experience are doing worse on the exam than those without, per Nienow.
Updates from New Mexico Schools of Social Work
ENMU – MSW program underway, spring cohort starting. Starting efforts to increase paid internships for students at all levels. Dr. Russell is working on publication and research – very exciting times! Candidacy underway and Board review in February. BSW is moving along.
NMHU – no representative in attendance
NMSU – In process of renewing behavioral health workforce education training grant to provide interprofessional and clinical experience for MSWs – connecting with UNM for a letter of support. Exciting to be experiencing collaborative partnerships amongst schools. Research and publications are happening and this is very encouraging – a shout out to Dr. Diaz and other faculty efforts. Research partnerships with WNMU as well! Paid internships are underway and looking to hire additional faculty with the endowment dollars.
UNM – in early stages of program development, working on CSWE documents. No students yet, but a great thanks to all who have provided support and shining light on the collaboration of the schools over competition.
WNMU – amidst of reaffirmation for MSW and upcoming for BSW. CEU initiative for professionals in the field. Student mentorship for professional retention. Clinical certification underway. Spanish social work jargon training for the community. Clinical pass rates are great! Active in research and publications at this time – very exciting!
Ad hoc committee updates
Capacity Building (Knox)
Chair: kknox@nmsu.edu
Met twice to define scope of work and efforts. The workgroup will focus efforts on address capacity building essentially from birth to retirement of the professional interests of social workers in New Mexico. Meet 2nd Tuesday of each month. Moving forward on goals and action items. An early discussion to review SOWK Board requirements for provision of supervision requirements -can we open clinical supervision be reducing barriers for LCSWs to provide supervision as well as address outdated lists of supervisors provided by RLD. This change was through the Board of Social Workers, not a legislative change. The Center is attending the Board meeting in December and will request information on the supervision pieces raised by the Consortium.
The cultural competence requirement under discussion by the Board does not seem to apply to NM B/MSW graduates as they receive this in their curriculum. This is a conversation around cross cultural supervision course the Center is
The clinical supervision approval process originated through complaints from LMSWs who are/were not receiving adequate supervision. If we put forth a proposal to address this requirement to the Board we would need to really look at a way to preserve the spirit of quality supervision.
There is a concern that LMSWs are being hired as contractors under an LCSW for professional supervision, paying for supervision creates a barrier for LMSWs to elevate to LCSWs.
Q: Can you do a survey on whether an increase of faculty from endowment dollars is impacting student increase? This has been provided to the LFC, we can request this from the LFC (Connor Jorgensen) if the Consortium would like to explore this further.
Licensing (Nienow)
Chair: mnienow@nmsu.edu
Developed charge to address all statutes as well as compacts and alternative pathways to licensure. Met once. Next meeting is Licensing workgroup is meeting Tuesday, November 26 from 10-11 a.m.
Professional isolation, policy, & advocacy (Tollett)
Chair: Carolyn.tollett@enmu.edu
Met once, looking at two distinct things: professional isolation and advocacy. Looking to develop concept on professional isolation, gathering information on national professional language. This team will be following and reporting out on legislative initiatives to provide briefs to consortium members with lists of upcoming legislative agendas. They meet the Tuesday following the Consortium meeting.
Announcements/Member Comments (workforce needs, concerns, and opportunities)
Sen Ortiz y Pino and Alvin are at the legislative session now advocating for free graduate education for all behavioral health programs.
LMSW supervision for Telehealth? This hasn’t been led by a board. This was initiated by Kenneth Winfrey, who has been in touch with senators (like Harold Pope),there is a draft for a bill 456 to update Telehealth act to include LMSWs alongside LCSW/LISW. There is no language excluding LMSWs and asking for inclusive language for all licensed social workers (including LBSWs). The proposed language is also administrative in nature. The changes are not suggesting LMSWs operate without supervision, but that they are able to operate inside telehealth as they do outside of telehealth. Email Jen to receive updates on this bill (jpanhorst@salud.unm.edu)
A piece of legislative being drafted to make an ask for 1.1m in NM budget to begin offering a Medicaid waiver to offer behavioral health – similar to the function of the DD waiver. Costilla will share with Moyer to distribute to the Consortium the white paper developed by the Peter Kubra/members of the professional SWK community. The governor was floating an idea that this population should go into criminal justice treatment and this bill is a response to those conversations.
The Behavioral Health Conference is scheduled and we are encouraged to attend to collaborate with related professions! 3rd annual social service conference: https://cornerstonetoexcellence.com/2025-social-service-conf
Motion December meeting will not be held, ad hoc and executive committees will meet and we will reconvene in January 23rd
Moyer/Tollett (modified to include executive committee meeting
2nd:
Passed unanimously.
Discussion – we would be meeting as session is in full swing, this would be a concern! An option would be commitment to ad hoc attendance and executive committee will meet to discuss and release minutes. Session typically starts around the time the Consortium will reconvene
Adjourned – 10:33
Dr. Melissa Moyer, LCSW
MSW Program Director/Associate Professor
College of Business Room 183