Supporting Community Health & Well-being. Reducing Waitlists. Increasing the Presence of Providers Through Centralized Access to Quality Supervision.
Leader
Anycia Grady
Location
21724 Lorain Rd Suite 8 Fairview Park, OH 44126
As a social worker and owner of my own private practice, my journey to qualifying to open my own practice was not linear taking longer than projected to obtain the necessary hours of supervision to qualify for my independent license because I could not locate reliable and consistent supervisors. 8 years to be exact. That is when I thought “Man it would be so nice if there was an app for that” but there wasn’t. So I began to brainstorm.
According to the National Association of Social Work Value of Competence, it is our due diligence to obtain training to increase our professional expertise, and based on Ethical Standards of integrity we are to work toward the maintenance of high standards of practice which is built foundationally, through clinical supervision! The challenge is, a qualified supervisor is hard to find even though good ones are out there. There is a gap, and this gap is delaying professionals from becoming independently licensed.
Due to this gap, Cleveland has seen firsthand the impact of this gap post Pandemic. According to the American Psychological Association, there has been a 64% increase in the help-seeking behaviors of clients as well as a 30% increase in waitlists nationally. In Greater Cleveland alone there is a 3 to 4-month wait for mental health services.
To Problem Solve this is to decrease the waitlist by increasing professional output and increasing community access through Seeking Supervision an app-based platform. The need to increase professionals in the workforce is imperative. Currently, there are over 55,246 professionals who are counselors, social workers, and marriage and family therapists at the bachelor's level and 18,582 individuals in training/higher education to become a practitioner. That’s over 73,000 individuals who are yet clinically licensed according to the Ohio licensing board.
Seeking Supervision will support:
July 2023 through Launching:
August/September 2023:
December 2023:
January 2024:
As a social worker, it took me 8 years to reach my licensure goal. It was only supposed to take 2. Over the 6-year time, I missed out on promotion opportunities and jobs I knew I had the skills for, but did not have the license to apply for. Having dialogues with my colleagues over the years, they expressed similar experiences. This has been a huge career and financial barrier- capping salaries. Additionally, employers are in need of therapists, but licensing places individuals in a case manager role with lower pay and higher caseloads. Employers are challenged with hiring which overworks the current staff present at the job who are performing multiple roles increasing burnout. From a community perspective, our clients are experiencing gaps in their care due to the waitlist increasing their risks of exacerbated health, mental health, and safety concerns. This is an equitable gap for not only the professional, but the employer, and the community as a whole.
