Codifying Our Ethical Commitment to Social Work Colleagues: Supporting Black Supervisees

Overview: The authors will share preliminarily results from a systematic review of multidisciplinary literature on regulatory frameworks for addressing discrimination in the licensure supervision process. This presentation will inform educators, practitioners, and administrators in social work about opportunities to support Black supervisees in clinical work and uphold social justice values.Proposal text: Background/Rationale: Social work has been remiss in codifying protections against discrimination in clinical social work supervision. The presenters reviewed social work literature and found an absence of explicit regulation in addressing discrimination in clinical supervision (for examples, see ASWB, 2019; ASWB, 2018; NASW, 2013). This gap is an opportunity to build on the professional and ethical commitment to social justice in social work. Particularly in the environment of the Black Lives Matter Movement, the social work profession must take measures to protect Black supervisees from experiencing social injustice in the workforce. Doing so will help to redress racial disparities in the clinical social work workforce (for example, see Virginia Department of Health Professions, 2020).

This presentation aligns well with the conference theme: human rights are global rights. It expands on the professional commitment to social justice, particularly as related to race and economics. The presenters will extend the discussion of the professional and ethical commitment to social justice to social work colleagues. The presenters will highlight how the social work profession should advocate for and protect the rights of Black colleagues and and other historically marginalized social work professionals. The presentation aligns with the African Americans and the African diaspora track.

Methods: To support the development of relevant regulatory frameworks, the researchers systematically reviewed literature regarding how social work and related fields (i.e. psychology, psychiatry, counseling, and medicine) address discrimination in licensure supervision. The presenters employed a rapid review. To ensure methodological accuracy, the review was guided by the methods of Search, Appraisal, Synthesize, and Analysis (SALSA) offered by Grant and Booth (2009) and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta Analysis (PRISMA).

Results: The review found nine emerging themes falling into two categories: patterns and trends of discrimination and regulatory frameworks and practices. The researchers observed patterns along the lines of race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and ability. The patterns were not limited to the United States nor to anti-Black discrimination. The review revealed that there is a precedence for legal action against discrimination in the supervision process. The review additionally found patterns related to cultural awareness, structural racism, and hostile work environment. In addition, the review found recommendations such as training supervisors, adopting institutional polices, improving reporting structures for discrimination, models of supervision, and specific interventions for addressing discrimination.

Conclusions: It is critical that there are standards and regulations in place to address discrimination in the licensure supervision process and to support Black supervisees in social work. Toward that goal, this presentation provides critical insight. This critical discussion is international in scope and implications. The presenters will highlight the need to adopt antidiscrimination policies for a diversity of populations.