Clinical Social Work Practice Tools: Practice

Financial social work (FSW) is a growing social work specialty that uses financial therapy as an intervention to address the emotional and behavioral components of handling finances.Clinical social workers use financial therapy to address the psychosocial challenges patients experience because of their financial circumstances.

Clinical social workers are being denied the Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) credential restricting their work in applied behavior analysis (ABA). Members have requested NASW to provide them with assistance in reversing the denial. The purpose of this practice perspective is to outline the requirements of the Behavior Analysis Certification Board (BACB) to obtain the BCBA credential and its impact on clinical social workers.

NASW has received phone calls and e-mails from members with questions regarding the use of animals as a therapeutic tool. There are four categories of animals used in a helping capacity:(1) service animals, (2) emotional support animals (ESAs), (3) comfort dogs, and (4) animal-assisted therapy.Clinical social workers’ roles and responsibilities vary in each category.The purpose of this practice perspective is to define each category and identify the roles of clinical social workers.

A new resource is now available from NASW Press: Human-Animal Interactions: A Social Work Guide.