Director at large, licensed social worker

Candidates

Ann-Marie Buchanan (TN)

Please give a brief biography, including your education, licensure or certification level, and employment history.

My name is Ann-Marie Buchanan. I received my BSW from Oakwood College (now Oakwood University, Huntsville, Alabama), my MSW from the University of Central Florida (Orlando), and my Ph.D. in human services, from Capella University (Minneapolis, online). I have taught a plethora of social work classes and enjoy learning from the students. I am a Licensed Master Social Worker in Alabama and Tennessee. I served on the Alabama Board of Social Work Examiners from 2002 to 2004. I currently serve on the Tennessee Board of Social Work Licensure; this is my second term. I have worked at Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee, as an associate professor in the department of social work since 2013. I previously taught in the master’s program at Mississippi Valley State University, 2011–2013 (Itta Bena, Mississippi). From 2006 to 2011, I was the Bachelor of Social Work program director and an assistant professor in the department of social work at Andrews University (Berrien Springs, Michigan).

Give a synopsis of your regulatory and professional experience. Please emphasize your involvement with ASWB.

Serving on the Tennessee board since 2015 has allowed me to speak to my coworkers, students, and the community about matters relating to education, licensing, and expectations of professional social workers. Shortly after joining the Tennessee Board of Social Work Licensure, I had the opportunity to attend the ASWB Annual Meeting of the Delegate Assembly in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, in November 2015. The meeting was well organized and the process from Thursday to Saturday was very enlightening. I really enjoyed the Board Member Exchange; the members seemed eager to share and I was ready to learn. However, it was not until I attended the New Board Member Training session in Washington, D.C., in August 2016 that I became more knowledgeable about ASWB. The meeting was very informative and helpful as I was not familiar with all the nuances of being a regulator. The training provided a platform to ask questions and receive great feedback. Since 2016, I have attended the spring education conference and the annual delegate assembly meetings. In 2017, I was elected to the Nominating Committee. That experience gave me a different perspective from which to view ASWB. I witnessed the respect and compassion with which this organization operates.

Finally, make a brief statement on the major issues you see facing ASWB and how you would address them.

Mobility and title protection are issues that I recognize ASWB has been tackling for a few years. I believe they have been doing a good job of placing the appropriate people in positions to be able to plan for effective policy change and to work with the legislature in order to see those changes come to fruition. The Board of Directors has already done a great deal of work on these; therefore, at this time, I am not sure how else to address them. However, given the opportunity, I would diligently to lend my voice to make a difference in the process. These issues affect practitioners, clients, and the community at large, which means they are very relevant ASWB and to me.

Date jurisdictional board term ends:

2023

Jacqueline Lowe (SC)

Please give a brief biography, including your education, licensure or certification level, and employment history.

My education includes baccalaureate degrees in criminal justice and social work. I also have a Master of Education degree in rehabilitation counseling. In addition to my social work license, I hold credentials for a human services board certified practitioner and a certified public manager. My employment history of more than 25 years has been in the area of public child welfare services, working primarily in administration and management. I currently serve as a director for child welfare licensing programs and am responsible for the oversight of the licensing and regulatory authority for temporary placements for children/youth in foster care. I have also worked in a large hospital system, providing patient liaison services, completing health care documents, and problem solving. My work extends to the community through my engagement in social action, voter registration, and service projects.

Give a synopsis of your regulatory and professional experience. Please emphasize your involvement with ASWB.

My appointment to the South Carolina jurisdictional board was to fulfill an unexpired term in November 2014. I was reappointed in November 2016 and have served continuously since my original appointment.

My experience with ASWB includes:

Training, education, and annual meetings

August 2015: New Board Member Training, Arlington, VA

November 2015: Annual Meeting of the Delegate Assembly, Ft. Lauderdale, FL

May 2018: 2018 Education Conference, Halifax, Nova Scotia

November 2018: Annual Meeting of the Delegate Assembly, San Antonio, TX

Committee membership

2016 Regulation and Standards Committee member

2017 Regulation and Standards Committee member

2018 Regulation and Standards Committee chair

2019 Finance Committee member

2020 Finance Committee member

Finally, make a brief statement on the major issues you see facing ASWB and how you would address them.

The major issues I see facing ASWB are:

Continued development of supports for students during the current pandemic and other crises. These are unprecedented times, leaving students to decide about their own mental health services, access to needed services, and employment opportunities. Many schools and businesses have been impacted and are having to make adjustments around educating, testing, and employing. I would advocate for continuous opportunities to develop and support students and schools of social work.

Promoting flexibility in continuing and online education is an almost must-have in this day and age. Having online education and other virtual training modules creates more opportunities for social workers and other individuals to obtain needed and required education hours for licensure. Guidelines can be created to control for the number of hours and for topics. I would support opportunities to include virtual training for meeting continued education requirements.

I look forward to the opportunity to be involved in our continuing work of developing and supporting students as they navigate systems to be of service in their communities. Promoting and creating more flexible and credible options for continuing and online education alleviates unnecessary stressors to obtain education hours for certification. By addressing these issues, we will continue to move forward.

Date jurisdictional board term ends:

November 27, 2020

Carla H. Moore (LA)

Please give a brief biography, including your education, licensure or certification level, and employment history.

I earned a BA from the University of Louisiana at Monroe, a LPN nursing diploma from the New Orleans Center for Health Careers, and an MSW and a post-masters certificate in childhood traumatic stress from Southern University at New Orleans. I have been a Licensed Master Social Worker since February 23, 2001. I retired as a child welfare specialist program manager from the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services in 2013, where I worked for more than 30 years in multiple facets of social services delivery. I have served in direct and supervisory levels in family services, foster care, child protection, sexual abuse and fatality investigations, and federal programs. I formerly served as the agency liaison for the Sexual Abuse Task Force, CASA Child Advocacy Center, and the rape crisis program. I have also served as a peer reviewer for the Children’s Bureau Child Welfare Title IV-E program since 2006. I currently serve as the secretary and board member on the Lincoln Parish Council on Aging. I have also been a contract writer for the Grambling State University advanced supervisors certificate program.

Give a synopsis of your regulatory and professional experience. Please emphasize your involvement with ASWB.

I was appointed to the Louisiana Social Work Examiners Board in December 2011 to fill an unexpired LMSW position on the board. I was reappointed for a second term to serve in this position in May 2014 and for a third term in May 2017. During the eight years I served on the board, I was the secretary/treasurer and chair for the child custody evaluation committee. My involvement with ASWB began with New Board Member Training in August 2012. I have attended all of the annual ASWB education meetings since 2012 and the delegate assemblies since 2014. I served as a facilitator for the World Café at the 2015 spring education meeting. I have served as a committee member and chair of the ASWB Bylaws and Resolutions Committee and the Nominating Committee. I have attended and participated in many ASWB Board Member Exchange meetings and ASWB leadership development and orientation sessions.

Finally, make a brief statement on the major issues you see facing ASWB and how you would address them.

Some of the issues I see facing ASWB in this millennium are individuals practicing without a credential, individuals practicing beyond their scope of practice, licensure portability, and facilitating supervision mobility from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Addressing these issues involves continuous and ongoing education, communication, and training among member boards across numerous jurisdictions. This will help to ensure the protection of the public through the advancement of safe and ethical social work practice. The United States is becoming an increasingly multicultural, multiracial, and multiethnic society. As social workers, we must strategically use our positions and privilege to work toward greater equality. We need to ask ourselves how we can use the knowledge we have of unjust practices toward individuals and groups in society to work toward changes to improve their situation. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, as social workers, we are now faced with a myriad of challenges that have evolved in a short period of time. Globally, we are faced with the question of how to practice social work in a pandemic. We learn by doing. We do this by engaging in telehealth, linking resources, and disseminating accurate information. The NASW Code of Ethics along with the ASWB Standards for Technology are good supplemental guides for guidance on providing high-quality telehealth services. By promoting utilization of the model law, ASWB continues to rely on the engagement of its membership to practice, educate, and research in order to anticipate what the future holds.

Date jurisdictional board term ended:

October 4, 2019, but I served until November 2019

Jeffrey J. Trant (MA)

Please give a brief biography, including your education, licensure or certification level, and employment history.

I would like to take the opportunity to briefly introduce myself to you. My name is Jeffrey Trant, and I am a Licensed Certified Social Worker and certified psychiatric rehabilitation practitioner from Massachusetts. I earned my MSW from Boston College, a postgraduate advanced certificate in rehabilitation counseling from Utah State University, and a post-graduate certificate in the relational and multi-contextual treatment of trauma from the Simmons School of Social Work and the Massachusetts Child Welfare Institute in Boston. I am also completing my doctoral education (Ph.D.) at the University at Albany School of Social Welfare.

My social work practice has focused on child welfare and behavioral health care. I currently serve as the director of the Office of Safe Environment and Victim Assistance for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield. Since 2010, I have worked as a program surveyor for the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities International. I have taught undergraduate social work courses as an adjunct lecturer in the BSW program at Elms College since 2013. I am also an active volunteer with the Children’s Advocacy Center of Franklin County and the North Quabbin, where I have served on the board of directors since 2016.

Give a synopsis of your regulatory and professional experience. Please emphasize your involvement with ASWB.

In 2017, I was appointed to the Massachusetts Board of Registration of Social Workers where I currently serve as the LCSW Member. I had the privilege of serving as the delegate for Massachusetts at the 2019 Annual Meeting of the Delegate Assembly. I have served as a volunteer with ASWB since 2015. I was appointed to the Practice Analysis Task Force (2015–2016), passing score study panel (2017), Regulation and Standards Committee (2019, 2020), and as an item writer for the Masters examination (2019–present). I have had the opportunity to attend ASWB trainings and conferences, including New Board Member Training (2019), an education conference (2019), and several Board Member Exchanges.

Finally, make a brief statement on the major issues you see facing ASWB and how you would address them.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all segments of the population. However, persons with chronic health conditions, those who live in economically disadvantaged communities, and individuals who are exposed to other psychosocial risk factors are the most vulnerable and at the highest risk for contracting COVID-19 and dying. As social workers, we have long known that social determinants of health influence health outcomes, and we have worked to address these issues at micro, mezzo, and macro levels as clinicians, administrators, community organizers, advocates, and policy planners.

The social work profession is needed now more than ever. However, strategic threats that were unheard of less than a year ago confront every organization, including ASWB and its member boards. As a member of the Board of Directors, I will draw upon my experience as a social worker, senior-level manager, and regulator to help provide effective governance and support the vital mission of ASWB.

In the short term, ASWB and all mission-driven organizations must remain agile, strategic, and prepare to confront and overcome myriad challenges. It would be a privilege to help support ASWB in handling these challenges while continuing to implement the strategic framework that is critical for our profession’s future.

Date jurisdictional board term ended:

Term ended September 30, 2019, but appointment is continuing until notified by the governor’s office.