[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-329097-105":59,"doc-detail-329097-en":131},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":124,"head_meta":126,"extra_data":128,"updated_unix":130},105,"en","written-testimony-from-lisa-kays-licsw-lcsw-c-lcsw-regarding-sb379","Written Testimony from Lisa Kays, LICSW, LCSW-C, LCSW regarding SB379","","Written testimony to the Senate Finance Committee urging support for SB379. Lisa Kays describes her clinical social work licensure and supervision experience, and argues that the multi-level licensure exam creates significant bias by race, deafness, and age, producing repeated failures despite talent and ethics. She details financial hardship and delayed licensure for a supervisee and argues the exam sustains systemic inequities in access to advanced, evidence-based therapy training, ultimately affecting public safety and client care.",{"@graph":69,"@context":123},[70,84,106],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/written-testimony-from-lisa-kays-licsw-lcsw-c-lcsw-regarding-sb379/329097/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/written-testimony-from-lisa-kays-licsw-lcsw-c-lcsw-regarding-sb379/329097.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Aditya","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-22","2026-09-21",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":105},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",12,{"@type":107,"mainEntity":108},"FAQPage",[109,115,119],{"name":110,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":112},"What is SB379, and what does Lisa Kays ask the Senate Finance Committee to do?","Question",{"text":113,"@type":114},"She asks the Committee to support SB379 to provide immediate relief for people harmed by the exam’s bias and barriers to licensure.","Answer",{"name":116,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":117},"How does Lisa Kays describe the exam’s effects on people in her profession?",{"text":118,"@type":114},"She argues the multi-level exams produce significant bias, leading colleagues of color, deaf colleagues, and older colleagues to pay time and labor for degrees they cannot use due to failure rates.",{"name":120,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":121},"Why does she say the exam does not protect public safety or reflect competence?",{"text":122,"@type":114},"She states the exam is a meaningless obstacle with no bearing on competence, while ethical and competent practice comes from course work and intensive supervision that she experienced through clinical licensure training.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":125,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":127,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":129,"site_id":62},329097,1790321118,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":132},{"doc_id":129,"user_id":133,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":134,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":135,"file_id":136,"file_url":137,"file_type":138,"file_size":139,"view_count":105,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":19,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":52,"preview_page_count":4},962085564549,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_085a072bc5b1113ac321206ff7593b45","Written Testimony from Lisa Kays, LICSW, LCSW-C, LCSW regarding SB379:  \nDear Members of the Senate Finance Committee,  \nI am submitting this testimony as a licensed clinical social worker in the state of Maryland (LCSW-C) since 2013, a registered supervisor in the state of Maryland since 2022, and a consumer of mental health services, particularly for my sons (age 6 and 9) in Maryland, to urge your support of SB379 . I have served as an Adjunct Faculty member at Catholic University’s National School of Social Services, teaching the MSW course, Diversity in a Multi-cultural Society and provide Continuing Education workshops in ethics and other topics for my colleagues and multiple agencies and organizations.  \nThank you for taking the time to hear testimony in relation to SB379 . This bill is critically important to me because is seeks to allay the harm being done by the multi-level licensure exam in my profession, which has been demonstrated to pose significant bias across numerous categories.  \nIn regards to the legislation itself, to my knowledge, we are currently the only profession that requires 3 levels of exams and at each level, my colleagues of color, as well as deaf and older colleagues, pay and labor to complete degrees and then are unable to use them because the exam's bias makes it impossible for them to pass.  \nI have a specific supervisee who has suffered immensely under these exams as she pursued licensure in Maryland, which she finally acquired last year, almost nearly giving up. She is bi-lingual, an immigrant, and serves children, a population in dire need of clinical professionals currently. In terms of clinicians needed skills right now, she is a unicorn. English-speaking children needing therapy currently are waitlisted all over Maryland; I cannot imagine what the waitlists look like for a Spanish-speaking, bilingual therapist. She failed the exam five times, often by one point only, despite her being avery talented, skilled and highly ethical social worker. She endured extraordinary financial hardship as a result, and faced a career setback of over a decade. She wondered numerous times if she should give up and leave the profession, and I don't blame her, nor, quite frankly, did I counsel her otherwise. Given how few points she fails the exam by, it is impossible to not wonder if the exam questions she fails are ones ASWB later finds are biased--but yet does nothing about. She wrote the ASWB to ask for a remedy, and their response was to critique her study skills. She has written to the Maryland Board to ask for the same, and they explain they are stuck due to the Board’s dependence on the exam within their rules. This legislation would provide immediate relief to people who were in her situation, before she finally was able to pass the exam  \non the sixth try, after spending thousands of dollars, allowing them to achieve licensure and to serve people in our communities who very much need care.  \nAdditionally, I have recently noticed that when I go to look for therapists of a certain modality requiring advanced skills and training, such as IFS or somatic experiencing, both evidence-based treatments providing high levels of symptom relief quite quickly to people, most all of those certified are white. While this isn't solely due to the biased exam, it speaks to a systemic issue within our profession where people of color cannot advance due to these financial, emotional and logistical barriers, and then, even if they do, are left so financially encumbered that they likely can't pay for these higher levels of training. It is highly problematic for a profession that serves so many people of color tobe so white and this exam is contributing extensively to that problem. When seeking social work services and therapy, it is important that clients and consumers can find people whose lived experience matches theirs–and this exam is a major roadblock to that for many people of color, people who are deaf, and people","cbCaioZQO1XFnaR0","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaioZQO1XFnaR0","pdf",115666,"English","# Written Testimony to Support SB379\n## Impact of the Multi-Level Exam on Fairness and Passing Rates\n## Personal and Professional Consequences for Clinicians and Clients\n## Critique of Exam Validity for Competence and Public Safety\n## Call for Ethical, Low-Cost Alternatives and Reform Considerations","[{\"question\":\"What is SB379, and what does Lisa Kays ask the Senate Finance Committee to do?\",\"answer\":\"She asks the Committee to support SB379 to provide immediate relief for people harmed by the exam’s bias and barriers to licensure.\"},{\"question\":\"How does Lisa Kays describe the exam’s effects on people in her profession?\",\"answer\":\"She argues the multi-level exams produce significant bias, leading colleagues of color, deaf colleagues, and older colleagues to pay time and labor for degrees they cannot use due to failure rates.\"},{\"question\":\"Why does she say the exam does not protect public safety or reflect competence?\",\"answer\":\"She states the exam is a meaningless obstacle with no bearing on competence, while ethical and competent practice comes from course work and intensive supervision that she experienced through clinical licensure training.\"}]","Written Testimony from Lisa Kays, LICSW, LCSW-C, LCSW regarding SB379 | PDF",1789982431]