I waited for a while to see if I could get self pay clients but the agency I volunteer at didn’t have any for me. I found out during the school year, interns take a lot of their self pay and sliding scale clients.

So I asked if I could apply to work with insured clients. I filled out all of the paperwork (it’s really long), got an NPI number, turned in copies of my license and learned how to do all of their insurance paperwork and I have been waiting for over a month. I know from a previous job that insurance companies take a long time to approve new clinicians. I know from volunteering that the agency takes a long time to get things done. So right now I am actually losing money by volunteering since I am paying for insurance and a NASW membership.

There is always the possibility of going to another agency to be a contractor or fee for service provider but I like the agency I volunteer at. I can come in on the days I choose and see only adults. The other agencies I have come across want a Saturday and a clinician that will see children and families.

At my job, I’ve started supervising interns and coordinating the internship program instead of just assisting. I like working with interns. It amazes me when I say something and they write it down. I have a good relationship with my students and they seem to accept that I am learning as I go. They tell me “for the next round of interns” when they find mistakes in our supervision or orientation process.
I try to be very hands on to learn how to make everything better for the students. This is a huge time suck. I’ve spent hours meeting with a student that I was not supervising. I am at the point that my job could be split off into two positions, one dealing only with interns and universities. Too bad that I am in non-profit land and that will never happen. So I will have to do a better job of preparing other supervisors “for the next round.”

So sites that helped me:
Social Work Podcast
The earlier podcasts cover a theory per podcast. The bibliography is a good resource, too. I noticed a few books cites multiple times and bought older versions of them for a few dollars on Amazon.

LCSW Blog
Social Work Test Prep Blog
These are blogs by people that are also studying or have studied for the exam. Social Work Test Prep is in CA so the exam is different than the exam in IL but the info is still useful.

LCSW Flashcards
User created flashcard sets. Actually good for multiple subjects, not just the LCSW exam.

A friend gave me her study tools. She subscribed to one of the sites that emails a question per day. She collected the questions and answers and used that along with brief descriptions of theories, developmental stages and diagnostic criteria.

I used some of the same tools I used for the LSW exam. I have a practice exam from Social Work Examination Services that I got in grad school. I also reviewed The Complete Guide to Social Work book.

The test:
I went to the Uptown ACT test center in Chicago. If you choose this location, I would recommend public transportation because the meters are for 2 hours and the exam probably takes longer. It rained a lot last night and my meter had condensation in it and I couldn’t read the display. So I took a pic and went inside. Ended up being OK.
Dress in layers! The exam room was pretty cold. This location is really loud (for a test center). I took my LSW exam downtown and it was almost silent. At Uptown, there are little kids from some program down the hall constantly running up and down the hall and screaming. There was a group of people singing and then a woman bellowing, er, singing after that. I heard staff hush the kids multiple times and they had a sign in the hall so it wasn’t their fault. They have big headphones you can wear to block noise and a staff person reminded me about the headphones when the kids started to get noisy. I think you can bring earplugs in, too. I can deal with the noise but if you’re a person that needs silence for test taking, go downtown or some other location.

I saw the word “acknowledge” a billion times. I swear, every “what would you do first” question had an “acknowledge client’s thoughts/feelings” response. And a couple times in the questions the last line said “After acknowledging the client’s feeling, your next step would be…” So I took that to mean that acknowledge was the correct answer.

Most of the content was predictable. I finished in just under 2 hours. I reviewed the first 20 questions because that’s how long I felt it took me to calm down and get in a good test taking state of mind.

So now I figure out the paperwork stuff and I get to make a new sign for my office door at work!