Meeting Public Comments

Toni Larson [Lutheran Family Service]

My name is Toni Larson. I am Director of Counseling for Lutheran Family Service. I have been a practicing social worker for 40 years. I support the proposed change to NOT REQUIRE that the supervision hours for licensure or renewal for licensure be required to be in person. I work for a small, private counseling agency that serves the entire state of Iowa. We have counselors located in the Quad Cities, Council Bluffs, Urbandale, Fort Dodge, Carroll, Jefferson and Manning. Because of increasing needs for mental health services, we are working to expand to other areas to meet these needs. Due to the rural expanse in Iowa, requiring inperson supervision is not feasible, practical or realistic which eliminates the potential for our agency to take on professionals working towards their licensure. Due to the pandemic, a large percentage of our counseling sessions are now being provided via telehealth. We have been able to reach clients in rural areas and in areas where we do not have a counselor available within a reasonable distance for facetoface sessions. I have been supervising my current counselors using a virtual platform since the start of the pandemic. The quality of the supervision sessions has not been adversely affected by utilizing the virtual platform. In summary, allowing supervision via a virtual or telephonic platform will allow more opportunities for those seeking licensure to obtain those hours within rural settings. It will also provide for the safety of supervisor and supervisees during pandemic conditions. The quality of the supervision will not be adversely affected.