Several professionals have questions about the license renewal process, especially surrounding the continuing education requirements. This article will address one question of the many:
Several professionals have questions about the license renewal process, particularly in regards to the required continuing education. This article will focus on one of those questions: "Where do I find the continuing education requirements for my license?" This is a common question, however, the answer is vital to know. The answer to this question will explained in this article, using the field of Licensed Social Workers as the example.
Those that have renewed their license many times will usually already have the answer to this question. CE requirements typically remain constant and don't change much. However, what if the licensing board does make a change? Or, what if you are newly licensed and don't know what is required to renew your license? Navigating to find the answer can be daunting, if you have no idea where to begin the process. After the path to the answer has been explained, you will be able to go directly to the source easily.
The first place you will want to go is to the official website of your governing State Board. For example, if you are a licensed Social Worker in Oregon, you will need to access the home page of the Oregon Board of Licensed Social Workers (located at http://www.oregon.gov/BLSW/index.shtml). Everything is going online. Your state board's info is no exception. The information found here is plentiful and useful. You may find it handy to use the bookmark feature in your internet browser to mark this page for easy access later on.
Once on the main site, you will want to find the appropriate link to the boards rules and regulations. The link you are looking for will usually be among a list of links located on the right side or left side of the page. Clicking on the link will do one of two things, take you immediately to the rules document, or to a subpage of the website where the rules document can be accessed from there. Licensed Social Workers in Oregon will find the latter to be the case. One note, the link in this case is listed as "Laws and Rules".
Once you have found the "Rules and Regulations" document you will need to locate the section usually titled "Continuing Education Requirements" or just "Continuing Education". For licensed Social Workers in Oregon, the title of this section is "Continuing Education Reporting Requirements". You will find the precise answer to the question posed above in this section of the board's website. Even if you have renewed your license several times, you should still look up this information before each renewal just in case there have been changes. Protect yourself from damages that would occur from not following the updated rules put in place since your last renewal.
