Law change helps social work students serve communities faster  

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) -- Missouri Western State University social work students are now one step closer to their careers, thanks to new legislation that opens the door for them to receive mentorship and sit for their licensing exam. 

In the past, students had to graduate from an accredited program before they could even take the exam. That created big hurdles, especially for those in Northwest and Northeast Kansas where the need for social workers in areas like mental health, substance use, and child welfare is critical  

“The rural population for substance use or mental health or child welfare need social services systems which desperately need our workforce so I wrote a letter to the licensing board saying would you all entertain the idea of addressing this stature,” Grey Endres, Associate professor of Social Work said.  

Working alongside colleagues in the department, Endres met with the board, researched how other states handled the issue, and found that Kansas and Iowa already had more flexible paths in place. That research helped push Missouri to act.  

Last spring, the team submitted a proposal, and by June, Missouri Western’s program was officially recognized as “in candidacy.” That means students don’t have to wait until full accreditation to gain the experience and mentorship they need. 

“The other states already had addressed this. Kansas says graduate from an accredited university or other university that has been approved by the licensing board,” Edres said.  

Senate Bill 150 carried the change through the legislature in 2024, passing with no opposition. Endres credits the success to a simple guiding principle: “Our goal was to do no harm.”  

“They looked at our policies and they looked at our procedures and they are developing assessment tools to collect data to see how effective are our students with the program,” Edres said.  

Already, students from the first two cohorts have contributed more than 32,000 hours of practicum work across the community — from hospice care and hospitals to child protection services, the Salvation Army, and Catholic Charities.  

“Our goal is to grow, this isn’t glass shattering legislation there are 30 other states that have already addressed this and there were only 20 states that had very specific barriers,” Eders said.  

With the new law in place, those students can now sit for the licensing exam, enter supervised practice, and begin working toward their clinical license.