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CE Course Approval

Are you an educator or provider of programs and/or conferences? Are you interested in providing Continuing Education credits for social workers in New Jersey? If you are seeking to offer relevant and cutting-edge continuing education courses to New Jersey social workers, the Continuing Education Approval (CEA) Collaborative provides the path for you to do so.

The CEA Collaborative was created to ensure quality and timely approval of social work continuing education courses in New Jersey. It was established in response to the New Jersey Board of Social Work Examiner’s decision to refer applications for continuing education courses to other approving entities, rather than approving them directly.

Please take time to read through our guidelines before applying. If you have any questions, contact our office or email cecollaborative.naswnj@socialworkers.org

What do I need to do to apply?

Determine Your Eligibility

Any individual and/or organization who offers quality, cutting-edge, relevant courses to social work professionals may submit a course for approval.

Specific eligibility requirements include:

Applicant must submit a complete application at least ninety (90) days prior to the date of the program.
Applicant must be able to create, supply, and maintain attendance records, certificates, evaluations and additional documentation of programs. Applicant must be willing to retain attendance records and certificates for a minimum of 7 years.
Learning objectives and materials must be compliant with NJ State Board of Social Work Examiners Statutes and Regulations.

Additionally, although not required: Applicant should have a licensed social worker consultant who is involved in the planning, implementation and monitoring of the social work continuing education course submitted for approval.

Review Application Guidelines

To get started, review the following documents.

Read All Supporting Documents and Complete Your Application

It is imperative that you read all supporting documents to ensure that your application is properly and thoroughly completed. There is a $25 resubmission fee for applications that are incomplete.

It is strongly recommended that applicants of the CE Approval Collaborative consult the New Jersey State Board of Social Work Examiner’s Statutes and Regulations to review continuing education requirements for licensure renewal.

You will need to gather all documents which include, but are not limited to: resumes, bibliography, promotional materials, sign-in sheets, and certificate. Ensure that all materials are Microsoft Word Documents (.doc suffixes) or PDF files. Save all documents in a file on your computer that you can easily access for upload during the submission process.

Additionally, an Applicant Checklist has been developed to assist you in the application process.

**Please note conferences, which for CE Approval Collaborative purposes, are defined as an event where participants have the ability to choose from more than one workshop with different presenters; the number of days in which this occurs is not relevant. Please complete a separate application for each workshop/program that will occur in your conference for which you are seeking continuing education credits. Conference applications that do not follow this procedure will be not be processed. Please call 732-296-8070 ext. 128 for conference questions and pricing.

Await Approval Decision

After a correctly completed application and payment have been submitted, allow 6 to 8 weeks for processing and review. Please refrain from calling NASW-NJ to check on the status of your application until the 8-week processing period has passed.

A course approval begins the date of the approval and is extended through the current two-year licensing cycle (ends on August 31, 2020) provided the course content and course delivery format do not change. We do not offer retroactive approvals of courses that have been offered prior to a date at which a decision has been made.

In the event that the CE Approval Collaborative denies an application for initial approval or extension of approval, or terminates approval, the sponsor may appeal the decision to the NASW-NJ Board of Directors. Appeals must be made in writing to the Executive Committee at the association’s current address and must include the non-refundable administrative appeal fee of $25.

Sponsors of approved courses must conspicuously place the following statement on all publications for social work continuing education courses:

“This course, <‘course title,’> Approval #, provided by , is approved for continuing education by the New Jersey Social Work Continuing Education Approval Collaborative. CE Approval Collaborative Approval Period: . Social workers will receive <# and type of credtis> continuing education hours for participating in this course."

We strongly suggest that applicants awaiting an approval decision DO NOT include phrases such as, “Pending approval,” “CEUs applied for,” etc. Such phrases are misleading to potential registrants of a program. Prospective participants must be made aware that even though an approval has been applied for, there is a possibility that it could be rejected.

However, the CE Approval Collaborative recognizes the need for adequate promotion to ensure success of your workshop or conference. If an applicant must send out materials prior to receiving a decision, applicants must conspicuously place the following statement on all publications for social work continuing education courses:

"Please contact at or for information about continuing education credits for social workers."

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Eligible to Apply?

any individual and/or organization who offers quality, cutting-edge, relevant courses to social work professionals may submit a course for approval.

specific eligibility requirements include:

- applicant must submit a complete application at least ninety (90) days prior to the date of the program.

- applicant must be able to create, supply, and maintain attendance records, certificates, evaluations and additional documentation of programs.
- learning objectives and materials must be compliant with nj state board of social work examiners statutes and regulations.

additionally, although not required: applicant should have a licensed social worker consultant who is involved in the planning, implementation and monitoring of the social work continuing education course submitted for approval.

what are the fees?

Approvals follow the two-year NJ Board of Social Work Examiners licensing cycle beginning September 1 of even-numbered years.

Example: The current licensing cycle runs from September 1, 2020 - August 31, 2022. During this time, the approved course can be offered an unlimited number of times as long as there are no substantial changes in content, presenter or length of the program.

Your application fee is determined by:

The number of applications submitted at one time. There is a reduced fee for multiple submissions.
If you are a non-profit or for-profit organization. Non-profit organizations receive a reduced rate.
If you are seeking approval for a conference. Conference Rate is for programs that occur over consecutive dates and/or provide a selection of concurrent workshops. Conference approvals are not renewable.

Please review our Fee Schedule for Individual Applications. If you plan on submitting more than 1 application to take advantage of the reduced cost or plan on submitting multiple workshops for a conference, please call 732-296-8070 ext. 162 so that you are billed correctly.

Please Note: If an application is submitted after March 1 in the second year of the licensing cycle, approval is extended through the next 2-year cycle.

Can my Organization/Institute be an Approved Provider?

the nj bswe does not allow for provider approvals, nor does it accept approved provider status given through other states or the aswb. all courses and conference sessions must be individually approved by the nasw-nj or the aswb-nj for it to be eligible for ceus for nj social workers.

what's the approval timeline?

our collaborative strives to approve courses as quickly as possible but does require 90 days to review all materials. however, we know that's not always possible and expedited reviews are available for an additional fee. please call our office for more information about expedited applications.

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Helpful Information

Apply For Course Approval

Apply For Course Renewal