I turned to the Therapist Development Center after searching online for a course of study to prepare for the LBSW exam. I am a Behavioral Health Case Manager for an insurance company. Recent legislative changes have made it mandatory to have a license to work in certain lines of business. Because I graduated 35 years ago, creating a plan of study was a daunting proposition! A day long webinar or workshop wasn’t going to cut if for me. While I found the ASWB study guide a helpful outline of what to study, my college notes and materials are long gone. Calls to local universities for help led nowhere. I found a plethora of sites selling study materials and offering mock test samples that I truly believe are meant to terrify the seeker into failing miserably on their tests so that a fear based purchase of their equally miserable study materials will be made! To that end, I am the owner of a costly set of poorly written, poorly laid out and flimsy flash cards that contained a lot of material that never showed up on the exam.
If 35 years of advocating for the underdog in my field taught me anything, it was to persevere until I found the answer. I liked what I read about the Therapist Development Center ownership and study format designed by Social Workers who took the test and are available to mentor as needed. Although the site is designed for LMSW and LCSW study I wrote them anyway. They validated the findings I shared above and offered me online materials which are well organized and enforce learning with lecture, note formats, study guides, quizzes, tests and mock exams. BINGO. While reading about how the test questions are designed in the ASWB guide is helpful, I didn’t get the hang of it, until I listened to Amanda Rowan’s explanations presented with real life situations and terms I could grasp. Not only did I find a course of study that helped me to pass with flying colors, I now have a quick reference binder full of topical guides, definitions, best practices based in theory that are relevant in my every day job. I needed very little mentoring but did get help in recall areas. Thank you Emily Pellegrino for being there!
The course of study provided meaning to the reason one gets a license in the first place.