Brenda Dennis

Arizona Board of Behavioral Health Examiners

Term ends: October 2027

Please give a brief biography, including your education, licensure or certification level and employment history:

I have over 30 years of work experience with mental health , substance use and criminal justice. As a child, I spent time in the foster care system, and as an adult I have experienced living with close family members coping from substance use and the criminal justice system. Many of the individuals I’ve been privileged to serve have come from marginalized communities that experience health disparities. I have served as a regulator for many years, working for the state to license and certify behavioral health agencies, as well as in my volunteer roles with ASWB and my jurisdictional boards. I have experience at the state Health Authority administering complex programs serving folks with mental illnesses, and in disaster behavioral health. My legal experience includes developing the statewide program to certify forensic evaluators, and representing the state hospital in hearings for patients who were determined to be unable to consent to treatment, as well as administering the state’s firearms regulations for individuals who were committed for mental health treatment. I also have experience at the Department of Corrections and VA Hospital.

Give a synopsis of your regulatory and professional experience. Please emphasize your involvement with ASWB:

In 2022 I completed a term as Director at Large on the ASWB board, and returned to the board in 2023. Since 2015, my involvement with ASWB has included many delegate assemblies, education meetings, trainings, and committee participation, and was privileged to be the board liaison to the REAL committee for 2024-2025. I served on the Oregon Board of Licensed Social Workers board from 2011-2023, including two terms as board chair. As chair, I implemented changes , including adding agenda items for ASWB and NASW reports, acknowledging the ancestral homelands, and adding a discussion about Juneteenth into our June agendas. Social justice and DEI are more than just talk for me and I have been an active member of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists for 15 years and participate in many of the grassroots efforts benefitting the Black labor community and community at large. Currently, I am serving on the Arizona Board of Behavioral Health Examiners in my new state, giving me a unique perspective of service on both a dedicated social work board as well as a composite board.

Finally, make a brief statement on the major issues you see facing ASWB, and how you would address them:

Although there continues to be much discussion about the exam, I see an even bigger issue in the fracturing of the social work community at large. Rather than working together from various perspectives to improve the profession as a whole, the community has splintered and spent a lot of energy on division. I am very supportive of the leadership efforts of ASWB to begin to bring the community back together to strengthen the profession itself as well as ensuring provision of competent, professional social work services to the public.