WSR 21-20-028
PERMANENT RULES
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
[Filed September 24, 2021, 3:16 p.m., effective October 25, 2021]
Effective Date of Rule: Thirty-one days after filing.
Purpose: WAC 246-809-330 Supervised postgraduate experience requirements. The purpose of this amendment to WAC 246-809-330 is to remove the limit on distance supervision hours that may be obtained by social worker associates applying for licensure, consistent with statutory amendments made by SHB 1007 (chapter 21, Laws of 2021). In addition to bringing department rule into alignment with statute, these amendments will support social worker associates providing telemental health services during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and their ability to complete the supervised experience hours necessary for full licensure.
Citation of Rules Affected by this Order: Amending WAC 246-809-330.
Other Authority: SHB 1007 (chapter 21, Laws of 2021); RCW
18.225.090.
Adopted under notice filed as WSR 21-13-148 on June 22, 2021.
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Comply with Federal Statute: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Federal Rules or Standards: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Recently Enacted State Statutes: New 0, Amended 1, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted at the Request of a Nongovernmental Entity: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted on the Agency's own Initiative: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted in Order to Clarify, Streamline, or Reform Agency Procedures: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0.
Number of Sections Adopted using Negotiated Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; Pilot Rule Making: New 0, Amended 0, Repealed 0; or Other Alternative Rule Making: New 0, Amended 1, Repealed 0.
Date Adopted: September 23, 2021.
Kristin Peterson, JD
Deputy Secretary
Policy and Planning
for Umair A. Shah, MD, MPH
Secretary
OTS-3066.1
AMENDATORY SECTION(Amending WSR 20-12-074, filed 6/1/20, effective 7/2/20)
WAC 246-809-330Supervised postgraduate experience requirements.
(1) Licensed advanced social worker.
(a) Applicants who have held an active advanced social worker license for the past five consecutive years or more in another state or territory, without a disciplinary record or disqualifying criminal history, are deemed to have met the supervised experience requirements for Washington state licensure in subsection (1)(c) of this section.
(b) In accordance with RCW
18.225.090 and
18.225.095, for applicants who can demonstrate they have practiced as a substance use disorder professional for at least three years within ten years from the date their application for an advanced social worker license is submitted to the department, the department shall reduce the total required supervised hours from three thousand two hundred hours to two thousand eight hundred eighty hours. The requirements in subsection (3)(c)(i) through (iii) of this section shall apply regardless of the reduction of total required hours.
(c) The supervised experience requirement consists of a minimum of three thousand two hundred hours with ninety hours of supervision by a licensed independent clinical social worker or a licensed advanced social worker who has been licensed or certified for at least two years. Of those hours:
(i) Eight hundred hours must be in direct client contact; and
(ii) Ninety hours must be in direct supervision as follows:
(A) Fifty hours must include direct supervision by a licensed advanced social worker or licensed independent clinical social worker; these hours may be in one-to-one supervision or group supervision; and
(B) Forty hours may be with an equally qualified licensed mental health practitioner as defined in WAC 246-809-310(3). These hours must be in one-to-one supervision((; and
(iii) Distance supervision is limited to forty supervision hours)).
(2) Licensed independent clinical social worker.
(a) Applicants who have held an active independent clinical social worker license for the past five consecutive years or more in another state or territory, without a disciplinary record or disqualifying criminal history, are deemed to have met the supervised experience requirements for Washington state licensure in (c) of this subsection.
(b) In accordance with RCW
18.225.090 and
18.225.095, for applicants who can demonstrate they have practiced as a substance use disorder professional for at least three years within ten years from the date their application for an independent clinical social worker license is submitted to the department, the department shall reduce the total required supervised hours from four thousand hours to three thousand six hundred hours. The requirements in subsection (2)(c)(i) and (ii) of this section shall apply regardless of the reduction of total required hours.
(c) The experience requirement consists of a minimum of four thousand hours of experience, over a period of not less than three years. Of those four thousand hours:
(i) One thousand hours must be direct client contact supervised by a licensed independent clinical social worker;
(ii) One hundred thirty hours of direct supervision as follows:
(A) Seventy hours must be with an independent clinical social worker;
(B) Sixty hours may be with an equally qualified licensed mental health practitioner as defined in WAC 246-809-310(3); and
(C) Sixty hours of the one hundred thirty hours of direct supervision must be in one-to-one supervision. The remaining seventy hours may be in one-to-one supervision or group supervision((; and
(D) Distance supervision is limited to sixty supervision hours)).
(3) Licensed social worker associate-advanced and licensed social worker associate-independent clinical applicants are not required to have supervised postgraduate experience prior to becoming an associate.
(4) Licensed social worker associate-advanced and licensed social worker associate-independent clinical applicants must declare they are working toward full licensure.