PDFWAC 246-809-330

Supervised 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.
(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.
(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.
[Statutory Authority: RCW 18.225.040 and 2021 c 21; RCW 18.225.090. WSR 21-20-028, § 246-809-330, filed 9/24/21, effective 10/25/21. Statutory Authority: 2019 c 444, 2019 c 446, 2019 c 351, and RCW 18.19.050, 18.205.060, 18.225.040, 43.70.110, and 43.70.250. WSR 20-12-074, § 246-809-330, filed 6/1/20, effective 7/2/20. Statutory Authority: RCW 18.225.040. WSR 17-13-082, § 246-809-330, filed 6/16/17, effective 7/17/17.]