Degree: Master of Social Work
Terminal WA Licensure Degree
- Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW)
- Required for most third party reimbursement
LICSW Requirements
- MSW graduate from CSWE accredited program
- Successful completion of licensing examination administered by ASWB
- 4,000 hours post MSW experience over at minimum 3 years and under the direct supervision of a WA approved supervisor
- 1,000 hours of direct client contact
- 130 hours of supervision
- 36 hours of continuing education, 6 in ethics, 6 in suicide intervention training
Social Work Licensing Exam – required for licensure
- Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (ASWB): Human Development, Diversity, and Behavior in the Environment (31%)
- Human Development in the Life Cycle
- Human Behavior in the Environment
- Effects of Diversity
- Addictions
- Assessment, Diagnosis, and Treatment Planning (26%)
- Psychotherapy, Clinical Interventions, and Case Management, Consultation and Interdisciplinary Collaboration (25%); See Methods Defined below.
- Professional Values and Ethics (18%)
Assessment in Practice: Qualified to use of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and International Classification of Diseases (ICD) [Association of Social Work Boards, ASWB]
Methods Defined: Psychotherapy, Counseling, Case Management
Source: ASWB, Model Social Work Practice Act
- Psychotherapy means the use of treatment methods utilizing a specialized, formal interaction between a Clinical Social Worker and an individual, couple, family, or group in which a therapeutic relationship is established, maintained and sustained to understand unconscious processes, intrapersonal, interpersonal and psychosocial dynamics, and the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders, conditions and addictions.
- Counseling means a method used by social workers to assist individuals, couples, families, and groups in learning how to solve problems and make decisions about personal, health, social, educational, vocational, financial, and other interpersonal concerns.
- Case Management means a method to plan, provide, evaluate, and monitor services from a variety of resources on behalf of and in collaboration with a client.
Sources:
Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB). Model Social Work Practice Act.
https://www.aswb.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Model_law.pdf
Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB). Content Outlines and KSAs: Social Work Licensing Examinations https://www.aswb.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/MastersKSAs.pdf
