Georgia LCSW Requirements & Hours Tracker

In Georgia, the title Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) is regulated by the Georgia Composite Board of Professional Counselors, Social Workers, and Marriage & Family Therapists under Chapter 135 of the Georgia Rules and Regulations and O.C.G.A. §43‑10A‑12.(rules.sos.ga.gov)

The Board is very specific about the type and number of hours you must document, and it distinguishes among direction, directed experience, and supervision. The sections below walk through the requirements in a structured way and use the Board’s own terminology.

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1. Basic eligibility

1.1. Degree requirement

To qualify for licensure as a clinical social worker you must have:

• A master’s degree in social work from a program accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE).
  This is required both by statute (O.C.G.A. §43‑10A‑12(a)(2)(A)) and by Board Rule 135‑5‑.04(2)(a).(law.justia.com)

A qualifying doctoral degree can adjust the experience requirements (see Section 3.3), but it does not replace the required MSW.

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2. Key Board definitions about hours

Before looking at numbers, it helps to understand the Board’s own terms in Rule 135‑5‑.04(5):(rules.sos.ga.gov)

• Direction
  The Board defines “direction” as the ongoing administrative oversight of a social worker by an employer or superior, who is responsible for the quality of services and for ensuring that appropriate supervision or intervention occurs when cases require expertise beyond that of the practitioner.

• Director
  The “director” is the person who provides that direction and is either the employer of the person receiving direction or that person’s superior in the employment chain of command.

• Directed Experience in the practice of Clinical Social Work
  “Directed Experience in the practice of Clinical Social Work means time spent under direction engaging in the activities defined as Clinical Social Work in Rule 135‑5‑.04(1).” In other words, these are clinical social work hours you perform while under the administrative oversight of a director.(rules.sos.ga.gov)

• Supervision
  “Supervision” is defined as the direct clinical review—for training or teaching purposes—of your interactions with clients, conducted by a qualified supervisor. It can include case presentations, audio or video review, and direct observation. The aim is explicitly to develop your clinical skills. The Board further distinguishes:(rules.sos.ga.gov)

  • Individual supervision: one supervisor with no more than two supervisees.
  • Group supervision: one supervisor with up to six supervisees.

• Supervisor (who may supervise your hours)
  A supervisor must be licensed as a Clinical Social Worker, Professional Counselor, Marriage and Family Therapist, Psychologist, or Psychiatrist and must have practiced in that specialty for at least 2,000 clock hours over a minimum of two years following licensure.(rules.sos.ga.gov)

These definitions are important because your forms and logs must clearly separate directed experience from supervision hours.

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3. Required post‑master’s experience

3.1. Three years of supervised experience

Georgia law requires, for clinical social worker licensure,

“three years’ full‑time supervised experience in the practice of social work following granting of the master’s degree. Of the three years of supervised experience, only the first two must be under direction.” (law.justia.com)

The Board’s rule (135‑5‑.04(2)(b)) defines what that three‑year period looks like numerically.

3.2. Total clinical practice hours

Under Rule 135‑5‑.04(2)(b)(1), an applicant with a master’s degree in social work must show:(rules.sos.ga.gov)

• “a minimum of 3000 hours post social work master’s degree supervised experience” in the practice of clinical social work,
• acquired over at least 36 months and no more than 108 months, and
• “the first 2000 hours of experience must be under supervision and direction in the practice of clinical social work.”

Put another way:

• 3,000 total hours of clinical social work experience
  • at least 2,000 of those hours must be completed while you are both supervised and under direction;
  • the remaining up to 1,000 hours are still part of your clinical social work practice but no longer have to be under both supervision and direction, consistent with the statute’s rule that only the first two years must be under direction.

The rules for master’s‑level social workers define, for post‑1996 experience, one year as 1,000 hours acquired in no less than 12 months and no more than 36 months.(rules.sos.ga.gov) That is the basis for equating 3 years of experience with 3,000 hours.

3.3. Time frame

Your 3,000 hours must fit inside these time limits (Rule 135‑5‑.04(2)(b)(1)):(rules.sos.ga.gov)

• Minimum: 36 months (three years)
• Maximum: 108 months (nine years) from the start of qualifying post‑master’s clinical experience

3.4. Alternate path if you also hold a qualifying doctorate

If you have an MSW and a doctoral degree in one of several specified fields—Professional Counseling, Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapy, Medicine, Psychiatric Nursing, Applied Psychology, Pastoral Counseling, or Applied Child and Family Development—Rule 135‑5‑.04(2)(c) allows you to substitute certain doctoral clinical training and reduces the numerical requirements:(rules.sos.ga.gov)

• Your doctoral program’s supervised clinical internship may count for one year of the three‑year experience requirement.
• You must still present:
  • 2 years of full‑time post‑master’s experience in Clinical Social Work under direction, defined as 2,000 hours completed in no less than 24 months and no more than 72 months, and
  • 80 hours of supervision by a duly qualified supervisor (see Section 4.2), at least 50% individual and at least 50% provided by a licensed Clinical Social Worker.

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4. Required supervision hours (separate from practice hours)

In addition to the 3,000 hours of clinical practice, you must document specified supervision hours.

4.1. Standard (master’s‑only) path

Rule 135‑5‑.04(2)(b)(1) requires that, within your 3,000 practice hours, you obtain:(rules.sos.ga.gov)

• 120 hours of clinical supervision, with:
  • No more than 50% (60 hours) in group supervision, and
  • At least 50% (60 hours) provided by a licensed Clinical Social Worker who meets the Board’s requirements to be a “duly qualified supervisor.”

Supervision is counted in hours of contact with your supervisor, not client‑contact hours.

Both you and each supervisor must keep a contemporaneous record of every supervision session—date, duration, type (individual, paired, or group), and a brief summary of the supervision activity—for submission to the Board on request.(rules.sos.ga.gov)

4.2. Doctoral‑degree path

As noted above, applicants using the doctoral‑degree option must show:(rules.sos.ga.gov)

• 80 hours of supervision,
  • No more than 50% group supervision,
  • At least 50% of supervision hours provided by a licensed Clinical Social Worker.

4.3. Who qualifies as your supervisor

Under the definitions for Rule 135‑5‑.04(5)(e):(rules.sos.ga.gov)

• A supervisor must be licensed as one of the following:
  • Clinical Social Worker
  • Professional Counselor
  • Marriage and Family Therapist
  • Psychologist
  • Psychiatrist
• The supervisor must have at least 2,000 clock hours of post‑licensure practice over a minimum of two years in that specialty.

However, because the rule also requires that at least 50% of your supervision hours come from a licensed Clinical Social Worker, not all of your supervision can be provided by non‑LCSW supervisors.(rules.sos.ga.gov)

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5. Where your “directed experience” must occur

The Board ties “directed experience in the practice of Clinical Social Work” directly to the definition of Clinical Social Work in Rule 135‑5‑.04(1).(rules.sos.ga.gov)

Clinical social work, as defined by the Board, includes:

• All services authorized to licensed master’s social workers, plus
• Providing supervision and direction;
• Conducting psychosocial evaluations using data collection and analysis to determine mental, cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and interpersonal problems or conditions;
• Providing counseling and psychotherapy to individuals, marriages, couples, families, and groups;
• Interpreting psychosocial dynamics and recommending and implementing courses of action;
• Providing evaluation, casework, advocacy, education, training, prevention, and intervention services in settings such as private practice, family service and counseling agencies, health care facilities, and schools.(rules.sos.ga.gov)

To count toward the 3,000 hours, your work must:

1. Be clinical in this sense, and
2. Be performed under direction (and, for the first 2,000 hours, also under supervision).

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6. Documentation the Board expects

The Secretary of State’s “How to Guide: Clinical Social Worker” spells out the application checklists. For licensure by examination, the Board requires at least the following:(sos.ga.gov)

• Completed, signed, notarized online application with fee;
• Post‑Graduate Directed Experience Verification Form (Form B);
• Post‑Graduate Supervision Verification Form (Form C);
• Official conferred transcripts (showing your CSWE‑accredited MSW and, if applicable, your qualifying doctorate);
• National background check;
• Documentation and explanations for any disciplinary or legal issues;
• Verification of any licenses held in other states;
• Secure & verifiable identity document and affidavit of citizenship/immigration documents, as applicable.

For licensure by exam waiver (if you have already passed the ASWB Clinical exam in another jurisdiction), you must still submit Forms B and C documenting directed experience and supervision hours, plus proof of having passed the national exam.(sos.ga.gov)

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7. Examination requirement

After your experience and supervision are complete, Rule 135‑5‑.04(4) requires you to:(rules.sos.ga.gov)

• Submit an application for licensure;
• Once approved, sit for the ASWB Clinical examination;
• Take the first scheduled exam for which you qualify unless you can show good cause for postponement;
• Remain under supervision if you fail the exam until you have passed;
• You are allowed up to three attempts under this rule before additional Board action is required.

The Board’s online How‑To Guide emphasizes that you must be Board‑approved before registering with ASWB to test.(naswga.socialworkers.org)

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8. Numeric summary of Georgia LCSW hour requirements

For a typical MSW‑only applicant:

• 3 years full‑time supervised experience in social work after the MSW (statutory requirement).(law.justia.com)
• 3,000 hours of post‑MSW clinical social work experience (“supervised experience”), acquired in no less than 36 months and no more than 108 months.
  • First 2,000 hours must be under both supervision and direction in the practice of clinical social work.(rules.sos.ga.gov)
• 120 hours of clinical supervision, with:(rules.sos.ga.gov)
  • At most 60 hours in group supervision;
  • At least 60 hours with an LCSW supervisor;
  • Individual supervision sessions involving no more than two supervisees; group supervision sessions involving no more than six.
• Supervisor must be an LCSW, LPC, LMFT, psychologist, or psychiatrist with 2,000 post‑licensure hours over at least two years, and at least half of your supervision hours must come from an LCSW.(rules.sos.ga.gov)

For an MSW + qualifying doctorate:

• 2,000 hours of post‑MSW directed clinical social work experience over 24–72 months, plus credit for the doctoral clinical internship (substituting for one year).
• 80 hours of supervision, with the same 50% individual / 50% LCSW minimums.(rules.sos.ga.gov)

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9. After licensure: renewal and continuing education (briefly)

Once licensed, LCSWs in Georgia renew every two years and must complete, under Board Rule 135‑9‑.01:

• 35 hours of continuing education every two‑year cycle, including:
  • 5 hours of ethics (in‑person or synchronous),
  • 15 “core” hours,
  • 15 “core or related” hours.(naswga.socialworkers.org)

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This reflects the Georgia Composite Board’s rules current through filings as of November 4, 2025. For an application in progress, it is prudent to download the latest version of Rule 135‑5‑.04 (Clinical Social Workers) from the Georgia rules website or the Board’s “Board Laws and Rules” page and to follow the Secretary of State’s Clinical Social Worker How‑To Guide and forms B and C when documenting your hours.