Kansas LASW Requirements: Hours, Exams & Step-by-Step Guide

Licensure at the associate level for social workers in Kansas is more complicated than the LASW title suggests. Under current Kansas law and regulation, the Behavioral Sciences Regulatory Board (BSRB) actively issues only three social work licenses:

• Licensed Baccalaureate Social Worker (LBSW)
• Licensed Master Social Worker (LMSW)
• Licensed Specialist Clinical Social Worker (LSCSW) (ksrevisor.gov)

“Licensed Associate Social Worker (LASW)” still appears in a few places (such as the adoption statute and the fee regulation), but there is no longer a current pathway to become an LASW in Kansas. What exists today is essentially a legacy/“grandfathered” credential that some long‑time licensees still hold and renew.

Because you asked specifically for a requirements guide – including hours – the sections below distinguish between:

1. What the law and regulations actually say about LASW today
2. What requirements still apply to people who already hold LASW
3. The hour‑based supervised‑experience requirements in Kansas (which apply to LSCSW, not LASW)

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1. Does Kansas still license new LASWs?

What the statutes and regulations show

Kansas’ social work statute on qualifications (K.S.A. 65‑6306) lays out the requirements for:

• Baccalaureate social worker (LBSW)
• Master social worker (LMSW)
• Social work specialties (including LSCSW)
• Community‑based social work licenses

The statute does not create a Licensed Associate Social Worker category or define qualifications for it. (law.justia.com)

The main social work regulation that defines license types and terms, K.A.R. 102‑2‑1a, likewise defines only:

• “LBSW” – licensed baccalaureate social worker
• “LMSW” – licensed master social worker
• “LSCSW” – licensed specialist clinical social worker (sos.ks.gov)

No definition of LASW appears in the current social work regulations.

The only current regulation that mentions LASW is the fee regulation (K.A.R. 102‑2‑3), and there it appears only in the renewal and late‑renewal penalty subsections:

• Licensed associate social worker (LASW) renewal fee: $50
• LASW late‑renewal penalty if expired less than one year: $50 (law.cornell.edu)

There is no corresponding “application fee” or “original license fee” line item for LASW. The only application/original license fees listed are for LBSW, LMSW, LSCSW, and related temporary or community‑based licenses. (law.cornell.edu)

Practical conclusion

Taken together, the statute, definitions regulation, and fee regulation point to this:

• Kansas no longer issues new LASW licenses.
• LASW appears only as a license that can be renewed and that some statutes still recognize as a valid credential (for example, as an approved professional to perform certain adoption assessments). (ksrevisor.gov)

Because the BSRB does not publish any current application materials or qualification rules for LASW, there is no documented, active route to become a Licensed Associate Social Worker in Kansas.

Anyone seeking an initial Kansas social work license will instead follow one of the three standard paths: LBSW, LMSW, or LSCSW.

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2. Requirements that still apply if you already hold an LASW

While new LASW licenses are not being issued, existing LASW licensees are still regulated. The clear, current requirements that involve “hours” for these licensees are continuing education (CE) hours, not supervised‑practice hours.

Continuing education hours

Summaries used by BSRB‑recognized CE providers show:

• License types covered: LASW, LBSW, LMSW, LSCSW
• Total CE required: 40 hours every 2‑year renewal period
• Ethics: At least 3 of the 40 hours must be in ethics
• Diagnosis & treatment CE: Applies only to LMSW and LSCSW; they must complete dedicated hours in “the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders” each renewal period (currently changing from 6 to 3 as of July 1, 2025, per BSRB news). (netce.com)
• One‑time safety training: At initial licensure (for any social work license), there is a one‑time requirement of 6 hours in “social work safety awareness training.” (netce.com)

This is the only clear, Kansas‑specific “hours” requirement that currently attaches to LASW in published materials: 40 CE hours per 2‑year renewal cycle, including at least 3 hours in ethics, plus the one‑time 6‑hour safety training completed at the time the license was first granted.

Supervised practice hours for LASW

There is no current Kansas statute or regulation that:

• Creates LASW as a clinical or independent‑practice license, or
• Specifies any required number of supervised post‑degree practice hours for LASW (for example, “1,500 hours of direct experience and 1,500 hours of supervised experience”).

The detailed hour‑by‑hour supervised‑experience requirements in Kansas law apply only to LSCSW, not to LASW. (sos.ks.gov)

Without any published BSRB rule or statute defining LASW qualification hours, it would not be accurate to state that LASW requires “X hours of direct experience and Y hours of supervised experience.” The legal and regulatory record simply does not support such a statement.

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3. If your real goal is supervised clinical practice: LSCSW hours

Because your example (“1,500 hours of direct experience and 1,500 hours of supervised experience”) looks very similar to Kansas’s clinical (LSCSW) standards, it may be that you are actually interested in the LSCSW pathway. Those requirements are clearly defined and very hour‑specific.

Below is a concise guide to the LSCSW supervised‑experience requirements in Kansas, in the BSRB’s own terms.

a. Degree and coursework foundation

To qualify for LSCSW, you must first:

• Hold an LMSW (which itself requires a CSWE‑accredited MSW and the ASWB master’s exam). (ksrevisor.gov)
• Complete 15 graduate‑level credit hours in diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders using the DSM, including:
  • At least one 3‑credit course whose primary focus is “psychopathology and the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders.” (sos.ks.gov)
• Complete a graduate‑level clinical practicum that includes psychotherapy and assessment and integrates DSM‑based diagnosis and treatment. (sos.ks.gov)

b. Post‑graduate supervised clinical experience (LSCSW)

Once you have an LMSW and the required coursework, Kansas requires all of the following to become an LSCSW:

1. Total supervised clinical hours

   • “At least 3,000 hours of satisfactorily evaluated postgraduate, supervised clinical social work practice experience” under a qualified LSCSW supervisor. (sos.ks.gov)

   • Timeframe: You must complete these hours in no less than 2 years and no more than 6 years. (sos.ks.gov)

2. Direct client contact within those hours

   • Of the 3,000 hours, at least 1,500 hours must be direct client contact “conducting psychotherapy and assessments with individuals, couples, families, or groups.” (sos.ks.gov)

   • “Direct client contact” is defined in regulation as providing social work services in person or via real‑time, two‑way audio/video (such as secure videoconferencing). Email, texting, and similar are not counted as direct contact. (sos.ks.gov)

3. Clinical supervision hours

   • You must “participate in at least one hour of clinical supervision for each 15 hours of direct client contact to total 100 hours of clinical supervision.” (sos.ks.gov)
   • At least 50 of these supervision hours must be individual supervision (one‑on‑one with your supervisor).
   • Supervision is generally required to be face‑to‑face, either in person or by secure synchronous videoconferencing, unless the board approves extenuating circumstances. (sos.ks.gov)

4. Clinical supervision training plan

   • Before hours start to count, you and your LSCSW supervisor must develop and co‑sign a clinical supervision training plan, using BSRB forms, and submit it to the Board for approval.
   • The plan must describe, among other things,:
     • Your practice setting and typical client population
     • Supervision goals and methods
     • How you will document the 3,000 hours and specifically the 1,500 hours of direct client contact (sos.ks.gov)
   • If you change jobs, supervisors, or other key elements, you must submit updated plan changes to the Board within 45 days; otherwise, hours during the gap do not count. (sos.ks.gov)

5. Supervisor qualifications and responsibilities

   • Your supervisor must be an LSCSW who has practiced in assessment, diagnosis, and psychotherapy for at least two years beyond clinical licensure, and meets additional conditions listed in K.A.R. 102‑2‑8(d). (sos.ks.gov)
   • The supervisor must:
     • Meet with you regularly (at least two clinical supervision sessions per month; at least one must be individual)
     • Maintain detailed supervision documentation
     • Supply a written summary and evaluation of your supervised clinical experience for your LSCSW application. (sos.ks.gov)

Only after all education, practicum, 3,000/1,500 practice hours, and 100 supervision hours are completed and approved can you sit for the ASWB clinical exam and be licensed as an LSCSW.

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4. Summary: What this means if you are targeting LASW in Kansas

Putting it all together:

• There is no active, published pathway to obtain a new LASW license in Kansas.

  • The governing statute and current BSRB regulations recognize only LBSW, LMSW, LSCSW as active social work licenses. (ksrevisor.gov)
  • LASW appears only in contexts that imply it is a legacy license (renewal and penalty fees; mention in certain statutes like adoption assessments). (law.cornell.edu)

• For individuals who already hold an LASW, the main hour‑based obligations today are:

  • 40 hours of CE every 2 years (with at least 3 in ethics), plus
  • A one‑time, 6‑hour “social work safety awareness” training requirement they would have completed at initial licensure. (netce.com)

• There is no authoritative Kansas rule setting out supervised‑practice hour requirements specific to LASW.

  • All of the detailed direct‑contact and supervision hour requirements (e.g., 3,000 hours total; 1,500 direct client hours; 100 supervision hours) are tied to the LSCSW license, not LASW. (sos.ks.gov)

• If your goal is to practice clinically or in advanced roles, the realistic Kansas pathway is:

  1. Earn LBSW or, more commonly for clinical work, LMSW.
  2. Complete the LSCSW supervised clinical experience requirements (3,000 total hours, including 1,500 direct client contact and 100 hours of clinical supervision, over 2–6 years under an LSCSW supervisor).
  3. Pass the ASWB clinical exam and apply for LSCSW licensure. (ksrevisor.gov)

In short, Kansas recognizes LASW only in a limited, legacy sense; it does not function as a current entry‑level or associate clinical license with its own supervised‑hour requirements. Anyone planning a social work career in Kansas should plan around the LBSW, LMSW, and LSCSW frameworks instead.