Michigan LLMSW-Macro Requirements & Hours Tracker

In Michigan, the “LLMSW–Macro” is a Limited Master’s Social Worker license held while you complete the supervised macro‑practice experience needed for full LMSW licensure with a macro designation. The Michigan Board of Social Work (through LARA) regulates this through the Social Work General Rules in the Michigan Administrative Code.

Below is a step‑by‑step look at what the Board actually requires, with a focus on hours and how they are defined in rule.

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1. Understand the two licenses involved

To practice at the master’s level with a macro focus, you move through two licenses:

1. Limited Master’s Social Worker (LLMSW)

   • This is the limited license you hold specifically “to accumulate the supervised work experience required for full licensure.” (regulations.justia.com)
   • Colloquially, if you are pursuing macro practice, people call this LLMSW–Macro, although the rules themselves simply call it a “limited master’s social worker license.”

2. Licensed Master’s Social Worker (LMSW) – macro designation

   • This is the full license, with the macro specialty formally attached.
   • The detailed hour requirements (4,000 hours, supervision structure, etc.) are written in the rules for the full LMSW and must be completed while you hold the limited license. (regulations.justia.com)

So when we talk about “hours for LLMSW–Macro,” we are really talking about the hours you must complete while holding the LLMSW in order to qualify for the LMSW with macro designation.

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2. Educational prerequisite

Before you can get the LLMSW:

• You must have completed a master’s or doctoral degree in social work from a program that meets the standards in rule R 338.2923 (i.e., a CSWE‑compliant program). (regulations.justia.com)

The Board will not issue your master’s‑level license until graduation is confirmed.

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3. Getting the Limited Master’s Social Worker (LLMSW) license

To get the LLMSW (the limited license you’ll use while accumulating macro hours), the Board requires that you: (regulations.justia.com)

1. Submit an application and fee on the department’s form.
2. Have completed the qualifying MSW or DSW program (as above).
3. Practice under the supervision of a master’s social worker and in an approved setting (see below).
4. Meet statewide requirements under the Public Health Code, which include:
   • Criminal background check and good moral character standards.
   • Human trafficking training (2 hours, one‑time) for all licensed social workers. (ssw.umich.edu)
   • Implicit bias training: new applicants must complete 2 hours within the 5 years before issuance of the license. (netce.com)

Limited license duration

• The LLMSW is issued for 1 year and may be renewed no more than 6 times for the purpose of accumulating supervised experience. (regulations.justia.com)
• That gives you up to 7 years total in limited status to earn the required macro hours (though most people finish in about 2–4 years).

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4. The core hour requirement: 4,000 supervised macro hours

4.1 Total hours

The Michigan Board sets a single, unified hour requirement for master’s‑level licensure:

• You must complete at least 4,000 hours of post‑degree supervised work experience, accrued over not less than 2 years, to qualify for the LMSW. (regulations.justia.com)

For macro designation, those 4,000 hours must be macro‑type social work experience (explained in section 5).

Important: the rules do not split this into separate “direct service hours” versus “supervised hours” (e.g., 1,500 + 1,500). Instead:

• All 4,000 hours are supervised post‑degree social work experience.
• Supervision has its own minimum monthly requirement (4 hours/month) but is not stated as a separate total (like “100 supervision hours”) in the current Board rules. (regulations.justia.com)

Secondary sources sometimes talk about “100 hours of supervision”; that is a common rule‑of‑thumb, but it does not appear as a fixed total in the current administrative code.

4.2 You must hold the LLMSW while earning those hours

The Board is explicit that these hours:

• May only be earned while holding a Michigan limited master’s social worker license issued under R 338.2947. (regulations.justia.com)

So employment or practice before your LLMSW does not count toward the 4,000 hours.

4.3 Where you can work

Your supervised experience must be in settings pre‑approved under the Social Work portion of the Public Health Code:

• An agency, health facility, institution, or other entity approved by the Board under MCL 333.18506, meaning a place where a master’s social worker actually practices at the master’s level. (regulations.justia.com)

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5. How the Board defines the type of macro hours

For the macro designation, the Board specifies the kinds of activities that count toward those 4,000 hours. They must be:

• Completed in accordance with the general LMSW rules in R 338.2949, and
• Supervised by a Michigan‑licensed master’s social worker holding a macro designation. (ars.apps.lara.state.mi.us)

The experience itself must fall into one or both of these macro areas (paraphrased from R 338.2951): (ars.apps.lara.state.mi.us)

1. Administration / management / policy‑level macro work, such as:

   • Administration, management, and supervision of human service organizations.
   • Translating laws and administrative rulings into organizational policies and procedures.
   • Collaboration, coordination, mediation, and consultation among organizations, disciplines, and communities.
   • Community organizing and community development.
   • Research and program evaluation.
   • Seeking social justice through legislative processes or broader social action/advocacy.
   • Improving social conditions through social planning and policy formulation.
   • Social work education and training.

2. Advanced macro interventions in systems, meaning:

   • Applying macro social work processes and systems to improve the social or health services of communities, groups, or organizations through planned interventions.

As long as your job duties fit into those categories and your supervisor holds the macro designation, the hours can be counted toward the macro LMSW requirement.

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6. Supervision structure: monthly hours and format

The rules lay out very specific supervision conditions for LMSW applicants (which you must follow as an LLMSW collecting hours):

6.1 Monthly supervision hours

Your supervised work experience must include: (regulations.justia.com)

• At least 4 hours of supervision per month, and
• At least 2 of those hours must be individual (one‑on‑one) supervision.

The remaining supervision time (up to 2 of the 4 hours per month) may be group supervision, as long as it meets the Board’s requirements.

6.2 Acceptable formats

Meetings with your supervisor may occur:

• Individually and in person,
• Individually via telecommunications that allows live and simultaneous contact (e.g., secure video), or
• In a group format, provided that at least 50% of the total supervision includes individual contact where your active work functions and records are reviewed. (regulations.justia.com)

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7. Time limits and weekly hour caps

The Board also defines exactly how fast (or slowly) you can accumulate the 4,000 supervised macro hours:

1. Minimum duration

   • The 4,000 hours must be completed over no fewer than 2 years. (regulations.justia.com)

2. Annual cap

   • You may not accumulate more than 2,080 hours of supervised work experience in any 12‑month period. (regulations.justia.com)

3. Weekly range

   • You must average at least 16 hours, but not more than 40 hours, of supervised work experience per week. (regulations.justia.com)

4. Functioning as a master’s social worker

   • Throughout this period, you must actually be functioning as a master’s social worker, using social work knowledge and techniques at the graduate level (not, for example, in a purely clerical role). (regulations.justia.com)

If you reach 4,000 hours but don’t quite meet the weekly or annual distribution requirements, the rules allow you to ask the Board for a waiver of the strict time distribution language. (regulations.justia.com)

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8. Supervision and designation match

Because you are going for macro:

• Your supervisor must be an LMSW with the macro designation (or the equivalent in another state, if the experience is out‑of‑state), and must remain in good standing throughout the supervision period. (ars.apps.lara.state.mi.us)

If you instead work under a clinical LMSW and conduct primarily clinical activities (psychotherapy, diagnosis of individuals, etc.), those hours would be counted toward the clinical designation, not macro, under the rules.

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9. Examinations required

The exam requirement attaches to the full LMSW license, not to the LLMSW itself:

• To obtain the LMSW with macro designation, you must pass the ASWB Advanced Generalist examination (referred to in the rules as the “advanced generalist examination”). (ars.apps.lara.state.mi.us)

There is no licensing exam requirement at the point you obtain the LLMSW; that exam comes when you apply for the full LMSW.

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10. Adding a second designation later (optional)

If, after becoming an LMSW–Macro, you later want to add the clinical designation (or vice versa), the Board requires: (ars.apps.lara.state.mi.us)

• An additional 2,000 hours of post‑degree social work experience in the second specialty area (over at least 1 year),
• At least 50 hours of supervisory review during that period, and
• Passing the appropriate second exam (Advanced Generalist for macro or Clinical for clinical).

This is separate from your initial 4,000 hours for the first designation.

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11. How Michigan categorizes hours (answering your “type of hours” question)

Putting the Board’s language together:

• Total practice hours:

  • 4,000 hours of post‑degree supervised work experience in macro practice, minimum 2 years, earned while holding the LLMSW. (regulations.justia.com)

• Supervision dose:

  • Supervision must occur monthly (at least 4 hours/month, including 2 hours of individual supervision), not as a separate fixed total like “1,500 supervision hours.” (regulations.justia.com)

• Distribution controls:

  • No more than 2,080 hours per 12 months, with a weekly average between 16 and 40 hours.

The Michigan Board does not divide the requirement into buckets such as:

• “X hours of direct client contact” plus
• “Y hours of supervision”

the way some other states do (for example, “1,500 direct + 1,500 supervised”). Instead, the rules focus on:

1. A single 4,000‑hour total of supervised macro social work experience, and
2. How that experience occurs (supervisor credentials, macro content, monthly supervision minimum, and time distribution). (regulations.justia.com)

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12. Snapshot summary

To move from new MSW graduate to LMSW–Macro in Michigan:

1. Earn your MSW/DSW from a program meeting R 338.2923. (regulations.justia.com)
2. Obtain the LLMSW (limited license)
   • Application + fee,
   • Degree completed,
   • Meet statewide requirements (background check, human trafficking training, implicit bias training, etc.). (regulations.justia.com)
3. Work in Board‑approved settings under an LMSW–Macro supervisor, accumulating macro‑type duties as defined in R 338.2951. (ars.apps.lara.state.mi.us)
4. Complete at least 4,000 hours of post‑degree supervised macro social work experience over at least 2 years, averaging 16–40 hours/week and not exceeding 2,080 hours per 12 months. (regulations.justia.com)
5. Throughout that period, receive at least 4 hours of supervision per month, with 2 hours/month one‑on‑one (in person or live telecommunication), with the remainder allowable in group format meeting Board standards. (regulations.justia.com)
6. When the hours and supervision are complete, pass the ASWB Advanced Generalist exam and apply for the LMSW with macro designation. (ars.apps.lara.state.mi.us)

That is the structure—and the specific hour language—the Michigan Board of Social Work uses for LLMSW holders pursuing macro licensure.