Nevada LCSW Requirements & Hours Tracker

Nevada’s pathway to becoming a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) is tightly defined in statute (NRS 641B) and regulation (NAC 641B) under the Nevada State Board of Examiners for Social Workers. What follows is a step‑by‑step explanation with the exact hour requirements and the key language used by the Board.

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1. Basic eligibility and degree requirement

Preliminary qualifications

All Nevada social work licenses, including LCSW, require that the applicant:

• Be at least 21 years of age, and
• Be a U.S. citizen or lawfully entitled to remain and work in the United States. (nevada.public.law)

These are the “preliminary qualifications” in NRS 641B.200, which NRS 641B.240 explicitly incorporates for LCSWs. (leg.state.nv.us)

Required degree

For LCSW, Nevada law states that the Board grants a clinical social worker license to an applicant who, among other things:

“Possesses a master’s or doctoral degree in social work” from a CSWE‑accredited (or candidate) program, or an equivalent foreign degree with Board‑approved documentation. (leg.state.nv.us)

So you must have an MSW or DSW/PhD in social work meeting these criteria.

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2. Understand the core LCSW requirements under Nevada law

NRS 641B.240 is the core statute for the LCSW. It requires that, in addition to the preliminary qualifications and degree, an applicant:

1. “Completes 3,000 hours of supervised, postgraduate, clinical social work approved by the Board,” and
2. Passes an examination prescribed by the Board. (leg.state.nv.us)

NAC 641B.150 then defines in detail what those 3,000 hours must look like.

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3. Register as a Clinical Social Work Intern and get your internship approved

Before any of your post‑graduate clinical hours will count, Nevada requires you to be in an approved internship program and hold the appropriate intern registration.

Under NAC 641B.150, a clinical social work applicant (except by endorsement) must complete “an internship consisting of not less than 3,000 hours of supervised, postgraduate clinical social work” and this work must be: (law.cornell.edu)

• Undertaken in a program approved by the Board before you begin. The program must include:

  • An examination, if the Board requires it
  • An appropriate practice setting
  • Supervision by a Board‑approved supervisor
  • A Board‑approved plan of supervision (law.cornell.edu)

• Completed within a specific time frame:

  • The 3,000‑hour internship must be completed no earlier than 2 years and no later than 3 years after the Board approves the program (with the possibility of a specific extension for good cause).
  • The Board can disallow credit for all internship hours if they do not lead to issuance of the LCSW license within a certain time after the end of the program. (leg.state.nv.us)

• Limited to Nevada and to approved agencies:

  • While in a Nevada‑approved internship, you may not hold a separate postgraduate internship in another jurisdiction or engage in the practice of social work outside Nevada. (law.cornell.edu)
  • Your internship program can operate in no more than three agencies at the same time. (law.cornell.edu)

In practice, you apply to the Board as a Clinical Social Work Intern (CSW‑Intern), submit your supervision plan and site information, and wait for formal Board approval before starting hours you want counted.

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4. Clinical internship hours: exact breakdown

Unlike the example you gave (e.g., 1,500 hours direct + 1,500 supervised), Nevada’s LCSW requirements are structured differently. The Board’s regulations and NASW Nevada’s licensure summary line up on the following points:

Total hours required

• You must complete 3,000 hours of supervised, postgraduate clinical social work in an approved internship. (leg.state.nv.us)

All 3,000 hours are supervised; there is no separate block of “unsupervised” hours.

Type of clinical work within those 3,000 hours

NAC 641B.150(3) states that:

• At least 2,000 of the 3,000 hours must be “in the area of psychotherapeutic methods and techniques to persons, families and groups to help in the diagnosis and treatment of mental and emotional conditions.” (leg.state.nv.us)

Plain‑language translation:

• Minimum 2,000 hours must be direct clinical work using psychotherapy and clinical interventions with individuals, couples, families, and/or groups, specifically aimed at diagnosing and treating mental and emotional disorders.
• The remaining up to 1,000 hours of the 3,000 can be in other areas of clinical social work (for example, clinical assessment, care coordination as part of a treatment plan, certain forms of case management that are part of clinical treatment, etc.), so long as they meet the Board’s definition of “clinical social work.” (leg.state.nv.us)

The regulation also notes that, unless the Board approves something different, only about 32 psychotherapeutic hours per week (maximum 416 per quarter) will be accepted toward that 2,000‑hour psychotherapy requirement. This is to keep the hours within a reasonable full‑time range. (leg.state.nv.us)

Who must supervise those hours

NAC 641B.150(4) sets out the supervision requirements within the 3,000 hours:

• At least 1,000 of the 3,000 hours must be supervised by a Board‑approved LCSW.
• The remaining up to 2,000 hours may be supervised by:
  • A Licensed Clinical Social Worker
  • A licensed clinical psychologist
  • A psychiatrist who is licensed to practice medicine and is board‑certified (by an ABMS or AOA board or another board approved by the Nevada Social Work Board). (leg.state.nv.us)

This “1,000 hours” requirement is about who supervises those hours, not additional hours on top of the 3,000. In other words:

• You need 3,000 total supervised clinical hours, and
• Within that 3,000, at least 1,000 of those hours must be under an LCSW supervisor.

What does not count toward the 3,000 hours

NAC 641B.150 also lists activities that do not qualify as supervised, postgraduate clinical social work, such as: (leg.state.nv.us)

• Classroom instruction, workshops, or seminars used only to teach techniques
• Orientation programs
• Role‑playing exercises done instead of real client work
• Psychotherapy you receive as the intern (your own therapy)
• Practice not under the supervision of a Board‑approved agency/program

So Nevada is specific that only actual clinical practice with appropriate supervision in approved settings counts toward your 3,000 hours.

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5. Supervision schedule and supervisor responsibilities

In addition to who can supervise, the Board also regulates how supervision occurs.

Under NAC 641B.160, a supervisor of a social work intern must: (law.cornell.edu)

• Meet in person with the intern for at least 1 hour every week (individual, one‑on‑one) unless the Board specifically approves a different schedule.
• If the supervisor does not practice at the intern’s site, visit the site at least monthly (unless waived for good cause) and collaborate with any on‑site supervisor.
• Submit progress reports every 6 months and a final report to the Board on official forms.
• Be available to consult with the Board about the intern’s competence, stability, and ethics.

NAC 641B.160 also caps group supervision: no more than 24 hours of an intern’s total supervision may be in group format. (leg.state.nv.us)

Separately, NAC 641B.155 requires that an LCSW who supervises clinical interns must, among other criteria, demonstrate that their own practice includes at least 15 hours per month of clinical practice in psychotherapeutic methods and techniques (or obtain a waiver for good cause). (law.cornell.edu)

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6. Examination requirement

Nevada uses the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) exams, as codified in NAC 641B.105:

• An applicant for LCSW licensure “must pass the Clinical Examination of the Association of Social Work Boards” (or another testing administrator approved by the Board). (regulations.justia.com)

NASW Nevada’s summary for LCSW is consistent: it lists as requirements: (naswnv.socialworkers.org)

• MSW from a CSWE‑accredited program
• 3,000 hours of supervised, postgraduate clinical social work approved by the Board (with the 2,000 psychotherapeutic hours embedded)
• Passing the ASWB Clinical exam

You can take the exam at approved testing centers; Nevada allows retakes, with a 90‑day waiting period between attempts. (naswnv.socialworkers.org)

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7. Application for the full LCSW license

Once you have:

1. Met the preliminary qualifications (age and work authorization),
2. Earned the required master’s/doctoral degree in social work,
3. Completed an approved 3,000‑hour clinical internship (meeting the psychotherapeutic and supervision breakdown and timing requirements), and
4. Passed the ASWB Clinical Examination,

you then submit your application for full LCSW licensure to the Nevada Board of Examiners for Social Workers.

The Board will review:

• Documentation of your supervised hours and internship program approval
• Supervisor evaluations and Board progress reports
• Degree transcripts and any required verification for foreign degrees
• Exam results
• Background check / fingerprint report (as required under NRS 641B.202) (leg.state.nv.us)

Upon approval, the Board issues your Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) license.

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8. Brief note on maintaining licensure (for context)

After you are licensed, Nevada requires LCSWs to complete 36 hours of continuing education every 2 years, with specific content requirements in ethics, suicide prevention, and cultural competency/diversity, equity, and inclusion. (law.cornell.edu)

These CE rules do not affect how you become an LCSW, but they are part of staying licensed.

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Summary of Nevada’s LCSW hour requirements

To make the hour structure as clear as possible:

• Total hours:

  • 3,000 hours of supervised, postgraduate clinical social work in a Board‑approved internship program.

• Content of hours:

  • At least 2,000 hours must be psychotherapeutic methods and techniques with individuals, families, and groups, aimed at diagnosing and treating mental and emotional conditions.
  • Up to 1,000 hours may be other qualifying forms of clinical social work.

• Supervision within those hours:

  • At least 1,000 of the 3,000 hours must be supervised by a Board‑approved LCSW.
  • The remaining hours can be supervised by an LCSW, licensed clinical psychologist, or board‑certified psychiatrist (meeting Board criteria).

• Timing and structure:

  • Internship must be completed in roughly 2–3 years from Board approval of the program, in no more than 3 agencies at once, and entirely under a Board‑approved supervision plan.
  • Supervisors must meet with you weekly for at least one hour of individual supervision, with tight limits on how much supervision can be group‑based.

Nevada therefore does not use a simple “1,500 direct / 1,500 supervised” split. Instead, all 3,000 hours are supervised clinical practice, with the Board carving out 2,000 hours specifically in psychotherapy and 1,000 hours under an LCSW supervisor within that total.