Licensure Requirements, Application Process, and Supervision
DORA's Division of Professions and Occupations processes social work applications online, while the Board sets substantive requirements in statute and Board rule. Items here test the sequence of requirements, what counts as qualifying supervised experience, and who is allowed to supervise.
Requirements by credential
- LSW: master's or doctoral degree in social work from a CSWE-accredited program; ASWB Masters examination; application, fee, and fingerprint-based CBI/FBI background check.
- LCSW: the LSW base plus post-degree supervised clinical experience and the ASWB Clinical examination. Colorado credits hours only when the supervision itself satisfies Board rule - a defined total of practice hours, a set number of supervision hours, a required share delivered one-to-one, and supervision distributed across the experience rather than bunched at the end. Hour totals and ratios are amended by rule; learn the structure and confirm current numbers.
- SWC: candidate status held while requirements are being completed.
Who may supervise
Clinical supervisors must hold an active, unencumbered Colorado LCSW, must not be a relative or in a relationship creating a dual role, and must accept professional responsibility for the supervisee's clinical work. A written supervision plan or contract is filed, and supervision contacts are documented on Board forms.
Building the application file
Official transcripts sent directly by the institution; exam scores transferred from ASWB; supervision verification signed by the supervisor; background check results; fee. Renewal runs on a two-year cycle with continuing professional development and attestation questions.
Worked example
An applicant moves to Colorado with 2,000 documented supervised hours earned elsewhere, where the supervisor was an LPC. Reasoning: quantity alone is not enough. Colorado credits only hours earned under a supervisor meeting Colorado's criteria, with the required individual supervision mix, documented on the Board's form. She should expect the Board to credit only compliant hours and should ask about licensure by endorsement, which turns on substantial equivalence of the other jurisdiction's requirements - not on years worked or hours amassed.
Traps
Counting hours accrued before the qualifying degree; counting hours supervised by someone unqualified; assuming out-of-state hours transfer automatically; assuming supervision can be papered retroactively after the fact; treating candidate status as authority for independent practice; ignoring that supervision must be contemporaneous and documented.