Section 1470.20  Clinical Professional Experience

a)         Persons applying for licensure as a licensed clinical social worker shall be required to complete supervised clinical professional experience pursuant to Section 9 of the Act and this Part.

1)         Persons holding a master's degree in social work shall have completed 3,000 hours of satisfactory, supervised clinical professional experience subsequent to the receipt of the degree;

2)         Persons holding a doctorate degree in social work shall have completed 2,000 hours of satisfactory, supervised clinical professional experience subsequent to the receipt of the degree;

3)         The required number of hours may have been obtained in the following manner:

A)        for full-time experience, a minimum of 30 hours per week but not more than 40 hours per week.

B)        for part-time experience, not more than 29 hours per week.

4)         Supervised experience shall be experience directly related to clinical social work practice as defined in Section 3(5) of the Act:

A)        The supervisor shall have met with the applicant an average of at least 4 hours each month to discuss client cases and treatment procedures.

B)        Until December 31, 1994, the supervisor shall have been a certified social worker registered under the Clinical Social Work and Social Work Practice Act (formerly Social Workers Registration Act) with clinical experience, a licensed clinical social worker, a diplomate in clinical social work, a designated member of the Academy of Certified Social Workers (ACSW), a Board certified psychiatrist, a licensed clinical psychologist, a supervisor from another state who is a clinical professional credentialed at the highest level required by that state or other appropriate clinical supervisor as approved by the Social Work Examining and Disciplinary Board (the "Board").  In determining other appropriate supervisor, the Board shall consider, but not be limited to, the following:  unavailability of a person licensed under the Act, the setting in which the supervision took place, and the credentials and job responsibilities of the supervisor.

C)        After January 1, 1995, only experience supervised by a licensed clinical social worker will be acceptable to meet the professional clinical experience requirement set forth in Section 1470.20(a).  If supervision was in another jurisdiction in which clinical social workers are not licensed, the supervisor shall have been engaged in clinical social work and be credentialed at the highest level required by that jurisdiction.

D)        The experience shall have been evaluated by the supervisor as satisfactory.

E)        An applicant may contract with a licensed clinical social worker to provide supervision.

F)         Supervision may be provided within an agency of employment or outside the agency.

G)        Supervision may be paid or unpaid.

H)        Supervision may be on an individual or group basis.  When group supervision is provided the number of supervisees may not exceed five.

I)         Professional clinical experience obtained while the applicant is located in Illinois must be supervised by an Illinois licensed social worker.

b)         Persons applying for licensure as a social worker who have a baccalaureate degree in social work shall complete 3 years of supervised professional experience subsequent to obtaining the baccalaureate degree. For purposes of this subsection, supervised professional experience is that experience directly related to social work as defined in Section 3(9) of the Act.  The experience shall be:

1)         obtained under the direct supervision of a licensed social worker or licensed clinical social worker under the Clinical Social Work and Social Work Practice Act (formerly Social Workers Registration Act), a diplomate in clinical social work, a designated member of ACSW, or other appropriate supervisor as approved by the Board.

2)         satisfactory as evaluated by the supervisor.  The supervisor shall have met with the individual an average of at least 4 hours each month.

(Source:  Amended at 48 Ill. Reg. 8825, effective June 4, 2024)