Massachusetts Social Work Supervision Information has been prepared as a service to NASW Members, authorized by The Massachusetts Board of Registration of Social Work.

SEE ALSO:Licensing FAQsContinuing Education FAQs

WHO CAN I SUPERVISE?

LICSWs

• Can provide clinical or non-clinical supervision to individual social workers or groups of social workers.

LCSWs

• Can provide non-clinical supervision to individual social workers or groups of social workers, including social work interns

• Can provide supervision to MSW students seeking LCSW in both clinical and macro settings.

• Can provide consultation on clinical or non-clinical issues to individuals, groups, members of other professional disciplines, agencies, health care facilities, or institutions, as long as any consultation on clinical issues is provided under the clinical supervision of another social worker who is licensed or eligible for licensure as a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW) and who provides at least one hour per week of face-to-face individual clinical supervision.

• LCSWs may not complete clinical supervision forms for applicants applying for LICSW licensure, attesting that they provided clinical supervision for these applicants. The Board will consider such documentation as evidence of practicing beyond the scope of practice for LCSWs, which may result in disciplinary action being taken against the LCSW for violation of 258 CMR12.02.

LSWs

• Cannot provide clinical supervision.

• Can provide administrative supervision to individual social workers or groups of social workers who are licensed or eligible for licensure as Licensed Social Workers (LSWs) or Licensed Social Work Associates (LSWAs).

LSWAs

• Cannot provide any supervision.

If you have an LICSW and would like to supervise an aspiring social worker you can join our Member-to-Member Supervision program! This program helps LCSW members obtain LICSW supervision not provided at their worksites. LCSWs' requests are matched by practice specialty, location, interests, and accessibility to public transportation.

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HOW CAN I GET SUPERVISION?

Most organizations and agencies will provide supervision for you. If your organization or agency does not provide appropriate supervision, you can join our Member-to-Member Supervision program! This program helps LCSW members obtain LICSW supervision not provided at their worksites. LCSWs' requests are matched by practice specialty, location, interests, and accessibility to public transportation.
Member-to-Member Supervision

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HOW MANY SUPERVISION HOURS DO I NEED?

If you are working under supervision full time (35 or more hours per week) please refer to the chart found under the question “WHAT ARE THE OVERALL REQUIREMENTS FOR SOCIAL WORK LICENSURE IN MASSACHUSETTS?” in the Licensing FAQ.

If you are working less than 35 hours per week, you have a prorated requirement for supervision per week (35 work hours = 1 hour of supervision). However, you must always have at least 1 hour supervision minimum every month (~15 minutes/week).

Example:

• If you work a total of 20 hours in a week you need 0.6 hours of supervision per week (36 minutes).

• If you work a total of 17.5 hours in a week you need 0.5 hours of supervision per week (30 minutes).

• If you work a total of 8.75 hours in a week you need 0.25 hours of supervision per week (15 minutes).

• BUT if you work less than 8.75 hours in a week you MUST still have 15 minutes of supervision per week.

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WHAT TYPE OF SUPERVISION IS REQUIRED?

Regulations require individual supervision for required hours - for both scope of practice requirements, and to count towards hours for LICSW. Group supervision can supplement individual supervision, but the required hours must be filled by individual supervision. That can be in-person or virtual.

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