How to Get Your Kansas Social Work License

Kansas licenses social workers at 3 levels: the LBSW (Licensed Baccalaureate Social Worker), the LMSW (Licensed Master Social Worker) and the LSCSW (Licensed Specialist Clinical Social Worker).

Independent clinical practice requires the LSCSW (Licensed Specialist Clinical Social Worker).

3,000 hours of post-master's supervised experience for the clinical license, including 100 hours of direct supervision.

Licensed elsewhere: Kansas licenses a social worker from another state if that state's standards are substantially equivalent, or if you have held a license at the same level for the 12 months right before applying, have no serious discipline and hold a social work degree at that level from a regionally accredited university. LSCSW applicants must also show clinical competence through two of: a national clinical exam, three years of clinical practice, or an attestation from an independent clinician.

The endorsement route expects 1 year of licensure elsewhere, counted at the level you are applying for.

The LSCSW requires at least 3,000 postgraduate hours over two to six years, including 1,500 hours of direct client contact, under a clinical supervision plan the board approves before you start. Supervision is one hour per 15 client hours, 100 hours total, at least 50 of them individual.

Holding a license at the same level for the 12 months before you apply can stand in for proving your state's standards are substantially equivalent.

Kansas also issues temporary, provisional and community-based social work licenses that expire within 12 to 24 months and cannot be renewed.

Supervisor attestations and verifications from other boards take the longest. Request them the week you decide to apply, not the week you file.