Nevada LCSW Internship: The 3,000-Hour Post-Graduate Clinical Internship

1. Apply First, Then Start Counting

The board's internship page says you must have an MSW degree and a current LMSW license in Nevada to be in an internship, and the Policy defines the intern as an LMSW who has passed the ASWB Masters exam. The internship certification itself is "a non-renewable certification and is not a license" (Infosheet). Under NAC 641B.240(2), you use the title "intern" in all communications within the scope of your practice, including those with clients and the board.

The program has to be approved before you begin it (NAC 641B.150(1)(a)). The application has two parts: Part 1 from the intern, and Part 2, the supervision contract, from the clinical supervisor, which sets out the period of the contract and any reimbursement paid by the intern or the site. "An application is not considered complete until both parts are submitted and approved" (Policy). An application that is not completed within six months is considered closed, and the fee is not refunded (board internship application page). The Policy gives 60 to 90 days for site application review.

Nothing counts before approval. NAC 641B.155(7) says the board will not recognize time spent under a supervisor who has not been approved, or under an agreement that has not been approved. Changes later in the internship (adding or closing a site, changing supervisor, changing jobs at a site) need a partial application and an updated contract. The Policy says the intern may not practise at the new site or with the new supervisor until the changes are approved, and the Infosheet says the Board is committed to processing partial applications within 30 days of the point they are considered complete.

2. Where the Hours Can Happen

Practice that is not under the supervision of an agency approved by the board does not qualify (NAC 641B.150(7)(e), as amended by R103-23). The rule sets six agency criteria: the clients are agency clients, the agency owns the records, the agency appoints a board-approved supervisor, the supervisor reviews the intern's work, the supervisor has complete access to the records, and "Any compensation for the services of the intern is provided directly by the agency." The Policy adds that the site must be an agency with a defined mental health or clinical program, and that an agency cannot use an internship as a means to start a program.

The board authorizes a program at not more than three agencies simultaneously (NAC 641B.150(3), as amended by R103-23). While in an approved internship, an intern shall not hold a postgraduate internship in another jurisdiction or practise social work outside Nevada (NAC 641B.150(2), as amended by R103-23). The Infosheet says the intern must be living and practicing in Nevada; the Policy adds that the intern and the clinical supervisor must both live in Nevada or designated border communities.

On telehealth, the Policy says the board "will not approve any site that solely provides virtual / telehealth treatment" and that "a hybrid model of both in person and virtual treatment is required." Virtual hours must be conducted from the agency, not from your home (Infosheet).

When the clinical supervisor is off-site, meaning not employed or contracted by the site, the site designates a Nevada licensed on-site mental health professional and clinical leadership signs an Access Letter, which the intern submits with the application for each such agency (Policy; Access Letter template). Until 1,000 clinical hours, 500 administrative hours and 50 hours of supervision, the intern may not do direct practice with clients unless the supervisor or that on-site professional is on-site and available for immediate consultation. After that point, the consultation may be indirect (cell phone, video conferencing) if the clinical supervisor is agreeable (Policy).

3. The Three Hour Categories

The rule sets 3,000 hours of supervised postgraduate clinical social work, with at least 2,000 in psychotherapeutic methods and techniques (NAC 641B.150(1), (4), as amended by R103-23). The board's own finish line is expressed differently: 24 months of practice, 2,000 hours of clinical practice, 1,000 hours of administrative practice, 104 hours of supervision, and a passed clinical exam (Policy; Termination Form). The Infosheet states it directly: "it is not 3000 hours in total, it is 2000 / 1000 / 104 hours as listed above." You need the required hours in each category, and the board will not move hours from one category to another (Infosheet).

The Infosheet lists three things that do not count: attending workshops or trainings, supervision by someone other than your clinical supervisor, and supervising field practicum students. NAC 641B.150(7), as amended by R103-23, also excludes classes, workshops or seminars, orientational programs, role-playing as a substitute for actual social work, the intern's own psychotherapy, and any other activity the board determines is not within the scope of clinical social work practice.

4. The Weekly and Six-Month Limits, Worked Out

Three limits apply at once. NAC 641B.150(4), as amended by R103-23, says that unless the board approves otherwise, "an average of 32 hours per week, not to exceed 416 hours in each quarter," of psychotherapeutic hours is accepted toward the 2,000. The Infosheet caps your total at 40 hours per week "regardless of how many sites you are practicing at," and says that figure includes clinical, administrative and supervision hours. The Progress Report form prints a maximum of 1,040 hours per reporting period. The NAC's limit is per quarter; the progress reports are every 6 months (NAC 641B.160(3)(c)). Do not read one as the other.

A worked week (arithmetic, not a requirement). An intern works 28 clinical hours, 11 administrative hours and the 1 hour of weekly individual supervision. That is 28 + 11 + 1 = 40 hours, which uses the whole weekly total, and the 28 clinical hours sit under the 32-hour average.

A worked reporting period (arithmetic, not a requirement). Repeat that week for 26 weeks. Clinical: 28 x 26 = 728. Administrative: 11 x 26 = 286. Supervision: 1 x 26 = 26. The total is 728 + 286 + 26 = 1,040, exactly the figure printed on the Progress Report. Four such periods give 2,912 clinical, 1,144 administrative and 104 supervision hours, so in this example the 104 is reached at the end of the fourth period, and the clinical and administrative minimums were passed earlier. The example assumes no missed weeks. A week with less than 40 hours simply produces fewer.

That example also shows why the hours-in-each-category rule matters. An intern who logs 40 hours a week of mostly administrative work reaches 1,000 administrative hours well before 2,000 clinical hours, and the extra administrative hours cannot be moved into the clinical column (Infosheet).

5. Supervision: 104 Hours and the Rules Around Them

The Policy sets 104 as the minimum number of supervision hours for completing the internship. Except as subsection 4 allows for remote supervision, the supervisor shall meet in person with the intern, individually, for at least 1 hour every week unless the board directs a different schedule (NAC 641B.160(3)(a)). When supervising remotely, the supervisor may use telecommunication technologies but "must conduct weekly meetings with the intern either in person or using such technologies" (NAC 641B.160(4), as amended by R103-23). The Policy says face-to-face supervision is preferred and that the board will allow telecommunication technologies. Not more than 24 hours of the total supervision may be group supervision (NAC 641B.160(5)), and the Policy requires the clinical supervisor to be present at the group.

If the intern practices social work at a site at which the supervisor does not practice social work, the supervisor visits the site at least once every month and as necessary consults with the on-site supervisor, unless the board waives this for good cause (NAC 641B.160(3)(b)).

Who may supervise. At least 1,000 hours must be supervised by an LCSW approved by the board; the remaining hours may be supervised by an LCSW, a licensed clinical psychologist or a board-certified psychiatrist (NAC 641B.150(5), as amended by R103-23). The Policy states the board's own version: after mandatory Board Supervision Training, a licensed clinical psychologist, licensed psychiatrist, marriage and family therapist, clinical professional counselor or psychiatric APRN can supervise up to 1,000 clinical hours, 500 administrative hours and 52 supervision hours, with the remaining hours under an LCSW. A supervisor needs at least 3 years of experience after obtaining all applicable licenses and certifications, at least 15 hours per month of clinical practice in psychotherapeutic methods and techniques (the board may waive this for good cause), and board-specified training repeated every 5 years (NAC 641B.155(1)). A supervisor may have more than four interns at one time only with prior board approval (NAC 641B.155(3)(d)).

Who may not. Under NAC 641B.155(3), a supervisor shall not "Reside with the intern, have an intimate personal relationship with the intern or be related to the intern by blood or marriage"; "Have had the intern as a client"; or "Have had the intern as a supervisor". The second bar is on a supervisor whose past client was the intern. The third is on a supervisor whose past supervisor was the intern.

6. Progress Reports Every Six Months

The supervisor prepares and submits progress reports every 6 months and a final report, on forms provided by the board, unless the board directs a different schedule (NAC 641B.160(3)(c)). Your reporting periods are fixed by the month of approval, and each report is due on the 15th of the month shown in the Reporting Months Table. For example, the table gives a January to June period a report due the 15th of July. The Infosheet says the periods do not change when you change sites or supervisors, and that you should remind your supervisor at least two weeks before a report is due.

The intern uploads the report in the board's internship portal; the Infosheet says not to email reports to board staff. The Policy lets the board refuse a report that does not meet the reporting requirements or that arrives after its due date, and the board will then disallow credit for all hours as reported on that report (Policy; NAC 641B.160(7), (8)). The Policy adds that approval of hours is not a guarantee.

Between reports, the intern tracks hours on the board's "Internship Tracking Spreadsheet," starts a new spreadsheet every January, and provides the supervisor "a printout of each monthly report" (Post-Graduate Internship Infosheet; BESW Clinical Internship Program Policy, June 2026). The Progress Report form asks for hours by month by site, so keep your category totals by month and by site from day one.

7. Exam Approval at the Halfway Point

An intern may ask the board for exam approval once they have completed 1,000 hours of clinical practice, 500 hours of administrative practice and 50 hours of supervision (Policy). The Exam Approval Request is signed by the supervisor and the intern. The approval is good for nine months (Infosheet). The exam is the ASWB Clinical exam (NAC 641B.105(2)(c)).

The Policy says the intern must take and pass the exam before completing both the hours and the minimum of 24 months of practice. The Exam Approval Request is emailed to the Board's licensing specialist (Exam Approval Request form); the internship documentation upload page says not to upload exam requests there.

8. The 24-to-36-Month Window and the LMSW

NAC 641B.150(1)(b) says the internship is completed "not earlier than 2 years or later than 3 years after the Board approves the program," with a specific extension for good cause. The board will disallow credit for all hours accrued under the program if the work does not result in the issuance of a license within 3 years after the end of the program. The Termination Form states the board's own framing: not less than 24 months of practice and not more than 36 months.

At completion, the supervisor files the Termination of Clinical Supervision / Post-Graduate Clinical Internship form, and the intern uploads it with the final progress report. Once the intern has completed the required hours and 24 months of practice, the internship is completed. If the exam has not been passed by then, the internship closes, the intern applies for a new internship, and the hours are banked once that internship is approved (Policy; Infosheet). Someone already licensed in another state is covered elsewhere: NAC 641B.150(1) excepts endorsement applicants from completing the Nevada internship, though the Narrative says they must already have a minimum of 3000 hours of post-graduate internship and meet the other endorsement conditions. The Nevada license by endorsement guide covers that route.

The wider route, from the MSW to the license, is laid out in how to become a therapist in Nevada, and the rest of the cluster is under all Nevada guides.

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