Nevada LCSW Requirements

1. The Social Work Board and Which Rules Apply

Clinical social work is licensed by the Nevada Board of Examiners for Social Workers, which this page calls the social work board or BESW. The governing law is NRS chapter 641B and NAC chapter 641B. The other two Nevada tracks, marriage and family therapy and clinical professional counseling, sit under a different board and a different statute.

Three layers of text decide what counts toward the LCSW. The statute sets the three requirements, including the 3,000 hours (NRS 641B.240(1)(b)). The administrative code repeats the 3,000 hours (NAC 641B.150(1)), states the internship length as 2 to 3 years, and sets the 2,000 psychotherapeutic minimum and the supervision rules. Board policy supplies figures the code does not state: the 104 supervision hours and the 2,000 / 1,000 / 104 finish line come from the Clinical Internship Program Policy (most recently amended June 2026), the Post-Graduate Internship Infosheet and the Termination Form, and only the 24-to-36-month wording is the Board's own (Termination Form).

2. LSW, LMSW, LISW and LCSW

The social work board issues four license levels. Only the LCSW is the clinical license, and the LMSW is the license a person must hold to enter the clinical internship.

3. What NRS 641B.240 Requires for an LCSW

NRS 641B.240(1) has three parts. The applicant holds a master's or doctoral degree in social work from a school accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), or a candidate for that accreditation. The applicant "completes 3,000 hours of supervised, postgraduate, clinical social work approved by the Board." And the applicant passes the examination, which NAC 641B.105(2)(c) names as the ASWB Clinical exam.

The word "postgraduate" matters. The statute and NAC 641B.150 both require postgraduate hours, and no social work board document says practicum hours from the degree program count. The intern uses the title "intern" during the internship (NAC 641B.240(2)) and remains under supervision until the LCSW is issued (Infosheet).

4. From LMSW to LCSW, in Order

The order below follows the social work board's own sequence. The Nevada LCSW internship guide goes deeper on the sites, the supervision contract and the paperwork.

1. 1

   Hold a current LMSW and a passing ASWB Masters score

   The Policy defines an intern as a Nevada LMSW who has passed the ASWB Masters exam. The internship application also asks for a current, unrestricted LMSW license (BESW Internship Initial Application).

2. 2

   Get the internship approved before you start

   The program must be "approved by the Board before the applicant begins the program" (NAC 641B.150(1)(a)). It must include a Board-approved site, a Board-approved supervisor and a Board-approved plan of supervision (NAC 641B.150(1)(a); Narrative 2026). The application has two parts: the intern completes Part 1 and the clinical supervisor completes Part 2, the supervision contract, and it is not complete until both are submitted and approved (Policy). An application not completed within 6 months is considered closed, and the fee is not refunded.

3. 3

   Work and document the hours

   Hours count from approval. The Policy tells licensees to apply for approval before any direct practice with clients, and NAC 641B.155(7) says the Board will not recognize time spent under a supervisor or in an arrangement the Board has not approved.

4. 4

   Send the Exam Approval Request

   The Policy sets the point at 1,000 clinical hours, 500 administrative hours and 50 supervision hours. The Infosheet says exam approval is good for nine months.

5. 5

   Pass the ASWB Clinical exam

   The Policy says the intern must take and pass the exam before completing both the hours and the minimum of 24 months of practice. If the hours and months are done and the exam is not passed, the internship closes, a new internship must be approved, and the Board banks the earned hours (Policy; Infosheet).

6. 6

   Finish and receive the LCSW

   The supervisor files the final progress report and the Termination of Clinical Supervision form, and the intern uploads them in the portal (Termination Form; Infosheet). The intern remains under supervision until the LCSW is issued (Infosheet).

5. The Hours: Two Counts, Two Sources

Nevada states the internship hours in two ways, and they come from different places. NAC 641B.150 states them as a total with minimums. The social work board states them as the categories that make an internship "finished." Each figure below belongs to the source named beside it.

The Infosheet is direct about the second count: "it is not 3000 hours in total, it is 2000 / 1000 / 104 hours as listed above." It adds that the intern needs the required hours in each category before being considered finished, and that the Board will not move hours from one category to another. Neither the NAC nor the Board documents say how the 104 supervision hours sit against the 3,000, so this page does not add the categories into a new total.

The Infosheet defines the categories. Clinical hours include the initial diagnostic assessment and its write-up, and individual, family and group therapy sessions. Administrative hours include progress notes, case management activities and documentation, treatment team meetings, discharge planning and phone calls regarding clients. Supervision hours are meetings with the contracted clinical supervisor, and meeting with anyone else cannot be counted. The Infosheet also lists what does not count: attending workshops or trainings, supervision by someone other than the clinical supervisor, and supervising field practicum students. NAC 641B.150(7), as amended, also lists classes, workshops or seminars, role-playing as a substitute for actual social work, and the intern's own psychotherapy.

Arithmetic, not a rule: at the 32-hour average in NAC 641B.150(4), 2,000 psychotherapeutic hours is 62.5 weeks of 32 hours. That covers one category only. The 1,000 administrative hours, the 104 supervision hours and the 24-month minimum still apply. The 416 in NAC 641B.150(4) is a cap per quarter, while progress reports run in 6-month periods, so keep the two units apart.

6. The Two-to-Three-Year Window

NAC 641B.150(1)(b) says the hours are completed "not earlier than 2 years or later than 3 years after the Board approves the program." The Board grants a specific extension for good cause. The same subsection disallows credit for all hours accrued under the program if the work does not result in a license within 3 years after the end of the program.

The social work board frames the same span in months of practice. The Termination Form lists "not less than 24 months of practice and not more than 36 months of practice" beside the three hour categories and the passed clinical exam. The approval letter prints three dates: the effective date, an earliest finish at 24 months and a latest finish at 3 years (Infosheet). The Policy says the internship is granted for up to 3 years as an allowance for interns who are not practicing full time.

Hours alone do not finish the internship. The 2-year floor in the NAC and the 24-month floor in the Board's forms both apply, so an intern who reaches every hour category early still waits for the window to run.

7. Supervision in Brief

Except as subsection 4 allows for remote supervision, the supervisor must 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)). A supervisor may use telecommunication technologies to supervise remotely but must conduct weekly meetings with the intern, in person or using such technologies (NAC 641B.160(4), as amended by R103-23). Not more than 24 hours of the total supervision may be group supervision (NAC 641B.160(5)). The completion figure is 104 supervision hours (Policy).

On who supervises: NAC 641B.150(5), as amended, names a licensed clinical social worker, a licensed clinical psychologist or a board-certified psychiatrist for the hours beyond the first 1,000. The Policy gives a longer list. After Board Supervision Training, a licensed clinical psychologist, licensed psychiatrist, marriage and family therapist, clinical professional counselor or psychiatric APRN may supervise up to 1,000 clinical hours, 500 administrative hours and 52 supervision hours, and the remaining hours must be under an LCSW. The two lists differ, and the Policy is the Board's own statement. The full rules sit in Nevada LCSW internship.

The site rules in the Policy and Infosheet: up to three agencies at once (NAC 641B.150(3), as amended); no site that provides solely virtual or telehealth treatment; virtual hours conducted from the agency and not from home; and no practice outside an agency the Board has approved (NAC 641B.150(7)(e), as amended).

8. Progress Reports Every 6 Months

The supervisor prepares and submits progress reports every 6 months and a final report, on Board forms, unless the Board directs a different schedule (NAC 641B.160(3)(c)). The reporting periods are fixed by the month of approval and do not change if the intern changes sites or supervisors (Infosheet). Each report is due on the 15th, as the Reporting Months Table shows for each start month, and the intern uploads it in the Board portal rather than emailing staff. The Policy lets the Board refuse a report that is received after its due date and disallow credit for the hours it reports, and it adds that approval of hours is not a guarantee.

9. Interns Stay in Nevada

R103-23 added a subsection to NAC 641B.150: while in an approved internship, an intern shall not hold a postgraduate internship in another jurisdiction or engage in the practice of social work outside this State. The Infosheet says the intern must be living and practicing in Nevada and cannot provide services across state lines. The Policy adds that the intern and the clinical supervisor must live in Nevada (or designated border communities) and that the intern may only practice and treat clients who are physically in the State of Nevada.

Supervised postgraduate hours earned in another state can be offered as evidence if they fall within the immediately preceding 3 years and the other state's licensing board verifies them directly (NAC 641B.150(6), as amended by R103-23). The Infosheet tells people with out-of-state hours to contact the Board.

10. Renewal, CE and Endorsement

Every social work license renews annually (NRS 641B.280(1)). Under NAC 641B.110(1)(b) a license becomes delinquent annually on the last day of the licensee's birth month and expires 60 days later. The annual renewal fee is $125 for an LMSW and $187.50 for an LCSW, and the CE requirement is 30 hours every 2 years for an LMSW and 36 hours every 2 years for an LCSW (BESW Fee Schedule, LSW / LMSW and LCSW / LISW levels; BESW continuing education page). An intern holds an LMSW, so the LMSW renewal and CE apply during the internship, and a delinquent LMSW stops the hours from counting (Infosheet). Dates and requirements are on the Nevada license renewal and CE requirements page.

An LCSW applicant who holds a current and unrestricted license in another state may apply by endorsement, a different application from the internship. The Narrative lists further conditions, including a minimum of 3000 hours of post-graduate internship, and says simply being licensed in another state is not sufficient (Narrative 2026; NRS 641B.270). See Nevada license by endorsement.

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FAQ: Nevada LCSW Requirements