Defining Clinical Social Work and its Implications for Practice

Purpose: There is limited research on social work licensing especially the profession's attempts to define clinical social work practice. This article seeks to investigate definitions of clinical social work for clinical licensure in the United States. Methods: Statutes were searched and cross-referenced with data from the Association of Social Work Boards to determine (1) categories of licensure per state, (2) supervised practice hour requirements for clinical licensure, and (3) definitions of supervised practice to obtain clinical licensure. Results: To date, 15 licensing boards limit or require supervised clinical social work practice hours towards licensure to include psychotherapy. In most of these jurisdictions, the definition of clinical social work excludes other forms of direct practice, like case management or medical social work, as not meeting criteria for clinical licensure. Conclusions: These definitions have implications for practitioners and social work's role in addressing social determinants of health and trauma-informed care.