Navigating Continuing Education Requirements for Social Work Licensure

Maintaining a social work license involves more than just submitting paperwork periodically. Regulatory boards emphasize the significance of lifelong learning within the social work profession. Social workers across all practice areas benefit from ongoing education in familiar subjects, including updates on current, evidence-based practices, as well as exploring new skills to enhance their competence. Continuing education (CE) requirements for license renewal are ultimately determined by each jurisdiction's regulatory board. It is the responsibility of the individual social worker to maintain competence, not the CE provider, licensing board, or professional association. Always consult your licensing board for the final say on continuing education course approvals.

Understanding the Importance of Continuing Education

Regulatory boards recognize the importance of lifelong learning to the social work profession. Social workers in all areas of practice benefit from both continuing education in familiar subjects-including important updates related to current, evidence-based practice-and topic areas that allow them to learn and practice new skills competently.

Nearly every jurisdiction that issues social work licenses requires that social workers document their efforts to maintain competence as a social worker. Continuing competence is the responsibility of the individual social worker-not the CE provider, the licensing board, or the professional association.

Virginia Social Work License Renewal and CE Requirements

In Virginia, Social Workers must meet specific credentialing and licensure requirements to practice legally. Navigating Social Work licensure in Virginia requires a clear understanding of the renewal process, continuing education requirements, and the various credentials available to practitioners.

Social Workers in Virginia renew their license biennially by June 30 of each even-numbered year. The Virginia Board of Social Work provides additional information and answers on their Renewal FAQ page and on the License Renewal CE Explanation Chart.

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CE Hours Required

The continuing education (CE) requirements for Social Workers in Virginia are designed to ensure that professionals maintain and enhance their skills and knowledge throughout their careers.

Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSW) must complete a minimum of 30 contact hours of continuing education prior to licensure renewal in even years.
Licensed Baccalaureate Social Workers (LBSW) and Licensed Master Social Workers (LMSW) must complete a minimum of 15 contact hours of continuing education prior to licensure renewal in even years.

Courses or activities must be directly related to the practice of social work or another behavioral health field.

Ethics Requirements

A minimum of six of those hours for licensed clinical social workers and a minimum of three of those hours for licensed social workers must pertain to ethics or the standards of practice for the behavioral health professions or to laws governing the practice of social work in Virginia.

Category I and Category II Credits

Virginia requires specific types of continuing education credits, categorized as Category I and Category II.

Category I: A minimum of 20 hours for LCSWs or 10 hours for LMSW or LBSW social workers must be Category I Credits. "Category I hours are Formally Organized Learning Activities that can be documented by an approved sponsor or organization. If the sponsoring organization does not award a participant with a dated certificate indicating the activity or course taken and the number of hours earned, the social worker is responsible for obtaining a letter on organizational letterhead verifying the hours and activity. Examples of Category I activities include:

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- Regionally accredited university or college academic courses in a behavioral health discipline.
Category II: Individual Professional Activities chosen by the social worker based on assessment of his/her practice. They do not have to be sponsored by an approved organization but must be documented by the social worker in the manner prescribed by the Regulations. Examples of these self-directed activities include:
- Participation in an Association of Social Work Boards item writing workshop.
- Publication of a professional social work-related book or initial preparation or presentation of a social work-related course.
- Publication of a professional social work-related article or chapter of a book, or initial preparation or presentation of a social work-related in-service training, seminar, or workshop.
- Provision of a continuing education program sponsored or approved by an organization listed under Category I.
- Field instruction of graduate students in a Council on Social Work Education-accredited school.
- Serving as an officer or committee member of one of the national professional social work associations or as a member of a state social work licensing board.
- Attendance at formal staffings at federal, state, or local social service agencies, public school systems, or licensed health facilities and licensed hospitals.
- Individual or group study including listening to audio tapes, viewing video tapes, or reading professional books or articles.

Additional Information

Up to two continuing education hours required for renewal may be satisfied through delivery of social work services, without compensation, to low-income individuals receiving health services through a local health department or a free clinic organized in whole or primarily for the delivery of those services, as verified by the department or clinic.
The board may grant an extension for good cause of up to one year for the completion of continuing education requirements upon written request from the licensee prior to the renewal date.

Approved Providers

Virginia accepts courses from any provider approved by the Association of Social Worker Boards (“ASWB”).

Resources for Continuing Education

Several organizations offer continuing education credits for social workers, ensuring they have access to a variety of learning opportunities.

Agents of Change Continuing Education: Offers over 150 courses that meet Virginia’s CE requirements.
CE4Less.com: An ACE provider approved by the ASWB, offering courses to meet state requirements for social work license renewal, including courses on required topic areas.

Connecticut Social Work License Renewal and CE Requirements

All LMSW’s and LCSW’s licensed in Connecticut, after their initial renewal of the license, are required to attain 15 hours of continuing education annually (which is defined as your license year). Newly licensed LMSW’s and LCSW’s do not have to get CEC’s until they renew their license for the first time. At the point of that initial renewal the clock begins ticking and the CEC’s become required during the following twelve months that constitutes your license year.

Required Topics

There are two topic areas that are required. The first is a requirement for 1 hour per license year on cultural competence. Training in cultural competence and veterans is required.

Methods to Receive CEC’s

The most common way to receive some or all of your qualifying CEC’s is by in person attendance at workshops, conferences, in-house staff training, institutes, teleconferences and symposiums that have content related to social work practice. Such programs allow the LMSW or LCSW to receive one credit hour for each hour of the program, to a maximum of eight credit hours in any one-day’s participation in a continuing education program.

Home study including online education is another means to meet the continuing education requirement. A home study program is defined as continuing education activities, clearly related to maintaining skills necessary for safe and competent practice of social work that require successful completion of a proficiency examination. Home study programs may include distance learning and internet-based educational programs. Up to ten hours of continuing education per annual renewal period may be attained through home study. The content must be related to social work practice.

Courses at either the undergraduate or graduate level offered by schools of social work accredited by the Council on Social Work Education will be accepted based on one credit hour for each hour of attendance. Audited courses will be allowed with documentation of attendance.

A fourth way to receive CEC’s is to present for the first time an original paper, essay, or lecture on social work to a recognized group of fellow professionals.

Licensure Year

Only those CEC hours attained during a given license year can be applied to that license year. For example, if your license year is October 1 - September 30 all of your CEC hours must have been attained in that time period.

Program Approval

The program been approved by one of the following organizational bodies: NASW (national or any state chapter), Association of Social Work Boards, or a graduate school of social work or undergraduate social work program accredited by the Council on Social Work Education. If the program is NOT approved by one of these organizations it will not be accepted for LMSW or LCSW renewal. Programs that have not been approved by one of these bodies can be submitted to NASW/CT for individual program approval. NASW/CT charges a member and non-member fee for review.

Proving Fulfillment of the Requirement

When you renew your license the renewal form will have a check-off box where you attest to having received the required CEC’s. You are required to keep for three years the written certificates issued by the provider of education that document that you completed the continuing education activity and which states the number of CEC hours attained. The Department of Public Health has the right to inspect these records and may request that you submit them to the Department.

Waiver of the CEC Requirement

A waiver of the CEC requirement may be extended to individuals who are not engaged in clinical social work during a given continuing education registration period provided that the individual submits a request for waiver prior to the expiration date of the continuing education registration period. Such a waiver must be applied for on a form provided by the Department of Public Health and must be notarized prior to submission. The application for waiver must be approved by the Department of Public Health in order to be applied by the individual applicant.

In individual cases involving a medical disability or illness, a waiver of part or all of the continuing education hours may be granted or an extension of time within which to complete the requirements may be granted by DPH. Verification from a licensed physician is required.

Executive Order

Under Governor Lamont’s executive order certain licensed social workers have had the continuing education requirement suspended. If your license period includes the date of March 10, 2020 you do not have to attain continuing education hours in the license period that includes March 10, 2020. You do have to get continuing education hours for any license year that begins April 1, 2020 and thereafter.

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