Vermont Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW) Guide - 2024

Vermont Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW) Licensure Process

With an LICSW license, you can perform all the services an LMSW offers and practice independently providing clinical services. That includes:

• Assessing, diagnosing, and treating mental, behavioral, and emotional disorders
• Psychotherapy
• Supervise LMSWs

Education Requirements

Either an MSW or DSW is required for LICSW licensure. The degrees must be earned at a CSWE-approved university or program. Here you can find all schools offering social work degree programs in Vermont.

Experience Requirements

You’re required to gain 3,000 hours of clinical social work experience in a period of 2-5 years. At least 2,000 of the hours must be spent administering psychotherapy services while supervised. Either an LICSW, mental health counselor, or psychologist is able to supervise your work. If an LICSW is conducting the supervision, they must not have less than 4,500 hours of post-licensure experience and three years of practice under their belt.

For every 30 hours of experience, you need one hour of supervision. Fifty percent of the hours have to be completed face-to-face, and the other half can be completed in a group setting. Your hours will be recorded using the Supervision Report form to send into the OPR.

Background Check

All LICSW candidates in Vermont must submit to a criminal background check. The process can take up to 4-6 weeks or longer, so getting started as soon as you know you want to apply for licensure is important. Visit the OPR’s website to begin and submit the required release form. Once it’s received, you’ll be sent a signed authorization form to complete and take with you on your appointment to be fingerprinted.

The VCIC will automatically receive the authorization form and fingerprints to process. After several weeks the OPR will receive the results and process your application. For more information, view the background check information online.

Examination Requirements

Vermont administers a state test to all applicants to ensure they understand the social work rules and regulations of the state. That test is the Social Worker Jurisprudence Examination, and it consists of 20 multiple-choice questions. A score of 70% is considered a passing grade. If you fail, you have the opportunity to correct the wrong answers and resubmit the test until you receive a passing score. The final results are transmitted to the OPR.

You will also have to pass the national test, the ASWB Clinical exam. The OPR must grant you approval to sit down and take the test, and you have five years to complete from that date to complete the exam. The fee for the 170 multiple-choice questions test is $260. Only 150 questions are applied toward your score. Once you register for the clinical exam, you can take the practice test on the website to make sure you’re ready on exam day.

Applying for Licensure as a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker

You must first register as a non-licensed, non-certified psychotherapist by submitting an application and paying the non-refundable $75 application fee. You’ll have to send a copy of your “Disclosure Document” with the application. You’ll find the form online once you log into your account, or you can create one.

The document is a statement of your professional qualifications and experience. The instructions can be found online. Once this process is complete, you can begin accumulating hours toward your supervised clinical experience. Make sure you have the OPR’s approval to proceed; otherwise, your experience hours may not be counted.

After gaining the necessary supervised experience, you can submit an application for LICSW licensure. Contact your MSW or DSW program to have your official transcripts transferred to the OPR. Your supervisor must complete the following forms:

• Social Worker Verification of Supervisor Licensure
• Social Worker Supervision Report

You will be notified once you’re able to take the ASWB Clinical exam. After passing the test, the ASWB will send your scores to the OPR within two weeks. Once they have your final scores for both the clinical and jurisprudence exam, they will finish processing the application and issue a LICSW license.