Supervision
Requirements
for Every Category of Licensed Associate
Question: I am one of four clinicians at my agency who are
trying to get things together for licensing. My question is does our
approved supervisor need to be licensed with the same type of
license we will be applying for. For example: I will be
applying to be a LMHC. Does my supervisor also have to be a
LMHC, or can they be a LICSW or a Licensed Psychiatrist? We
have tried to get an answer from the department of health... but did
not have much luck. Any information would be much appreciated.
Thanks! Mary
Dear Mary in Longview
WA:
Don't be too hard on the
Health Department. They too have been hit with budget cuts,
and lack the staff to reply to all the requests they receive.
And they are also prohibited from giving legal advice, and thus
retrained in their ability to reply to certain questions.
While I do not presume to give legal advice, I can point you to
sections of the administrative code which pertain to your inquiry.
Each of the professions has made their own national standards part
of the Washington law and so the requirements for mental health
counselors, marriage and family counselors and social workers are
slightly different. The sections below are from the Washington
Administrative Code (WAC) governing counselor licensure and the
specific requirements for each category of licensed associate.
[Emphasis and italics are added by this writer.] Start with
definitions used in these chapters.
WAC 246-809-010 Definitions.
The definitions in this
section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly
requires otherwise.
(1) "Associate"
means a prelicensure candidate who has a graduate degree in a mental
health field under RCW 18.225.090 and is gaining the supervision and
supervised experience necessary to become a licensed independent
clinical social worker, a licensed advanced social worker, a
licensed mental health counselor, or a licensed marriage and family
therapist. Associates may not independently provide social work,
mental health counseling, or marriage and family therapy for a fee,
monetary or otherwise. Associates must work under the supervision of
an approved supervisor.
(2) "Independent social
work, mental health counseling, or marriage and family therapy"
means the practice of these disciplines without being under the
supervision of an approved supervisor.
(3) "Licensed counselor"
means a licensed marriage and family therapist, licensed mental
health counselor, licensed advanced social worker, or licensed
independent clinical social worker regulated under chapter 18.225
RCW.
o--------------------------------------------o
MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPIST
ASSOCIATES
WAC 246-809-130
Supervised postgraduate experience.
The experience
requirements for the marriage and family therapist applicant's
practice area include successful completion of a supervised
experience requirement. The experience requirement consists of a
minimum of two calendar years of full-time marriage and family
therapy. Of the total supervision, one hundred hours
must be with a licensed marriage and family therapist with at least
five years' clinical experience; the other one hundred hours
may be
with an equally qualified licensed mental health practitioner.
Total experience requirements include:
(1) A minimum of three thousand hours of experience, one
thousand hours of which must be direct client contact; at least five
hundred hours must be gained in diagnosing and treating couples and
families; plus
(2) At least two hundred
hours of qualified supervision with an approved supervisor. At least
one hundred of the two hundred hours must be one-on-one supervision,
and the remaining hours may be in one-on-one or group supervision.
(3) Applicants who have
completed a master's program accredited by the Commission on
Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education of the
American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy may be
credited with five hundred hours of direct client contact and one
hundred hours of formal meetings with an approved supervisor.
(4) Licensed marriage
and family therapist associate applicants are not required to have
supervised postgraduate experience prior to becoming an associate.
(5) Licensed marriage
and family therapist associate applicants must declare they are
working towards full licensure.
o--------------------------------------------o
MENTAL HEALTH COUNSELOR ASSOCIATE
WAC 246-809-230
Supervised postgraduate experience.
(1) The experience
requirements for the mental health applicant's practice area include
successful completion of a supervised experience requirement. The
experience requirement consists of a minimum of thirty-six
months full-time counseling or three thousand hours of postgraduate
mental health counseling under the supervision of a qualified
licensed mental health counselor or equally qualified licensed
mental health practitioner in an approved setting. The
three thousand hours of required experience includes a minimum of
one hundred hours spent in immediate supervision with the
qualified licensed mental health counselor or equally qualified
licensed mental health practitioner, and includes a
minimum of one thousand two hundred hours of direct counseling with
individuals, couples, families, or groups.
(2) Applicants who
have completed a master's or doctoral program accredited by the
Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational
Programs (CACREP) will be credited with fifty hours of postgraduate
supervision and five hundred hours of postgraduate experience.
(3) Applicants for
licensed mental health counselor associate are not required to have
supervised postgraduate experience prior to becoming an associate.
(4) Licensed mental
health counselor associate applicants must declare they are working
toward full licensure.
o--------------------------------------------o
SOCIAL WORK ASSOCIATE
WAC 246-809-320:
Education requirements and supervised postgraduate experience.
(1) The following are
the education requirements for the social worker applicant's
practice area:
(a) Licensed advanced social worker or licensed social worker
associate-advanced. Graduation from a master's or doctoral social
work educational program accredited by the Council on Social Work
Education and approved by the secretary based upon nationally
recognized standards.
(b) Licensed independent clinical social worker or licensed social
worker associate-independent clinical. Graduation from a master's or
doctorate level social work educational program accredited by the
Council on Social Work Education and approved by the secretary based
upon nationally recognized standards.
(2) The following are
the supervised postgraduate experience requirements for the social
worker applicant's practice area:
(a) Licensed advanced social worker. Successful completion of
a supervised experience requirement. The experience requirement
consists of a minimum of three thousand two hundred hours with
ninety hours of supervision by a licensed independent clinical
social worker or a licensed advanced social worker who has been
licensed or certified for at least two years. Of those hours, fifty
hours must include direct supervision by a licensed advanced social
worker or licensed independent clinical social worker; the other
forty hours may be with an equally qualified licensed mental health
practitioner. Forty hours must be in one-to-one supervision and
fifty hours may be in one-to-one supervision or group supervision.
Distance supervision is limited to forty supervision hours. Eight
hundred hours must be in direct client contact.
(b) Licensed independent clinical social worker. Successful
completion of a supervised experience requirement. The
experience requirement consists of a minimum of four thousand hours
of experience, of which one thousand hours must
be direct client contact, over a three-year
period supervised by a licensed independent clinical social
worker, with supervision of at least one
hundred thirty hours by a licensed mental health practitioner.
Of the total supervision, seventy hours
must be with an independent clinical social worker; the other sixty
hours may be with an equally qualified
licensed mental health practitioner. Sixty hours must be in one-to-one
supervision and seventy hours may be in one-to-one supervision or
group supervision. Distance supervision is limited to sixty
supervision hours.
(3) Licensed social
worker associate-advanced and licensed social worker
associate-independent clinical applicants are not required to have
supervised postgraduate experience prior to becoming an associate.
(4) Licensed social
worker associate-advanced and licensed social worker
associate-independent clinical applicants must declare they are
working toward full licensure.
o--------------------------------------------o
Webmasters Note:
That 1,000 hours of direct client contact in a three year period
sounds really scary, but--unless my computations are incorrect--that
would be 1,000 hours divided by 3 years = 333.3 client contact hours
per year which, divided by 12 = 12.7 direct client contact hours per
month which, divided by an average 4.3 weeks per month = 6.46 direct
client hours per week. You can do that!
ALSO, please read the
above information carefully and separate in your mind the concepts
of "hours of experience," "hours of direct client contact," and
"hours of supervision," (which include "one-to-one supervision
hours," "group supervision hours," and possibly "distance
supervision hours." All these requirements are confusing which
is one of the things that a good supervisor can help you sort out.
Give special note to the
phrase, "equally qualified licensed mental health practitioner."
The phrase is not formally defined in the WAC, but it is used in the
same way in all three sections and would appear to acknowledge that
each type of mental health professional is equal to another type
with the same minimum years of experience.
Hope this helps.
Floyd Else, MA, LMHC,
NCC
Webmaster: http://www.CounselingSeattle.com/
CounselingSeattle LLC
PO Box 67814, Bellevue, WA 98008
