Social Work Licensure in Colorado: LCSW Requirements, Hours and Exams

Colorado issues two social work licenses: the Licensed Social Worker (LSW) and the Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW).

There is no bachelor-level license, and even the LSW requires a master's degree.

The pre-licensure vehicle is not a license but a registration: the board registers a degree-holding applicant as a clinical social worker candidate, and that registration is what makes post-degree hours count toward the LCSW.

The practice line that matters in a job search: psychotherapy is limited to licensed clinical social workers or licensed social workers supervised in accordance with section 12-245-404(2)(c), so an LSW works clinically only while supervised on the LCSW model.

Both licenses are graduate-entry and require the applicant to be at least twenty-one years of age.

The statute asks a master's degree from a graduate school of social work for the LSW and a master's or doctoral degree from a graduate school of social work for the LCSW.

The rules read that phrase to include a social work program or doctoral social work education program approved or accredited by the CSWE, or a CSWE candidacy program.

The catch: if a candidacy program fails to become accredited, the licensee or candidate must notify the Board within 30 days, and the Board reviews the education case by case for continuation.

Foreign-trained applicants submit educational credentials to a credentialing agency utilized by the Board for an equivalency evaluation.

The LCSW's supervised practice runs on the rule's own numbers: at least 3,360 hours of applied social work practice, reasonably uniformly distributed over a minimum of 24 months, and the experience cannot be completed in fewer than twenty-four months.

At least half — 1,680 hours — must include a professional relationship that involves treatment, diagnosis, testing, assessment, or counseling, and teaching hours do not count toward that half.

Supervision is a minimum of 96 hours, distributed in step with the hours worked, and supervision may involve more than one approved supervisor.

The gate that surprises new graduates: the hours count only if you were registered as a clinical social worker candidate, or hold another listed status, before accumulating them — and the candidate registration expires if the LCSW requirements are not met within four years.

Every Colorado social work applicant passes two examinations: an examination in social work as prescribed by the board, and a jurisprudence examination administered by the division.

For the national exam the rule asks only for the appropriate examination required for the level of licensure sought and as approved by the Board — it does not name the ASWB level, so confirm which examination you are approved for before scheduling.

The Board admits applicants to the examination once the educational requirements are met, gives it at least twice per year, and sets the passing score based upon a level of minimum competency.

Pass/fail results are valid for up to five years after the examination date, and experience or supervision predating the application by more than five years is not accepted absent good cause.

The Board accepts as a supervisor an LCSW who was licensed, at the time of supervision, in the jurisdiction where the applicant's services were performed, or a social worker licensed at the highest possible level in another jurisdiction in which the applicant's services were performed, who documents competence in the same field of social work.

A non-LCSW supervisor is possible only in rare instances — when telesupervision cannot secure an LCSW, such as military personnel overseas — and then only with Board approval, documented supervision training led by a social worker, and no more than 48 of the 96 required supervision hours.

Supervision means personal direction and responsible direction; consultation is explicitly not supervision and earns no credit, and group supervision means no more than ten individuals at one time.

The approved supervisor keeps the hour records for five years and signs the verified statement on Board forms.

Colorado draws its practice line at psychotherapy: 12-245-408 limits it to licensed clinical social workers or licensed social workers supervised under the LCSW supervision standard of 12-245-404(2)(c), so an unsupervised LSW practices non-clinical social work.

For a new graduate the practical consequence is the registration gate: post-degree hours count toward the LCSW only if, before they accumulate, you are registered as a clinical social worker candidate, licensed in another profession authorized to practice those activities, listed with the Colorado State Board of Unlicensed Psychotherapists, or practicing in an exempt facility.

Register before your first post-degree day, because hours banked earlier do not count.

The registration is also once per career: the statute registers only a person who has not previously been registered as a clinical social worker candidate.

Colorado runs endorsement through its Occupational Credential Portability Program: an applicant holding a current and unrestricted license, in good standing, to practice social work in another state, a U.S. territory, the federal government, or a military occupational specialty may apply.

The applicant shows a CSWE master's or doctoral degree and attests to passing the examination for the level sought — an exam passed in another jurisdiction can be relied on — or shows two years of active practice at twenty hours per week averaged, or, where no exam was required at original licensure, five of the last ten years practicing at the independent level without discipline.

LCSW applicants attest to two years of LCSW-supervised practice with requirements similar to Rule 1.14, or two years of active clinical practice.

Every endorsement applicant passes the Board-developed jurisprudence exam and files verifications from each jurisdiction that ever licensed them.

As of September 2026, Colorado appears on the Social Work Licensure Compact commission's list of enacted jurisdictions; the commission's list is the source, and the Colorado statute section was not located in the sources read — the CRS 2024 mirror lists no compact section in part 4 of article 245.

Enacted is not the same as usable: the commission has reached activation status but is not yet issuing multistate licenses anywhere, so practicing in Colorado still means holding a Colorado license earned through the routes above.

Colorado licensees remain fully governed by the Board for renewal, CE and discipline.

Check the commission's jurisdiction list and the Board before relying on compact status for a move.

Colorado renewal runs on the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) program, not a plain CE-hours rule: each cycle a licensee files a Professional Practice Rubric self-assessment, a Personal Learning Plan built from it, and documentation of Professional Development Hours (PDH), the rule's unit, equivalent to clock hours.

Allowed activities range beyond coursework — volunteer service, consultation, supervision, presenting, publication and independent learning all qualify; course work credits hour for hour up to the full 40, while any other single activity is capped at 20 PDH.

A maximum of five PDH carries forward if earned within six months of expiration and in excess of the 40, and a sixty-day grace period follows license expiration.

Candidates must complete 60 PDH before a second or subsequent renewal of the registration.

The rules read do not state the renewal cycle's length.

Two dated items sit inside the window.

First, the candidate-CE requirement took effect May 22, 2024: registered social work candidates must complete continuing professional development and educational hours before a second or subsequent renewal of the candidate registration.

Second, the rule history notes show Rules 1.10, 1.12, 1.14 and 1.18 — renewal mechanics, endorsement, the post-degree experience rule, and the CPD rule — each amended effective May 15, 2025.

The saved text is the current wording and does not show what those amendments changed, so the figures on this page are from the current text, and an older copy of the rules should be checked against it before you rely on it.

Three clocks run alongside the 24 months.

An application for licensure stays active for one year; miss it and you file again, meeting whatever educational, experience and examination requirements are in force at the new filing.

The examination must be passed no more than five years before the application, and experience or supervision older than five years is not accepted without a showing of good cause.

A current Colorado LSW upgrading to the LCSW is exempt from the five-year exam-result rule where they hold an active license in good standing and have taken and passed the LCSW examination.

And an expired candidate registration does not end the road: the statute says an expired candidate is not precluded from applying for licensure or registration with any other mental health board for which the person is qualified.