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

Mississippi issues three social work licenses: the Licensed Social Worker (LSW) at the baccalaureate level, the Licensed Master Social Worker (LMSW) at the master's level and the Licensed Certified Social Worker (LCSW) at the certified level.

The letters are the trap: LCSW stands for Certified, not Clinical, and a Mississippi LCSW is not automatically a clinical social worker.

An LCSW licensed before July 1, 2020 may hold a macro credential — the Advanced Generalist track — and keeps it.

The statute protects both titles, listing licensed certified social worker and licensed clinical social worker side by side, so the initials on a Mississippi posting can describe either credential.

When a job requires an LCSW, ask which exam the licensee passed.

The LSW requires a baccalaureate degree in social work from a college or university accredited by CSWE or by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) — a rare rule that accepts a regional accreditor in place of CSWE at the bachelor's level.

The LMSW requires a master's degree from a school of social work accredited by CSWE, or a doctorate in social work (a D.S.W. or Ph.D.). The LCSW adds no degree of its own: the applicant must be a current LMSW in good standing whose supervision process is completed as verified by Board records.

Every applicant also clears the general requirements: at least 21 years old, good moral character, a fingerprint criminal-history check and a Mississippi Sex Offender Registry check received by the Board directly from the issuing authority, U.S. citizenship or legal permanent residency, and no felony conviction related to the practice of social work within the last ten years.

The LCSW rules state no total practice-hour figure.

What they state is a time gate and three minimums: supervision of at least one hour per week for a minimum of 100 hours; a supervision period of at least 24 months that may not exceed 36 consecutive months; and at least 1,000 hours of face-to-face client contact during the supervision period.

Up to one-fourth of the required supervision hours — 25 in total — may be by live audiovisual electronic means instead of in person.

Evaluations go to the Board every six months, four in all, and the Board must approve each before the next six-month period of supervision begins.

An extension beyond 36 months is capped at six months and requires written notice to the Board within 60 days before the period ends, supported by evidence of extenuating circumstances.

Count months, not just hours, when you plan an application date.

The LSW sits the ASWB Bachelors exam, the LMSW the Masters exam and the LCSW the Clinical exam; the statute defines an examination as one endorsed and prescribed by the Association of Social Work Boards.

Read the level names in rule 2.4(E), not the older requirement sections: rule 1902-2.2 still calls them the basic and intermediate exams, ASWB's pre-2018 names.

Since July 1, 2020, only the Clinical exam is accepted for LCSW status, and your supervision plan must designate that you intend to take it.

The Board's written approval is required before you can sit for any exam, and it expires one year from the date of approval.

Retakes are allowed every 90 calendar days, and an LCSW applicant who fails may keep practicing on the LMSW if renewal requirements are met.

An applicant must pass the exam at each of the three levels of licensure — LSW, LMSW and LCSW.

Hours toward the LCSW count only under a Board-approved LCSW Supervisor: an LCSW with at least two years of verifiable practice at the LCSW level, a 16-hour Board-approved supervision course, two CE hours in supervision each biennial renewal and a license in good standing.

One supervisor may carry no more than seven candidates; individual supervision means one supervisor and at most two supervisees and group supervision three to seven — and no more than half of the supervision may be in group form, so at least half must be individual and face-to-face.

Everything starts with prior approval — the plan must be Board-approved before supervision begins, no retroactive approval is granted, and the candidate needs written approval to start.

The rules also draw an ethics line: an LCSW without clinical expertise may not supervise a candidate seeking to become a clinician, so a macro-track supervisor is the wrong match.

An out-of-state board-approved supervisor can qualify if the Board finds their credentials substantially similar; they must apply separately, hold a Mississippi license and pass the Mississippi LCSW supervisor test.

Supervision must occur within an agency, institution, or group practice setting — a rule with direct job-search consequences.

An LMSW practicing independent of those settings is outside Board regulations, is not considered a candidate for LCSW supervision, and may face disciplinary action, so the LMSW years that lead to the LCSW are agency years.

The statute, as amended by SB 2727, defines clinical social work practice as applying specialized clinical knowledge and advanced clinical skill in the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of mental, emotional and behavioral disorders, conditions and addictions, and says that under supervision a master's social worker's practice may include the practices reserved to clinical social workers.

Where supervisee and supervisor work at different organizations, the Board must approve a written plan for how face-to-face supervision is carried out, including onsite visits to the supervisee's practice location at least once per six-month supervision period.

The rules contain a licensure-by-reciprocity/endorsement route: an applicant holding a valid license from another state may be eligible for Mississippi licensure if four conditions hold.

The exam they passed must be the same ASWB-endorsed or ASWB-prescribed exam for the license level they are requesting.

Their license must be in good standing from a state or territory whose qualifications are equal to or greater than the Mississippi Board's current requirements — and exams administered by individual states are not considered equal.

Applicants with complaints or disciplinary action pending in another state are not licensed until those are resolved to the Board's satisfaction, and they must hold the degree required under the Board's current rules.

Separately, out-of-state supervision hours can count toward the LCSW if the Board finds the other jurisdiction's processes are similar to Mississippi's, with verification from the originating jurisdiction.

The statute beyond SB 2727's amendments was not read, so confirm your route with the Board before you apply.

Mississippi enacted the Social Work Licensure Compact through Senate Bill 2727, approved by the Governor on March 28, 2025 and effective July 1, 2025, and Mississippi appears on the commission's list of member jurisdictions (32 jurisdictions as of September 24, 2026).

Enacted is not operational: the commission is not yet issuing multistate licenses, and no multistate social work license has been issued as of the research date.

The act already reaches into state law — it amends the definition of licensed social worker so the chapter covers a person who holds a compact privilege, and extends title protection to compact-privilege holders.

Until the commission begins issuing, practicing in Mississippi still takes a Mississippi license by the standard route.

Check the commission's announcements and the Board before relying on compact status.

Renewal is biennial and staggered: odd-numbered licenses renew in odd years and even-numbered licenses in even years, LSWs renew in September and LMSWs and LCSWs renew in April.

Each renewal period requires 40 hours of approved continuing education, including four hours of professional ethics, two hours on cultural diversity or cultural competency and, since July 1, 2020, one hour on mandated reporting.

At least 20 hours must be in person — live interactive online offerings count as in person — and no more than 20 may be remote.

Hours completed within the three years before your license expires may carry over, except ethics and cultural-diversity hours.

First renewals differ by level: LSWs and newly licensed LMSWs do not submit continuing education the first time, while LCSWs do.

The Board audits at least ten percent of reports, holds licensees responsible for four years of records, and may waive up to half the required hours for hardship.

Senate Bill 2727 took effect July 1, 2025.

It enacted the Social Work Licensure Compact and amended Miss.

Code §73-53-3's definitions — among them macro social work practice, clinical social work practice and clinical supervision — making licensed social worker cover compact-privilege holders, and amended §73-53-7's title-protection list the same way.

The administrative rules were last amended February 10, 2020 and November 17, 2022, before the compact act, so the rules read do not show how Mississippi will administer compact privileges; that is not stated in the sources read.

The other operative change is older but still current law: since July 1, 2020, only the ASWB Clinical exam is accepted for LCSW status, which closed the Advanced-exam route for new clinical-title holders.

Confirm with the Board whether the rules have been amended since the research date.

The LCSW application is filed once supervision is done.

It carries the supervision plan and contract, the four evaluations, the termination-of-supervision contract, a fingerprint check received by the Board directly from the issuing authority within 365 days, and three letters of professional reference from licensed mental health professionals who have known the applicant for at least one year within the supervision period — the people who documented the supervision may not write them, and at least one letter must come from an LCSW other than the supervisor.

Timing rules follow: approval to sit for the exam expires one year after it is issued; an LCSW application is abandoned if the exam is not attempted within six months after termination of supervision is approved; and after four failed attempts a candidate may appeal to the Board to continue.

Failing the Clinical exam does not end practice — the applicant may keep practicing on the LMSW if renewal requirements are met.