Clinical Supervision

Board certification in Clinical Supervision will help you to achieve the public recognition you have earned in your practice. This credential is offered by the American Board of Clinical Social Work (ABCSW), which has set the standards for competency in this specialty and will promote and defend your abilities as a certificant.

Competence in clinical supervision is described in the ABCSW’s position statement, Clinical Supervision: A Specialty of Clinical Social Work, intended to describe the characteristics of advance practice and to educate a third party about this specialty. The ABCSW markets this certification through social media and other methods, and supports the practice of clinical supervision and this credential through the online resources of the organization.

The fee for applying for this certification is $275.

The successful candidate has mastery of relevant knowledge and skills, and excels in helping supervisees to practice effectively with clients in many settings and contexts. Your competence will be examined in terms of your own achievements as well as the opinions of your colleagues. Please read the one-page Clinical Social Workers as Clinical Supervisors.

This credential may be attained online at this website by those who are or become Board Certified Diplomate in Clinical Social Work (BCD) certificants. 

QUALIFICATIONS

In order to qualify, you should meet the following criteria:

Current Direct Practice: You hold the BCD certification, currently provide clinical supervision, and, in the past year, have practiced at least 500 hours as a clinical supervisor.

Supervised Practice Experience: Provided a minimum of 100 hours of clinical supervision over the past three (3) years (refer to Clinical Social Workers as Clinical Supervisors).

Continuing Education: Over any post-master’s time-span, you amassed 15 clock hours of clinical continuing education related to clinical supervision.

Use of Consultant/Supervisor: You are being advised by a consultant or peer supervision group on issues related to clinical supervision.

Evaluators: You can provide two favorable Colleague Evaluations of your current practice (refer to Qualifications of Your Evaluators).

Unsuccessful applicants who wish to re-apply should promptly inform the ABCSW in writing of your intention and submit the re-application fee. You will be sent a new set of Evaluation Packages. The ABCSW will retain the rest of your application information. As before, your Evaluators would be of your own choosing.