Background
All of you came to the Brown School as a bridge between your undergraduate training and your desired career goals. Many of you may have come to the Brown School to learn how to dismantle structural and systemic factors that have constrained and disproportionately privileged some communities over others. If you are in the mental health concentration, you are likely hoping to learn about how to engage in a change process with individuals, families, and/or groups impacted by mental health conditions, including how structural and systemic factors contribute to the development, amplify existing experiences, and maintain mental health symptoms. Throughout your time here at the Brown School, are exposed to content, frameworks, models, and approaches designed to engage, assess, intervene, and evaluate the work you do in collaboration with members of our communities.
Career Options
Fellowships
Fellowships are competitive, temporary work opportunities (usually 1-2 years) that allow individuals to continue gaining education while directly applying their clinical knowledge. For the majority of fellowships, you are considered a full employee and are treated as such in terms of time, pay, and expectations. However, you are supported through a structured program that often includes supervision, courses, and other means of professional development.
Fellowships are for individuals who have a clear sense of their career trajectory, a desire for learning, and can clearly articulate how a fellowship will advance their career in the direction of their desired goals.
Jobs
When looking for and applying for jobs, pay close attention to the requirements or preferred qualifications listed. Also, as a good rule of thumb, try not to apply to a job more than 60 days before graduation. If the job is posted prior to then, the organization is most likely looking for someone who they can hire immediately. To increase your chances of being seen as a serious applicant, wait closer to graduation to apply so the organization does not have to wait to hire you.
- Requires an LCSW
- Do not apply unless you have your LCSW.
- Requires a license
- It is possible that you fall into this criteria after completing the generalist exam. Feel free to take a chance and apply.
- License preferred
- This means that a license is not required, however those without one will not be top contenders. You should still go ahead and apply.
- 3-5 years post Master’s experience
- Do not apply to such jobs until you have 3-5 years post Master’s experience.
Networking
Networking is just as important in this field as any other. All students should have a LinkdeIn profile. This will be your professional persona, learn how to use it to best market yourself and highlight your career goals and strengths. Utilize Brown School Office of Career Services if you would like help in crafting your profile.
The Brown School has an extensive alumni network so take advantage of it! Schedule regular coffee meet ups or meet and greets with alumni who are in organizations that you’re interested in.
Clinical Interviews
Preparing for the clinical interview requires you to be intentional about how you bring together and synthesize the your understanding of not only clinical processes but also how you engage as a professional social worker. Remember the following points:
- Interviews are bi-directional- the goal is to determine the value match between employer and employee and vice versa. You want to approach your responses in a conversational tone, ask questions along the way, and not think of an interview as giving an answer..but more of a precise lead into further conversation.
- Do your homework- you need to understand how an organization’s mission aligns with their positioning in the community. Employers are looking for candidates that look at not only the impact the position provides but also understands how programs and services align with the overarching mission of the organization. Your capacity to speak to this is important.
- Share your hopes- by sharing what you hope to learn to improve your capacity to impact individuals, families, groups, organizations, and/or communities, you are sharing your desired learning for this first position. You must understand that if you are eligible for the position, then you don’t have to prove you are eligible but more that you have a strong foundation to bring to the position and view it as an opportunity to build upon foundation competencies.
- Prepare a set of strong questions- questions should be about better understanding the role, the role in context to the mission, and about organizational structure and satisfaction. Here are some questions to be thinking about:
- Job specific learning:
- What should I expect to learn in the first 6 months?
- What does a strong employee look like at the 6-month mark and again at 12 months?
- What are the biggest learning curves for a new employee?
- Supervisory style and accessibility:
- What is the supervision model? Form, frequency, duration
- What types of “on-the-job training is provided?
- What does orientation as a new employee look like?
- What are the most frequent targets of supervision? How is supervision time spent?
- Organizational impact:
- How does the organization see its role in bringing about community change?
- What are some of the organizational priorities at this time?
How much time is spent developing the organizational culture and are there principles that guide organizational leadership?
- Job specific learning:
Career Trajectories
It is rare to have a specialty right out of school. Take time to scaffold your skill sets for the first few years after graduating. Then, after having some experience under your belt, begin to think about specializing around a specific population, treatment, or both. At this point, you can start seeking out specialized training in specific modalities.
Clinical License to Practice
What should I do about pursuing a license to practice social work?
If you are planning to practice social work with individuals, families, and/or groups, it is likely going to benefit you in the long-run to pursue a clinical license. The terminal license for each state opens options for practice and is often a requirement of many mental health jobs.
Typically, it is much easier to start your career in a direct social work practice setting, completing the hours necessary to achieve a clinical license to practice social work, and then allow your career to evolve from that point. It is often difficult to go back and get your license due to significant barriers to employment, pay range, and life circumstances.
Pursing a license to practice social work is an important and critical step in the career trajectory of any social worker planning to provide direct services.
In your professional career, you will likely come to find that you will need to be licensed in the state(s) where you work, in order to engage in direct practice in social work. Moreover, obtaining a license to practice social work shows that a minimum standard has been met to engage in effective and competent social work practice.
Obtaining a license adds to the credibility and professional standards expected of its social work professionals and provides the checks and balances necessary to ensure our most vulnerable populations are treated fairly and competently.
Essentially any position that includes conducting one-on-one assessment, treatment planning, and interventions often require a clinical license to practice social work. Without a clinical license, a social worker is not eligible to provide diagnostic evaluations, practice independently of another licensed social worker, or engage in a range of clinical interventions.
Examples of position titles that would likely require a license:
- Mental Health, Foster Care, Medical Case-management
- Mental Health Treatment/Therapy
- Child Welfare, Children’s Division, Foster Care
- Group Facilitation, Process, Skills Training
- Hospital Social Work or Medical Social Work
- Intake and Assessment
- Diagnostic Interviewing and Referral
- Inpatient Psychiatric Facility, Residential Facility, Group Home
- Other direct practice, face-to-face services
Each state has its own regulations, requirements, statues, and rules regarding the licensure process. It is very important for each of you to consider the states in which you may practice when planning your social work education and post-graduate training and work. Additionally, each state has individual processes for accepting LCSW recognition from other states. Although licensure has clear benefits, it can also inhibit mobility.
A critical resource is the Association of Social Work Boards. The ASWB is the nonprofit organization composed of and owned by the social work regulatory boards and represents all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and all 10 Canadian provinces.
The ASWB is the only nonprofit organization dedicated to social work regulation. Their mission is to strengthen protection of the public by providing support and services to our member boards. You will find the following information at their website, aswb.org:
- Information about registering and taking licensure exams
- Information for individuals already licensed
- Information for Members of the ASWB
- Information for Educators and Schools of Social Work
- A variety of other resources related to social work regulation
Planning to practice social work outside Missouri? It is essential you visit the ASWB website and search the licensing requirements. Just click the state you wish to review or compare as many as you wish.
Initially, you must determine if there are specific educational requirements that must be met, other than completion of an MSW degree from an accredited school of social work. This information can usually be located on the individual state’s social work board website.
- Contact your social work regulatory board to request a license application
- Submit your application to your social work board
- Receive approval to register for the ASWB exam from your social work board
- Register with ASWB for the appropriate ASWB exam (either Generalist or Clinical)
- Generalist must be taken before Clinical
- Receive the ASWB Authorization to Test via email or mail
- Make an exam appointment: Contact Pearson VUE, ASWB’s testing contractor
- Can schedule online or call at 877.884.9537
- Click here to see available testing sites
- Receive an email confirmation of your testing appointment within 24 hours from Pearson VUE
- Bring 2 valid forms of acceptable ID to the test center on your test day
- Take the ASWB exam and receive your unofficial score report
- You leave with your score that day!
- Receive your license from the social work board in the jurisdiction in which you applied
The generalist exam is administered on a computer and consists of 170 multiple choice questions with only 4 choices (a, b, c, d) for each. There are no “all of the above” or “none of the above” choices. You are able to flag questions and return them later, but once you hit “submit” you cannot go back. Only 150 questions are scored, the other 20 are “pretest” questions for future exams.
You will have 4 hours to complete the exam. You will receive your unofficial score before you leave the center. Typically, you need a score of 93 (106 out of 150 questions) in order to pass. In the event you do not pass, you can retake the exam after 90 days.
If you are interested to know what type of content will be on the exam, reference the PDFs supplied by the ASWB.
If you take and pass your licensing exam in one state and are applying to be licensed in a different state or province, you must transfer your licensing exam score to the appropriate board.
You must complete the request score transfer form as well as the licensure application to the new jurisdiction.
Click here for more information.
This decision is a personal decision. However, there is no immediate need to take your exam during your final semester. In all honesty, your final semester of your MSW program is probably when you are the least motivated to do work, and the most motivated to be done!
When to consider:
- You are applying for or have been offered a job that requires the LMSW prior to your start date.
- Your semester is very light in terms of course load and you have the space to study and prepare.
- You are planning to take a very long break after you complete the program and you do not wish to have this next test weighing over your head.
Otherwise, most jobs will give you 60-90 days upon employment to take the exam.
Pay attention to the specific certifications for each state! States call their generalist certifications various things.
Example: In Missouri, you earn an LMSW and then your LCSW.
But in Illinois you earn your LSW1 and then your LCSW2.
For a state by state breakdown, click here.
The generalist exam, the first exam you take, can be taken in any state. If you want to be licensed in Michigan, you can take the exam in Missouri!
However, visit the ASWB Laws and Regulations Database to make sure the state you want to practice in does not have its own specific requirements.
State Licensing Requirements
The Buder Center at the Brown School has compiled a list of state licensing requirements and renewal requirements. Click on the reports for additional information!
*Please be advised that licensing requirements change frequently and to assure the most up-to-date requirements, you should visit the licensing website for the individual states.
ASWB Laws and Regulations Database
State Requirements – Buder Center
Addiction Counselor Standards – Buder Center
Missouri Licensing Process
The path to licensure to Missouri is multi-step approach. Your key resource will be the Missouri Division of Professional Registration State Committee for Social Workers. You can also consult Missouri’s Statutes and License Laws (RSMO 337.600 – 337.689).
Types of Licenses Offered in Missouri
- LMSW – Licensed Master Social Worker
- LCSW – Licensed Clinical Social Worker
- LBSW – Licensed Baccalaureate Social Worker
- LBSW-IP – Licensed Baccalaureate Social Worker – Independent Practice
- LAMSW – Licensed Advanced Macro Social Worker
- Complete Graduate MSW Requirements from an Accredited School of Social Work (the Brown School is Accredited).
- Students may take exam before graduation but must submit the following 30-60 days prior to graduation date:
- Background check;
- Written request to sit for exam;
- Application fee; and
- Letter from Registrar validating pending graduation.
- Students may take exam before graduation but must submit the following 30-60 days prior to graduation date:
- Complete the Application for Licensure – LMSW/LBSW (PDF) and submit fingerprints.
- Mail application, appropriate fee, and copy of receipt for fingerprinting to the following address:
Division of Professional Registration
State Committee for Social Workers
P.O. Box 1335
Jefferson City, Missouri 65102-1335
Telephone: 573-751-0885 - Request that official transcripts from the Brown School Registrar’s Office be sent directly to the Division of Professional Registration, State Committee for Social Workers.
- A letter will be issued to applicants directing them to contact ASWB to register for the Master’s Level Exam.
- License Candidates pick their desired test date and location.
- Official Exam results take 7-10 days for the office to receive, and license will be issued upon receipt. (Licensed Master Social Worker)
- Find a qualified supervisor. Consult supervisor standards (PDF).
- Contract and register for supervision (PDF).
- Provide copy of supervisor’s certificate of 16 hours of supervision training.
- Provide an employment verification.
- Pay $25 fee.
- Supervision start date is provided in Letter of Approval; no supervision hours will be counted if obtained prior to the date on this letter.
- Supervision must be completed within 48 months.
- Minimum of two hours every two weeks face-to-face (must see face, so FaceTime is acceptable).
- 50% can consist of group supervision.
- Supervisor does not have to work at same site (work with employer for permission).
- Any changes must be reported!
- Progress Reports are due by the supervisor every 12 months. (As the person seeking licensure, it is your responsibility to ensure your supervisor completes these reports.)
- Upon completion of 3,000 hours of supervision in at least 24 months, complete another fingerprint background check, and submit the following:
- Completed Application for Licensure – LCSW/LAMSW (PDF);
- Fingerprinting/background check results;
- Application for licensure fee;
- Completed “Attestation of Supervised Social Work Experience” form; and
- State Committee will send a letter approving your application to take the Clinical Exam through the ASWB.
- Pass Exam.
- Remain under supervision until your license is issued.