Washington · Social Work
What Counts Toward Your LSWAIC Hours in Washington (and What Doesn't)
Last updated August 7, 2026
The most-asked question on Washington's LSWAIC → LICSW track has no official answer. WAC 246-809-330 requires a minimum of 3,000 hours of supervised experience over at least two years — and never says which work activities count toward them. There is no activity list anywhere in the chapter, and the definitions section (WAC 246-809-310) does not define "direct client contact." The decision the rules leave open belongs to your approved supervisor. So the useful version of this page is two things: the floors the rule does set, and a working activity list adapted from a Washington supervisor who makes that call for her own associates.
The floors the rule sets
| Requirement | Hours | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Total supervised experience | 3,000 minimum | Over a period of not less than two years |
| Direct client contact | 1,000 minimum | Supervised by an LICSW |
| Direct supervision | 100 | At least 70 with an LICSW; at least 60 one-to-one |
| Supervision frequency | 1 per 80 | At least one supervision hour per 80 hours of clinical practice time (WAC 246-809-020) |
The supervision floors overlap rather than splitting into buckets: at least 70 of the 100 hours with an LICSW (the rest may be with an equally qualified licensed mental health practitioner), and at least 60 one-to-one (the rest one-to-one or group). All 100 one-to-one with an LICSW satisfies both at once, and is common. One shortcut exists: 3+ years as a Substance Use Disorder Professional within the past 10 years reduces the total from 3,000 to 2,600 hours (WAC 246-809-330(2)(b)) — a bigger cut than the counseling and MFT tracks get, so don't assume a number you read on an LMHC page applies to you.
Floors, not buckets
Planning worksheets often frame the math as "1,000 direct hours plus 2,000 remaining hours." That arithmetic is fine for planning — most associates land near it — but it is not what the rule says. RCW 18.225.090 says at least 1,000 hours must be direct client contact: the 1,000 is a floor, not a bucket. If you accumulate 1,400 direct client hours, every one of them counts toward the 3,000. Nothing requires 2,000 hours of non-direct work.
A working list of what counts
The activity lists below are adapted from a worksheet by Jennifer Given-Helms, Finding Center Counseling, shared with permission. Two caveats before you use them. First, this is a practitioner's framing, not rule text: Washington's rules never define these categories, so your own supervisor's read governs your hours — and where any worksheet disagrees with the rule text, the rule text wins. Second, treat every item as "confirm with your supervisor," not "the state said so."
Direct client contact
Clinical services delivered directly to clients, within an LSWAIC's scope of practice:
- Individual, couples, family, and group psychotherapy — telehealth included
- Mental health, biopsychosocial, and diagnostic assessments
- Suicide and violence risk assessments, crisis intervention, and safety planning with the client
- Intake evaluations and discharge sessions
- Treatment planning done with the client present
- Psychoeducation and substance use counseling provided directly to clients
The rest of the supervised experience
Categories supervisors commonly count toward the 3,000-hour total — and usually not toward the direct client contact floor:
- Clinical documentation — progress notes, intake and diagnostic documentation, treatment plans and their reviews, discharge summaries, safety plans
- Care coordination — consulting with psychiatrists and primary care providers, coordination with hospitals, schools, or DCYF, referral and discharge-planning coordination, family contact with consent
- Case consultation — clinical staffing and treatment team meetings, case presentations, peer consultation, ethics consultation
- Clinical case management — reviewing client records, developing treatment recommendations and session materials, monitoring progress, following up on referrals
- Administrative clinical duties — EHR management, clinical audits and quality-improvement work tied to behavioral health care, documentation compliance review
- Professional development — clinical trainings and conferences, when your supervisor counts them as part of your supervised clinical work
Supervision hours: inside the 3,000, outside the 1,000
Your supervision sessions count toward the 3,000-hour total but not toward the direct client contact floor. And the 100-hour direct supervision requirement is narrower than "time spent on supervision": under the rule's definitions, one-to-one and group supervision are sessions with an approved supervisor, face-to-face or virtual (WAC 246-809-310). Preparing cases for supervision and reviewing supervisor feedback can be supervised-experience time if your supervisor counts them — but they are not direct supervision hours.
What doesn't count
Some categories are clearly out on any reasonable read:
- Vacation, sick leave, lunch, and breaks
- Human resources activities, mandatory onboarding, and general office meetings unrelated to clinical care
- Payroll, billing, and marketing work unrelated to client care
- Reception coverage and purely clerical work
No reports until the end — then DOH 670-011
There are no birth-month windows and no six-month reports in Washington. You track your hours across the whole supervised period, and each supervisor completes a DOH 670-011 Supervised Postgraduate Experience Verification form — one per supervisor and per practice setting — submitted with your final LICSW application. The form asks for direct client contact hours, one-to-one supervision, group supervision, and other (indirect) hours, which is one more reason the what-counts question matters: those are the categories your record has to produce, possibly years after the work.
The catch: "no reports" means no forcing function. If your tracking drifts for a year, nobody notices until the end — when reconstructing hours across supervisors and settings gets genuinely painful. Keep the log current as you go.
Exam and renewal
- Exam: the ASWB Clinical exam, passed before or during the associate period. Washington requires the clinical-level exam even at the LSWAIC stage.
- Renewal: annual on your license's issuance date ($41), with 16 CE hours per year (WAC 246-809-632, effective October 2025) — including 6 hours of suicide assessment before your first renewal, 6 hours of ethics/law every two years, 2 hours of professional roles and boundaries, and 2 hours of health equity every four years.
Common questions
Does Washington publish a list of what counts toward LSWAIC hours?▾
No. WAC 246-809-330 sets floors — a minimum of 3,000 hours of experience over at least two years, at least 1,000 hours of direct client contact, and 100 hours of direct supervision — and never enumerates which work activities qualify. The definitions section, WAC 246-809-310, does not define "direct client contact" either. In practice your approved supervisor determines whether specific work counts as supervised clinical practice; when in doubt, ask them first and the Department of Health second.
What counts as direct client contact for an LSWAIC?▾
The rule does not define the term. In practice it means clinical services delivered directly to clients within your scope of practice: individual, couples, family, and group psychotherapy; mental health, biopsychosocial, and diagnostic assessments; risk assessments, crisis intervention, and safety planning with the client; and intake and discharge sessions. The rules are silent on modality for client contact, and telehealth sessions are commonly counted the same as in-person work. Confirm anything borderline with your supervisor before counting it.
Do supervision hours count toward the 3,000 total?▾
Yes. The 100 hours of direct supervision sit inside the 3,000-hour total, but they do not count toward the 1,000-hour direct client contact floor. And the 100-hour requirement is narrower than "time spent on supervision": only one-to-one or group sessions with an approved supervisor count toward it. Preparing cases for supervision or reviewing supervisor feedback may count toward the 3,000 if your supervisor agrees — not toward the 100.
Can I count more than 1,000 hours of direct client contact?▾
Yes. The 1,000 is a floor, not a bucket — RCW 18.225.090 says at least 1,000 hours must be direct client contact. Direct client hours beyond 1,000 keep counting toward your 3,000-hour total, so you do not need exactly 2,000 hours of non-direct work. You need 3,000 supervised hours, of which at least 1,000 are direct.
Does documentation or paperwork time count toward LSWAIC hours?▾
The rule is silent, which means the call belongs to your supervisor. Clinical documentation — progress notes, treatment plans, assessments, discharge summaries — is commonly counted as part of supervised clinical experience. It is time spent outside the session, so it does not advance the 1,000-hour direct client contact floor. Purely clerical work, billing unrelated to clinical care, and reception coverage are the kinds of activities supervisors typically exclude.
Do I submit hour reports during my LSWAIC period?▾
No. Washington has no periodic reporting windows. You track hours throughout your supervised experience, and your supervisor(s) complete the DOH 670-011 Supervised Postgraduate Experience Verification form at the end — one form per supervisor and per practice setting — as part of your final LICSW application.
Can all 100 of my supervision hours be one-to-one with an LICSW?▾
Yes. Washington sets floors, not exclusive buckets: at least 70 of the 100 hours must be with an LICSW, and at least 60 must be one-to-one. Doing all 100 one-to-one with an LICSW satisfies both floors at once.
Official sources
This guide is informational, not legal advice. Licensure rules change — always verify current requirements with your board before making decisions about your supervision plan, and flag any discrepancies to support@almostlicensed.com so we can fix them.