What the Arkansas Social Work Licensing Board requires to reach LCSW — supervised hours, exams, continuing education and renewal.
| Credential | Full name | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| LSW | Licensed Social Worker | Bachelor's-level license. |
| LMSW | Licensed Master Social Worker | Master's level. |
| LCSW | Licensed Certified Social Worker | The clinical level. Note the C stands for Certified, not Clinical. |
| Supervised experience | 4,000 hours — defined by rule as 2 years of post-master's experience supervised by an LCSW |
| Supervision hours | 100 hours over the 24 months, per the board's application checklist |
| Supervision frequency | An average of at least 1 hour per week of face-to-face LCSW supervision. Group supervision is capped at groups of four or fewer and at half of total supervisory time. |
| Minimum elapsed time | 2 years (24 full months) |
| Direct client contact | Not specified by the board |
LSW takes the ASWB Bachelors exam, LMSW the ASWB Masters, and LCSW the ASWB Clinical. Arkansas does not use the Advanced Generalist category.
30 hours per 2-year licensure period.
Easy to get wrong. File your supervision plan on the board's form within 60 days of the supervision start date, and the evaluation form within 60 days of the last supervision date. Missing either window causes problems later.
Arkansas has enacted the Social Work Licensure Compact. Thirty-three jurisdictions have. Enactment is not the same as availability: the Compact Commission has not opened applications and no multistate licenses have been issued yet. Until it goes live, licensure by endorsement remains the route into another state. Where the compact actually stands.
Primary authority: Arkansas Social Work Licensing Board. Where anything on this page differs from the board, the board governs.
We do not publish fee amounts. Boards revise fee schedules without notice and a stale figure on a page people budget from is worse than no figure — use the board link above for current fees.
Requirements change. Confirm anything you intend to act on with the board before you apply. Tell us if something here is out of date and we will correct and re-date the page.
Last reviewed: October 2026 · Next scheduled review: January 2027
This guide is the reference. If you want it turned into dates and a checklist — when to register, when each exam opens to you, what the fees come to — the roadmap builder does that for Arkansas.
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