Education
Clinical Social Workers at UCLA Health are Master's level educated clinicians dedicated to enhancing outcomes of medical treatments and improving access to care. Many of our staff hold the profession's advanced practice license of Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW). The clinical social work staff members without a LCSW are provided supervision and training from senior clinical social work staff to attain the advanced practice license; peer supervision is also offered to clinical social workers.
To obtain a LCSW, a clinical social worker must successfully complete the following education requirements prior to the California state licensing exam:
- A Master's in Social Work from an accredited school for Social Work
- Additional course work on high-risk populations
- 104 weeks of supervision
- 3200 hours of supervised work experience
After all education requirements are met, the Board of Behavioral Sciences must approve the candidate's eligibility for examination. The candidate must pass the LCSW Standard Written Examination as well as the LCSW Written Clinical Vignette Examination to obtain a license.
As a major academic hospital, UCLA Health values and promotes continued professional development to ensure that quality social work services are provided. According to the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), "regardless of career stage, social workers are ethically required to keep [informed] of current research, theory, and techniques that guide social work practice to better serve [our patients]." Professional development and on-going education is essential for shaping the growth of professional knowledge base.
In support of this pursuit, UCLA provides monthly professional education seminars from multi-disciplinary leaders internally and from the community on a diverse range of topics. These seminars are open to the UCLA community and provide continuing education credits for clinical social workers. For upcoming presentations and events, please refer to the UCLA Health community health program videos section.