Social work licenses in Florida expire every two years. This isn’t just a way for the state to get you to cough up licensing fees on the regular. Instead, it’s about ensuring that Florida social workers remain competent, engaged, and qualified to deliver services in a constantly evolving field of practice.
To those ends, the single biggest requirement for LCSW and CMSW renewal is 30 hours of continuing education (CE). CE courses have to be taken from approved providers and meet specific subject area requirements. They can be fulfilled at any point during the two year renewal window, however. You can cram all 30 hours into the last couple of months before the deadline or spread them out in a more reasonable 15 hours per year, it’s up to you.
Registered Clinical Social Work Interns are not required to fulfill any CE obligations, because those credentials are not renewable in Florida—the purpose of the intern credential is simply to get you to LCSW status.
This is far more than just an exercise in bureaucratic ticket-punching, though. Your CE requirements aren’t about pushing paperwork—they are about keeping current on your qualification to engage with the culturally-diverse, economically-challenged population of the third-largest state in the country.
Every hour you clock to renew that license is time spent honing your skills to take on some of the most challenging problems that Floridians face in their daily lives. So it matters where and how you build those hours. These resources will help you make them count.
How Florida Counts Your Continuing Education Hours for License Renewal
Just like initial licensing, renewals for social workers are handled by Florida’s Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage & Family Therapy and Mental Health Counseling.
The Board website is straightforward and well-organized, so it’s easy to find and understand the renewal process and see what the expectations are for continuing ed.
Continuing education hours are not required for your very first license renewal, which will come less than two years after you have first qualified for licensure.
The requirements are slightly different for LCSW (Licensed Clinical Social Workers) and CMSW (Certified Master Social Workers). While both need to accrue 30 hours of CE, the fields covered aren’t exactly the same.
Both start off with 25 general CE hours to fulfill, along with 2 mandatory hours in Medical Errors CE, covering 27 of those 30 hours.
For LCSWs, an additional 3 hours must be taken in Ethics and Boundaries during one renewal period, and three hours in Telehealth during the next period. This rotates back and forth between the two for as long as you remain a social worker.
For CMSWs, the extra 3 hours are always required to be in Ethics and Boundaries every year.
Each license category then has specific requirements for how you divvy up some portion of those 25 remaining hours…
LCSW Additional Continuing Education Requirements
- 3 hours in Laws and Rules every third renewal
- 2 hours in Domestic Violence every third renewal
- 4 hours Qualified Supervisor Training for Qualified Supervisors every third renewal
CMSW Additional Continuing Education Requirements
- 3 hours in Laws and Rules every third renewal
- 2 hours in Domestic Violence every third renewal
As you can see, that still leaves you with plenty of room to fill up your remaining hours with essentially whatever you want — this is where you load up on subjects and studies that are specifically relevant to your field of practice.
Finding an Approved Provider Is Key To Having Your Continuing Education Hours Count for Florida Licensure
Like most states, Florida doesn’t let you count CE hours taught by just anyone. In order to have your credits recorded and to count toward renewal, you must obtain them from an approved provider.
There are plenty of private for-profit and non-profit continuing education organizations that meet this standard. Each is required to have, and display, their Florida Board approval number. A quick verification that any provider you consider has that number is a quick way to make sure you receive credits for their training.
The Board also lists nationally approved providers that include most of the major organizations you would expect to provide competent social services and behavioral health education….
- National Association of Social Workers
- Clinical Social Work Federation
- Association of Social Work Boards
Along with some others you may not have considered…
- American Psychological Association
- American Association of Sex Educators Counselors and Therapists
- American Counseling Association
- American Society of Clinical Hypnosis
- American Board of Professional Psychology
- American Psychiatric Association
- International Association of Marriage and Family Therapy Counselors
- American Association of State Counseling Boards
- American Mental Health Counseling Association
- American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy
- Association of Marital and Family Therapy Regulatory Boards
- National Board of Certified Counselors
But many private providers operating both within the state and nationally also make the list. Every approved provider must be registered with the state to record and submit your completed hours into the Board tracking system.
What Types of Activities Will Count Toward Continuing Education Hours for Florida Social Workers?
Most continuing education basically takes the same form as your initial social work education: conventional courses consisting of presentations, instructor-led discussion, classwork, and reading.
Like college classes, you can find these courses available both in-person and online. Online options are far and away the most popular and easily accessed today. They fall into the category of home study according to the Board, and there are no restrictions on how many hours you can fulfill by that method.
But there are a few opportunities for accruing continuing education hours that don’t involve conventional coursework. The Board will also offer credits for three other kinds of professional activities:
- Attending a Board meeting - 3 credits
- Being a presenter or moderator - up to 10 credits
- Teaching a graduate-level social work course - up to 5 hours
Unlike many states, Florida does not explicitly list taking graduate-level social work courses as fulfilling CE requirements, only teaching them.
While college classes aren’t automatically granted CE status as they are in some other states, there are a number of Florida universities that have obtained Board approval for their social work courses. This means that you can often find social work certificate programs that can fulfill your CE hour requirements while building up your specialized skills.
If you Hold National Certification as a Social Worker, That Also Carries Its Own Continuing Education Requirements
The state Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage & Family Therapy, and Mental Health Counseling may not be the only organization interested in your continuing education hours. If, like many social workers, you pursue general or specialized national professional certification in social work, you are likely to owe a few hours to maintain those credentials every few years, as well.
NASW is the major player in professional social work certifications and has their own standards and approved providers for maintaining those certs. Fortunately, Florida’s Board recognizes NASW itself as an approved provider. It’s perfectly acceptable to use your hours toward maintaining that cert to also keep your license current.
State and National Organizations Offer Continuing Education Aligned With Social Work Needs
Many, if not most, social workers will become members of one or more of the major organizations that represent and advocate for social services in Florida and across the country.
Dedicated to supporting and improving the profession overall, it’s very common for these organizations to offer either workshops or educational events that can count as CE. You probably noticed a few of the big names on the Board-approvals list above.
Your membership often entitles you to free or low-cost rates for the CE that these groups offer. So they are an easy place to start when you are looking for hours to meet your renewal requirements.
Clinical Social Work Association Continuing Education
CSWA is the national voice for clinical social work, but it’s also an approved provider for Florida’s many clinical social workers. Educational events put on by the organization keep pace with the latest evidence-based practices, and may be open to both members and non-members.
Whether you are looking to book CE hours that can be double-counted toward both state licensure and professional certification renewals or just want a high-quality source of current social work information, NASW is an easy place to turn to. Even better, members of the organization receive substantially discounted rates on training.
State-level NASW trainings can also serve as CE for both specialty certification and license renewal. As an added bonus, you’re likely to find more training here that is specifically relevant to various challenges that are unique to Florida social work—as well as connecting with other resources and mentors for your regular practice.
American Society of Clinical Hypnosis Workshops & Events
ASCH makes the list of state-approved CE providers for Florida social workers, so if you are looking for training that is a little off the beaten path from the usual counseling and human services material, this may be it. Workshops are offered both online and locally around the country for this specialized type of therapeutic treatment.
Commercial Providers That Meet Florida’s CE Requirements for LCSW & CMSW Maintenance
Although big national social work and related professional organizations have much to offer in terms of CE, it’s not really their sole focus. So you may find that the variety and flexibility is better with a variety of private providers.
There’s no shortage of these options for racking up CE hours, and no end to the variety of classes they offer. With formats ranging from in-person and live to online and on your own time, there’s something to match every individual learning style. And since many have solid relationships with social work research and publishing organizations, there’s never a shortage of fresh, evidence-based education for you to tap into.
CE Broker is the one resource you absolutely must master as a Florida social worker, since it is the company that runs the online tracking system used by the state Board for counting your CE hours. You will have to create an account and log in to verify that your hours have been entered correctly even by other providers. But CE broker also works as a clearinghouse for finding other approved providers and courses, searchable by course type, format, and subject. It’s an easy way to find niche classes without visiting every other approved provider, although not every provider’s classes are listed here.
Free State Social Work Continuing Education
The courses at Free State aren’t quite free, but they are pretty close—charging only $5.99 per credit hour, online classes here can be found to cover all kinds of topics, from Addiction to Ethics to Veterans issues. The organization doesn’t offer courses on Medical Errors, Laws and Rules, or Supervisor training.
NetCE offers online training in both mandatory Florida CE course areas and a range of other topics from Alternative Medicine to Men’s Health. Even more interesting, the company has a handful of free courses, where you can try out the system and instruction while accruing hours without any cost.
Convenient and affordable are the watchwords at major national continuing ed provider CE4Less. You can check out their online ethics course for free to get an idea of how well they work for you. The company also offers both live and asynchronous online courses to cater to your preferred learning style or availability.
At Health holds approvals from both NBCC and ASWB, which helps explain the high ratings their courses get. As a major national CE provider, they have coursework that covers almost every conceivable area that social workers might want to explore, from the assessment of autism spectrum disorder to conducting child custody evaluations.
Elite Learning has the same standard array of classes as are available at any big national CE provider, but for Florida social workers, they make life a little easier: two standardized bundles of CE courses are offered specifically designed to meet your renewal requirements. Both a laws edition and a telehealth edition are available to hit the various alternating terms in your renewal cycle, and both clock in over the 25 total hours you need. That makes Elite Learning one-stop shopping for both your mandatory and elective CE needs.
More than 250 evidence-based CE courses available around the clock and from anywhere you get internet makes ContinuED a convenient choice for many Florida social workers. A subscription set at $99 per year gives you unlimited access to classes on any topic. With live webinar, video, audio, and text-based course formats, you can find a course that meets your preferred learning style.
With more than 22 years of online CE course delivery behind them, this company has got to be one of the most experienced in the business. Their experience shows through their innovation: integrated cruise/continuing ed packages through their CE at Sea conference launch from Fort Lauderdale and give you a shot at getting your continuing ed hours in while getting your tan on.
If your social work interests are focused on mental health and wellness, the Zur Institute is a resource you’re going to want to check out. Delivering more than 120 unique courses designed for psychologists, therapist, counselors, and social workers, they bring a psychosocial focus to their training. The options include complete certificate programs for when you are interested in a set of related courses to cultivate expertise in areas like trauma-focused care or autism issues.
Professional Development Resources
PDR offers online CE for Florida social workers on subjects ranging from Alzheimers and Aging to communication skills. But as an organization focused on catering to healthcare professionals, the biggest focus you’ll find here is in classes in behavioral therapy or psychotherapeutic practices.
PESI is a non-profit organization that has been working in continuing education since 1979. They offer courses with a 100 percent satisfaction guarantee. It’s an easy promise for them to meet, with partnerships with leading conferences, publishers, and institutions that deliver the latest in evidence-based content in social work practice.
With quality course content and an easy to use website, Aspira is a go-to solution for quick CE compliance for Florida social workers. If you hit snags, their live customer support can get you back on track quickly. And with an ability to browse course content before actually enrolling, you can easily see if their classes will meet your personal needs.