Can I import my ASW hours from Track Your Hours?

Yes. SparkHours has a built-in Track Your Hours importer with full LCSW support. Your existing ASW hours come over with the right structure: the 750-hour psychotherapy minimum, the 1,700-hour LCSW supervisor breakdown, weekly supervision, and your full site and supervisor history. SparkHours also detects your TYH paid-through date and gives you free access until it expires, so you don't pay for both at the same time.

Does SparkHours generate the BBS Experience Verification form for ASWs?

Yes. SparkHours generates the In-State Experience Verification form for ASWs as you near the end of your hours. The form is pre-filled from your logged hours and your supervisor history, ready for supervisor signature. You get one Experience Verification form per placement (site and supervisor combination).

How many ASW hours do you need for LCSW licensure in California?

You need 3,000 hours of post-degree supervised experience, completed over a minimum of 104 weeks. At least 2,000 must be clinical hours (psychosocial diagnosis, assessment, and treatment), including 750 hours of face-to-face psychotherapy. Non-clinical hours are capped at 1,000. Additionally, 1,700 of your total hours must be gained under the supervision of an LCSW.

How do I track LCSW hours?

Each week, you log your hours by category for each site and supervisor. Categories include clinical (with the 750-hour psychotherapy minimum), non-clinical, and supervision. Your supervisor signs your weekly rows on BBS Form 37A-638, where one sheet holds up to ten weekly rows for a single work setting and supervisor within one calendar year. SparkHours automates this: log your hours, and the app generates pre-filled 37A-638 PDFs for e-signature, tracks your 1,700-hour LCSW supervisor minimum, and monitors the 13-week individual/triadic LCSW supervision requirement automatically.

What are the ASW supervision requirements?

It's a step function: 1 unit of supervision per week minimum in each setting where you log experience. If you log more than 10 hours of clinical social work services at that setting in a single week, you need a second unit. It's not proportional. The step happens at 10. One unit equals 1 hour of individual or triadic supervision, or 2 hours of group supervision. The most supervision that can count in one week is 6 hours. That step function applies throughout your post-degree experience. The second unit is triggered only by more than 10 hours of clinical social work services at that setting in that week.

How does the ASW 750-hour psychotherapy requirement work?

You need at least 750 hours of face-to-face individual or group psychotherapy. Those 750 hours are included in your 2,000 clinical hours, not added on top of them. They count toward both your psychotherapy requirement and your clinical total. This is similar to how AMFTs need 500 hours with couples, families, and children inside their direct client contact.

Do ASW fieldwork hours count toward LCSW licensure?

No. Like APCCs, your pre-degree fieldwork hours don't count toward the 3,000 post-degree hours required for LCSW licensure. The BBS does not regulate an LCSW trainee phase. Qualifying post-master's experience may begin before ASW registration only through the 90-Day Rule when all of its conditions are met.

What's the difference between ASW, AMFT, and APCC hour requirements?

All three require 3,000 total hours, but the breakdown differs significantly. ASWs need 2,000 clinical hours (vs. 1,750 direct client contact for AMFT/APCC). ASWs have a 1,000 non-clinical cap (vs. 1,250). ASWs must log 750 psychotherapy hours; AMFTs need 500 hours with couples, families, and children; APCCs have no specialty requirement at all. ASWs must have 1,700 hours under LCSW supervision. This requirement is unique to the ASW path.

California BBS · ASW → LCSW

ASW Hour Requirements & BBS Form 37A-638 for California LCSW Licensure

Here's what the BBS wants: hour requirements, the 750-hour psychotherapy minimum, the LCSW supervisor mandate, and Form 37A-638. Your hours start when your ASW number is issued, or sooner under the Board's 90-Day Rule if you apply in time and your employer Live Scanned you first.

Download the ASW Weekly Log (37A-638)Or get it pre-filled from your hours

The ASW version, always current, straight from the Board.

LCSW Hour Requirements: The Complete Breakdown

LCSW hour requirements
Requirement	Hours
Total supervised experience	3,000 minimum
Clinical	2,000 minimum
Face-to-face psychotherapy	750 minimum
Non-clinical	1,000 maximum
Supervision requirements	1 unit/week + 1 if >10 hours of clinical social work services
Hours under LCSW supervision	1,700 minimum
Individual/triadic weeks with LCSW	13 weeks minimum
Supervision weekly maximum	6 hours
Individual/triadic weeks required	52 weeks
General rules
Pre-degree hours that count	0
Maximum per 7 consecutive days	40 hours
Minimum duration	104 weeks

The number that catches most ASWs off guard is the 750-hour psychotherapy minimum. Those hours aren't separate from your 2,000 clinical hours. They're carved out of them. If your role is heavy on assessment and case management, you could hit your clinical total without enough face-to-face psychotherapy. It's the ASW equivalent of the AMFT (Associate Marriage and Family Therapist) 500-hour couples, families, and children requirement.

For a side-by-side look at how ASW requirements compare to AMFT and APCC (Associate Professional Clinical Counselor) tracks, see those guides. If you're still in your MSW program, see practicum and fieldwork tracking.

Supervision Requirements for ASWs

LCSW supervisor requirement

This is unique to the ASW path. At least 1,700 of your 3,000 hours must be gained under the supervision of an LCSW. That's more than half. And of your required 52 weeks of individual or triadic supervision, at least 13 weeks must be with an LCSW supervisor.

That 1,700 is a floor, not a cap. An LCSW can supervise every one of your 3,000 hours. Above the floor you can also work under an LMFT, LPCC, Licensed Psychologist, Licensed Educational Psychologist for up to 1,200 hours of educationally related mental-health services, or a physician certified in psychiatry by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. If your primary supervisor isn't an LCSW, you'll need to plan carefully to reach 1,700.

Step function

1 unit of supervision required in any week you log experience at that setting. If you log more than 10 hours of clinical social work services at that setting in a single week, you need a second unit. It's not proportional. The step happens at 10.

That step function applies throughout your post-degree experience. The second unit is triggered only by more than 10 hours of clinical social work services at that setting in that week.

Key supervision rules

One unit = 1 hour of individual or triadic supervision, or 2 hours of group supervision
Group supervision: maximum 8 people per session
Qualified supervisors: LCSW (required for 1,700 hours), LMFT, LPCC, Licensed Psychologist, Licensed Educational Psychologist (max 1,200 hours), or a physician certified in psychiatry by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology
One exception: hours from attending workshops, seminars, training sessions or conferences still count toward your total, but on their own they do not require a unit of supervision that week

Workshops, seminars, training sessions, and conferences count only when directly related to clinical social work and approved by your supervisor. On their own, they do not require a unit of supervision that week.

SparkHours checks your supervision requirements per site, per supervisor, every week. If you're short, you'll see a warning before you submit.

MSW Fieldwork and Pre-Degree Hours

California defines no BBS-regulated practicum phase for the LCSW track the way it does for the LMFT and LPCC tracks. The fieldwork requirements inside your MSW program come from CSWE accreditation standards, not from the BBS. All 3,000 hours of supervised experience must be earned post-degree. Read more about practicum and fieldwork tracking.

BBS Form 37A-638: Your ASW Weekly Summary

Form 37A-638 is the official BBS weekly summary form for ASWs. APCCs use a form that carries the same number: same number, different PDF, different columns. The ASW variant is the one that prints a column A1, "Individual or Group Psychotherapy," under column A. Download the version for your license.

A sheet is not a single page per week. Each one covers one work setting and one supervisor within a single calendar year, with room for up to ten weekly rows: one row per week, plus a totals row underneath. Change your setting, change your supervisor, or roll into a new year, and the hours belong on a fresh sheet.

What you keep and what you send

You keep your signed weekly logs, and you produce them if the Board requests them. The form you submit at application time is the LCSW Experience Verification form, which carries your totals. Your weekly logs are the supporting detail standing behind those totals.

When you're ready to apply for licensure, SparkHours also generates your In-State Experience Verification form. One Experience Verification per placement (site and supervisor combination), pre-filled from your full hour history and ready for supervisor signature.

ASW weekly log columns
Printed column heading	What goes here
Supervision, Individual or Triadic	Your individual or triadic supervision for the week. The form prints no letter above this column, and it is not part of A + B = C
Supervision, Group	Your group supervision for the week. Also unlettered, also outside A + B = C
A. Clinical Psychosocial Diagnosis, Assessment, and Treatment, including Individual or Group Psychotherapy or Counseling	Everything that heading names. One of the two columns the form adds up
A1. Individual or Group Psychotherapy	The form's footnote calls A1 a sub-category of line A: it shows how much of A was individual or group psychotherapy. When totaling weekly hours, do not include it
B. Client-centered advocacy, consultation, evaluation, research, workshops, seminars, training sessions or conferences, and direct supervisor contact	Everything that heading lists, ending with direct supervisor contact. The other column the form adds up, and the one your supervision reaches the total through
C. Total Hours Per Week (A + B = C)	Column A plus column B. The box also prints "Maximum 40 hours/week"

The form prints the arithmetic in its total box: A + B = C. Nothing else is added in. A1 stays out because it is already counted inside A. The two unlettered supervision columns stay out because your supervision reaches the total through B, whose printed heading ends with "and direct supervisor contact." Those two columns are breakouts: they show how much of that B time was individual or triadic supervision and how much was group.

You can download the blank 37A-638 from the BBS website. Or, SparkHours exports pre-filled PDFs directly from your logged hours and collects electronic supervisor signatures so you don't have to chase anyone down with a pen. For a column-by-column walkthrough of the weekly log itself, see the BBS Weekly Log of Experience Hours guide.

Common ASW Hour Tracking Mistakes

1. Assuming the same requirements as AMFT or APCC

ASWs need 2,000 clinical hours, not 1,750. The non-clinical limit is 1,000, not 1,250. And 750 of the 2,000 clinical hours must be psychotherapy. Using another license type's template or spreadsheet will leave you tracking the wrong numbers. The requirements look similar at a glance, but the differences add up to hundreds of hours.

2. Not tracking the LCSW supervisor requirement

1,700 of your 3,000 hours must be under LCSW supervision. That's more than half. If your primary supervisor is an LMFT or LPCC, you'll need to plan carefully to meet this threshold. On top of that, 13 of your 52 required weeks of individual or triadic supervision must be with an LCSW. Start tracking supervisor type from day one.

3. Falling behind on the 750 psychotherapy hours

750 of your 2,000 clinical hours must be face-to-face psychotherapy. If your role is heavy on assessment, case management, or crisis work, you may hit your clinical total without enough psychotherapy. By the time you notice, you'll need to restructure your caseload. Track it from day one.

4. Not watching the 1,000-hour non-clinical limit

At 1,000 hours, the ASW non-clinical limit is tighter than other tracks. Social work roles often involve significant documentation, case conferences, and community outreach. Non-clinical hours above 1,000 do not count toward your 3,000, so it's worth watching the balance between clinical and non-clinical work as you go.

SparkHours checks these rules as you log, not after.

Already tracking ASW hours in Track Your Hours?

Bring your full history over in minutes. We honor your remaining TYH subscription, so you don't pay for both at once.

Bring your ASW hours over

Frequently Asked Questions

SparkHours includes a built-in AI assistant trained on the official BBS handbooks: ask it about supervision requirements, hour categories, the Board's 90-Day Rule, or any step in the LCSW licensing process.

Learn more about the AI Assistant →

Start tracking your ASW hours today.

14-day free trial. No credit card required. Your hours deserve better than a spreadsheet.

Start tracking for free

Already have an account? Sign in