CEUs for Social Workers: Courses and Requirements

Choose social-work continuing education around two questions: what would improve your work, and what will your licensing board accept? A course can be relevant to practice without meeting a particular renewal requirement. Check the credit statement before treating its subject or title as evidence of eligibility.

Psychology.com’s planned catalog covers ethics, suicide assessment, AI use, trauma-informed care, documentation, cultural responsiveness, telehealth, and supervision. Approvals are in progress. No course on this page is currently represented as approved CE or guaranteed renewal credit. Proposed hours describe the development plan, not an award of credit.

Approval and board sources checked on September 11, 2026.

Which approval bodies matter?

The Association of Social Work Boards’ Approved Continuing Education program, ASWB ACE, evaluates providers and individual courses or conferences through distinct approval routes. Check the exact approval statement and delivery format rather than assuming that a familiar organization’s name covers every offering. ASWB ACE approval types.

State rules still control acceptance. California’s Board of Behavioral Sciences recognizes several provider pathways, including specified approval agencies. New York has its own Department-approved social-work provider requirements. A course’s psychology or counseling approval does not automatically establish social-work acceptance in every jurisdiction. California BBS, NYSED provider guidance.

NASW approval or a state association’s offering may also be relevant under your board’s rules. Identify which organization issued the approval and whether your jurisdiction accepts that route. Do not confuse membership, exam administration, provider approval, and license renewal authority.

Match learning to your clinical responsibilities

Our planned courses address different parts of social-work practice:

Ethics and Professional Boundaries, proposed three hours, examines confidentiality, competing responsibilities, contextual boundaries, consultation, and repair.
Suicide Assessment and Safety Planning, proposed six hours, develops assessment, collaborative planning, support coordination, and follow-up. A state suicide-training mandate requires its own eligibility check.
AI in Clinical Practice, proposed three hours, addresses vendor review, consent, privacy, and clinical documentation. Its final ethics or clinical designation remains subject to approval.
Cultural Responsiveness in Clinical Practice focuses on assessment and service delivery for immigrant and refugee adults, including language access and practical barriers.

The full catalog also includes planned learning in trauma-informed assessment, clinical documentation, CBT, telehealth, and supervision. Select content within your role. A supervision update is not an initial supervisor qualification, and a generalist trauma course is not certification in a specific trauma treatment.

Plan against your state’s requirements

Use the requirement page for your exact license and status before assembling a renewal plan:

California social-worker requirements explains the BBS framework, including law and ethics and separate training obligations. Distinguish licensed renewal from associate registration requirements.
Texas social-worker requirements addresses social-work renewal, topic categories, and supervisor considerations. BHEC’s social-work rules should not be replaced with the counselor rules. Texas renewal source.
Florida social-worker requirements covers the relevant board’s renewal categories and reporting context. Check the selected license on the official renewal portal.
New York social-worker requirements explains registration-period requirements, provider approval, and self-study considerations. Use NYSED’s social-work FAQ for the controlling board guidance.

Record your renewal dates, mandatory subjects, remaining hours, format limits, and completed one-time training separately. If you hold more than one license, maintain a separate acceptance check for each. An overlapping topic does not guarantee that the same course qualifies everywhere.

Start with the free ethics hour

Ethics in Everyday Practice is our planned free one-hour refresher on confidentiality and communication decisions. The offer includes learning, assessment, and any eligible certificate without a fee. Certificate delivery is planned by email after required completion, not simply after registration.

Approvals are in progress, including for the free activity. Do not count the proposed hour toward renewal until the final course statement establishes the relevant eligibility. You can also read our implicit-bias guide and safety-planning guide as free editorial resources; reading them does not award credit.

Keep a usable completion record

For an eligible course, save the certificate and the approval statement that applied when you completed it. Keep evidence of the topic and format if your board requires it. Check reporting separately: an emailed certificate is not proof that a licensing board or reporting service has received the credit. Use your state’s current instructions to finish the renewal process.