Help Build the Future of Clinical Social Work: Become NASW-Illinois’ Founding Clinical Fellow

What if your next professional role gave you the opportunity not only to mentor emerging social workers, but also to help build a new model for expanding access to clinical licensure?

The NASW-Illinois Chapter is seeking an experienced Illinois licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) to serve as the Founding Clinical Fellow for Supervision Access for Equity (SAE), an innovative workforce initiative designed to remove financial barriers to clinical licensure and strengthen the behavioral health workforce.

For many early-career social workers, earning an MSW is only the beginning of the journey toward becoming an LCSW. Clinical supervision is essential to that process, but accessing high-quality supervision can be difficult and expensive. Those costs can compound other financial barriers already faced by new professionals and can delay—or derail—the path to licensure.

SAE is designed to change that.

The 18-month pilot will provide 40 early-career social workers with free, structured clinical supervision, along with licensure preparation, professional support, and a community of peers pursuing the same goal. Just as importantly, the pilot will help the NASW-Illinois Chapter learn what works and build evidence for a model that could expand access to supervision well beyond the initial cohort.

A Fellow – and a Builder

The Founding Clinical Fellow will be central to that work.

This is not a traditional clinical position. The Fellow will serve as SAE’s principal clinical leader, supervising cohorts of participants while helping ensure consistent, culturally responsive, high-quality supervision across the program. The Fellow will also monitor participant progress, help coordinate licensure preparation activities, and identify opportunities to strengthen the participant experience.

But the role goes beyond implementation. The Fellow will help document lessons learned, identify promising practices, and translate the experience of the pilot into recommendations for future workforce innovation and expansion.

In short, we’re looking for someone who wants to mentor, lead, and build.

Could That Be You?

The ideal candidate is an Illinois LCSW in good standing with at least five years of LCSW supervisory experience, a strong understanding of Illinois licensure requirements, and a commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and workforce development.

The position is an 18-month, grant-funded fellowship averaging 18 hours per week.

For an experienced clinical social worker passionate about supervision and the future of the profession, this is a unique opportunity: help emerging clinicians advance toward licensure today while helping create a pathway that could benefit many more tomorrow.

Help us build the future of clinical social work. Apply to become the Founding Clinical Fellow for Supervision Access for Equity. For more info and to apply: bit.ly/4ip03V3