Annual renewals for 2026 are open!

You can find it by looking up your name in the public registry, then type the number in with no spaces or symbols. Or you can sign in using your primary email address.

Click “Forgot your password?” and follow the directions, and you’ll receive an email with instructions to regain access. All fields are case-sensitive.

• Use the password reset option early; your profile will be locked if you enter an incorrect password three times in a row. Locked profiles will need intervention from College staff to unlock them. You must type in your email address to request a password reset; entering your member registration number won’t work there.
• We’re not sure why, but Hotmail addresses sometimes block our password reset emails and renewal notifications. If this happens to you, please contact us for help resetting your password. And if you have another non-Hotmail address you check frequently, please consider adding that to your member account instead.

Digital security settings at your workplace might limit which websites you can visit, or affect your ability to stay signed in. Try using a personal device from home, or talk to your IT department.

Use a modern web browser like Safari, Google Chrome, Edge, or Mozilla Firefox, and make sure you are using the latest version. (Internet Explorer has been discontinued by Microsoft and is no longer reliable.)

Please double check whether you’ve clicked on the member account section of the registry portal. (The applicant section of the registry portal is not for renewals; that section is only for people who are applying to join NSCSW for the first time and do not have a member number yet.)

Please do not submit the professional development inventory until you have finished tracking your PD activities, and confirmed that you’ve completed the minimum annual requirements.

• You won’t be able to edit activities or add new ones after you submit the inventory. Please make sure all details are complete before you click that “submit” button.
  • If you accidentally submit too soon and need to make changes, you will need to ask College staff to assist you before the renewal deadline of January 31.
• If you think your hours are complete and correct, but are unable to submit your inventory and proceed to the next step, please contact College staff for assistance.

• Our YouTube page has playlists of webinars related to each one of the five mandatory PD topics: tap here to check them out.
• Our PD activities page is also full of suggestions and helpful links.

All registered members must complete at least six hours of PD across five specific topics mandated by the College. You can learn more about each one on the PD guidelines page, but here’s a quick summary:

• social work ethics (1 hour training)
  • ethical behaviour is fundamental to social work practice and guides our actions daily
  • must be formal/structured training, not an informal activity
  • must specifically be relevant to social work practice
• anti-racist & anti-discriminatory practice (1 hour training)
  • intended to support comprehensive anti-oppressive practice and ensure that all social workers provide culturally safe, competent, responsive, and appropriate services to diverse communities
  • approved topics include 2SLGBTQIA+, anti-racist practice, ableism, antisemitism, islamophobia, trauma-informed practice, training regarding inter-generational trauma, and other related content
    • please try to choose a different area than you did last year
  • must be formal/structured training, not an informal activity
• truth & reconciliation (1 hour training or activity)
  • the social work profession must acknowledge and address its complicity in colonial undertakings that have harmed Indigenous communities
  • requirement is designed to support recommendations of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission for necessary education for all people working in public service, with the aim of fostering resilience, reconciliation, healing, and understanding
• vicarious trauma & secondary stress (2 hours training or activity)
  • intended to ensure that all social workers receive support in preventing or managing vicarious trauma and secondary stress from their work
  • increasing and maintaining resilience in professional context is essential for protection of the public; social workers in state of burnout may become unable to practice safely
  • examples: education regarding compassion fatigue/satisfaction, burnout or vicarious trauma; attending personal therapy; engagement in the NSCSW Peer Accountability Process; Indigenous healing rituals; group practices such as sharing circles; etc.
  • note: most self-care activities are not eligible for this category, so those should be tracked under informal subcategory instead
• social justice (1 hour training or activity)
  • learn more about how to practice advocacy, or voluntarily participate in advocacy beyond your job responsibilities
  • social workers are called upon by our Code of Ethics to promote social fairness, equitable distribution of resources, and reduce barriers for marginalized, disadvantaged, and vulnerable individuals; activities in this category can be related to fair and equitable access to public services, equal treatment under the law, elimination of discrimination, poverty, and more

SWCs are required to complete and report to the College the same amount of PD as RSWs.

Please note that annual PD and the Candidacy Mentorship Program (CMP) are separate regulatory requirements, and are tracked in different sections of the member portal. The PD activities you complete to fulfil your membership renewal obligations should not be counted as CMP activities, and vice versa. However, SWCs are strongly encouraged to discuss PD planning with their mentors early in the registration year.

If you had active registration for the entire year, you need 40 hours of PD in 2025; of these, at least 20 hours must be formal learning, and at least 6 hours must be allocated to the mandatory topics.

You may need fewer hours if you were an associate for any part of the year. For a member who is with us all year:

• for 1-3 months associate you need 35 hours total PD (15 formal, 6 mandated topics)
• for 4-6 months associate you need 30 hours total PD (10 formal, 6 mandated topics)
• for 7-9 months associate you need 25 hours total PD (5 formal, 6 mandated topics)
• for 10-12 months associate you need 20 hours total PD (6 mandated topics)

You may need fewer hours if you joined the College after the first quarter of the year. For first-time registrants only:

• Jan-Mar start: need all 40 PD hours (20 formal, 6 mandated topics)
• Apr-Jun start: need 30 PD hours (15 formal, 6 mandated topics)
• Jul-Sep start: need 20 PD hours (10 formal, 6 mandated topics)
• Oct-Dec start: need 10 PD hours (4 formal, 6 mandated topics)

Our database only records one date for each activity, not a range. For example:

• after attending a multi-day conference or seminar, you may select the start date, and add clarifying details in the description section
• to track an ongoing volunteer commitment you may choose to enter each day as a separate activity

Compare it to the criteria in the professional development guidelines. If an activity is eligible for multiple categories, you can choose whether to assign all the hours to a single category or divide them up.

For example, a two hour workshop about ethics in social work research could be divided into one hour for the mandated social work ethics requirement, and the remaining hour assigned to formal learning.

Great! The requirement is a minimum standard for what must be completed within each registration year; we love to see our members choose to exceed it.

Please note that excess hours can’t be banked and carried from one year to the next. You will start with a fresh slate in February 2026.

All members must attest that they have sufficient liability coverage, which may be obtained via an employer and/or independently. Further documentation is only required for members who are solely liable for their practice (i.e. private practitioners).

Names you are commonly known by should be included in our registry so that someone searching for you will be able to find and confirm your registration

Let us know if you’re registered as a social worker in any other jurisdictions, and/or with a regulator for another health profession.

Please enter your private practice information in the employment section.

We will only accept payments once the online renewal form is complete. We strongly encourage you to pay online if you can.

If you accidentally submit an incomplete professional development inventory and proceed through the rest of your renewal and payment, your renewal may not be valid. Please reach out to our staff ASAP if you think you skipped a step.

Cheque payments are only accepted until January 15, 2026, to allow time to process them before the end of the registration year (i.e. manually match cheques to member accounts and deposit payments). Cheques can be mailed, or dropped off at our office in Halifax (please use our mail slot if the office is closed), as long as they are delivered before the cutoff date.

Please note that we cannot offer payment extensions for postal delays caused by Canada Post strike action.

If a member’s cheque payment fails in late January, they may not have time to complete an alternate method of payment before the deadline. This could result in having their registration suspended in February. 

Please ask them about their internal procedures and deadlines. And consider reminding them that Canada Post may not be the best way to send the cheque.

• You must complete the renewal form before we can accept their payment, so they may require you to provide them with a copy of your invoice. They may need time to collect and process these for multiple staff members at your organization, so act early.
• You should complete the renewal form by January 15 to prevent processing delays. Employers pay fees to us via cheque, but the funds are not attached to your member account until every other step of renewal is complete. Our staff spend the last two weeks of the year renewing and processing hundreds of these payments, and we don’t want yours to be held up.

Most employers do not cover the $50 annual fee to maintain your clinical specialization, since it is only required for private practice at this time. To pay this portion yourself when you’re completing the renewal form, use the Pay Now checkboxes to split your payment; select the box next to Clinical Specialist Fee and deselect the one next to Annual Renewal Fee.