This guide provides context on requirements for supervision for Associate Clinical Social Workers, Marriage and Family Therapists, and Licensed Professional Clinical Counselors according to the Board of Behavioral Sciences. As well as supervision requirements for Licensed Professional Counselors in Texas.
In this guide, we’ll cover:
- BBS supervision requirements
- BBS proposed changes to requirements for supervisors
- Texas supervision requirements
- Alerts in Track Your Hours
Note: A unit of supervision is defined as one hour of individual supervision or two hours of group supervision. Group supervision can be claimed in two, one-hour sessions or one, two-hour session. A group supervision session of less than one hour cannot be claimed.
BBS supervision requirements
Associate Clinical Social Workers (ASW)
Individual supervision
ASWs are required to obtain 1 hour of individual supervision during any week in which experience is claimed. In weeks with more than 10 hours of direct psychotherapy an additional hour of supervision must be logged.
In addition, the following requirements must be met:
- Minimum of 52 weeks of individual supervision
- Minimum of 13 weeks of individual supervision by an LCSW
- Minimum of 104 weeks of supervision
- Combined individual and/or group
Track Your Hours monitors all of the supervision requirements for your current status. In a given week if you fail to meet the supervision requirement you’ll receive an alert. Additionally, on your Dashboard page you can view the number of weeks of individual supervision and weeks supervised by an LCSW.
Note: The BBS doesn’t allow you to claim your supervision hours toward the 3,200 hour requirement of experience. Only experience hours count toward this requirement.
Group supervision
To claim group supervision in a week, you’ll need to receive a minimum of 2 hours of supervision, which counts as one unit. The 2 hours may consist of a single 2 hour session or 2, one-hour sessions. Sessions of group therapy that are less than 1 hour in duration cannot be claimed. If you fail to log at least 2 hours of group supervision in a week the supervision cannot be claimed.
Weekly supervision
The BBS requires that you log at least 1 unit of supervision in order to claim hours in a week. In any week where you log more than 10 hours of counseling, you’ll need to log an additional unit of supervision, with a total of 2 units for the week.
Example: If you log 10 hours of counseling in a week, you must log 1 unit of supervision. This unit could be 1 hour of individual or 2 hours of group supervision. If you log 11 hours of counseling in a week, you must log 2 units of supervision. Two units of supervision could be:
- 2 hours of individual supervision
- 1 hour of individual supervision and 2 hours of group supervision
- 4 hours of group supervision
Do I need to continue to receive supervision after meeting all experience requirements?
Yes. You must continue to receive a minimum of 1 hour of supervision each week at each work setting until you’re licensed. If you’re continuing to log hours, you must receive a second unit of supervision in any week that you log 11 or more counseling hours.
Who’s eligible to supervise ASWs?
An ASW may be supervised by any of the following:
- LCSW
- LMFT
- LPCC
- LCP
- Licensed Physician certified in Psychiatry by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology
The supervisor must have a current California license and have been licensed in California or any other state for at least two years.
The supervisor must have practiced psychotherapy or provided direct supervision to ASWs or MFT interns or trainees who perform psychotherapy in at least 2 of the last 5 years.
If the supervisor is an LCSW, LPCC or LMFT, the supervisor must have completed a 15 hour course in supervision.
Marriage and Family Therapists (MFT)
Weekly supervision
MFT trainees
- You’ll need to meet the mandatory minimum of one unit of weekly supervision at each work setting where you’re claiming experience
- You’re required to receive an additional unit of supervision for every five hours of direct counseling experience claimed at each setting
- Ratio of supervision hours across your experience at the setting
MFT interns
- You’re required the mandatory minimum of one unit of weekly supervision in each work setting where you are claiming experience
- You need to receive an additional unit of supervision in any week in which you claim more than ten client contact hours
- Requirement applies to each week at each work setting
You’re allowed to claim a maximum of six hours of supervision (individual and group) per week. This maximum applies to supervision hours logged across all settings each week. Additional supervision hours past the limit won’t be counted when your hours are submitted.
Note: Although the excess supervision hours won’t be counted, you should continue to log all of your supervision hours in order to meet the weekly and ratio supervision requirements.
The BBS doesn’t directly limit the number of total supervision hours you can claim. However, both individual and group supervision count toward your non-counseling experience (NCE) category which has a limit of 1,000 hours. Once you reach this category maximum, additional supervision hours logged won’t be counted when your hours are reviewed.
Track Your Hours will provide an alert if you exceed the weekly supervision limit or non-counseling experience category maximum, or if you fail to meet the weekly or ratio supervision requirements. To learn more about alerts, see our section on Alerts in Track Your Hours.
Supervision requirements for professional enrichment activities
Prior to 9/29/2012, trainees and interns were required to meet the minimum supervision requirement in any week where hours for professional enrichment activities were claimed. These activities include:
- Workshops
- Seminars
- Training sessions
- Conferences
From 9/29/2012 forward, professional enrichment activities can be claimed in the absence of weekly supervision. Although direct supervision is no longer required for professional enrichment activity hours of experience, trainees and interns must still have their supervisors approve the workshops, seminars, trainings, and conferences they attend.
Qualifications for supervisors
If you fail to meet the MFT trainee supervision ratio requirement
As an MFT trainee, you must receive:
- One unit of supervision during each week you’re claiming experience
- Workshop and personal psychotherapy hours are excluded
- An additional unit of supervision for every five hours of direct counseling experience claimed at each setting
- This requirement is a ratio of counseling experience to supervision units at each setting and can be averaged across your experience at each site
- If you fail to meet this requirement, you’ll be able to claim some, but not all of the counseling hours you logged.
To determine how many counseling hours you can claim at each of your trainee sites:
- Open TYH and click the Alerts tab
- Here you can see the number of supervision units logged at each of your trainee sites
- Multiply your supervision units by 5
- Example: If you logged 20 units of supervision, you’d be able to claim 100 hours of counseling (5 x 20 = 100)
Licensed Professional Clinical Counselors (LPCC)
Weekly supervision
Each week, you must receive a minimum of one unit of supervision (one hour of individual or two hours of group) in each work setting where you’re claiming experience. Additionally, you need to receive an additional unit of supervision in any week in which you claim more than ten direct counseling experience hours. This requirement applies to each week at each work setting.
Track Your Hours will provide an alert if you fail to meet the weekly or ratio supervision requirements. To learn more about alerts, see our section on Alerts in Track Your Hours.
Supervision limits
You’re allowed to claim a maximum of six hours of supervision (individual and group) per week. This maximum applies to supervision hours logged across all settings each week. Supervision hours in excess of this limit cannot be claimed when your hours are submitted.
Note: Although the excess supervision hours won’t be counted, you should continue to log all of your supervision hours in TYH.
Although the BBS doesn’t specifically limit the total number of supervision hours you can claim, both individual and group supervision hours count toward your non-counseling experience (NCE) category. Once you reach this category maximum, additional supervision hours logged won’t be counted when your hours are reviewed.
Track Your Hours will provide an alert if you exceed the weekly supervision limit or non-counseling experience category maximum. Hours logged above a category maximum will not count toward your valid total.
Track Your Hours will provide an alert if you exceed the weekly supervision limit or non-counseling experience category maximum.
Supervision requirements for professional enrichment activities
Prior to 1/1/2014, interns were required to meet the minimum supervision requirement in any week where hours for professional enrichment activities were claimed. These activities include:
- Workshops
- Seminars
- Training sessions
- Conferences
From 1/1/2014 forward, professional enrichment activities can be claimed in the absence of weekly supervision. Although direct supervision is no longer required for professional enrichment activities, supervisors must still approve and sign off on the hours.
BBS proposed changes to requirements for supervisors
The BBS supervision committee has recommended the following changes to requirements for supervisors:
- Increase the initial training of LMFT and LPCC supervisors to 15 hours for consistency with the current requirements for LCSW supervisors
- Require 6 hours of ongoing training every two years for LCSW, consistent with current LMFT and LPCC requirements
- The committee is exploring the possibility of using a competency based model for these hours, rather than specifying particular training content
- Accept an advanced supervisor certification in lieu of the requirement that supervisors be licensed for two years before supervising
- Require supervisors to self certify to the board that they meet all qualifications to supervise prior to the commencement of supervision
- Require that the supervisor provide the supervisee with a signed disclosure that includes information about how to submit a complaint about a supervisor
- Require that the board perform random audits of supervisor qualifications
- Currently, staff can only audit retrospectively as hours are turned in with the licensing application
- Time licensed in another state should be able to count towards 2 years of licensure for all supervisor/license types
- The requirement that a supervisor practice psychotherapy (or supervise individuals who practice psychotherapy) for 2 out of the past 5 years shouldn’t be changed. However, language should be added to require competency in the areas of clinical practice and techniques being supervised
Note: These recommended changes haven’t been formally submitted to the board for approval yet.
Texas supervision requirements
Licensed Professional Counselors (LPC)
When logging hours for licensure as an LPC intern in Texas you must adhere to the following supervision requirements and restrictions:
Note: Track Your Hours monitors these requirements and will alert you if there’s ever an issue.
- Four hours of supervision are required each month
- No more than 50% of your total supervision hours may come from group supervision
- An LPC Intern may have no more than 2 supervisors at one time
- TYH doesn’t monitor this requirement, however you should not log hours under more than two supervisors at any given time
As a Texas Licensed Professional Counselor Intern you’re required to log at least 4 hours of supervision per month. Track Your Hours will alert you if you fail to meet this requirement in any month. Additionally, you’re only allowed to receive 50% of your supervision hours from group (versus individual) supervision. TYH will monitor your hours relative to this requirement and alert you if there’s ever an issue.
Alerts in Track Your Hours
You’ll receive an alert if:
- You fail to meet the minimum supervision requirement in a week
- Track Your Hours will also automatically subtract the counseling hours logged that week from your valid total
- You meet the minimum supervision requirement in a week where you log 11+ hours of counseling, but fail to log an additional unit of supervision
- The counseling hours above 10 won’t automatically be subtracted from your valid total, so you’ll want to manually subtract the counseling hours above 10
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