Supervision Hour Requirements

► The LPCC license requires 3,000 hours of post-degree supervised experience as a registered Associate Professional Clinical Counselor Intern (APCC) with the Board of Behavioral Sciences (BBS).  

• Pre-degree supervised hours do not count toward these 3,000 hours.  
• This is the national standard that allows for portability to other states. The portability of the license is very desirable.
  
  

► Supervised hours are broken down into 2 types:

• Direct counseling experience (Minimum 1,750 hours) 
• Non-clinical experience (Maximum 1,250 hours): May consist of direct supervisor contact, administering and evaluating psychological tests, writing clinical reports, writing progress or process notes, client-centered advocacy, and workshops, seminars, training sessions, or conferences directly related to professional clinical counseling.
  
  

► They must obtain 104 supervised weeks of supervised experience to qualify for the LPCC licensure and must contain:

• 1 hour of individual or triadic supervision or 2 hours of group supervision during any week in which experience is claimed.
• 52 weeks in which the applicant received at least 1 hour of individual or triadic supervision.
• 1 hour of supervision counting toward licensure = 1 hour of individual or triadic supervision OR 2 hours of group supervision. 
• Supervisees must receive 1 hour of supervision while seeing 10 hours or less of direct clinical counseling a week. If the supervisee has more than 10 hrs of clinical counseling a week, they must receive 1 additional hour of supervision in that same week.
  
  

► Starting January 1, 2022:

• A Supervision Agreement is required, which has placed that Supervisor Responsibility Statement: You and your supervisor must sign this form, which includes a collaboratively developed Supervisory Plan, within 60 days of commencing supervision. Retain for future submission with your Application for Licensure. 
• Written Oversight Agreement is required for new supervisees and between the supervisors and employer prior to commencement of supervision when the supervisor is not employed by the supervisee's employer, has changed. A new sample agreement is posted to the board’s website.
  
  

► A maximum of 40 hours of experience can be earned in any week.

► A maximum of 6 hours of individual, triadic or group supervision can be earned in any week.

► The 90-day rule: Recent graduates, who apply for an associate registration number within 90 days of the granting of the qualifying degree, can start counting post-degree supervised hours before they receive a registration number from the BBS. For those who do not come under the 90-day rule, hours begin to count from the date the BBS issues the associate registration number.

► There is no limit on the number of telehealth hours that can be counted toward the supervised experience requirements. 

► The Board cannot accept hours of experience (including workshops, training or conferences) that are older than 6 years from the date the Board receives your Application for Licensure. 

► Group supervision sessions shall include no more than 8 persons receiving supervision, even if there are 2 or more supervisors present. Group supervisors must ensure that the amount and degree of supervision is appropriate for each supervisee.

► Group supervision can be broken into 1-hour sessions, as long as both increments (full 2 hours) are provided in the same week as the experience being claimed.

► You may be able to obtain supervision via live two-way videoconferencing if your supervisor determines that it is appropriate to do so. The supervisor is responsible for ensuring that the client confidentiality is preserved. For more information see the AB 1758 FAQ (go to www.bbs.ca.gov > Applicant > Law Changes). Supervision provided over the telephone will not count toward licensure because the law requires supervision to have a face-to-face component. 

► If your supervisor is temporarily unavailable, they are required to arrange alternative supervision.

► If the registered associate will be working in a private practice or professional corporation, the supervisor must a) be employed by or contracted by the associate's employer, or be an owner of the practice, and b) either provide psychotherapeutic services to clients for the associate’s employer or have a written contract with the associate’s employer that provides the supervisor with the same access to the associate’s clinical records as is provided to employees of the associate's employer. 

► To record your hours while gaining your hours of experience, use the following forms, available on the Board’s website (go to www.bbs.ca.gov > Applicant > LPCC > Forms/Pubs)