Reference · three chapters, one answer · read 7 September 2026
The supervisor’s license does not have to match the supervisee’s. Six conditions still do.
An LCSW may supervise an AMFT. An LMFT may supervise an ASW. An LPCC may supervise either, and a psychologist or an ABPN-certified psychiatrist may supervise all three. The statutes list the same set of acceptable licenses in all three chapters, in nearly identical words. What crossing licenses adds is a competence condition in the regulation — a supervisor outside the supervisee’s profession must be able to practice that profession competently in California — and a cap that counts every supervisee together, whatever they are registered as.
Who may supervise whom →Who may supervise whom
The list of acceptable licenses is the same in all three chapters.
Each chapter defines its own “supervisor”, and the three definitions were written to match. The license has to have been active for at least two years within the five-year period immediately preceding any supervision, and it has to be one of a short list — a list that does not require the supervisor to hold the supervisee’s license. That is why the associate’s own client disclosure under §4980.44(a) has to name which of those licenses the supervisor holds: the law expects that the answer varies.
| The supervisee | Where ‘supervisor’ is defined | The regulation that adds a condition | What that condition says |
|---|---|---|---|
| MFT trainee or associate | §4980.03(g) | 16 CCR §1833.1(a)(2) | a supervisor who is not an LMFT must have enough experience, training and education in marriage and family therapy to practice it competently in California |
| Associate clinical social worker | §4996.20(a) | 16 CCR §1870(a)(2) | a supervisor who is not an LCSW must have enough experience, training and education in clinical social work to practice it competently in California |
| Associate professional clinical counselor | §4999.12(h) | 16 CCR §1821(a)(2) | a supervisor who is not an LPCC must have enough experience, training and education in professional clinical counseling to practice it competently in California |
All three definitions accept the same licenses: LPCC, LMFT, psychologist licensed under Chapter 6.6, LCSW, licensed educational psychologist, or an equivalent out-of-state license; or a physician and surgeon certified in psychiatry by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. A licensed educational psychologist may supervise only educationally related mental health services within the scope of §4989.14.
What crossing adds
Six conditions, and one that only applies when the licenses differ.
The license must have been active for at least two years within the five-year period immediately preceding any supervision, as an LPCC, LMFT, psychologist licensed under Chapter 6.6, LCSW, licensed educational psychologist, or an equivalent out-of-state license — or the supervisor is a physician and surgeon certified in psychiatry by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.
Practicing psychotherapy, providing psychological counseling within §4989.14(a)(5), or providing direct clinical supervision of psychotherapy performed by trainees or associates. Supervision of a social work intern or a professional clinical counselor trainee counts if it was substantially equivalent to the supervision registrants receive.
This is the condition the question turns on, and it lives in the regulations: 16 CCR §1833.1(a)(2), §1870(a)(2) and §1821(a)(2) each require a supervisor who does not hold the supervisee’s license to have sufficient experience, training and education in that profession to practice it competently in California. The regulations set no hour count for it; they set a standard the supervisor has to be able to defend. A licensed educational psychologist is narrower still, limited to educationally related mental health services within §4989.14.
Fifteen hours of supervision training or coursework before commencing supervision in California for the first time, or within 60 days after; six hours on resuming after two years away; and at least six hours of continuing professional development in supervision each renewal period while supervising. The requirement appears once per chapter — 16 CCR §1834, §1871 and §1821.3 — in the same terms.
The supervisor must not have provided therapeutic services to the supervisee, must not be a spouse, domestic partner or relative, and must not have a personal, professional or business relationship, current or previous, that undermines the authority or effectiveness of the supervision.
Suspension or probation ends the eligibility while it lasts, and 16 CCR §1833.1(a)(5) requires the supervisor to notify the supervisee immediately of any disciplinary action, inactive status or lapse affecting the right to practice or supervise — a duty that exists because the hours stop counting.
Psychological associates are a different board
This page covers the three registrations the Board of Behavioral Sciences oversees. A psychological associate registers with, and is supervised under the rules of, the California Board of Psychology, under a different chapter of the code. Nothing here should be read as describing that arrangement.
The six that are counted together
One cap, across every supervisee who is not fully licensed.
§4980.43.4(c), §4996.23.3(c) and §4999.46.4(c) each say the same thing: at any one time, a supervisor in a nonexempt setting shall not serve as individual or triadic supervisor for “more than a total of six persons who are not fully licensed at the highest level for independent clinical practice and who are receiving supervision for providing clinical mental health services in a nonexempt setting”. Because each section says a total of six persons rather than six of its own registrants, a supervisor with four associate marriage and family therapists has room for two more people, not two more of each kind. A supervisee holding both an AMFT and an APCC registration is one person against that cap.
The words are identical in all three sections, and each is written as a total. Two of the three chapters would be satisfied by counting separately; none of them says so.
It applies to supervisors in nonexempt settings supervising people providing clinical mental health services in a nonexempt setting. Which settings those are is its own question, answered in §4980.43.3 and its counterparts.
A supervision agreement for each supervisee, and, where the supervisor is not employed by the supervisee’s employer or is a volunteer, a written oversight agreement executed and signed before supervision starts. The forms are read one at a time on the MFT forms guide and the LCSW and LPCC guide.
§4980.43.5, §4996.21 and §4999.46.5 each authorize an audit of a supervisor’s records, and each requires those records to be kept for seven years after the supervision ends.
Then what
The pages around this one.
Screen one arrangement
The supervisor eligibility check
License, years, relationship, setting, employment and paperwork, in the browser.
Becoming one
Becoming a clinical supervisor
What the training requirement means in practice, and what the Board audits.
By video
Supervision by videoconference
The definition that permits it and the 60-day meeting it carries.
Where every figure came from
Sources.
The three definitions of ‘supervisor’
The caps and the audits
- Business and Professions Code section 4980.43.4, maximum number of supervisees
- Business and Professions Code section 4996.23.3, maximum number of registrants
- Business and Professions Code section 4999.46.4, maximum number of registrants
- Business and Professions Code section 4980.44, the associate’s notice naming the supervisor’s license type
The regulations
- Board of Behavioral Sciences, Statutes and Regulations: 16 CCR §1833.1, §1870 and §1821 (requirements for supervisors) and §1834, §1871 and §1821.3 (supervisor training and coursework); read 7 September 2026
- Board of Behavioral Sciences, Guide to Supervision for Associates
- Board of Behavioral Sciences, Supervision Agreement (37M-300)
The statutory language is quoted from the Board’s Statutes and Regulations compilation as read on 7 September 2026, with each code section linked to leginfo, where the current text can be checked. The regulations are cited to the same compilation because the California Code of Regulations is not published on leginfo. Whether a particular supervisor meets the competence condition in §1833.1(a)(2) and its counterparts is a judgment the supervisor has to be able to defend to the Board, not a question this page answers.
