LCMHCS in North Carolina: The Supervisor Credential

Becoming an LCMHCS: The Requirements

The North Carolina Board of Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselors (NCBLCMHC) grants the LCMHCS credential to a licensed clinical mental health counselor who has satisfied four requirements: an independent license that is not under supervision; the equivalent of three semester graduate credits in clinical supervision training from a regionally accredited institution, or 45 contact hours of continuing education in clinical supervision; documented licensed professional counseling experience as defined by statute; and a complete LCMHCS application (21 NCAC 53 .0801(a)).

The experience test itself comes from the statute, not the rule, and it sets a higher bar than the 3,000 hours already completed to become an LCMHC. An applicant needs one of three paths: "at least five years of full-time licensed clinical mental health counseling experience, including a minimum of 2,500 hours of direct client contact"; "at least eight years of part-time licensed clinical mental health counseling experience, including a minimum of 2,500 hours of direct client contact"; or "a combination of full-time and part-time clinical mental health counseling experience, including a minimum of 2,500 hours of direct client contact as determined by the Board" (G.S. 90-336(d)(2)a., b., c.). Each path also requires an active license in good standing as an LCMHC (G.S. 90-336(d)(4)).

None of these figures reduce to a single "years to LCMHCS" number the rule states directly; the statute sets three separate paths and this table lists each one rather than picking one.

An LCMHCS Is Not the Only Way to Supervise an LCMHCA

An LCMHCA in North Carolina is supervised by a "qualified clinical supervisor," and the LCMHCS credential is one way to hold that role, not the only one. "As of July 1, 2017, all qualified clinical supervisors shall hold the credential of licensed clinical mental health counselor supervisor or be a licensed clinical mental health counselor or an equivalently and actively licensed mental health professional, as defined in Paragraph (c) of this Rule" (21 NCAC 53 .0209(b)).

"Equivalently and actively licensed" means the professional holds at least a master's degree, an independent license in good standing that is not under supervision, the same three-credit or 45-hour supervision training, at least five years of post-graduate counseling experience with a minimum of two years post-licensure, and a minimum of 10 contact hours of continuing education in counseling supervision every two years, submitted to the Board (21 NCAC 53 .0209(c)). The list of who can qualify under that standard is fixed: LCMHC, LMFT, an LCSW with a CSWE-accredited MSW, licensed psychologists, psychiatrists, and certain psychiatric nurse practitioners and clinical nurse specialists (21 NCAC 53 .0213).

For an associate choosing a supervisor, this matters most when an LCMHCS is not accessible in a given setting: the statute itself defines "supervisor" as "any licensed clinical mental health counselor supervisor or, when one is inaccessible, a licensed clinical mental health counselor or an equivalently and actively licensed mental health professional, as determined by the Board, who meets the qualifications established by the Board" (G.S. 90-330(a)(4)).

The Professional Disclosure Statement for Supervision

Before supervision begins, the supervisor "shall provide supervisees with a copy of a Professional Disclosure Statement specific to supervision" (21 NCAC 53 .0801(b)). This is a separate document from a general clinical Professional Disclosure Statement, and the rule lists ten required elements:

• Business address and telephone number.
• The degrees, credentials and licenses the supervisor holds.
• General areas of competence in mental health practice for which supervision is offered.
• A statement of training in supervision and experience providing it.
• A general statement on the model of or approach to supervision, including the supervisor's role, objectives and goals, and modalities such as tape review or live observation.
• A description of the evaluation procedures used in the supervisory relationship.
• A statement defining the limits and scope of confidentiality and privileged communication within supervision.
• A fee schedule, if applicable.
• Emergency contact information for the supervisor.
• A statement that the supervisor follows the American Counseling Association's Code of Ethics and the Center for Credentialing and Education's Approved Clinical Supervisor Code of Ethics (21 NCAC 53 .0102).

(21 NCAC 53 .0801(b)(1) through (10).)

What an LCMHCS Owes the Board and the Associate

Reporting runs on two tracks. The supervisor "shall provide written or electronically submitted reports, on forms provided by the Board on the website www.ncblcmhc.org each quarter that supervision has occurred and shall file a final report upon termination or completion of supervision," and "shall be available for consultation with the Board or its committees regarding the supervisee's competence for licensure" (21 NCAC 53 .0801(c)). The quarterly form does not carry hours; those are reported on the Final Supervision Report, which the supervisor alone files (Board LCMHCA page). The full North Carolina LCMHCA supervision reports cover what each form asks for.

A separate supervision contract form, filed for each supervisee, has to document the supervisor's name and contact information, the modality of supervision, its frequency, and "the name and physical location of the site where the proposed supervision will take place" (21 NCAC 53 .0801(d)).

Between reports, the supervisor keeps a running record: "the licensed clinical mental health counselor supervisor, in collaboration with the supervisee, shall maintain a log of clinical supervision hours" recording the date, start and stop times, the modality used, and notes on recommendations or interventions, and "shall maintain copies of these logs for a minimum of seven years beyond termination or completion of supervision," producing them to the Board on request (21 NCAC 53 .0801(e)).

Renewal: 10 of the 40 Hours in Supervision

An LCMHCS renews on the same biennial cycle as every counselor license, but with an addition. "Licensed clinical mental health counselor supervisors shall meet all of the continuing counselor education requirements" that apply to every licensee "and in addition as part of those requirements, shall provide documentation of a minimum of 10 contact hours of continuing counselor education related to professional knowledge and competency in the field of counseling supervision" (21 NCAC 53 .0603(i)). Those 10 hours sit inside the standard 40-hour, 3-ethics-hour renewal requirement rather than adding to it.

As arithmetic, not a stated rule: 10 of 40 hours is one quarter of a renewal period's continuing education. The jurisprudence exam, required "for licensure application at each level" and "for each consecutive renewal period" (21 NCAC 53 .0305(c)), counts toward the ethics portion of that same 40 hours, separately from the 10 supervision hours.

The "S" License Number and How to Verify One

An LCMHCS license number carries an "S" prefix, distinct from the "A" prefix on an LCMHCA license. It is unlawful for an unlicensed person to use the title "Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor Supervisor" or the letters "LCMHCS" (G.S. 90-331).

To confirm a prospective supervisor actually holds the credential, use the Board's license verification search at portal.ncblcmhc.org/verification/search.aspx. NCBLCMHC does not publish a find-a-supervisor directory, so verification, not a referral list, is the way to check.

Common Mistakes

Related North Carolina Counselor Guides

FAQ: LCMHCS in North Carolina