Nevada MFT and CPC Intern Supervision Hours

1. Two Board-Approved Supervisors Before the Internship Begins

NAC 641A.178(1) says: "Before beginning an internship, each intern must have at least two supervisors approved by the Board." One is the primary approved supervisor. The others are secondary approved supervisors. NAC 641A.178 applies to every intern, so it covers both tracks; NAC 641A.146(5)(b) writes its hours as "marriage and family therapy or clinical professional counseling, as applicable."

The order of events matters. An intern must hold the intern license before the supervised experience starts (NRS 641A.287(1) for MFT-Interns; NRS 641A.288(1) for CPC-Interns), and the license applicant must have "entered into a supervision agreement with an approved supervisor" (NRS 641A.287(2); NRS 641A.288(2)(d)). The application itself includes "a proposed plan for internship and the supervision agreement, including the name of the proposed supervisors" (NAC 641A.156(1)(b)). An approved supervisor is, in the statute's words, a licensed marriage and family therapist or licensed clinical professional counselor approved by the Board to supervise (NRS 641A.025).

The intern term is 3 years from Board approval of the internship, with one 3-year renewal (NAC 641A.146(1)(c), (4)). The supervisor hours below all have to fit inside that term. The Nevada MFT intern requirements and Nevada CPC intern requirements pages cover the rest of each track.

2. The Primary Supervisor's 160 Hours and the Secondary 40

The primary supervisor "shall meet with the intern for at least 160 hours, which must include at least 1 hour per week, to discuss and evaluate the performance of the intern." Any variation from the weekly schedule must be documented by the primary supervisor, and the documentation is retained "until the completion of the internship." The rule adds that a violation "may result in the revocation of the intern's license or the approval of the primary supervisor" (NAC 641A.178(1)(a)).

The weekly hour is a minimum cadence for the primary supervisor. No ratio of supervision hours to client hours is stated in NAC 641A.178, so there is no number to compute from a week of client contact. The secondary supervisor or supervisors meet with the intern "for a combined total of at least 40 hours" (NAC 641A.178(1)(b)). No maximum number of secondary supervisors is stated in NAC 641A.178, and the Board's portal lists an "Additional Secondary Supervisor Change Step Request" (MFT/CPC Board, Internship Forms and Reports page).

The caseload rule reads: "Unless otherwise authorized by the Board, not more than ... Ten interns may be placed under the supervision of any primary approved supervisor at one time", with the same limit of ten for any secondary approved supervisor (NAC 641A.178(2)).

3. How the 160 and 40 Sit Inside the 300 Supervised Hours

NAC 641A.146(5)(b) requires "At least 300 hours of marriage and family therapy or clinical professional counseling, as applicable, that is supervised by the primary approved supervisor or secondary approved supervisor or supervisors of the intern, including" at least 160 hours supervised by the primary supervisor and at least 40 hours supervised by the secondary supervisor or supervisors. The Board's final report forms print this line as 300 supervision hours with the 160 and 40 beside it (Form #3 and Form #6).

Arithmetic: 160 plus 40 is 200, which leaves 100 hours of the 300 that the two named minimums do not fill. The 300 hours may be supervised by the primary or the secondary supervisors, so the other 100 can come from either; the rule sets no split beyond the 160 and 40 minimums. This line is its own bucket: the 1,500 hours of direct contact are paragraph (a), and the 1,200 hours of related work are in addition to paragraphs (a) and (b) (NAC 641A.146(5)(a), (c)). Cite both NAC 641A.146(5)(b) and NAC 641A.178(1)(a) when you describe the 160 and 40, because one states the supervised hours and the other states the meeting time.

4. What Counts as Supervision Time and What Does Not

NAC 641A.178(3) says the time required for supervision includes the time devoted to:

• (a) Meetings between the approved supervisor and the intern where videotapes or audiotapes are reviewed.
• (b) Therapy sessions in which the approved supervisor participates.
• (c) Therapy sessions in which the approved supervisor observes the session from a location whereby the approved supervisor is neither seen nor heard.
• (d) The presentation of a case by the intern and a discussion by the approved supervisor.

Seminars, workshops and classes are excluded as supervision time. The exception is the training category in NAC 641A.146(5)(c)(5), which is a different bucket: training approved by the primary supervisor, not more than 200 hours inside the related-work total (NAC 641A.178(4); NAC 641A.146(5)(c)(5)).

The rules do not define individual or group supervision and do not cap group supervision; the Board's forms have a primary supervision row and a secondary supervision row. The current Six-Month Internship Report (board filename rev_09.2026) also prints a line for direct observation of counseling by the primary supervisor with a minimum of once per reporting period. That is the form's text; NAC 641A.178(3) names observation among four included activities and does not state a once-per-period minimum.

5. Remote Supervision

NRS 641A.160(2)(b) directs the Board to "Authorize the remote supervision, including, without limitation, electronic supervision, of interns working at remote sites." NAC 641A.178 contains no remote-supervision text. The MFT/CPC Board's primary supervision page says "Remote supervision of an intern is allowed" and its secondary supervision page says "Remote supervision is allowed."

No limits on remote supervision are published in NRS 641A, NAC 641A or on those pages. Ask the Board before you rely on a particular arrangement, and keep the supervisor's answer in writing.

6. Who May Be Your Approved Supervisor

NAC 641A.182 sets the supervisor rules. Subsection (1) requires the supervisor to be a marriage and family therapist or a clinical professional counselor. Subsection (2) is the secondary-supervisor exception: in extenuating circumstances or on the recommendation of the primary supervisor, the Board "will approve as a secondary supervisor" a licensed psychologist, psychiatrist or clinical social worker "who has received training in supervision." The Secondary Supervisor Contract asks a secondary supervisor who is not a Nevada-approved supervisor to attach documentation of supervision training, and the intern to submit a letter of explanation of the extenuating circumstances.

A primary supervisor has an additional requirement, and NAC 641A.182(4) gives three routes. The first is a graduate-level course that "includes at least 45 clock hours on the supervision of the practice of marriage and family therapy" plus at least 25 hours of mentored supervision (NAC 641A.182(4)(a)(1)). The second is a professional training program on supervision provided by the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy or the National Board for Certified Counselors, plus at least 25 hours of mentored supervision (NAC 641A.182(4)(a)(2)). The third is to currently hold an AAMFT "Approved Supervisor" or "Supervisor Candidate" designation, or the NBCC "Approved Clinical Supervisor" credential (NAC 641A.182(4)(b)).

For the CPC track, the primary supervision page lists a copy of the NBCC Approved Clinical Supervisor certificate, or a university transcript showing one 45-hour graduate supervision course with evidence of 25 hours of mentored supervision.

7. Prohibited Relationships and Dual Relationships

Two of the NAC 641A.182(3) conditions are about the relationship between supervisor and intern, and each runs in one direction. The family bar says the supervisor must "Not be related to the intern by closer than the fourth degree of consanguinity" (NAC 641A.182(3)(c)). The rule speaks of consanguinity only, and NAC 641A does not define how degrees are counted. The therapy bar says the supervisor must "Have never professionally provided mental health therapy to the intern" (NAC 641A.182(3)(d)). The direction is supervisor to intern; that paragraph does not address an intern who provided therapy to the supervisor.

A related rule sits in the hours section. Up to 150 hours of personal therapy may count as related work, and that therapy must come from "a licensed mental health professional who is not the approved supervisor of the intern" (NAC 641A.146(5)(c)(4)).

Dual relationships are covered by NAC 641A.247(14): "Within the 2 years immediately following the termination of a clinical relationship with a client or professional relationship with an intern ... a marriage and family therapist or clinical professional counselor or intern shall not solicit or enter into a dual relationship with the client or intern if it is reasonably foreseeable that such a relationship would harm or exploit the client or intern."

8. Supervisor Approval and the Two Contracts

A supervisor applies to the Board for approval and pays $75 (NAC 641A.105(1)(b)). The MFT/CPC Board's primary supervision page says final approval is given at a Board meeting, and the Primary Supervisor Application includes a waiver of the 21 working days notice required by NRS 241.033. The Board lists an MFT Primary Supervisor Application, a CPC Primary Supervisor Application and a Secondary Supervisor Application in its portal. The Board office provides the list of Board-approved primary supervisors on an email request to mftbd2@mftbd.nv.gov (Form 9).

The intern and supervisors then sign two documents. The Internship Proposal & Primary Supervisor Contract is signed by the intern and the primary supervisor and includes a detailed plan of the proposed internship; in it the supervisor agrees to meet with the intern weekly for a minimum of 160 hours. The Secondary Supervisor Contract has the secondary supervisor agree to meet with the intern for a minimum of 40 hours of supervision. Both are submitted with the licensure application, and the Board pages say the application cannot be approved without them. The primary contract exists in two revisions on the Board site, one printed "Updated 11/22" and one printed "Updated 10/24 supersedes all other forms"; use the 10/24 copy.

9. Changing or Ending a Supervisor

Two deadlines come from NRS 641A.2878 for MFT-Interns (NRS 641A.2888 for CPC-Interns). An intern who changes a supervision agreement or enters into a new one must notify the Board "within 30 days after the date of the change or new agreement." And "Each party to a supervision agreement shall, upon its termination, notify the Board in writing not more than 5 days after the date of termination."

The license itself is tied to the agreement. An intern license "Expires upon ... The termination of the supervision agreement with an approved supervisor" (NRS 641A.2872(2)(b)(1) for MFT-Interns; NRS 641A.2882(2)(b)(1) for CPC-Interns).

When a primary or secondary relationship ends, the Board's form is Form 9, Internship Dissolution, which cites NRS 641A.2878 and NRS 641A.2888 and has a box for primary supervisor and one for secondary supervisor. It prints: the intern "may NOT see clients nor practice after the effective date until a new Primary Supervisor and a new Internship Proposal has been approved by the Board." The portal has a Primary Supervisor Change Step Request, a Secondary Supervisor Step Request and an Additional Secondary Supervisor Change Step Request.

10. What to Keep From Day One

Each primary supervisor must, "on or before September 15 and March 15 of each year," submit a written evaluation of each intern (NAC 641A.178(5)), and the intern must solicit that report and submit it with the hours reports by the same dates (NAC 641A.146(2)). The Nevada six-month internship report The form has its own page.

The final report forms ask for supervision as one line of 300 hours with the 160 primary and 40 secondary figures beside it, and the Six-Month Internship Report has secondary-supervisor pages and asks whether secondary hours accrued in the period. That is advice about the forms: keep primary hours and each secondary supervisor's hours as separate running totals from the first week, and keep the primary supervisor's documentation of any variation from the weekly schedule.

Common Mistakes With Nevada Intern Supervision

Related Nevada MFT and CPC Guides

On the CPC title, see CPC vs LPC in Nevada. For the whole map, see how to become a therapist in Nevada and all Nevada guides.

FAQ: Nevada MFT and CPC Intern Supervision