LPC Supervision in Virginia

A 200-Hour Total, Delivered In Person

The Virginia Board of Counseling requires "a minimum of 200 hours of in-person supervision between supervisor and resident in the consultation and review of clinical counseling services provided by the resident" (18VAC115-20-52 B 3). The rate requirement covered next applies alongside that total: a resident's supervision has to satisfy both the total and the pace at which it accrues.

"In-person" is not limited to sitting in the same room. For the 200-hour requirement, the rule says in-person "may include the use of secured technology that maintains client confidentiality and provides real-time, visual contact between the supervisor and the resident" (18VAC115-20-52 B 3 b). Both conditions are in the rule: the technology is secured, and the contact is real-time and visual.

1 to 4 Hours per 40 Hours of Work Experience

Alongside the 200-hour total, Virginia sets a pace: "a minimum of one hour and a maximum of four hours per 40 hours of work experience during the period of the residency" (18VAC115-20-52 B 3 a). The rule ties the rate to work experience, which the LPC Licensure Process Handbook describes as time spent delivering clinical counseling services, both face-to-face client contact and indirect activities, not to client-contact hours alone (Handbook s. 3, item 3).

Applied to a 40-hour work week, that rate works out to a floor of one supervision hour and a ceiling of four supervision hours for every 40 hours the resident logs. Over a quarter of roughly 13 weeks at 40 hours a week, that same rate works out to somewhere between 13 and 52 supervision hours, arithmetic drawn from the rate rather than a quarterly figure Virginia states on its own (18VAC115-20-52 B 3 a). The rule sets the rate and the 200-hour total; it does not print a quarterly number.

Individual and Group Supervision

Group supervision has its own cap inside the 200-hour total: "No more than half of the 200 hours may be satisfied with group supervision. One hour of group supervision will be deemed equivalent to one hour of individual supervision" (18VAC115-20-52 B 3 c). That means group supervision does not carry a discounted rate; an hour of group counts the same as an hour of individual toward the total.

Group supervision itself is capped by size: "Group supervision" is defined as "the process of clinical supervision of no more than six persons in a group setting provided by a qualified supervisor" (18VAC115-20-10). A group of more than six residents in one supervision session does not meet the definition.

At Least 100 Hours From an LPC, and the Two-Year Recency Rule

Within the 200-hour total, at least half has to come from a specific license type: "At least 100 hours of the supervision shall be rendered by a licensed professional counselor" (18VAC115-20-52 C 3). A Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist can supervise the rest, but an LPC covers at minimum 100 of the 200 hours.

Supervision is also subject to a recency rule that sits apart from the 200-hour total and the 21-month minimum residency length: a resident needs "a minimum of 1,000 hours of face-to-face client contact and 100 hours of supervision within two years immediately preceding application to the board for licensure" (18VAC115-20-52 B 4). A resident finishing their 200 hours steadily across a residency of several years still has to show that at least 100 of those supervision hours, and 1,000 hours of face-to-face client contact, land in the two years right before they apply.

Who May Supervise, and Who May Not

An eligible supervisor holds "an active, unrestricted license as a professional counselor or a marriage and family therapist in the jurisdiction where the supervision is being provided," with at least two years of post-licensure clinical experience, plus supervision training of either 3 semester credit hours (4.0 quarter hours) of graduate coursework in supervision or at least 20 hours of continuing education in supervision (18VAC115-20-52 C).

Two license types are excluded from this track. The LPC Licensure Process Handbook states plainly that "LCSWs or Psychologists cannot supervise a Resident in Counseling toward licensure" (Handbook s. 2.1). A Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) or a psychologist, whatever their experience, does not qualify as an LPC resident's supervisor.

The Approved Supervisor Registry and Supervisor Approval Application

The Board of Counseling keeps an Approved Supervisor Registry, required by Code of Virginia § 54.1-3505(8). A supervisor who is not already listed applies to join it with the Supervisor Approval Application. When a resident adds or changes a supervisor or worksite after their license issues, no separate application, fee, or notice to the Board is required, but the supervisor has to be on the Approved Supervisor Registry, and a signed supervisory contract has to be in place for each supervisor and worksite before hours count (LPC Licensure Process Handbook s. 2.3).

When supervision with a given supervisor ends, either the resident or the supervisor submits the Termination of Supervision form to the Board (LPC Licensure Process Handbook s. 2.4).

The Quarterly Evaluation and the Verification of Supervision

A supervisor completes a Quarterly Evaluation Form "at the end of each three-month period" of the residency (18VAC115-20-52 D 3). The supervisor also "shall report the total hours of residency and shall evaluate the applicant's competency" (18VAC115-20-52 D 4), and "shall assume full responsibility for the clinical activities of that resident specified within the supervisory contract for the duration of the residency" (18VAC115-20-52 D 2).

At the end of each supervision relationship, the supervisor also completes a notarized Verification of Supervision Form. Virginia's forms are the current set revised 12/2025; the Virginia Administrative Code's own "Forms" appendix still lists 2011 titles, which are stale.

Concurrent Supervisors and the Summary Form

A resident can have more than one supervisor at once, whether across sites or within the same site. Each supervisor completes their own Quarterly Evaluations and their own Verification of Supervision Form for the portion of the residency they oversaw (LPC Licensure Process Handbook s. 3).

At the application stage, the resident files a Supervision Summary Form covering up to four supervisors, and the totals on that form have to match the individual Verifications and Quarterly Evaluations. The Supervision Summary Form (Rev. 12/2025) carries a "Hours Duplicated Under Another Supervisor?" column with a Yes or No box for each supervisor, next to a column for the number of duplicate hours.

Supervision Obtained Outside Virginia

A resident who completed part of their residency under supervision in another state does not lose that supervision automatically: "The board will accept residency hours approved by the licensing board in another United States jurisdiction that meet the requirements of this section" (18VAC115-20-52 B 11). The out-of-state supervision still has to meet Virginia's requirements above, including the rate, the 200-hour total, and the LPC-share rule.

How the LMFT Track Differs

A Resident in Marriage and Family Therapy follows a parallel supervision structure under a different chapter: also 200 hours of in-person supervision at a rate of 1 to 4 hours per 40 hours of supervised work experience, with no more than 100 of those hours in group supervision. The difference is which license has to supply the LPC-equivalent share: at least 100 of the 200 hours must be rendered by a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, not an LPC (18VAC115-50-60 B 1). See Virginia LMFT requirements for the rest of that track.

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FAQ: Virginia LPC Supervision Requirements