Guide

Can Your Licensure Supervisor Be Out of State or Work by Video?

Summary

Whether a clinical supervisor can sit in another state, and whether that supervisor can meet you by video, are two different questions, and the licensing board that will count your hours answers both. Some boards require the supervisor to hold that state's own license regardless of where the supervisor lives. Others accept supervision obtained elsewhere if it meets their standards. Video acceptance varies by state and by profession too, so read your own board's supervision rule before the first hour is logged.

By Gale Editorial · Updated 2026-09-01. Every figure cited to a dated source. How we write.

Where a supervisor is licensed is not where a supervisor sits

Three questions hide inside this one, and boards answer them separately: which state's license your supervisor holds, where the two of you sit during the hour, and whether the hour may run over video. A supervisor two time zones away can be fine on the second and fail the first. Georgia's board settles the location half plainly: supervision does not require the supervisor to be present at the supervisee's work site 1Ref 1Georgia Composite Board of Professional Counselors, Social Workers and Marriage and Family Therapists (2026).Chapter 135-5. Requirements for Licensure.Georgia's definition of supervision, specifically that supervision does not require the supervisor to be present at the work site with the supervisee, and that the chapter read on 2026-09-01 addresses work-site presence rather than the supervisor's state of licensure or live video..

The licensure question is the one that decides whether your hours count, and the board that will eventually issue your license sets it, license type by license type. There is no national answer to repeat here.

Five boards follow, all read on 2026-09-01, and they disagree with each other in useful ways.

Can a supervisor licensed only in another state count your hours?

In some states no, in others yes with conditions, and the rule is written per profession rather than per state. Ohio and New York both require the supervisor to hold that state's own license for supervision happening there. Texas answers an adjacent question in the psychology section of its own FAQ, allowing supervision obtained outside Texas. California requires an active California license while letting the years behind that license come from anywhere.

Ohio ties licensure to where the supervision happens. If the training supervision is occurring in Ohio, the rule requires both the supervisee and the supervisor to be licensed in Ohio 2Ref 2Ohio Counselor, Social Worker and Marriage and Family Therapist Board (2024).Rule 4757-23-01 | Social work supervision.Ohio social work supervision: that training supervision occurring in Ohio requires both the supervisee and the supervisor to be licensed in Ohio, that supervision must start with an initial face-to-face meeting after which communication may be in person, by videoconferencing or by phone, that the modality allowance is written for training supervision, and the rule's July 1, 2024 effective date.. That rule covers Ohio, social work, and training supervision: the hours logged toward licensure, as distinct from the oversight an employer arranges. The rule took effect July 1, 2024.

New York writes the same idea as a fact about the supervisor. For mental health counseling experience obtained in New York State, NYSED requires the supervisor to be licensed and registered in New York 3Ref 3New York State Education Department, Office of the Professions (2026).License Requirements for Mental Health Counselors.New York mental health counseling: that a supervisor for New York experience must be licensed and registered in New York in one of the listed professions, the in-person supervision cadence of one hour per week or two hours every other week, and that experience obtained in other jurisdictions is evaluated for equivalence.. A license held only somewhere else does not qualify a supervisor for New York hours.

Texas answers profession by profession. In the psychology section of the Behavioral Health Executive Council's supervision FAQ, the board asks whether supervision can be done outside Texas and answers yes, if it meets Texas requirements 4Ref 4Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council (2026).Supervision FAQs.The psychology section of the Council's supervision FAQ, in which the board answers that supervision can be done outside Texas if it meets Texas requirements, and the fact that the FAQ answers profession by profession, as displayed 2026-09-01.. The same FAQ answers separately for social work, counseling and marriage and family therapy, so read the section matching your license.

California splits the question. Its Board of Behavioral Sciences requires a supervisor of an associate to hold a current and active California license in good standing that is not under suspension or probation 5Ref 5California Board of Behavioral Sciences (2024).Summary of Supervisor Qualifications: For Supervisors of ASWs, AMFTs, MFT Trainees or APCCs.California supervisors of associates: that the supervisor must possess a current and active California license in good standing that is not under suspension or probation, and that the two-of-five-years licensure requirement may have been held in California or any other state.. But the two years of licensure behind that supervisor may have been held in California or any other state 5Ref 5California Board of Behavioral Sciences (2024).Summary of Supervisor Qualifications: For Supervisors of ASWs, AMFTs, MFT Trainees or APCCs.California supervisors of associates: that the supervisor must possess a current and active California license in good standing that is not under suspension or probation, and that the two-of-five-years licensure requirement may have been held in California or any other state.. Out-of-state history counts toward the seasoning; an out-of-state license does not replace the California one.

Georgia's chapter settles work-site presence and says nothing about which state a supervisor must be licensed in. Silence there is a question to put to the board in writing.

Does supervision by video count?

Sometimes, and where the answer exists it sits in statutory text in one state and in a single rule sentence in another. California's marriage and family therapist statute defines face-to-face contact to include two-way, real-time videoconferencing 6Ref 6California Legislature (2026).Business and Professions Code Section 4980.43.2.California's marriage and family therapist supervision statute: that face-to-face contact means in-person contact, contact via two-way real-time videoconferencing, or a combination, and its requirement of at least one hour of direct supervisor contact in each week for which experience is credited, as the section read on 2026-09-01.. Ohio's social work rule permits videoconferencing or phone after an initial face-to-face meeting 2Ref 2Ohio Counselor, Social Worker and Marriage and Family Therapist Board (2024).Rule 4757-23-01 | Social work supervision.Ohio social work supervision: that training supervision occurring in Ohio requires both the supervisee and the supervisor to be licensed in Ohio, that supervision must start with an initial face-to-face meeting after which communication may be in person, by videoconferencing or by phone, that the modality allowance is written for training supervision, and the rule's July 1, 2024 effective date.. New York's page for mental health counselors says in-person and stops there 3Ref 3New York State Education Department, Office of the Professions (2026).License Requirements for Mental Health Counselors.New York mental health counseling: that a supervisor for New York experience must be licensed and registered in New York in one of the listed professions, the in-person supervision cadence of one hour per week or two hours every other week, and that experience obtained in other jurisdictions is evaluated for equivalence..

California's is the sturdiest of the three, because it sits in the statute rather than in a board summary. The section states that face-to-face contact means in-person contact, contact via two-way, real-time videoconferencing, or some combination of these, and it requires at least one hour of direct supervisor contact in each week for which experience is credited 6Ref 6California Legislature (2026).Business and Professions Code Section 4980.43.2.California's marriage and family therapist supervision statute: that face-to-face contact means in-person contact, contact via two-way real-time videoconferencing, or a combination, and its requirement of at least one hour of direct supervisor contact in each week for which experience is credited, as the section read on 2026-09-01.. That is the marriage and family therapist track, as the section read on 2026-09-01, and a statute can be amended.

Ohio's allowance carries a condition on the front of it. Supervision must start with an initial face-to-face meeting, after which communication may be in person, via videoconferencing, or by phone 2Ref 2Ohio Counselor, Social Worker and Marriage and Family Therapist Board (2024).Rule 4757-23-01 | Social work supervision.Ohio social work supervision: that training supervision occurring in Ohio requires both the supervisee and the supervisor to be licensed in Ohio, that supervision must start with an initial face-to-face meeting after which communication may be in person, by videoconferencing or by phone, that the modality allowance is written for training supervision, and the rule's July 1, 2024 effective date.. That sentence lives in the training supervision rule rather than in the clinical or work supervision provisions, so it does not clear video for every kind of oversight the chapter describes.

New York's page does not answer. NYSED describes an average of one hour per week or two hours every other week of in-person individual or group supervision 3Ref 3New York State Education Department, Office of the Professions (2026).License Requirements for Mental Health Counselors.New York mental health counseling: that a supervisor for New York experience must be licensed and registered in New York in one of the listed professions, the in-person supervision cadence of one hour per week or two hours every other week, and that experience obtained in other jurisdictions is evaluated for equivalence.. It does not define in-person and it names no video exception, which is not the same as a stated prohibition. That gap is worth an email to the Office of the Professions before you accrue against it.

Five boards and six rules, side by side

Read across, not down. Each row is one state's rule for one profession, on the date it was read, and no row generalizes to the state next door or to the license beside it. Only two of the six answer both halves; the rest are written for one license and silent on the other question.

Board and license	The supervisor's licensure or location	Meeting by video
Ohio, social work	Both parties licensed in Ohio when training supervision occurs there 2Ref 2Ohio Counselor, Social Worker and Marriage and Family Therapist Board (2024).Rule 4757-23-01 \| Social work supervision.Ohio social work supervision: that training supervision occurring in Ohio requires both the supervisee and the supervisor to be licensed in Ohio, that supervision must start with an initial face-to-face meeting after which communication may be in person, by videoconferencing or by phone, that the modality allowance is written for training supervision, and the rule's July 1, 2024 effective date.	Allowed after an initial face-to-face meeting 2Ref 2Ohio Counselor, Social Worker and Marriage and Family Therapist Board (2024).Rule 4757-23-01 \| Social work supervision.Ohio social work supervision: that training supervision occurring in Ohio requires both the supervisee and the supervisor to be licensed in Ohio, that supervision must start with an initial face-to-face meeting after which communication may be in person, by videoconferencing or by phone, that the modality allowance is written for training supervision, and the rule's July 1, 2024 effective date.
New York, mental health counseling	Supervisor licensed and registered in New York 3Ref 3New York State Education Department, Office of the Professions (2026).License Requirements for Mental Health Counselors.New York mental health counseling: that a supervisor for New York experience must be licensed and registered in New York in one of the listed professions, the in-person supervision cadence of one hour per week or two hours every other week, and that experience obtained in other jurisdictions is evaluated for equivalence.	Page says in-person, names no exception 3Ref 3New York State Education Department, Office of the Professions (2026).License Requirements for Mental Health Counselors.New York mental health counseling: that a supervisor for New York experience must be licensed and registered in New York in one of the listed professions, the in-person supervision cadence of one hour per week or two hours every other week, and that experience obtained in other jurisdictions is evaluated for equivalence.
California, BBS associates	Current, active California license; the two years behind it may come from any state 5Ref 5California Board of Behavioral Sciences (2024).Summary of Supervisor Qualifications: For Supervisors of ASWs, AMFTs, MFT Trainees or APCCs.California supervisors of associates: that the supervisor must possess a current and active California license in good standing that is not under suspension or probation, and that the two-of-five-years licensure requirement may have been held in California or any other state.	Not addressed in this summary
California, marriage and family therapy	Not addressed in this section	Videoconferencing counts as face-to-face contact, with at least one hour of direct contact each credited week 6Ref 6California Legislature (2026).Business and Professions Code Section 4980.43.2.California's marriage and family therapist supervision statute: that face-to-face contact means in-person contact, contact via two-way real-time videoconferencing, or a combination, and its requirement of at least one hour of direct supervisor contact in each week for which experience is credited, as the section read on 2026-09-01.
Texas, psychology	Supervision may occur outside Texas if it meets Texas requirements 4Ref 4Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council (2026).Supervision FAQs.The psychology section of the Council's supervision FAQ, in which the board answers that supervision can be done outside Texas if it meets Texas requirements, and the fact that the FAQ answers profession by profession, as displayed 2026-09-01.	Not addressed in the passage read here
Georgia, composite board chapter	Not addressed; the supervisor need not be present at the supervisee's work site 1Ref 1Georgia Composite Board of Professional Counselors, Social Workers and Marriage and Family Therapists (2026).Chapter 135-5. Requirements for Licensure.Georgia's definition of supervision, specifically that supervision does not require the supervisor to be present at the work site with the supervisee, and that the chapter read on 2026-09-01 addresses work-site presence rather than the supervisor's state of licensure or live video.	Not addressed in the chapter read here

Check your own board before the first hour

Start at the board that will issue your license, in its own rule text, and get the answer in writing before the first hour is logged. The lookup runs the same way in every state: open the board's supervision chapter, read the section that names your license type, then send the board both questions in one message and keep the reply with your supervision file.

1. Find the rule, not the summary page. Ohio's answer is in an administrative code rule and California's modality answer is in the Business and Professions Code, while New York's and Texas's sit on board pages. 2. Read the section for your own license type. Boards write supervision rules per profession, and Texas proves it by answering four times in one FAQ. 3. Ask the two questions separately: which state's license must my supervisor hold for hours earned here, and may the required contact run by two-way video. 4. File whatever the board requires before hours begin. Texas allows an LPC Associate to practice only under a board-approved supervisor and takes that arrangement on a Supervisory Agreement Form 7Ref 7Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council / Texas State Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors (2026).LPC Associate.That a Texas LPC Associate may provide services only under a board-approved supervisor and may not practice independently, and that the board takes the supervisory arrangement on a Supervisory Agreement Form, as displayed 2026-09-01.. 5. Date-stamp what you read. The Ohio rule quoted here is effective July 1, 2024 2Ref 2Ohio Counselor, Social Worker and Marriage and Family Therapist Board (2024).Rule 4757-23-01 | Social work supervision.Ohio social work supervision: that training supervision occurring in Ohio requires both the supervisee and the supervisor to be licensed in Ohio, that supervision must start with an initial face-to-face meeting after which communication may be in person, by videoconferencing or by phone, that the modality allowance is written for training supervision, and the rule's July 1, 2024 effective date., and the rest of this page was read on 2026-09-01. 6. Expect an evaluation rather than a yes or a no for hours earned elsewhere. NYSED says experience obtained in other jurisdictions is evaluated for whether the equivalent requirements were satisfied 3Ref 3New York State Education Department, Office of the Professions (2026).License Requirements for Mental Health Counselors.New York mental health counseling: that a supervisor for New York experience must be licensed and registered in New York in one of the listed professions, the in-person supervision cadence of one hour per week or two hours every other week, and that experience obtained in other jurisdictions is evaluated for equivalence.. Keep the logs and the agreement in the form a board will want to see.

What the supervision rule does not decide

Four adjacent questions run on different rules, and settling the supervision one settles none of them: where your client may sit during a session, what happens to logged hours if the arrangement ends, who insures the work, and what supervision costs you each month.

Supervision rules do not decide whether you may treat a client who is physically in another state. Each state answers that one for itself, telehealth into Florida under Florida's own rules and telehealth into Alaska under Alaska's, and your supervisor's address decides neither.

Whether counseling and social work compact privileges change any of this is a question to put to the board. None of the six rules read for this page mentions a compact.

Who carries the risk is written in a policy rather than a rule chapter. A supervisor's malpractice coverage for associates is a matter of what the carrier agreed to insure, and board approval of a supervisor says nothing about it. Ask the carrier first.

Supervision is also a recurring monthly cost with no billable hour attached, which puts it in the price floor you compute for a cash visit, alongside rent and the premium.

The risk behind the question is losing a supervisor mid-hours. No source read for this page states what a board does with hours already logged under a supervisor it later declines to credit, so treat that as unsettled, and as the reason to get the arrangement approved before the first hour rather than explained after the last one.

Common questions

It depends on the board that will issue your license. Ohio requires both supervisee and supervisor to be licensed in Ohio when the training supervision happens there, and New York requires a supervisor licensed and registered in New York for experience obtained in New York. Texas answers a nearby question for psychology, allowing supervision obtained outside Texas if it meets Texas requirements. Read your own board's rule for your own license type.

In California, the marriage and family therapist statute defines face-to-face contact to include two-way, real-time videoconferencing, so video contact counts on that track. Ohio's social work rule allows videoconferencing or phone after an initial face-to-face meeting. New York's mental health counseling page says in-person without defining the term or naming an exception. Modality is a per-state, per-license question with no national answer.

That is the right first condition, and it may not be the only one. Georgia's rule says supervision does not require the supervisor to be present at the supervisee's work site, which settles physical presence and not modality. A board that permits a remotely located supervisor may still require a specific meeting format or a certain amount of direct contact. Confirm both before hours begin.

Expect an evaluation rather than an automatic yes or no. New York says experience obtained in other jurisdictions is evaluated for whether the equivalent requirements were satisfied, and Texas allows psychology supervision obtained outside Texas where it meets Texas requirements. Keep the supervision logs, the supervisor's licensure record and the agreement itself, because the receiving board reviews the arrangement rather than the total.

Open your board's supervision chapter in the state's administrative code or statute, then read the section naming your license type. Board web pages summarize and sometimes go quiet where the code speaks, as in California, where the videoconferencing definition sits in the Business and Professions Code and not in the board's supervisor qualifications handout. Send the board anything the text leaves open and keep the reply.

Confirm in writing which state's license your supervisor must hold for hours earned where you are working, confirm whether the required contact may run by video, and file whatever agreement the board requires. Texas, for one, allows an LPC Associate to practice only under a board-approved supervisor and takes that arrangement on a Supervisory Agreement Form. Approval in advance is cheaper than a review afterward.

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References

1.Georgia Composite Board of Professional Counselors, Social Workers and Marriage and Family Therapists (2026). Chapter 135-5. Requirements for Licensure. Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia (rules.sos.ga.gov). link ✓Georgia's definition of supervision, specifically that supervision does not require the supervisor to be present at the work site with the supervisee, and that the chapter read on 2026-09-01 addresses work-site presence rather than the supervisor's state of licensure or live video.
2.Ohio Counselor, Social Worker and Marriage and Family Therapist Board (2024). Rule 4757-23-01 | Social work supervision. Ohio Administrative Code (codes.ohio.gov), Ohio Laws and Administrative Rules. link ✓Ohio social work supervision: that training supervision occurring in Ohio requires both the supervisee and the supervisor to be licensed in Ohio, that supervision must start with an initial face-to-face meeting after which communication may be in person, by videoconferencing or by phone, that the modality allowance is written for training supervision, and the rule's July 1, 2024 effective date.
3.New York State Education Department, Office of the Professions (2026). License Requirements for Mental Health Counselors. NYSED Office of the Professions. link ✓New York mental health counseling: that a supervisor for New York experience must be licensed and registered in New York in one of the listed professions, the in-person supervision cadence of one hour per week or two hours every other week, and that experience obtained in other jurisdictions is evaluated for equivalence.
4.Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council (2026). Supervision FAQs. Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council. link ✓The psychology section of the Council's supervision FAQ, in which the board answers that supervision can be done outside Texas if it meets Texas requirements, and the fact that the FAQ answers profession by profession, as displayed 2026-09-01.
5.California Board of Behavioral Sciences (2024). Summary of Supervisor Qualifications: For Supervisors of ASWs, AMFTs, MFT Trainees or APCCs. California Board of Behavioral Sciences (Revised 09/2024). link ✓California supervisors of associates: that the supervisor must possess a current and active California license in good standing that is not under suspension or probation, and that the two-of-five-years licensure requirement may have been held in California or any other state.
6.California Legislature (2026). Business and Professions Code Section 4980.43.2. California Legislative Information (leginfo.legislature.ca.gov). link ✓California's marriage and family therapist supervision statute: that face-to-face contact means in-person contact, contact via two-way real-time videoconferencing, or a combination, and its requirement of at least one hour of direct supervisor contact in each week for which experience is credited, as the section read on 2026-09-01.
7.Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council / Texas State Board of Examiners of Professional Counselors (2026). LPC Associate. Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council. link ✓That a Texas LPC Associate may provide services only under a board-approved supervisor and may not practice independently, and that the board takes the supervisory arrangement on a Supervisory Agreement Form, as displayed 2026-09-01.

https://www.gale.care/for-providers/pq-supervisor-out-of-state-or-video · 7 sources. Competitor details are cited to dated public sources and maintained as they change; figures are estimates, not commitments. Synthetic demonstration.

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