How many AMFT hours do you need for LMFT licensure in California?

You need 3,000 hours of supervised experience, completed over a minimum of 104 weeks. At least 1,750 must be hours of direct client contact, including 500 hours of couples, family, or child therapy. The remaining hours can be non-clinical work like supervision, case conferences, and professional development, up to a 1,250-hour cap.

How much supervision do AMFTs need per week?

Associates (AMFTs) need at least 1 unit of supervision in any week they log experience at that setting. If you log more than 10 hours of direct client contact in a single week, you need a second unit. One unit equals 1 hour of individual or triadic supervision, or 2 hours of group supervision. During the pre-degree trainee phase the rule is a 5:1 ratio: 1 unit for every 5 hours of direct client contact, averaged over your time at that setting, with at least 1 unit in any week you log experience at that setting. Averaging is per setting, and the Board credits at most 6 hours of supervision in any single week, so a catch-up week cannot bank more than that.

Do pre-degree practicum hours count toward LMFT licensure?

Yes, but with caps. You can count up to 1,300 pre-degree hours toward your 3,000 total. Within that, only 750 hours of counseling and supervision count. You still need a minimum of 1,700 post-degree hours regardless of how many pre-degree hours you have.

What is BBS Form 37A-525?

Form 37A-525 is the official BBS weekly summary form for AMFTs pursuing LMFT licensure. Each sheet holds up to ten weekly rows for one work setting and one supervisor within a single calendar year, plus a totals row. It prints a dedicated "A1. Diagnosis and Treatment of Couples, Families, Children" column, which is a sub-category of your direct counseling column. Your supervisor reviews and signs each sheet. SparkHours exports pre-filled 37A-525 PDFs automatically.

Does SparkHours generate the BBS Experience Verification form for AMFTs?

Yes. SparkHours generates the In-State Experience Verification form for AMFTs as you near the end of your hours. The form is pre-filled from your logged hours and your supervisor history, ready for supervisor signature. You get one Experience Verification form per placement (site, supervisor, and degree phase combination).

What's the difference between AMFT hours and APCC hours?

Both require 3,000 total hours and 1,750 hours of direct client contact. The key differences: AMFTs need 500 hours of couples, family, or child therapy (APCCs don't have a specialty subset). AMFTs can count pre-degree hours (up to 1,300); APCCs cannot count any pre-degree hours. AMFTs use Form 37A-525, which prints an "A1. Diagnosis and Treatment of Couples, Families, Children" column; APCCs use Form 37A-638, which has no such column.

Can AMFT supervision be done via telehealth?

Yes. Live two-way videoconferencing may be used for individual and group supervision, but telephone supervision does not count. Within 60 days, the supervisor must assess and document that videoconference supervision is appropriate for the supervisee, client population, and setting.

Can I bring my existing AMFT hours into SparkHours?

Yes. SparkHours has a built-in Track Your Hours importer that runs during setup, and your existing hours transfer over automatically. If you've been tracking in a spreadsheet or on paper, you enter those weeks by hand instead. Either way, SparkHours checks each week against the rules for your license as you enter it.

California BBS · AMFT → LMFT

AMFT hour requirements and BBS Form 37A-525 for LMFT licensure

The complete guide to the AMFT hours log: what the California BBS requires for LMFT licensure, the 500-hour couples, families, and children minimum, supervision rules, and Form 37A-525. Read it whether you're in practicum, recently graduated, or already registered.

Download the AMFT Weekly Log (37A-525)Or get it pre-filled from your hours

Always the current version, straight from the Board.

LMFT Hour Requirements: The Complete Breakdown

LMFT hour requirements
Requirement	Hours
Total supervised experience	3,000 minimum
Direct client contact	1,750 minimum
Couples, family, and child therapy	500 minimum
Non-clinical	1,250 maximum
Supervision requirements (trainee)	1 unit per 5 hours direct client contact
Supervision requirements (associate)	1 unit/week + 1 if >10 hours of direct client contact
Supervision weekly maximum	6 hours
Individual/triadic weeks required	52 weeks
General rules
Maximum pre-degree hours	1,300
Pre-degree counseling + supervision sub-cap	750
Minimum post-degree hours	1,700
Maximum per 7 consecutive days	40 hours
Hours valid before application	6 years, except up to 500 practicum counseling and supervision hours
Minimum duration	104 weeks

The number that catches most people off guard is the 500-hour couples/family/children subset. Those hours aren't separate from your 1,750 direct client contact hours. They're carved out of them. If you finish your 1,750 without enough couples, family, or child work, you'll need to keep going until you hit 500.

For a side-by-side look at how AMFT requirements compare to APCC and ASW tracks, see those guides. If you're still in practicum, see practicum and fieldwork tracking.

How California counts your MFT hours

Every hour you log belongs to one week, one work setting, and one supervisor. That's the unit the Board counts in. It's why your weekly log runs in columns, and why you sign it a week at a time.

Two ceilings sit on top of each of those weeks. The Board credits at most 40 hours of experience in any seven consecutive days. That 40 covers all your work settings together, not each one separately. It also credits at most 6 hours of supervision in a week, counting individual, triadic, and group together.

Supervision isn't extra room, either. It comes out of the same 1,250 non-clinical hours as your progress notes, clinical reports, psychological testing, and client-centered advocacy. And group supervision can't carry all of it. At least 52 of your 104 weeks need an hour of individual or triadic supervision.

The full guide to counting your MFT hours →

Pre-degree vs post-degree hours

Your degree date splits your 3,000 hours in two. The Board reads that date off your transcript, not off your ceremony. Before that date, you're an MFT Trainee. You earn that status by enrolling in a qualifying program and finishing 12 semester or 18 quarter units. You don't register with the Board for it, and you don't get a number.

Up to 1,300 hours can come from before that date. Inside the 1,300, counseling and supervision share a single 750-hour budget. That's 750 for the two together, not 750 of each. The 550 above it can only be non-clinical.

At least 1,700 hours have to come after that date. That's a minimum in its own right, not what's left after you subtract the 1,300. Fill the 1,300 and you still have 1,700 ahead of you.

The full guide to pre-degree and post-degree hours →

What counts as direct client contact

Direct client contact is the therapy itself: the time you spend counseling individuals, groups, couples, or families. The Board calls it direct clinical counseling, and on your weekly log it's column A.

At least 1,750 of your 3,000 hours have to be direct client contact. Of that 1,750, 500 hours have to be diagnosing and treating couples, families, and children. Both are minimums, so reaching 3,000 doesn't help if either one is short.

Non-clinical experience is limited to the Board's listed categories, including supervision, progress and process notes, clinical reports, psychological testing, and client-centered advocacy. Workshops, seminars, training sessions, and conferences count only when directly related to MFT and approved by your supervisor. Non-clinical hours count toward your 3,000 up to the 1,250 ceiling, but they never move the 1,750.

The full guide to direct client contact hours →

Supervision Requirements for AMFTs

The rules are stricter during practicum and loosen once you graduate.

Trainee

5:1 ratio

Count 1 unit of supervision for every 5 hours of direct client contact, averaged over your time at that setting. Log 15 hours of direct client contact in a week and that week owes 3 units. You can average two of them across your other weeks. The floor is the part you can't average. You need at least 1 unit in any week you log experience at that setting.

Associate

Step function

1 unit of supervision required in any week you log experience at that setting. If you log more than 10 hours of direct client contact in a single week, you need a second unit. It's not proportional like the trainee ratio. It steps up once and stops.

Key supervision rules

One unit = 1 hour of individual or triadic supervision, or 2 hours of group supervision
Group supervision: no more than 8 supervisees in a group
Qualified supervisors: LMFT, LCSW, LPCC, Licensed Psychologist, or a physician certified in psychiatry by ABPN
One exception: hours from attending workshops, seminars, training sessions or conferences still count toward your total, but on their own they do not require a unit of supervision that week

Licensed Educational Psychologists may supervise up to 1,200 hours of educationally related mental-health services. Workshops, seminars, training sessions, and conferences count only when directly related to MFT and approved by your supervisor.

SparkHours checks your supervision requirements per site, per supervisor, every week. If you're short, you'll see a warning before you submit.

BBS Form 37A-525: Your AMFT Weekly Summary

Form 37A-525 is the official BBS weekly summary form for AMFTs. Each sheet covers up to ten weekly rows for one work setting and one supervisor within a single calendar year. You fill one row per week, and the sheet ends with a totals row. Your supervisor reviews and signs the sheet.

What you keep and what you send

You keep your signed weekly logs. The Board instructs you to retain them and produce them if it requests them. So store them where you can find them years later.

What you send at application time is the Experience Verification form. When you're ready to apply for licensure, SparkHours also generates your In-State Experience Verification form. One Experience Verification per placement (site, supervisor, and degree phase), pre-filled from your full hour history and ready for supervisor signature.

ColumnWhat goes here

A. Direct Counseling with Individuals, Groups, Couples or Families: Every hour of direct client contact you provided that week.
A1. Diagnosis and Treatment of Couples, Families, Children: The form calls this a sub-category of A. You write the same hours in both boxes, and the Board counts them once.
B. Non-Clinical Experience: The form's own footnote defines it: "Supervision, psychological testing, writing clinical reports, writing progress or process notes, client-centered advocacy, and workshops, seminars, training sessions or conferences."
B1. Supervision, Individual or Triadic: A sub-category of B, so it is already inside the figure you wrote in B.
B2. Supervision, Group: Also a sub-category of B, and also already inside the figure you wrote in B.
C. Total Hours Per Week (A + B = C): A plus B, and nothing else.

The total box prints the arithmetic: A + B = C. The footnote gives the rest of the rule. A1 is a sub-category of A. B1 and B2 are sub-categories of B. And it says, "When totaling weekly hours do NOT include the subcategories." Supervision is not a counted column of its own on this form. It belongs to B, and B1 and B2 only break it out.

You can download the blank 37A-525 from the BBS website. Or SparkHours exports pre-filled PDFs straight from your logged hours. It also collects electronic supervisor signatures, so you don't have to chase anyone down with a pen. For a column-by-column walkthrough of the weekly log itself, see the BBS Weekly Log of Experience Hours guide.

Common AMFT Hour Tracking Mistakes

1. Forgetting the couples/family subset

You need 500 hours of couples, family, or child therapy. Those hours are part of your 1,750 hours of direct client contact, not separate. Many AMFTs don't realize they're behind on this subset until late in the process, when it's harder to find the right caseload.

2. Miscounting supervision units

Group supervision counts at half rate: 2 hours of group supervision equals 1 unit. If you mix up hours and units, you might think you're compliant when you're not. This matters most during the trainee phase, when the ratio is 1 unit per 5 hours of direct client contact.

3. Ignoring the pre-degree cap

If you logged hours during practicum, only 1,300 count toward your 3,000 total. And only 750 of those can be counseling and supervision hours. Going over doesn't earn extra credit. The Board doesn't count anything above the cap.

4. Not tracking per site and supervisor

The BBS requires weekly logs grouped by work site and supervisor. Lumping everything together means redoing your records later. If you work at two sites or have two supervisors, each combination needs its own weekly log. A spreadsheet makes this tedious. Purpose-built software handles it automatically.

SparkHours checks these rules as you log, not after.

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Frequently Asked Questions

SparkHours includes a built-in AI assistant trained on the official BBS handbooks: ask it about supervision requirements, hour categories, or the Board's 90-Day Rule. Your employer must require the Live Scan before work, the Board must receive your application within 90 days, only work after the later of your degree award or Live Scan date may count, and you must retain and submit a separate employer-required form for each employer.

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