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Practicum & Fieldwork

Your practicum has different rules. We built for that.

SparkHours tracks your practicum hours separately, using the rules California's Board of Behavioral Sciences (BBS) sets for each license type. You get the right supervision requirements, minimums and caps without setting any of them up.

14-day free trial · $10/mo · No credit card required

Already registered as an associate? See the requirements for AMFTs , APCCs and ASWs .

Phase Detection

SparkHours detects your phase and applies the right rules.

Tell us your graduation date and when you registered as an associate. SparkHours works out the rest, so you never have to guess which rules apply.

  • Automatic detection based on graduation date and associate registration
  • Correct supervision requirements applied per phase
  • Seamless transition when you graduate

Practicum phase

5:1 supervision ratio · 1,300-hr pre-degree cap

MFT Trainee

Associate phase

Stepped supervision · Full hour tracking

AMFT

BBS Practicum Requirements

SparkHours tracks the BBS minimums for your license type.

If you're on the Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) track, your degree program has to include a practicum of at least 150 hours of face-to-face counseling and 75 hours of client-centered advocacy, additional face-to-face counseling, or a combination, which comes to 225 hours in total. Your pre-degree hours count toward the 3,000-hour total, up to a 1,300-hour cap. The 5:1 supervision ratio has a weekly supervision floor whenever credited experience is gained.

If you're pursuing Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC) licensure, you need 280 hours of face-to-face counseling during practicum. Those hours don't count toward your 3,000 post-degree total. SparkHours tracks them separately so you have a complete record.

  • LMFT: 225 hours (150 face-to-face + 75 advocacy and/or additional face-to-face counseling), 5:1 ratio with weekly floor
  • LPCC: 280 hours face-to-face, tracked separately from post-degree hours
  • Pre-degree hour caps enforced for LMFT (1,300 total, 750 counseling and supervision)

MSW Fieldwork

LCSW fieldwork has no BBS practicum. We track it anyway.

For Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) licensure, there's no BBS-regulated practicum phase. Your MSW fieldwork follows Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) accreditation standards, not BBS rules. Countable supervised experience is post-degree, subject to the 90-day rule.

SparkHours still lets you track fieldwork hours so you have a complete clinical record. We keep it separate from the hours that count toward your BBS application.

  • Complete clinical training record from your first fieldwork hour
  • Same interface you'll use as a registered ASW
  • Fieldwork hours documented and organized from the start

Fieldwork Tracking

MSW Student
412fieldwork hours
Direct client contact285 hrs
Supervision64 hrs
Other experience63 hrs

CSWE-governed fieldwork · Pre-ASW registration

School Partnerships

We partner with schools to match your program's exact requirements.

Many graduate programs set practicum requirements beyond the BBS minimums. SparkHours uses those minimums as a baseline, and school partnerships let us tailor practicum phases to your program's standards.

Your students get practicum tracking that matches your program from day one.

Partner with SparkHours and your students see your program's targets, not the BBS minimums. We handle the integration. Your students get discounted or free access, and you get better compliance visibility.

Start tracking from your first practicum hour.

Your practicum hours matter. Track them with the right rules from the start so nothing falls through the cracks.

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