If you're working toward your LMFT, LPCC, or LCSW license, you've likely encountered the terms "direct" and "indirect" client contact hours. While direct hours—the face-to-face time you spend with clients—are relatively straightforward, indirect hours often leave associates confused and uncertain about what qualifies.
Understanding indirect client contact hours is crucial for several reasons. First, these hours make up a significant portion of your total supervised experience requirement, typically 33-50% depending on your state. Second, improperly documented indirect hours are one of the most common reasons licensing boards reject or reduce applicants' total hours. Finally, maximizing compliant indirect hours can help you reach your licensure requirements more efficiently while building essential clinical skills.
This comprehensive guide clarifies what counts as indirect client contact hours, how requirements vary by state, and how to properly document these hours to ensure they're accepted by your licensing board.
Understanding Direct vs. Indirect Client Contact Hours
Before diving into what qualifies as indirect hours, let's establish clear definitions.
Direct client contact hours refer to face-to-face clinical time with clients—whether individuals, couples, families, or groups. This includes therapy sessions, assessments, intake interviews, and any other in-person or telehealth encounters where you're providing direct clinical services. According to New York State Office of Professions, direct contact means "face-to-face with clients" during clinical service delivery.
Indirect client contact hours encompass all the clinical work that doesn't involve direct face-to-face client interaction but is essential to providing quality care. These hours include activities like treatment planning, clinical documentation, case consultation, supervision, and other professional activities directly related to your clinical work.
The key distinction is this: if the client is present during the activity, it's direct. If the client isn't present but you're doing work related to client care or your clinical development, it's typically indirect.
Why Indirect Hours Matter for Your License
Many associates underestimate the importance of indirect hours, viewing them as less valuable than direct client contact. However, licensing boards recognize that indirect activities are essential to competent clinical practice.
Indirect hours help you develop crucial skills including:
- Clinical documentation and record-keeping: Learning to write clear, accurate, legally compliant progress notes and treatment plans
- Case conceptualization: Time spent thinking through complex cases and developing intervention strategies
- Professional consultation: Discussing cases with colleagues and learning from their perspectives
- Supervision: Receiving feedback and guidance that enhances your clinical skills
- Professional development: Staying current with evidence-based practices and ethical standards
These activities strengthen your ability to provide effective, ethical care. That's why every state requires a combination of both direct and indirect hours—you need both types of experience to become a competent independent practitioner.
State-by-State Breakdown: How Much Indirect Experience You Can Count
One of the most confusing aspects of indirect hours is that requirements vary significantly by state. Here's a detailed breakdown of how major states handle indirect client contact hours:
California
The California Board of Behavioral Sciences has specific limits for each license type:
- LMFT: Maximum 1,000 non-clinical practice hours out of 3,000 total hours (33%)
- LPCC: Maximum 1,250 non-counseling experience hours out of 3,000 total hours (42%)
- LCSW: Maximum 1,000 non-clinical hours out of 3,000 total hours (33%)
California requires a minimum of 1,750 direct clinical hours for both LMFTs and LPCCs. Both individual and group supervision hours count toward your non-clinical/non-counseling category, with a maximum of six hours of supervision per week that can be counted.
Texas
The Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council requires 3,000 total experience hours for LPC Associates, with at least 1,500 hours of direct client contact. This means up to 1,500 hours (50%) can be indirect hours.
Texas defines indirect hours broadly to include case management, treatment planning, professional development sessions, supervision hours, and all administrative duties related to clinical work. Associates must receive a minimum of four hours of supervision monthly, which counts toward indirect hours.
New York
According to the New York Office of Professions, at least 1,500 of the required 3,000 supervised hours must be direct client contact, meaning up to 1,500 hours (50%) may be indirect.
Indirect activities explicitly include supervision, record-keeping, professional development, research, and case management. An important note: when completing experience in a setting, at least half of those hours must be direct—you cannot combine mostly direct hours from one setting with mostly indirect hours from another setting to meet requirements.
Arizona
Arizona requires 3,200 total experience hours for LPC licensure, with specific limits on indirect hours. The Arizona Board of Behavioral Health Examiners allows no more than 1,600 hours of indirect client contact related to psychotherapy services (50%).
At least 1,600 hours must be spent in direct service provision. Hours spent in supervision, documentation, and training specifically focused on psychotherapy may be credited toward the indirect requirement.
Illinois
Illinois requires different breakdowns depending on the license:
- LCPC: 3,360 hours total with 1,920 hours of face-to-face client service required, allowing approximately 1,440 hours (43%) to be indirect
- LMFT: 3,000 hours total with 1,000 hours of direct client contact required, allowing up to 2,000 hours (67%) to be indirect
Florida
Florida focuses heavily on direct contact hours. For both LMHC and LMFT licenses, the state requires 1,500 hours of face-to-face psychotherapy with clients out of the total supervised experience, completed over at least 100 weeks.
North Carolina
North Carolina requires 3,000 total hours with at least 2,000 hours of direct counseling (67%), allowing up to 1,000 hours (33%) for indirect counseling experience including counseling-related work such as phone calls and paperwork.
Maryland
Maryland requires 3,000 hours of supervised clinical experience for LCPC licensure, with 2,000 hours completed after the master's degree under an approved supervisor. The state specifically requires 100 of the indirect clinical hours to be face-to-face clinical supervision hours with a Board-approved licensed supervisor.
What Activities Count as Indirect Client Contact Hours?
Now for the most important question: what specific activities qualify as indirect hours? While there's some variation by state, most licensing boards recognize the following categories:
Clinical Documentation and Record-Keeping
Time spent writing and reviewing client documentation counts as indirect hours, including:
- Progress notes and clinical case notes
- Treatment plans and treatment plan updates
- Assessment reports and diagnostic summaries
- Discharge summaries
- Insurance documentation and billing notes
- Responding to subpoenas or records requests
Important note: This includes only the time spent writing about actual clients you're seeing, not generic paperwork unrelated to clinical care.
Treatment Planning and Case Conceptualization
Time you spend thinking through and planning your clinical work qualifies:
- Developing initial treatment plans
- Reviewing and updating treatment plans
- Case conceptualization and formulation
- Planning interventions and therapeutic strategies
- Researching evidence-based approaches for specific client presentations
- Reviewing assessment results and integrating them into treatment
Clinical Supervision
All supervision time counts as indirect hours, including:
- Individual supervision sessions with your supervisor
- Group supervision (typically with 3+ supervisees)
- Triadic supervision (with 2 supervisees)
- Live observation or review of recorded sessions
- Written feedback review and discussion
According to NASW Best Practice Standards, supervision is a critical component of professional development and counts toward your indirect clinical experience.
Case Consultation and Collaboration
Professional consultation activities qualify as indirect hours:
- Case consultations with colleagues or other professionals
- Multidisciplinary team meetings focused on client care
- Consultation with psychiatrists, physicians, or other providers about shared clients
- Case staffing meetings
- Treatment team meetings
Key distinction: Networking or general professional discussions don't count. The consultation must be directly related to specific clients or clinical cases.
Client-Related Communication
Certain communication activities count when they're directly related to clinical care:
- Phone calls with clients about scheduling, check-ins, or crisis support
- Emails or messages with clients (when clinically appropriate)
- Communication with collateral contacts (family members, teachers, other providers) with client consent
- Coordination of care with other providers
- Referral activities
Clinical Administrative Tasks
Administrative work that's directly tied to clinical service delivery typically counts:
- Intake coordination and screening calls
- Insurance verification and pre-authorization
- Care coordination activities
- Case management tasks
- Scheduling and appointment management for clients
Professional Development
Many states allow certain professional development activities to count, including:
- In-service trainings at your clinical site
- Continuing education related to your clinical work
- Professional development workshops and conferences
- Reading clinical literature relevant to your clients
- Research activities related to clinical practice
Limitation: States often cap professional development hours or require them to be "closely related" to your direct clinical work. Check your specific state requirements.
Assessment-Related Activities
Time spent on assessment activities beyond the direct administration:
- Scoring and interpreting psychological tests or assessments
- Writing assessment reports
- Reviewing assessment materials before administration
- Researching appropriate assessment tools
What Does NOT Count as Indirect Hours
Understanding what doesn't qualify is just as important as knowing what does. The following activities typically don't count toward your licensure hours:
General Administrative Work
- Reception desk duties unrelated to clinical care
- General office management tasks
- Filing or organizing that isn't client-specific
- Billing work not directly tied to clinical documentation
- Marketing or business development activities
Non-Clinical Professional Activities
- Networking events not focused on case consultation
- General professional association meetings
- Social gatherings with colleagues
- Administrative staff meetings unrelated to clinical work
Personal Professional Development Unrelated to Current Clinical Work
- Graduate coursework (this typically counts toward your degree, not post-degree supervised experience)
- General reading not connected to your current clients
- Professional development outside your scope of practice
- Public speaking or media appearances
Activities Without Proper Supervision
Any hours accrued outside of your approved supervision arrangement don't count, even if the activities themselves would qualify. You must be under active supervision (meeting minimum supervision requirements) during the period when you accrue both direct and indirect hours.
Common Mistakes That Get Indirect Hours Rejected
Based on guidance from licensing boards and supervision tracking organizations, here are the most common mistakes associates make with indirect hours:
1. Inadequate Supervision Ratios
One of the most costly mistakes is failing to maintain proper supervision ratios. For example, if you're required to receive one hour of supervision for every 20 hours of clinical work (a 20:1 ratio), but you only document one hour of supervision for 30 hours of work, licensing boards may only credit you with 20 hours for that period.
Over the course of 3,000 hours, improper supervision ratios could result in hundreds of hours being rejected. Always track your supervision-to-clinical-hours ratio weekly to ensure compliance.
2. Counting Hours Without Active Supervision
Hours cannot be counted if you weren't participating in regular supervision during that period, even if the activities themselves would qualify. If there's a gap in your supervision arrangement, you typically cannot count hours from that period.
3. Claiming Hours That Exceed State Maximums
Each state sets maximum limits for indirect hours. Associates sometimes fail to track their indirect hour accumulation and exceed these limits. Once you hit your state's maximum, additional indirect hours won't count toward licensure—they're simply lost.
Track your hours weekly using a reliable system that shows your running totals by category.
4. Poor Documentation
Vague or incomplete documentation is a major reason licensing boards reject hours. Simply logging "clinical work" or "indirect hours" without specifics isn't sufficient. Your documentation should specify:
- Date and duration of the activity
- Type of activity (treatment planning, case consultation, etc.)
- Brief description of the work performed
- Supervisor signature or verification
5. Misclassifying Activities
Some associates try to count activities that don't qualify, such as:
- Personal therapy or self-care activities
- General professional development unrelated to clinical work
- Administrative work not tied to client care
- Time spent in job interviews or career development
Supervisors and licensing boards can reject hours if activities are misclassified. When in doubt, ask your supervisor whether a specific activity qualifies.
6. Combining Hours Improperly Across Settings
As noted in New York's requirements, you cannot complete mostly direct hours in one setting under one supervisor and mostly indirect hours in another setting under a different supervisor, then combine them to meet requirements. Each setting must have an appropriate balance of direct and indirect hours.
7. Failing to Get Timely Supervisor Sign-Off
Don't wait months to have your supervisor review and sign off on your hours. Regular weekly or bi-weekly supervisor verification is best practice. If your supervisor leaves, retires, or your working relationship ends, it can be difficult or impossible to obtain signatures for past hours.
8. Not Keeping Backup Documentation
Always maintain your own records separate from any tracking system or employer records. Licensing boards may request detailed documentation, and you need to be able to provide:
- Supervisor verification forms
- Detailed hour logs by activity type
- Supervision notes and documentation
- Any correspondence about your hours
Keep these records for at least seven years, as some states require long-term retention.
Best Practices for Documenting Indirect Hours
Proper documentation is essential to ensure your indirect hours are accepted. Follow these best practices:
1. Use a Comprehensive Tracking System
Don't rely on memory or rough estimates. Use a reliable hour tracking system—whether a specialized app, spreadsheet, or professional service—that allows you to:
- Log hours daily or weekly
- Categorize activities by type
- Track supervision separately
- Calculate running totals by category
- Generate reports for your supervisor and licensing board
2. Be Specific and Accurate
For each indirect activity, document:
- Exact date and time: Start and end times, or total duration
- Activity category: Treatment planning, case consultation, supervision, etc.
- Brief description: "Wrote progress notes for 3 clients seen today" rather than just "paperwork"
- Client initials or case numbers (if required by your tracking system)
3. Log Hours Contemporaneously
Record your hours as close to real-time as possible. Daily logging is ideal; weekly is acceptable. Never wait until the end of the month or quarter to estimate your hours—licensing boards can spot reconstructed logs and may question their accuracy.
4. Review State-Specific Requirements Regularly
State requirements can change. At least quarterly, review your state licensing board's website and current regulations to ensure you're tracking everything correctly. Sign up for email updates from your licensing board to receive notifications of regulatory changes.
5. Meet With Your Supervisor Regularly
Don't just meet the minimum supervision requirements—exceed them when possible. Regular supervision provides:
- Ongoing verification of your hours
- Guidance on what activities count
- Corrections if you're misclassifying activities
- Support for your clinical development
Schedule consistent supervision times and treat them as non-negotiable appointments.
6. Understand Your Supervisor's Approach
Supervisors have some discretion in determining what counts as indirect hours within state guidelines. Some supervisors are more conservative, while others are more inclusive. Early in your supervision relationship, discuss:
- What your supervisor counts as indirect hours
- How to document different types of activities
- Their preferred documentation system
- How often they'll review and sign off on hours
Getting clarity upfront prevents problems later.
7. Request Written Clarification When Needed
If you're unsure whether a specific activity counts, ask your supervisor in writing (email is fine) and keep their response. If you later face questions from the licensing board, you can demonstrate that you sought guidance and followed your supervisor's direction.
8. Track Supervision Ratios Proactively
Set up your tracking system to flag when you're approaching supervision ratio limits. For example, if you need one supervision hour for every 20 clinical hours, your system should alert you when you have 15-18 hours logged without corresponding supervision scheduled.
How Indirect Hours Vary by Setting and Role
The types of indirect hours you accrue may vary depending on your work setting:
Private Practice Settings
In private practice, you'll likely accumulate indirect hours through:
- Treatment planning and note writing (often significant time post-session)
- Insurance-related documentation
- Individual supervision with your supervisor
- Case consultation (if your practice has multiple associates)
Private practice associates often need to be more intentional about tracking indirect hours since there may be fewer structured activities compared to agency settings.
Community Mental Health Agencies
Agency settings typically offer more diverse indirect hour opportunities:
- Team meetings and case staffing
- Group supervision with multiple associates
- Multidisciplinary treatment planning meetings
- Case management and care coordination
- Agency trainings and professional development
Track these opportunities carefully—they add up quickly and can help you reach your indirect hour requirements faster.
Hospital and Medical Settings
Medical settings provide unique indirect hour opportunities:
- Treatment team rounds and meetings
- Consultation with medical staff
- Interdisciplinary care planning
- Crisis intervention coordination
- Complex documentation requirements
The collaborative nature of medical settings often generates substantial indirect hours through consultation and coordination activities.
School-Based Settings
School counselors and therapists working toward licensure can count:
- IEP meetings and educational planning (when providing mental health services)
- Consultation with teachers and parents about students
- Crisis team meetings
- Coordination with school administrators about student mental health needs
Ensure these activities are clearly related to mental health services, not general educational counseling, to meet licensing requirements.
Strategies to Maximize Compliant Indirect Hours
While you shouldn't artificially inflate your indirect hours, you can be strategic about maximizing compliant indirect hours that genuinely enhance your clinical skills:
1. Document Thoroughly but Efficiently
Effective clinical documentation takes time—and that time counts. Develop strong documentation habits that produce quality notes while maximizing billable and countable hours:
- Use templates that prompt comprehensive but efficient note-writing
- Document immediately after sessions when possible
- Include treatment planning elements in your progress notes
- Track time spent on documentation accurately
2. Seek Out Case Consultation Opportunities
Beyond required supervision, seek additional consultation opportunities:
- Informal case discussions with colleagues (when appropriate and ethical)
- Peer consultation groups
- Consultations with specialists about complex cases
- Interdisciplinary team involvement
These activities build your clinical skills while accumulating indirect hours.
3. Take Advantage of Professional Development at Your Site
If your clinical site offers in-service trainings, attend them whenever possible. Site-specific professional development directly related to your clinical work typically counts as indirect hours.
4. Engage Actively in Supervision
Come to supervision prepared with cases to discuss, questions to explore, and goals to work on. The more engaged you are in supervision, the more valuable it becomes—and you're earning indirect hours the entire time.
5. Build Strong Treatment Planning Skills
Comprehensive treatment planning takes time, and that time counts. Rather than viewing treatment planning as a burdensome requirement, embrace it as an opportunity to think deeply about your clinical work while accruing indirect hours.
6. Track Everything
When in doubt, track it. You can always reclassify an activity later if needed, but you can't go back and capture hours you didn't document. Track conservatively but thoroughly.
Frequently Asked Questions About Indirect Client Contact Hours
Does my graduate school practicum/internship count toward my post-degree supervised hours?
Generally, no. Most states require your 3,000 hours of supervised experience to be completed after you receive your master's degree and register as an associate or intern with the licensing board. Check your specific state's regulations, as a few states may allow some practicum hours to count if they meet specific criteria.
Can I count time spent driving to and from client home visits as indirect hours?
This varies by state and supervisor discretion. Some supervisors allow travel time for home visits as indirect hours since it's part of clinical service delivery. Others don't count travel time at all. Discuss this with your supervisor and document their guidance.
Do research hours count as indirect client contact hours?
Research hours may count if they're directly related to clinical practice and your current client population. For example, researching evidence-based treatments for anxiety while you're treating clients with anxiety disorders could count. General academic research typically doesn't qualify unless your position specifically involves clinical research activities.
If I'm salaried and work 40 hours per week, can I automatically count all 40 hours?
No. You must track actual clinical hours—both direct and indirect—not just your work schedule. Time spent on non-clinical administrative tasks, lunch breaks, or other non-clinical activities doesn't count toward licensure hours, even if you're being paid for that time.
Can hours from multiple jobs be combined?
Yes, you can typically combine hours from multiple jobs or clinical settings, as long as you're receiving appropriate supervision for each setting. However, you must maintain proper supervision ratios across all your work settings combined, and each setting must have an appropriate balance of direct and indirect hours (in states that require this).
What if my supervisor disagrees with the licensing board about what counts?
If there's a disagreement, the licensing board's interpretation prevails. This is why it's important to review state regulations directly, not just rely on your supervisor's understanding. If your supervisor's approach is more lenient than state requirements, you could lose hours. Request written guidance from your licensing board if there's any uncertainty.
How often should I have my supervisor sign off on my hours?
Best practice is weekly or bi-weekly sign-off, though some supervisors do monthly reviews. The more frequently your supervisor reviews and signs your hours, the better—it ensures any issues are caught and corrected immediately rather than discovered months later when correction may be impossible.
Do supervision hours count toward my indirect hour maximum?
Yes, in most states supervision hours are included in your indirect hour category and count toward any maximum limits. This is why it's important to track supervision separately—once you hit your indirect hour maximum, additional supervision time won't help you accumulate more hours toward licensure (though you still need to meet minimum supervision requirements).
Can I count indirect hours from before I started formal supervision?
No. You can only count hours (direct or indirect) from periods when you were registered with your licensing board (if required) and under an approved supervision arrangement that meets state requirements. Hours completed before your supervision arrangement began don't count.
What happens if I exceed my state's maximum indirect hours?
Once you reach your state's maximum indirect hours, additional indirect hours simply don't count toward your licensure total. They're not transferable or convertible to direct hours. This is why tracking your running totals by category is so important—you need to shift to accumulating more direct hours once you approach your indirect maximum.
How License Trail Simplifies Indirect Hour Tracking
Tracking thousands of hours across multiple categories, maintaining proper supervision ratios, and ensuring compliance with state-specific requirements is complex and time-consuming. A single documentation error or miscalculation can result in rejected hours and delayed licensure.
License Trail is designed specifically for mental health professionals working toward licensure. Our platform helps you:
Track Hours Accurately: Log both direct and indirect hours with category-specific fields that align with your state's requirements. Our system automatically categorizes activities and maintains running totals so you always know where you stand.
Maintain Supervision Compliance: License Trail monitors your supervision ratios in real-time and alerts you when you're approaching limits or need to schedule supervision. Never lose hours due to inadequate supervision again.
Stay Within State Limits: Our platform knows each state's requirements and automatically tracks your progress against maximum indirect hour limits. You'll receive notifications when you're approaching your cap so you can adjust your focus to direct hours.
Generate Professional Reports: Create detailed hour logs formatted for licensing board submission, complete with supervisor verification sections and category breakdowns that meet state requirements.
Collaborate With Your Supervisor: Grant your supervisor secure access to review and verify your hours regularly. Electronic signatures and timestamps create an audit trail that licensing boards trust.
Access State-Specific Guidance: Get built-in guidance on what counts as indirect hours in your specific state, with updates when regulations change.
Prevent Common Mistakes: Automated checks help you avoid the documentation errors that commonly lead to rejected hours, such as excessive indirect hours, inadequate supervision, or missing information.
Your Next Steps: Taking Control of Your Indirect Hours
Understanding indirect client contact hours is essential to successfully completing your supervised experience and obtaining your clinical license. Here's how to move forward:
Review your state's specific requirements for indirect hours, including maximum limits and qualifying activities. Visit your licensing board's website and download current regulations.
Meet with your supervisor to discuss their approach to indirect hours and establish clear expectations for documentation and sign-off procedures.
Implement a reliable tracking system that allows you to log hours by category, maintain supervision ratios, and generate required reports. Consider using License Trail to simplify this process and ensure compliance.
Audit your current hour logs if you're already accumulating hours. Verify that your activities are properly categorized and that you're maintaining required supervision ratios.
Set up a regular review schedule to check your progress toward indirect and direct hour requirements. Quarterly reviews help you catch and correct issues early.
Stay informed about regulatory changes by subscribing to updates from your licensing board and professional associations.
Remember, indirect hours aren't just boxes to check—they represent essential professional activities that make you a more skilled, thoughtful clinician. Embrace these activities as valuable learning opportunities while ensuring they're properly documented for licensure.
The path to independent practice requires attention to detail, especially when it comes to hour tracking. With clear understanding of what counts, proper documentation systems, and regular oversight, you can confidently accumulate the indirect hours you need and focus on what matters most: developing into an excellent therapist.
About License Trail: License Trail is a comprehensive supervision and hour tracking platform built specifically for mental health professionals working toward LMFT, LPCC, and LCSW licensure. Our tools help associates and supervisors streamline hour tracking, maintain compliance, and navigate the path to independent licensure with confidence.
Ready to simplify your hour tracking? Start your free trial of License Trail today.