3.3 Board Qualified Supervisor (LPC-S) Credentials, Contracts & Limits

A P-LPC can do everything right on the 3,000-hour arithmetic and still fail Rule 4.3 if the person signing the log is not a Board qualified supervisor. Rule 4.3.B opens with that gate: the supervisor must be a Mississippi Board qualified supervisor (LPC-S). Rule 4.4 then states how a Mississippi LPC becomes that LPC-S, what the LPC-S must do each year, who is too close to supervise, and when the credential cannot be used. Rule 4.5 lists the topics supervision itself must cover. On the Pass/Fail JP exam, these rules show up as “can this person supervise?” items. In practice, they decide whether a year of Direct Services will ever reach an LPC application.

This OpenExamPrep section teaches Rule 4.4 and Rule 4.5 as compiled in the 09/16/2025 Current.pdf. It does not speak for the Board and it does not claim any official relationship with NBCC or ACA. Where Rule 4.4 requires the LPC-S to follow the ACA Code of Ethics, that is a Board rule imposing an ethics code the Board has adopted for licensees — not a branding claim about this study resource.

Rule 4.4.A: who may receive the LPC-S credential

Requirements to receive the Board qualified supervisor (LPC-S) credential include the following:

1. Be a Licensed LPC in Mississippi. An LPC in another state, a P-LPC, or a related licensee (social work, psychology, marriage and family therapy) is not the Rule 4.4.A.1 credential. Out-of-state hours may be a Rule 4.3.D question for out-of-state applicants; who may supervise a Mississippi P-LPC’s countable bank is a Mississippi LPC-S question.
2. Have been practicing mental health counseling in that setting (the rule’s examples are school, agency, private practice) for at least five (5) years. Two of the five years’ experience must be post-licensing experience. Five years as a P-LPC does not satisfy the two post-licensing years. Five years of mixed work in which only one year was after LPC issuance does not satisfy it. The setting language also matters: the rule is practicing mental health counseling in the setting, not merely holding a license while doing non-counseling administration.
3. Have documentation/verification of supervision training through one of three options:
   • (a) Graduate-level academic training. At least one graduate-level academic course in counseling supervision that included at least 45 clock hours (equivalent to a three-credit hour semester course) of supervision training.
   • (b) Professional training. A Board-approved professional training program in supervision of a minimum of 45 clock hours with the trainers, meeting presentation standards established by the Board.
   • (c) Show completion of the Approved Clinical Supervisor credential from NBCC.
4. Have a current resume/vitae on file with the Board (electronic or print). The supervisor must keep it current.
5. Have no disciplinary sanctions against the license.
6. Provide a background check, if requested.
7. Submit a supervision contract to the Board, as outlined in the Board’s LPC-S application instructions, in electronic form, and keep that information current.
8. Must be approved by the Board. Completing a 45-hour course does not self-issue the LPC-S designation.

A 40-hour workshop, an unapproved vendor’s “supervision intensive,” or a graduate course that was not a counseling-supervision course of at least 45 clock hours does not satisfy option (a) or (b). Option (c) is the NBCC ACS credential, not a generic NBCC certification such as NCC alone.

Rule 4.4.B: responsibilities after the credential issues

Responsibilities of the LPC-S include:

1. Follow the most recent ACA Code of Ethics.
2. Submit an online evaluation of the P-LPC as part of the P-LPC’s annual renewal. Rule 4.3.B.6 repeats the same evaluation duty on the supervisee’s hour rule. If the evaluation is missing, the P-LPC’s renewal file is incomplete even if the hour log looks tidy.
3. Complete a minimum of two (2) hours of supervision continuing education per renewal period. Renewal occurs simultaneously with LPC renewal. The Board qualified supervisor is expected to keep increasing knowledge of supervision as it relates to the counseling environment. Those 2 hours are supervision CE, not a substitute for the LPC’s separate ethics hours taught in the renewal chapter.
4. At the beginning of a supervision relationship, supervisors and supervisees must submit to the Board a signed contract and agreement between each active supervisee and supervisor stating the requirements of each party as outlined in the Board’s LPC-S application instructions.
5. Supervision hours must be submitted via the Board’s online Supervision Reporting Log. Supervisees keep a backup copy of logs. Supervision content notes are kept by the supervisor.

If distance supervision will be used, Rule 4.3.B.2 overlays three extra contract clauses (use and limits, LPC-S distance qualifications, video-failure procedures) and requires Rule 7.5 qualification. Do not sign a generic in-person contract and then switch the entire relationship to video without those clauses.

Relatives, dual relationships, caseload, and dead licenses

Rule 4.4.C: A supervisor may not be a relative of the P-LPC. Relative of the P-LPC is defined as spouse, parent, child, sibling of the whole- or half-blood, grandparent, grandchild, aunt, uncle, one who is or has been related by marriage, or has any other dual relationship. The list is broader than “blood family.” A former in-law, an uncle, and a dual relationship the parties would rather describe as “just mentoring” are all inside the bar. Group format does not create an exception. Telling the Board after the fact does not create an exception.

Rule 4.4.D: No Qualified Supervisor may exceed a total of ten (10) active supervisees. The Rule 1.4 group-size cap of six persons is about one group session, not about how many P-LPCs an LPC-S may carry. An LPC-S with 10 active supervisees is at the cap even if they never run a group. An eleventh active supervisee is a Rule 4.4.D problem whether the eleventh person is part-time, remote, or “almost finished.”

Rule 4.4.E: No person shall serve as a supervisor if the license is expired or lapsed or subject to probation, suspension, or revocation. A lapsed LPC cannot keep a P-LPC’s bank moving by continuing unofficial meetings. A supervisor on probation is not an available LPC-S under this rule, even if the person still holds a wallet card. Hours signed during a period when the supervisor could not serve are the kind of defect a Board file — and a JP stem — will treat as fatal.

Rule 4.5: what supervision has to be about

Rule 4.5 states that supervision criteria shall include, but are not limited to:

• Professional relationships
• Supervision roles
• Professional ethics
• Self-evaluation
• Continued professional learning
• Etiology and diagnosis
• Therapist-client relationships
• Oral communication
• Written communication

Those nine topics are the Board’s content floor. A supervision hour that is only administrative (signing the log, checking time cards) is a weak fact pattern for “supervision” when the rule names diagnosis, ethics, roles, and therapist-client relationships. The LPC-S still keeps content notes; those notes are how a file later shows that Rule 4.5 topics were actually in the room.

JP scenario: the aunt, the eleventh P-LPC, and the expired wallet card

Sam is a Mississippi LPC whose license expired last month. Sam completed a 45-hour Board-approved supervision course years ago, still has an old vitae on file, and currently signs logs for 10 P-LPCs. Sam’s niece, a new P-LPC, wants Sam as her eleventh supervisee. They plan to use weekly email because the clinic’s video system is “unreliable,” and they will skip a written contract until “things settle.” Under Current.pdf Rule 4.4, several independent bars apply. Sam may not serve as a supervisor while the license is expired. Even if the license were current, Sam is already at the 10 active supervisee cap, so the niece cannot be added. Even if there were a vacant slot, an aunt is a listed relative, and related-by-marriage / dual-relationship language would not save a family supervision pair. There is no signed contract at the beginning of the relationship. Email is not routine distance supervision under Rule 4.3.B.2. The niece’s hours under this arrangement are not a Mississippi LPC-S bank, no matter how many Direct Services she delivers.

Confirm the live Current.pdf and the Board’s LPC-S application instructions before you rely on process details (how the electronic contract is uploaded, how the annual evaluation is clicked). The credential rules in this section are the 09/16/2025 Rule 4.4 and Rule 4.5 figures.