Do MHC-LP hours count toward the diagnostic privilege in New York?

What NYSED said

When the privilege rule was adopted, NYSED was asked whether a graduate can gain experience for the license and the privilege at the same time. Its answer: “If the applicant for licensure completes supervised hours under a qualified supervisor that meets the requirements for the privilege, either prior to the effective date or after, those hours may be submitted toward the privilege after licensure.”

Asked about hours earned under a limited permit, it said such experience “could be submitted post-licensure for the privilege” if it was “under a qualified supervisor in an authorized setting.”

So the same week can count toward your LMHC and, later, toward the privilege. Whether it does depends on who supervised it and where.

Which supervisors count toward the privilege

The supervisor must be authorized to diagnose and licensed and registered in New York as one of these (8 NYCRR 79-9.6):

• A licensed clinical social worker (LCSW), or the equivalent as NYSED determines
• A psychologist educated and trained in psychotherapy through a registered or APA-accredited psychology program
• A physician who, at the time of the supervision, was a diplomate in psychiatry of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, or had equivalent training as NYSED determines
• On or after June 24, 2024, a licensed mental health counselor who holds the diagnostic privilege

If your supervisor is an LMHC without the privilege

An LMHC can supervise your hours for the license. For the privilege, an LMHC counts only if they held the privilege, and only on or after June 24, 2024. Weeks supervised by an LMHC without it can count toward your license but not toward the privilege.

What the privilege needs

• At least 2,000 hours of supervised, direct client contact that includes diagnosis, psychotherapy and the development of assessment-based treatment plans (8 NYCRR 79-9.6)
• A setting acceptable to NYSED; not a private practice you own or operate
• Clinical coursework in diagnosis and assessment-based treatment planning (12 semester hours, reported by your school on Form 2D)
• Form 4D, sent to NYSED by the person certifying your experience, never by you

Licensed before June 24, 2024?

You may instead submit a supervisor's attestation of at least three years of direct client contact that included diagnosis, psychotherapy and assessment-based treatment planning. You must apply and meet all requirements by June 24, 2027.

Chapter 140 of 2025 also extended, through June 24, 2027, the diagnostic limited permits and the authority for counselors without the privilege to diagnose in certain settings approved by NYSED.

Write these down now, for each job

Form 4D asks about the setting and the supervisor. Years later these are hard to find; today they take a minute:

• Your supervisor's profession, license number, and whether they held the diagnostic privilege (and since when)
• The dates they supervised you
• The setting's name, type and address, and its operating certificate if it has one
• A personal email or phone number for your supervisor that will still work after one of you leaves

Who decides

NYSED reviews each application and decides whether experience is acceptable. Its answers above describe the rule; they do not approve anyone's hours in advance.