When can I apply for my NY LMHC?

When you have 3,000 hours of supervised experience under your limited permit, at least 1,500 of them direct with clients; there is no minimum number of months, but your permit lasts up to 24 months, with up to 2 extensions of 12 months.

• At least 3,000 clock hours of supervised experience after your degree, at least 1,500 of them direct contact with clients. Supervision counts toward the 3,000, not the 1,500 (8 NYCRR 79-9.3). In a setting where you do fewer than 3,000 hours, at least half of the hours there must be direct (NYSED's requirements page): when your usual week is under half direct, the app counts your other hours only up to your direct hours. The calculator counts the direct hours you enter, including any by video. NYSED’s rules don’t say whether client sessions by video count as direct contact, and its limited permit FAQ describes direct contact as time “face-to-face with clients”. The State Board’s draft minutes of October 22, 2021 say client contact hours “completed through distance technology may be submitted on Form 4B”. If some of yours are by video, confirm with NYSED before relying on them.
• NYSED sets no weekly maximum, but its requirements page says “hour calculations are based on a typical 40-45 hour work week” and that experience gained “in an unreasonable amount of time is not acceptable”. Like the app, the calculator counts no faster than 45 hours a week from your first week, so the 3,000 hours take at least 467 days, about 67 weeks.
• Supervision: an average of one hour a week, or two hours every other week, individual or group, in person or by secure video (8 NYCRR 79-9.3). The calculator mentions it when your usual week has less; it never changes the date.
• The limited permit is valid for not more than 24 months, and NYSED may extend it for no more than 2 more 12-month periods, 48 months in all (8 NYCRR 79-9.4); extensions are at NYSED's discretion, and NYSED asks for one at least 60 days before the permit expires. You may not practice until the permit is issued (NYSED's limited permit FAQ), so the calculator counts hours from its issue date. Without the expiry printed on your permit, the calculator estimates one: the day before the 24-month anniversary of the issue date; the printed date is the one that counts. When you leave a job, your employer must return the permit; NYSED voids it and the “clock will stop” (NYSED's requirements page), and the time left is available for a future permit.
• The diagnostic privilege needs at least 2,000 hours of supervised direct client contact that includes diagnosis, psychotherapy and assessment-based treatment plans (8 NYCRR 79-9.6). NYSED has said hours under a supervisor who meets the privilege's requirements (an LCSW, a psychologist trained in psychotherapy, a qualifying psychiatrist, or from June 24, 2024 an LMHC who holds the privilege) may be submitted toward it after licensure.
• It assumes the same hours every week from now on, at one job, under one supervisor named on your permit. Weeks off move your date later. With two jobs, the half-direct rule applies in each one. It doesn't check your supervisor or your setting, and NYSED decides every application.

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Sources

• 8 NYCRR Subpart 79-9, mental health counseling (opens in a new tab)
• NYSED: LMHC license requirements (opens in a new tab)
• NYSED: mental health counselor limited permit FAQ (opens in a new tab)
• NYSED Office of Counsel: assessment of public comment on the privilege rule (comment 29) (opens in a new tab)
• NYSED: diagnostic privilege extension (Chapter 140 of 2025) (opens in a new tab)