Changing supervisors during your supervised experience is more common than most associates expect. Supervisors move to new agencies, reduce their hours, retire, or lose availability. Associates change sites, adjust their clinical focus, or need a better supervisory fit.

The BBS anticipates this. There is nothing wrong with having multiple supervisors over the course of your experience. The issue is how the transition is documented.

Why transitions create risk

The BBS requires clear supervisor attribution on every hour you log. When you change supervisors, you need to establish where one supervisory relationship ends and another begins. Any ambiguity in that boundary creates a documentation gap.

Caution

The most common transition problem: an associate's supervision ends informally (the supervisor leaves the agency, availability drops off) and the associate continues logging hours without a signed close-out for the previous period. By the time the new supervisor is in place, there's an undocumented gap.

Before the transition

Close out the current supervision period

Get a signed experience verification from your current supervisor covering all hours through the end of your work together. Don't wait. If your supervisor is leaving the agency, this becomes significantly harder after they're gone.

Reconcile your hours

Before closing the period, review your log together. Confirm that category assignments, site attributions, and totals align. This is your last opportunity to resolve any discrepancies with someone who has direct knowledge of the work.

Document the transition date

The exact date your supervisory relationship ends should be recorded. This becomes the boundary between your old supervisor's attestation scope and your new supervisor's.

Starting with a new supervisor

Verify qualifications

Your new supervisor must meet BBS requirements for your license type. Confirm their license status, supervision training, and any other BBS prerequisites before logging hours under their oversight.

Establish a supervision agreement

The BBS requires a written supervision agreement. Put one in place before the first supervision session, not retroactively.

Set the start date clearly

Your new supervisor's attestation period begins on a specific date. Hours logged before that date belong to your previous supervisor's scope.

Handling gaps between supervisors

Sometimes there's a period between supervisors where you're working at a site but don't have an active supervision relationship. This happens when a supervisor departs unexpectedly or when onboarding a new supervisor takes longer than expected.

Hours without supervision don't count

Clinical work performed without an active, qualified supervisor generally cannot be counted toward your BBS hour requirements. If you anticipate a gap, talk to your site director about interim supervision arrangements.

Concurrent supervisors

If you work at multiple sites, you may have different supervisors at each one. This is a form of concurrent supervision, and the BBS has specific expectations:

Per-site attribution

Every hour must be attributed to the correct supervisor and site combination. Cross-attribution (logging Site A hours under your Site B supervisor) is a compliance issue.

Separate verification forms

Each supervisor signs off only on the hours they directly supervised. Concurrent supervisors don't share attestation responsibility.

Key takeaway

Supervisor changes are routine. Documentation gaps are not. Close out each supervisory relationship with a signed verification, start the new one with a written agreement, and keep clean boundaries between the two. Your future self (and the BBS) will thank you.