Since January 1, 2025, California supervisors have operated under a firm limit: no more than six supervisees in individual or triadic supervision at one time. The change came from SB 1024, a bill sponsored by the Board of Behavioral Sciences itself, and it applies across every BBS pathway, whether you are earning LCSW, LMFT, or LPCC hours.

Most of the confusion around this law comes from two numbers, six and eight, being reported as if they were the same kind of cap. They are not. Here is what actually changed, what it means for you as an associate, and what it does not mean.

What SB 1024 changed

The law clarified two separate rules, both effective January 1, 2025, and both explained in the BBS's SB 1024 FAQ.

Six: the concurrent roster cap

In nonexempt settings (private practices, professional corporations, and similar), a supervisor may serve at most six people at one time in individual or triadic supervision. Triadic means one supervisor meeting with two supervisees. The count covers anyone receiving supervision for clinical mental health services who is not fully licensed for independent practice, and it applies across all of a supervisor's nonexempt employers combined.

Eight: the group session size

Group supervision is defined as two hours of face-to-face contact between one supervisor and no more than eight people receiving supervision. This is a limit on the size of a single group session, not a cap on how many supervisees a supervisor carries overall.

The 8 is not a roster cap

Some coverage presents the eight-person figure as if a supervisor may carry eight concurrent supervisees. That is a misread. The eight applies per group session. The concurrent roster cap for individual and triadic supervision is six.

What it means for you in practice

The Board's stated purpose for the cap is supervision quality: a supervisor stretched across too many associates cannot give any of them the attention the training model assumes. For associates, that intent lands in two practical ways.

First, a supervisor whose roster is full cannot take you on. If you are searching for a supervisor, expect some to decline for exactly this reason. It reflects the law, not your application.

Second, group practices whose supervisors were carrying more than six have had to redistribute supervisees among their supervisors. If your site reshuffled who supervises whom in early 2025, this law is likely why. A reassignment comes with its own paperwork, so if it happens to you, our guide to navigating supervisor changes walks through the steps.

One boundary worth knowing: the six-supervisee cap applies only in nonexempt settings. If you work at a governmental entity, a school, a college, a university, or a charitable nonprofit institution, your setting is exempt and the roster cap does not apply there.

What it does not mean

This is the part most coverage gets wrong, and it matters more than the number itself.

Your earned hours are safe

The cap is the supervisor's duty to manage, and the Board enforces it against the supervisor. It does not void hours a supervisee already earned. If your supervisor turns out to be over the cap, your logged hours still count; the compliance question belongs to them, not to you.

Associates hear "cap" and fear retroactive loss. Nothing in SB 1024 reaches backward into your log. The statute regulates supervisor conduct going forward, which is why the questions below are worth asking before you commit, not a reason to audit your past.

What to ask a prospective supervisor

Ask for their current roster count

How many people are you currently supervising in individual or triadic supervision, across all of your nonexempt settings? A supervisor managing this well will have the number ready. Six means no room; five or fewer means they can take you on.

Ask about the setting

If you would be supervised at a government agency, school, college, university, or charitable nonprofit, the roster cap does not apply there. In private practice and other nonexempt settings it does, so the count in question one is the deciding factor.

Keep your own records regardless

Whatever the roster looks like, keep your hour log in your own hands. If a redistribution or a supervisor departure moves you to someone new, your record of earned hours should not depend on any one supervisor's files. Supervisors have their own side of this to manage; our post on what supervisors should know covers it.

Key takeaway

Since January 1, 2025, SB 1024 caps a supervisor at six concurrent individual or triadic supervisees in nonexempt settings. The eight-person figure is a per-session group size limit, not a roster cap. The duty belongs to the supervisor and your earned hours stay yours, so one direct question (what is your current roster count) tells you whether a prospective supervisor has room for you.