LMFT-A SUPERVISION IN SOUTH CAROLINA
Today you’re looking for a supervisor. One day, I hope to call you a colleague.
In-person supervision in Greenville and virtual supervision throughout South Carolina for LMFT-As who want to build a career in private practice they can be proud of.
These are some of the most formative years of your career.
You finished graduate school. You passed the exam (or are preparing for it as you read this). You know the theories, you've practiced case conceptualization, and you've already spent plenty of hours in supervision and working with clients.
And now, people are sitting across from you expecting you to know what to do.
Some days, you do. Other days, a client says something you weren't expecting, or a couple takes the session completely off the rails, or you leave the room thinking, What just happened?
Welcome to being a therapist.
The years between graduation and independent licensure are some of the most formative of your career. You're learning to trust your clinical judgment, discovering which theories actually resonate with you, and navigating clinical and ethical situations that don't come with tidy answers.
At the same time, you're making decisions about how you want to practice, what populations you want to serve, what you want to become known for, and whether private practice is part of the career you're building.
The supervisor you choose should take the therapist you're becoming as seriously as you do.
“As an Associate, I needed someone to empower me, teach me, guide me, and be an emotionally safe place. Laura checked all those boxes!”
I knew she’d equally hold me to a high standard to be the best therapist I could be, while also empower me to believe in myself. If I ever need further supervision, she’s the first call I’ll make! Hands down, Laura has all the natural skills to be an excellent supervisor. Her mind holds information like an encyclopedia, so she’s there for you to work through even the most complex situations. Yet her gentleness creates a space for a therapist to be vulnerable about their personal life.
– Hannah Tate-Smith, LMFT
hannahtatesmith.com
I will support you.
I will also push you.
My supervisees would describe me as energetic, passionate, supportive, and direct.
They would also tell you that I have high expectations.
I want you to bring me the session that went beautifully and the one you're slightly embarrassed to talk about.
Tell me you froze. Tell me you have no idea what to do next. Tell me you don't particularly like a client and you're trying to understand why. Tell me you think you made the wrong call.
Those conversations don't make me question whether you're a good therapist. In fact, they're often where the best supervision happens.
You're here to learn, grow, ask questions, and occasionally get things wrong. I expect curiosity, preparation, accountability, openness to feedback, and a genuine investment in becoming excellent at this work.
I don't want you to practice exactly like me.
Part of becoming a therapist is figuring out what kind of therapist you want to be.
Maybe you're already fascinated by a particular treatment model. Maybe there are several you want to explore. Maybe you know enough about all of them to pass an exam, but you’re still not sure which one feels like you.
That's completely normal.
You're developing your own clinical voice.
I'm here to help you find it.
As an adjunct instructor for two COAMFTE-accredited Marriage and Family Therapy programs and a supervisor of graduate student interns, my work requires me to maintain a strong working knowledge of the major systemic treatment modalities.
My role is to help you explore the approaches that resonate with you rather than steer you toward one particular model.
We'll explore the modalities that interest you, apply them to your actual cases, and help you understand not only what you're doing in the therapy room, but why you're doing it.
What we’ll work on in LMFT Supervision
Clinical Judgment
Systemic case conceptualization
Treatment planning and clinical decision-making
Ethics, risk, and difficult clinical situations
Learning to explain and trust your clinical reasoning
Clinical Identity
Exploring systemic treatment modalities
Self-of-the-therapist work
Recognizing your strengths and blind spots
Developing your therapeutic style and areas of interest
Professional Identity
Navigating the transition from student to professional
Private practice and career decisions
Professional boundaries and sustainability
Developing specialties and deciding what you want your work to look like
Over time, I want to hear less of "What should I do?" and more of:
"Here's how I'm conceptualizing this. Here's what I've tried. Here's what I'm considering next. And here's the part I'm still unsure about."
That's the kind of clinical independence
we're working toward.
“Working with Laura during my journey toward licensure was one of the most valuable investments in my professional development.”
She provided a unique balance of support and challenge, creating a space where I could explore complex cases, strengthen my clinical confidence, and thoughtfully navigate ethical decision-making.
Through Laura’s mentorship, I experienced significant growth as a therapist and felt very well prepared to transition into independent practice with confidence and clarity.
– Jacqueline Sasso, LMFT
jacquelinesassotherapy.com
Building a private practice while you're building your clinical identity
Most of the LMFT-As I supervise are either starting a private practice or hope to have one in the future.
I've been in private practice since 2014 and an SC-Approved LMFT Supervisor since 2016. I also hold an MBA and provide business consultation to therapists building and growing their private practices.
That means you won't have to explain the realities of the career you're trying to build to me.
Questions about your population, specialty, professional boundaries, caseload, career direction, and the realities of private practice naturally belong in our conversations when they intersect with your development as a clinician.
More intensive work around pricing, marketing, SEO, financial strategy, or practice development falls under separate business consultation.
Supervision is where we develop you as a clinician.
Business consulting is where we intentionally develop your private practice.
LMFT-A Supervision Options & Investment
Individual
Supervision
$180 / 60 minutes
The full hour is yours for case consultation, clinical development, ethical questions, self-of-the-therapist work, and whatever else needs our attention.
Triadic/Partnered Supervision
$100 per associate / 60 minutes
Share the hour with another LMFT-A and learn from each other's cases, questions, conceptualizations, and feedback.
Group
Supervision*
$100 per associate / 2 Hours
I offer ongoing group supervision for associates who want additional opportunities to earn supervision hours and learn alongside other developing clinicians.
*What happens during group supervision?
Depending on the group and what would be most useful, we may give each associate dedicated time for case consultation and conceptualization or spend the two hours exploring a shared clinical topic such as ethical decision-making, self-of-the-therapist concerns, or case conceptualization through a particular systemic treatment model.
If completing your supervision requirements within South Carolina's minimum two-year timeframe is important to you, we can be intentional about creating opportunities to help you stay on track with your supervision hours.
Eventually, I should become less necessary.
Early in supervision, you may come to me asking: What should I do?
That's okay. In fact, it’s expected that you ask for a lot of direction and guidance as you navigate your first clients after graduate school.
Over time, something begins to change.
You start arriving with your own conceptualization. You know what you've tried and why. You challenge me when you see something differently. You make thoughtful clinical decisions without first wondering whether I would make the same ones.
I've had the privilege of watching former supervisees build successful private practices, develop specialties of their own, become respected members of our professional Upstate community, and eventually become supervisors themselves.
I don't take credit for what they've built. That's theirs. And I am incredibly proud to have walked alongside them while they were becoming the clinicians they wanted to be.
That's the goal of good supervision:
eventually, you don't need me anymore.
And when that happens, I get to call you a colleague.
“A clinician's supervisory period is a time for personal growth, hard career decisions, and challenging your own ideas of case conceptualization and treatment modalities.”
Laura's brilliant insight into all aspects of the therapy world create the perfect atmosphere for these things to align, allowing supervisees to grow into well-rounded and knowledgeable clinicians.
With Laura's guidance, I was able to navigate the beginning of my clinical career and create a successful practice I can be truly proud of.
– Carrie Morris, LMFT, CST
berkanacollective.com
FAQ
A quick note about South Carolina licensing requirements
South Carolina LLR occasionally updates its rules, regulations, forms, and requirements for LMFT-As. The information below is provided as a helpful starting point and reflects the requirements available through SC LLR at the time this page was last updated.
Always verify current requirements directly with South Carolina LLR before making decisions about your licensure or supervision plan.
Last updated on this page: September 2026
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According to current South Carolina LLR requirements, LMFT-As must complete at least 1,500 hours of post-master's clinical experience and supervision over a period of no fewer than two years.
This includes 1,380 documented direct client contact hours and 120 documented supervision hours. At least 60 supervision hours must be individual/triadic; the remaining 60 may be individual/triadic or group supervision.
These hours are completed under a Board-approved Plan for Clinical Supervision. LMFT-As cannot begin providing therapy services until the supervision plan has been submitted and approved and the Associate license has been issued.
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Yes. Current South Carolina regulations allow clinical supervision to take place either in person or through a HIPAA-compliant platform. This means I can provide virtual supervision to LMFT-As located throughout South Carolina, in addition to offering in-person supervision in the Greenville area.
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This is a great question – and an important one, because the answer depends on your goals, your caseload, and your timeline for licensure.
If your goal is to complete your requirements within South Carolina's minimum two-year timeframe, meeting for one hour of supervision each week may sound like plenty.
But let's do the math:
There are 52 weeks in a year. Once we account for holidays, vacations, illness, and the occasional scheduling conflict, we may realistically have closer to 46–48 available supervision weeks each year.
Even at 48 supervision sessions per year for two years, that's only 96 hours.
South Carolina currently requires 120 hours of supervision.
That leaves you 24 hours short.
This is one reason I offer regular two-hour group supervision in addition to individual/triadic supervision. We can use those opportunities strategically to help you accumulate the supervision hours you need without discovering near the end of your associate period that you're significantly behind.
But there's another side to the equation.
I also don't want you racing ahead on supervision hours while falling behind on your required direct client contact hours. Completing all 120 supervision hours early doesn't help much if you reach the end of two years still needing hundreds of clinical hours. You may need to extend your associate period—and continue receiving and paying for required supervision—while you finish those hours.
Instead, I want your supervision hours and clinical hours to progress at roughly the same pace.
If you're approximately 20% of the way through your required client contact hours, ideally, you're somewhere around 20% of the way through your required supervision hours, too.
I track this with each of my associates and check in quarterly to make sure you're progressing toward your goals at a reasonable pace. Your current hours, caseload, timeline, and goals help us determine how frequently we should meet and when adding group supervision makes sense.
The goal isn't simply to collect 120 supervision hours. It's to have all the pieces come together when you're ready to apply for independent licensure.
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Individual supervision gives you the full supervision session with me.
Triadic, or partnered supervision allows two associates to share a supervision session, giving each clinician the opportunity to receive consultation while also learning from another associate's cases and clinical thinking.
Group supervision brings several clinicians together for a two-hour session that may include individual case consultation, shared case conceptualization, or focused exploration of a clinical topic.
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No. I work with LMFT-As throughout South Carolina. In-person supervision is available in the Greenville/Five Forks area, with virtual supervision available as permitted under current South Carolina regulations.
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Yes. Most of the associates I supervise are either building a private practice or hope to have one in the future.
We'll address the clinical and professional issues that naturally arise as you build your practice while maintaining an appropriate distinction between clinical supervision and dedicated business consultation.
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Your associate years are an ideal time to explore different systemic approaches and discover which ones resonate with you. We'll discuss the models that interest you, apply them to your clinical work, and help you develop a therapeutic approach that feels like your own.
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Private-practice questions naturally come up in supervision, particularly because most of the associates I work with are either building a private practice or hope to have one in the future. My experience as a practice owner, MBA, and business consultant means I'm happy to bring that perspective into our conversations when it intersects with your clinical and professional development.
More intensive work involving business strategy, pricing, marketing, SEO, financial planning, or practice development falls outside the scope of clinical supervision and is offered separately through my Business Consulting services.
However, there is a benefit to having your clinical supervisor already understand the business you're building.
For the duration of our supervisory relationship, my associates receive a scholarship rate for individual business consultation and simply pay my current supervision rate rather than my standard business consulting rate.
This gives you the option to schedule dedicated business consultation when you need it, with someone who already knows you, understands your goals, and has context for the practice you're building.
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Yes. If you're an experienced LMFT working toward becoming an LMFT Supervisor in South Carolina, I offer supervision of supervision for supervisor candidates.
Current South Carolina LLR requirements include at least 36 hours of individual/triadic supervision of supervision over no fewer than two years, during which the candidate supervises at least two (but no more than six) LMFT Associates. Additional requirements also apply, including clinical-experience and supervision-training requirements.
Our work shifts the focus from How do I become a stronger therapist? to How do I help another therapist become a stronger therapist?
We'll explore your developing supervisory style, giving meaningful feedback, ethical and legal responsibilities, evaluating supervisee development, navigating difficult supervisory dynamics, and balancing support with accountability.
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That's what our initial consultation is for. We'll talk about where you are in the licensure process, your clinical interests, your professional goals, what you're hoping to get from supervision, and how I work.
We're likely to work well together if you take your development seriously, value direct feedback, enjoy thinking deeply about your cases, and want supervision to be more than a requirement you complete on the way to licensure.
Let’s see what kind of
therapist you become.
Your specialty, clinical style, and vision for your future practice will take shape over time.
Come curious. Come prepared.
Bring the cases you’re proud of and the ones you wish had gone differently.
Bring your questions, your ideas, and your willingness to be challenged.
I'll meet you there.
