BREAKING NEWS: Oklahoma Board of Behavioral Health Votes, Approving Changes Supervision Requirements
In the August 8th, 2025 meeting of the Oklahoma Board of Behavioral Licensure, board members voted to approve revisions to the Oklahoma Administrative Code (OAC) for Licensed Professional Counselors, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists, and Licensed Behavioral Practitioners. Rather than add new regulations to the OAC, board members voted to remove or clarify existing rules. According to Executive Director Eric Ashmore, these revisions aim to remove restrictions for licensure candidates and would allow the OAC to be more similar to administrative codes of neighboring states, such as Texas, Colorado, and Kansas.
In the meeting, the board voted to remove the requirement for candidates to have designated onsite supervisors. Thus, also removed was the requirement for onsite supervisors to consult with candidacy supervisors every 6 months. Board members stated that they hoped this would lead fewer candidates to be at risk for losing the ability to count hours toward licensure due to supervisors failing to consult. Candidacy or licensure supervision is still a requirement.
The board also voted to remove the requirement for licensure supervisors to review 2 recorded or live sessions every 6 months. The board clarified that supervisors can still require their candidates to record sessions for them to review. However, the board would no longer consider this a requirement for candidacy.
Last, the board also updated the required availability of licensure supervisors. Previously, licensure supervisors were required to be on-call for their candidates 24 hours per day, 7 days each week. Now, licensure supervisors are only required to be on-call during the times that their candidates are rendering services.
After deliberation, the Board of Behavioral Health Licensure ultimately approved these changes to the OAC, along with many more. For questions on the Oklahoma Administrative Code and regulations, contact the Oklahoma Board of Behavioral Health at Info.BehavioralHealth@bbhl.ok.gov. To learn more about recent updates to the OAC for LMFT, LPC, and LBP providers, join the Oklahoma Counseling Institute’s Monday Lunchtime Digest at noon on Monday August 11th, 2025.