MFT Licensure in Ohio: What MFTs Need to Know About Supervision Toward the IMFT

Ohio uses a two-tier license. The Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT) license is the supervised license, and the Independent Marriage and Family Therapist (IMFT) is the independent one. This guide covers the supervised experience Ohio requires to move from MFT to IMFT.

The Ohio Counselor, Social Worker and Marriage and Family Therapist Board oversees licensure. The figures below come from Ohio Revised Code 4757 and Ohio Administrative Code 4757, checked in October 2026. Confirm current requirements with the board before you plan your hours.

Pre-licensed title: Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT), a supervised license (ORC 4757.30).

Client contact: at least 1,000 hours of documented face-to-face client contact, at least 500 of them with couples or families present (OAC 4757-25-04).

Supervision: 200 hours of supervision, at least 100 of them individual, over at least two years. Supervision runs at a ratio of at least one hour for every 20 hours of work (OAC 4757-29-01).

Exam: the national MFT exam (OAC 4757-25-02).

Since 2015, Ohio has required training supervision to come from an Ohio IMFT who holds the board's training supervision designation. AAMFT Approved Supervisor status is one route to that designation, and two years of post-licensure practice plus a 30-hour supervision course is the other. Up to 50 hours may come from a licensed professional clinical counselor or independent social worker with a supervision designation (OAC 4757-29-01).

Confirm your supervisor's designation with the board before you count hours.

Individual supervision means one supervisor with no more than two supervisees. Group supervision means one supervisor with no more than eight. Group hours count toward the 100 hours that don't have to be individual.

Ohio's first supervision meeting must be face-to-face, and video counts for that meeting. After that, supervision may be in person, by video, or by phone, with no cap on remote hours (OAC 4757-29-01).

• Confirm your supervisor holds Ohio's training supervision designation
• Track couples and family sessions separately, since half your client contact must include them
• Keep the one-to-20 supervision ratio as your caseload grows
• Separate individual and group hours in your log

Ohio's flexible video rule means you can choose a supervisor for clinical and identity fit rather than location. For queer and trans MFTs outside Ohio's larger cities, that often decides whether affirming supervision is available at all.

I hold an active Ohio license and the Ohio board's training supervision designation, and I supervise by telehealth. See the Ohio supervision page or request a session.

Mx. Love C. Dialogos is an LMFT and AAMFT Approved Supervisor offering queer-affirming clinical supervision via telehealth, licensed in thirteen states. Verify credential in the AAMFT directory.

• Ohio MFT supervision
• MFT Licensure Hours by State
• Does Telehealth Supervision Count for MFT Licensure Hours?
• How to Track Your MFT Supervision Hours
• How to Choose a Queer-Affirming MFT Supervisor