Program hour standards: CACREP, COAMFTE, CSWE and APA
What each accreditor's standard sets for practicum, internship and field hours, read from the standard's text.
The short answer
- CACREP practicum: total practicum hours 100 hours; direct service 40 hours.
- CACREP internship: total internship hours 600 hours; direct service 240 hours.
- COAMFTE clinical practice: The clinical practice a COAMFTE-accredited program requires under Standards Version 12.5: 300 hours of direct clinical contact, 100 of them relational, and 100 hours of supervision. Program handbooks often set higher figures; those are program targets, not the standard.
- CSWE master's field education: total field education, master's 900 hours.
- APA doctoral practicum: Supervised practicum in an APA-accredited health service psychology doctoral program. APA sets no practicum hour total and your program sets it, so Accrue has no verified figure for this ledger and records your hours without a target.
- APA predoctoral internship: The predoctoral internship in health service psychology. APA sets no hour total, so Accrue has no verified figure for this ledger and records your hours without a target. Check your program's handbook for its figure.
Many programs set higher figures in their handbooks. Follow your program.
CACREP practicum
CACREP (Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs) · Degree requirement
The practicum a CACREP-accredited counseling program requires under the 2024 Standards: 100 hours over a full term, 40 of them direct service. Whether these hours also count toward a license is up to each board.
| Requirement | Figure |
|---|---|
| Total practicum hours | 100 hours Over a full term of at least 8 weeks. |
| Direct service | 40 hours |
| Indirect hours | No separate minimum |
Supervision
- Individual or triadic supervision averaging 1 hour a week.
- Group supervision averaging 1.5 hours a week.
Time limits
- The 100 hours span a full term of at least 8 weeks.
- Practicum hours above 100 never roll into the internship.
What Accrue checks
- Tracks the 100 total hours and the 40 direct hours.
- Shows your indirect hours without a target.
- Counts a logged practicum or internship class toward the program total and indirect hours as program instruction. Class time never counts toward a board.
- Does not drop credit for a week without supervision, because the standards state averages and formats, not a weekly unit rule.
- Keeps one program ledger at a time, so the practicum ledger retires before the internship ledger starts.
What Accrue does not check
- The term of at least 8 weeks is not checked.
- The supervision averages are not checked.
Source: CACREP 2024 Standards, Section 4 (Professional Practice), Standards Q, R, S and T; CACREP Policy A.2.f. Checked .
CACREP internship
CACREP (Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs) · Degree requirement
The internship a CACREP-accredited counseling program requires under the 2024 Standards: 600 hours after the practicum, 240 of them direct service. Whether these hours also count toward a license is up to each board.
| Requirement | Figure |
|---|---|
| Total internship hours | 600 hours After the practicum. |
| Direct service | 240 hours |
| Indirect hours | No separate minimum |
Supervision
- Individual or triadic supervision averaging 1 hour a week.
- Group supervision averaging 1.5 hours a week.
Time limits
- The internship follows the practicum. Practicum hours above 100 never roll into the internship.
What Accrue checks
- Tracks the 600 total hours and the 240 direct hours.
- Shows your indirect hours without a target.
- Counts a logged practicum or internship class toward the program total and indirect hours as program instruction. Class time never counts toward a board.
- Does not drop credit for a week without supervision, because the standards state averages and formats, not a weekly unit rule.
What Accrue does not check
- The supervision averages are not checked.
Source: CACREP 2024 Standards, Section 4 (Professional Practice), Standards U, V, W and X; CACREP Policy A.2.f. Checked .
COAMFTE clinical practice
COAMFTE (Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education) · Degree requirement
The clinical practice a COAMFTE-accredited program requires under Standards Version 12.5: 300 hours of direct clinical contact, 100 of them relational, and 100 hours of supervision. Program handbooks often set higher figures; those are program targets, not the standard.
| Requirement | Figure |
|---|---|
| Direct clinical contact | 300 hours In person or by video. Phone, observation, team members behind the mirror, notes and supervision do not count. |
| Relational hours | 100 hours Part of the 300. Two or more people seen together who have a relationship beyond the therapy; groups of unrelated people do not count. |
| Supervision | 100 hours 50 of them with observable data, live or recorded. |
Supervision
- 100 hours of supervision, 50 of them with observable data, live or recorded.
- Supervision is on a regular and consistent basis while you see clients.
- Individual supervision means one supervisor with one or two supervisees.
- Group supervision is limited to eight students.
Time limits
- Clinical practice spans a minimum of twelve months.
What Accrue checks
- Tracks the 300 direct clinical contact hours in person or by video, the 100 relational hours with couples or families, and the 100 supervision hours.
- Does not count class time.
- Does not drop credit for a week without supervision, because the standard sets a supervision total and formats, not a weekly unit rule.
What Accrue does not check
- The twelve-month minimum span of clinical practice is not checked.
- The 50 hours of supervision with observable data are not tracked separately.
- Accrue does not check that individual supervision has one or two supervisees or that a group has eight or fewer students.
Source: COAMFTE Standards Version 12.5, Key Element III-C, Foundational Practice Component (effective January 1, 2022); COAMFTE Standards Version 12.5, glossary definitions of direct clinical contact and relational hours. Checked .
CSWE master's field education
CSWE (Council on Social Work Education) · Degree requirement
The field education a CSWE-accredited master's program requires under the 2022 EPAS: 900 hours. Your program sets its own split of direct practice. Whether these hours also count toward a license is up to each board.
| Requirement | Figure |
|---|---|
| Total field education, master's | 900 hours Field instruction and supervision time and synchronous field seminar class meetings, including simulations, count. Simulated practice outside a real practice setting and outside the field seminar does not. |
| Client contact split | Set by your program |
| Field education, baccalaureate | 400 hours Accrue's ledger covers the master's figure. |
Supervision
- Field instruction and supervision time counts toward the 900 hours.
What Accrue checks
- Tracks the 900 hours, with direct practice and field supervision counted without a target.
- Counts a logged practicum or internship class as qualifying field seminar class time toward the 900. Ordinary instruction that was not a field seminar does not count and should not be logged as class.
What Accrue does not check
- The 400 hours for baccalaureate programs are not tracked.
Source: CSWE 2022 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS), Accreditation Standard 3.3.3; CSWE EPAS Interpretation Guide (2026), pages 57 to 58. Checked .
APA doctoral practicum
APA (American Psychological Association) · Degree requirement
Supervised practicum in an APA-accredited health service psychology doctoral program. APA sets no practicum hour total and your program sets it, so Accrue has no verified figure for this ledger and records your hours without a target.
| Requirement | Figure |
|---|---|
| Practicum hours | Set by your program The APA Standards of Accreditation state no hour total. |
What Accrue checks
- Records practicum hours, direct contact and supervision without a target.
- Counts psychological assessment as client contact.
- Does not count practicum class time, which is program instruction.
Source: APA Standards of Accreditation for Health Service Psychology. Checked .
APA predoctoral internship
APA (American Psychological Association) · Degree requirement
The predoctoral internship in health service psychology. APA sets no hour total, so Accrue has no verified figure for this ledger and records your hours without a target. Check your program's handbook for its figure.
| Requirement | Figure |
|---|---|
| Length | One year full time or two years part time |
| Hours set by APA | No hour total |
| APPIC criterion for school psychology internships | 1,500 hours over 9 to 10 months Applies to school psychology internships. It is not a universal minimum. |
Supervision
- APPIC expects 1 hour of individual supervision per 20 internship hours.
- APPIC's figure of 2 hours a week is for didactics, not individual supervision.
Time limits
- One year full time or two years part time.
What Accrue checks
- Records internship hours, direct contact and supervision without a target.
- Does not count internship class time.
- Applies no weekly supervision check.
What Accrue does not check
- APPIC's expectation of 1 hour of individual supervision per 20 internship hours is not checked.
Source: APA Standards of Accreditation for Health Service Psychology (2026); APPIC membership criteria. Checked .
Common questions
- Do practicum hours count toward my license?
- Program hours are a degree requirement. Whether any of them also count toward a license is set by your state board's rules, and some boards set their own pre-degree limits. Accrue keeps program and board ledgers separate so one never silently changes the other.
- My program requires more hours than the standard. Which figure applies?
- Your program's. Accreditation standards set minimums, and many program handbooks set higher figures. Follow your program's current handbook.
Sources
Sources checked
- CACREP 2024 Standards, Section 4 (Professional Practice), Standards Q, R, S and T
- CACREP Policy A.2.f
- CACREP 2024 Standards, Section 4 (Professional Practice), Standards U, V, W and X
- COAMFTE Standards Version 12.5, Key Element III-C, Foundational Practice Component (effective January 1, 2022)
- COAMFTE Standards Version 12.5, glossary definitions of direct clinical contact and relational hours
- CSWE 2022 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS), Accreditation Standard 3.3.3
- CSWE EPAS Interpretation Guide (2026), pages 57 to 58
- APA Standards of Accreditation for Health Service Psychology
- APA Standards of Accreditation for Health Service Psychology (2026)
- APPIC membership criteria
Accrue is a record-keeping aid and is not affiliated with any licensing board, accreditor or school. Rules change; confirm the requirements that apply to you with the authority that sets them before you rely on a figure.