MFT Licensure in New Mexico: What LAMFTs Need to Know About Supervision
New Mexico requires 1,000 hours of MFT client contact and 200 hours of supervision from a supervisor with a board designation. What LAMFTs need to know.
By Mx. Love C. Dialogos, LMFT · AAMFT Approved SupervisorNew Mexico licenses pre-licensed MFTs as Licensed Associate Marriage and Family Therapists (LAMFTs) through the Counseling and Therapy Practice Board. Its rules are friendly to electronic supervision, and its supervisor designation is a step worth confirming early. This guide covers what New Mexico requires.
The figures below come from Title 16, Chapter 27 of the New Mexico Administrative Code, checked in October 2026. Confirm current requirements with the board before you plan your hours.
The Requirements
Pre-licensed title: Licensed Associate Marriage and Family Therapist (LAMFT) (16.27.22 NMAC). The LAMFT license itself has no time limit, but hours older than five years at application don't count unless the license was held continuously.
Experience: at least two years post-graduate, with 1,000 hours of MFT clinical client contact (16.27.6.9 NMAC).
Supervision: 200 hours, at least 100 of them individual. LAMFTs receive one hour of supervision for every five hours of client contact (16.27.22.8 NMAC). Individual supervision allows no more than two supervisees, and group supervision allows no more than six (16.27.1.7 NMAC).
Exam: the national MFT exam. After three failed attempts, an applicant must reapply, and earlier hours are not credited.
Supervisor Designation
New Mexico requires supervisors to hold a board-issued supervision designation. Eligible supervisors include LMFTs and several other licensed mental health professionals, and supervisors of LMFT hours need education and experience in marriage and family therapy (16.27.22.8, 16.27.6.9 NMAC). The designation requires supervision training, or a current national supervision credential instead, and is valid for up to 24 months (16.27.19.10 NMAC).
Ask any prospective supervisor to confirm their current New Mexico designation.
Electronic Supervision
New Mexico permits electronic and telephonic supervision, and virtually supervised hours follow the same rules as in-person hours (16.27.19.7 NMAC). Individual and group supervision may be face-to-face or electronic.
Planning Your Hours
- Confirm your supervisor's current New Mexico designation
- Keep the one-to-five supervision ratio in view
- Separate individual and group hours in your log, with group size noted
- Apply within five years of your earliest hours, or keep your LAMFT license continuous
Supervision in New Mexico
New Mexico's board names culturally responsive practice as a value, and the state's Indigenous, Hispanic, rural, and queer communities make that value concrete in daily clinical work. Supervision should reflect it.
I hold an active New Mexico LMFT license and a New Mexico supervisor designation, and I supervise by telehealth. See the New Mexico 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.
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Mx. Love C. Dialogos
Mx. Love C. Dialogos (they/them) is a queer, genderless womxn, Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist, and AAMFT Approved Supervisor offering queer-affirming clinical supervision for LMFT-Associates across 15 U.S. states via telehealth. They write about queer-affirming clinical practice, supervision, and the intersection of Buddhist Psychology and therapy.