Do I lose my CF hours if my mentor leaves?

No. Hours already accrued under a qualified CF mentor remain valid. What changes is who owes you supervision going forward, and how carefully the handover needs to be documented.

Can I change CF mentors mid-fellowship?

Yes. Individual circumstances vary enough that you should contact ASHA certification staff directly and get a documented answer for your situation rather than relying on inference.

Does each mentor owe separate supervision hours?

ASHA's supervision minimums are written per segment and per mentor. A segment split between two mentors is not automatically covered by one mentor's hours — plan the remainder of the segment with the new mentor deliberately.

What should I do first if my CF mentor resigns?

Get your hours log current and acknowledged by the outgoing mentor before they leave, secure CFSI ratings for the portion they observed, and confirm the incoming mentor holds current ASHA certification.

Your CF supervisor is leaving mid-fellowship. What now?

When things go sideways · August 24, 2026

Checking your own numbers? CF supervision checker is free, runs in your browser, and needs no account.

A mentor resigns, goes on leave, changes employers, or moves off your service. It happens often enough that it is worth knowing the shape of the problem before it happens to you.

The short version: the hours you have already accrued under a qualified mentor do not evaporate. What changes is who owes you supervision going forward, and how carefully you need to document the handover.

Do it in the first week

Get your log current and get it acknowledged. Before your outgoing mentor's attention moves on, make sure your record of hours and supervision contact through their last day is complete, and that they have seen and agreed with it. ASHA makes you responsible for tracking your hours, but your supervisor is the one who verifies and submits them — so their number is what counts, and your log exists to make sure it is right. A mentor who has already left is a mentor who cannot confirm anything.

Get the CFSI ratings for the completed portion. If the transition happens mid-segment, the skills your outgoing mentor observed are best rated while they still remember observing them.

Confirm your incoming mentor is qualified. The CF mentor must hold current ASHA certification in the relevant area. Do not assume — check.

The per-mentor requirement

This is the detail worth understanding, because it is where a mid-fellowship change gets expensive.

ASHA's in-person rule is written per segment and per mentor: at least 3 of the 6 direct observation hours in a segment must occur in person, for each mentor. A segment split across two mentors is not automatically a segment where one mentor's 3 in-person hours covers the whole thing.

Plan the remainder of the segment accordingly, and schedule in-person observation with the new mentor early rather than assuming it will materialize. If the transition lands near a segment boundary, ask whether it is workable to close the segment cleanly under the outgoing mentor rather than splitting it.

If you are the one leaving rather than your supervisor, the rule that decides whether it costs you is different — see changing jobs during your CF.

Talk to ASHA rather than guessing

Individual circumstances vary enough that this is a case for asking directly. ASHA's certification staff field mentor-change questions routinely, and a documented answer specific to your situation is worth considerably more than an inference from a blog post — this one included.

What you should not do is wait. A mentor change discovered by ASHA at application time, with an incomplete log and no CFSI ratings for the first mentor's portion, is a much harder conversation than the same change flagged and documented as it happened.

Keep your own ledger

The general lesson generalizes past this situation. Your employer's records belong to your employer, and your supervisor's recollection belongs to your supervisor. Neither survives their departure. The log that gets you certified is the one you maintain.

One practical consequence worth planning for: your outgoing mentor may still be the person ASHA asks to verify part of your experience. See the CF Report and Rating Form for how verification works and why a departed mentor is a problem you want to solve early.

Use the supervision checker to see where a segment stands right now, and confirm anything consequential against asha.org.

Frequently asked questions

Do I lose my CF hours if my mentor leaves?: No. Hours already accrued under a qualified CF mentor remain valid. What changes is who owes you supervision going forward, and how carefully the handover needs to be documented.
Can I change CF mentors mid-fellowship?: Yes. Individual circumstances vary enough that you should contact ASHA certification staff directly and get a documented answer for your situation rather than relying on inference.
Does each mentor owe separate supervision hours?: ASHA's supervision minimums are written per segment and per mentor. A segment split between two mentors is not automatically covered by one mentor's hours — plan the remainder of the segment with the new mentor deliberately.
What should I do first if my CF mentor resigns?: Get your hours log current and acknowledged by the outgoing mentor before they leave, secure CFSI ratings for the portion they observed, and confirm the incoming mentor holds current ASHA certification.