Continuing Education

On April 16, 2021, the Board adopted a motion to no longer review or approve individual continuing education (CE) courses one by one. 

The Board has created a general guide explaining what makes CE acceptable for license renewal. Licensees may use the easy to review guide of continuing education requirements to determine for themselves whether a course meets the requirements, rather than submitting each course for the Board's approval.

You may review the guide at the following link: Acceptable CE Guide

How organizations can become approved to offer Continuing Education (CE):

Key change: As of July 1, 2022, the Board stopped approving individual CE presentations one at a time. Now, organizations interested in providing CE may apply to become an approved CE Provider instead.

Continuing Education Provided Application:

• To apply to become an Approved Continuing Education Provider, please complete the Approved Continuing Education Provider Application

To become an approved provider, an organization must verify:

1. Format — The training happens in an approved setting: workshop, seminar, conference, college course, in-service, institute, or technology-assisted learning.
2. Content — The material covers at least one recognized counseling-related knowledge area (things like ethics, human development, group dynamics, assessment techniques, marriage/family counseling, etc.).
3. Presenter qualifications — Whoever teaches the course must be one of: a licensed counselor/therapist, a licensed professional from a related field teaching within their expertise, a university professor with relevant graduate teaching experience, someone who has presented at a major national mental health conference (ACA, AAMFT, APA, NASW), or someone presenting a state/federal agency-sponsored program.
4. Special rules for Ethics courses — LPC ethics courses and LMFT ethicscourses each have their own required topic lists (like confidentiality, dual relationships, record keeping, discrimination, etc.).
5. Special rules for Supervision courses — LPC supervision courses and LMFT supervision courses each have their own required topic lists (like legal considerations, supervision models, ethical dilemmas in supervision, etc.).
6. Audience — Programs must be aimed at professionals, not the general public.
7. Recordkeeping — Providers must give attendees a certificate/verification showing their name, the provider's name, program title, date, number of CE hours, and a signature.
8. Ongoing obligations — Providers must notify the Board within 10 days of any changes to their application info, and respond to any Board audit requests within 21 days.
9. Attestation — The applicant must certify that everything stated is true and that all future programs will meet these state requirements.

• If a continuing education provider doesn't follow the required rules, the Board can pull their approval to offer courses.
• If someone applies to become a provider and gives false or misleading information, the Board must reject their application.
• If a provider is caught spreading false or misleading information about their courses, or breaks the agreement/rules they signed onto, the Board can either cancel their status entirely or refuse to approve specific programs they offer.

The following list includes, but is not limited to, activities the Board will not won't count these toward your continuing education credit hours:

• Banquet speeches — speeches given at dinners/events, not structured courses.
• Learning on the job — knowledge you naturally pick up while doing your regular counseling/therapy work or research, rather than through formal instruction.
• Serving in professional organizations — being on a committee, council, or holding an officer position doesn't count as education.
• Non-counseling content — anything not directly tied to improving your counseling/therapy skills, like business, finance, or computer courses aimed at running your practice.
• Internal workplace training — staff orientations, office meetings, case management meetings, or training on your specific employer's policies and procedures.
• Book reports or article critiques — just writing a summary or review of a journal article doesn't count.

Also important: since July 1, 2022, the Board stopped accepting applications from individuals seeking approval for their own specific CE presentations (i.e., you can no longer submit a one-off course/presentation for individual pre-approval).