As a mental health clinician, you’ve been there and got the t-shirt (and grey hairs) when it comes to sorting out your continuing education certificates to fulfil your state licensing requirements. However, if you practice in the following states below, your CE requirements are the most strict, so carry on reading to find out if this applies to you.
While there are certainly commonalities when it comes to continuing education requirements for mental health professionals throughout the U.S. (read our article on this here), the commonalities make the outliers even more clear. Let’s discuss the strictest continuing education requirements in the U.S. for psychologists, marriage and family therapists, licensed clinical social workers, and licensed professional counselors.
Establishing a Baseline For Continuing Education Requirements for Mental Health Professionals
Before we can conceptualize the strictest continuing education requirements in the U.S., we first need to establish a baseline among the license types. Most commonly, licensees are held to an expectation that they will earn 40 hours of continuing education every two years. That expectation is shared by 15-23 states (ranging among the different license types) throughout the country. With 40 hours every two years as our average baseline, let’s explore requirements that exceed the baseline (by license type).
Psychologists
With our most common requirement at 40 hours, we will look at the three highest states beyond that number (from lowest to highest). As a note, a total of 23 states share the 40-hour requirement for psychologists. The third strictest state is Utah, where psychologists are expected to earn 48 hours of continuing education every two years. After Utah, the next most strict state is Kansas at 50 hours every two years. Finally, the most strict state for psychologists is Vermont, with an expectation of 60 hours of continuing education every two years.
Marriage and Family Therapists (MFTs)
The most common requirement for MFTs is still 40 hours every two years, however, only 20 states share that requirement, so there is more variation among the MFT continuing education requirements. Like we did for psychologists, let’s look at the top three strictest states. Tied for second most strict we have Alaska and Wyoming, both requiring 45 hours every two years. The strictest state is Maine at 55 hours every two years. Interestingly, the strictest state is not the same for MFTs and psychologist. In fact, they are actually quite polarizing. The Vermont requirement for MFTs is 20 hours every two years while Wyoming for psychologists is 30 every two – demonstrating the variation among license types.
Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSWs)
For our U.S. LCSWs, there is actually a tie for their most common hour requirement. A total of 15 states share both a 40-hour requirement every two years and a 30-hour requirement every two. Using our same 40 hours as the baseline, the top three strictest states for LCSWs is actually a four-way tie between Alaska, Hawaii, Michigan, and Wyoming. All four of those states expect licensees to earn 45 hours every two years.
Licensed Professional Counselors (LPCs)
Unlike LCSWs, LPCs have a clearer winner when it comes to the most common hour requirement for continuing education. A total of 23 states expect 40 hours of continuing education to be obtained every two years. There are only two states more strict than that, Wyoming at 45 hours and Maine at 55 every two years.
As you can see, there are a lot of discrepancies with regard to continuing education requirements for mental health professionals across the different license types throughout the country. Due to the variation that exists, it’s always advised licensees seek out the requirements set by their personal licensing board to ensure they are meeting the appropriate expectations.
Further Reading on Continuing Education Requirements for Mental Health Professionals
If you’d like to find out about which states are the most lenient when it comes to continuing education requirements for mental health professionals, read this article.
