Where Can a MAP Degree Take Your License?
If you graduated from Seattle University’s MA in Psychology (existential-phenomenological) program between 2022 and 2024, your degree is 72 quarter credits (48 semester hours), from a regionally accredited university, not from a CACREP-accredited counseling program. Those three facts determine where your Washington license can travel more than anything else on your transcript. This guide checks every U.S. state, DC, and British Columbia against the MAP degree, with Washington as the home state: which jurisdictions are open now, which open after one to five years, which need added coursework, and which are closed.
The situation we all share
Washington joined the Counseling Compact effective July 23, 2023 (SHB 1069; ch. 18.17 RCW). The compact’s legacy rule exempts counselors who were independently licensed before their state joined. No MAP grad from these classes could hold a full LMHC by mid-2023—the post-degree supervised-hours runway makes it impossible. The whole cohort is outside the legacy exemption.
Washington’s statute (RCW 18.225.090(1)(b)(i)(B)) makes related-discipline licensees compact-ineligible unless their graduate coursework reaches 60 semester / 90 quarter hours covering nine content areas. At 72 quarter hours, every MAP grad is 18 quarter hours short regardless of electives. Electives change your content gaps; nothing changes the total gap.
As of August 2026 the compact is operational in only seven states, the seventh being Arkansas (joined July 30, 2026; re-checked 2026-08-20). Washington has opened no implementing rulemaking (re-verified 2026-08-19: DOH’s counselor rules-in-progress page lists three filings, all adopted, none touching the compact, and DOH’s own compact page still says applications are ‘expected to open in 2025’). Privileges from a Washington home state are late 2027 at the earliest. The state-by-state doors below are what to plan around.
Audit yourself first
Three things vary person to person and change which entries apply to you. Check them against your own records before reading the states.
Your electives
MAP electives ran through special-topics slots and varied by year—career development, substance use, hermeneutics, trauma, human growth, and others. The content areas state boards and NBCC actually ask about: career/lifestyle development, addictions/substance use, human growth & development, appraisal/tests & measurements, psychopharmacology, human sexuality, quantitative research methods, and crisis. Pull your transcript and mark which you have. Wherever this guide says a state ‘needs a career course (if you lack one),’ check your own list. If you took the career elective, you already clear the single most-demanded area—but you are still 18 quarter hours short of the compact total.
Your exam
Washington accepted more than one exam. If you passed the NCE, most of the entries below read as written. If you passed the NCMHCE instead—a minority of the cohort, but real—the picture changes: Indiana, New York, Massachusetts, Maine, and Tennessee all require the NCMHCE specifically (Rhode Island does too, but its bars are structural—the exam no longer buys entry there); Illinois’s clinical tier and Vermont’s standard path want both exams (and Utah reserves discretion to demand both). Each state entry names its exam. If you passed only the NCMHCE, a handful of NCE-keyed states become harder—check the entry. And the reverse for NCMHCE-holders: Pennsylvania and Hawaii take only the NCE, so for you those two are exam-gated the way Indiana is for NCE-holders. Each entry carries an exam badge showing which direction it runs.
Your license date and stage
Every ‘opens at’ below is a formula, not a date: your full-LMHC issuance date plus one, two, three, or five years. Look up your issuance date on the DOH provider-credential search and do the math. Still an LMHCA? See the associate box below—nearly every door here presumes the full license, and whether associate-era practice counts toward any state’s experience clock is tracked there with board answers rather than guesses.
The country at a glance
A green state means the door is open to file with a full license in hand — every one still carries conditions in its card, and filing is not licensure: boards take weeks to months to process even clean applications. Click or tab to any state — or, for the small eastern states, its labeled callout — to jump to its entry; the entries below are the accessible text of this map.
Practicing into states from Washington: telehealth registrations and the compact
Licensure and permission to practice into a state are different things, and this section holds everything in the second category. Six states will register an out-of-state licensee to serve their residents by telehealth, with no license in that state. The Counseling Compact belongs here too, because for this cohort that is what it really is: a privilege lets you practice into member states, in person or by telehealth, only while Washington remains your home state. It is never a path to moving somewhere. Everything below presumes the full, unencumbered WA LMHC.
A $35 registration with Idaho's licensing division that lets you see Idaho-located clients from your Washington office. No exam, no transcript review, no Idaho license. Telehealth only: no in-person work in Idaho, and the registration never converts into a license.
Now, with a full unencumbered WA license.
None.
None reviewed.
Idaho Code §54-5714 was added to the Idaho Virtual Care Access Act (Title 54, ch. 57) by 2023 Idaho Session Laws ch. 142, §1; the statute's official published text shows no separate effective-date clause beyond that 2023 enactment.
- Non-transferable, and it expires on a cycle rather than renewing, so calendar the reapplication.
- Your scope in Idaho is capped at what your WA license allows.
Fable: the statute and the DOPL registration form were read directly, and the pathway has been used
- Idaho Code §54-5714, interstate telehealth registration for mental and behavioral health (Idaho Virtual Care Access Act, Title 54 ch. 57) — confirms no Idaho license required, $35 registration, telehealth only, never converts to licensure — https://legislature.idaho.gov/statutesrules/idstat/title54/t54ch57/sect54-5714/ (verified 2026-08-19)
- Idaho DOPL, Board of Professional Counselors and Marriage & Family Therapists — Interstate Mental or Behavioral Telehealth Registration ($35, non-renewable) — https://dopl.idaho.gov/cou/ (verified 2026-08-19)
- Registration issued to a cohort member 2026-08-06 — non-public correspondence and applicant experience; no public URL
Registers an out-of-state licensee to serve Florida clients by telehealth with no Florida license. Requires an active unencumbered license, a Florida registered agent for service of process, and professional liability coverage. No in-person services in Florida and no Florida office.
Now, with a full unencumbered WA license and no discipline in the past five years.
None.
None reviewed.
- If the full Florida license lands by endorsement, the registration is unnecessary; do not buy both.
- The registered-agent requirement means a small ongoing cost even at zero clients.
Fable: the statute was read directly
- Fla. Stat. §456.47 (registration of out-of-state telehealth providers; active unencumbered license, Florida registered agent, liability coverage; no in-person services and no Florida office) — https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/456.47 (verified 2026-08-19)
- Florida Department of Health telehealth registration portal — https://flhealthsource.gov/telehealth (verified 2026-08-19)
Registers an out-of-state behavioral health licensee to serve Arizona clients by telehealth. Requires proof of all licenses, professional liability insurance, and an Arizona statutory agent; the fee is board-set and unpublished in the rules. Annual renewal plus an annual report of Arizona patient counts. Telehealth only.
Now, with a full unencumbered WA license and no disciplinary history anywhere (stricter than the licensure routes).
None.
None reviewed.
- You may not need it at all: Arizona exempts anyone with fewer than ten Arizona telehealth encounters a calendar year, and separately allows up to ninety days of practice a year with client disclosure (A.R.S. 32-3271(A)(2)).
- Confirm the fee with the board before filing; the widely quoted $600 belongs to the psychology board.
Fable: statute read directly during research
- A.R.S. §36-3606 (interstate telehealth services; registration; five-day disciplinary-change notice; annual report of Arizona patient counts) — https://law.justia.com/codes/arizona/title-36/section-36-3606/ (verified 2026-08-19; azleg.gov was tested directly and is JavaScript-gated, returning no text)
- A.R.S. §32-3271(A)(2) (90-day nonresident exemption) — https://law.justia.com/codes/arizona/title-32/section-32-3271/ (verified 2026-08-19)
- AZ Board of Behavioral Health Examiners telepractice pages — (no fetchable official copy located 2026-08-19)
A 2025 statute creating an interstate telehealth registration for out-of-state licensees to serve West Virginia clients. The statute is real; whether the counseling board has implemented the registration process is not confirmed.
On paper, now; in practice, once the board stands the process up.
None per the statute.
None per the statute.
W. Va. Code §30-1-26 was most recently amended by Senate Bill 299 of the 2025 Regular Session, per the bill-history record printed on the WV Legislature's official code page; that page does not display the bill's specific effective date.
- Confirm implementation with the board before relying on it; their website has lagged the 2025 statutes before.
Fable: §30-1-26 read in full 2026-08-20 — behavioral medicine exempt from the 12-month in-person rule; no physical WV practice without full licensure
- W. Va. Code §30-1-26 (interstate telehealth registration for out-of-state practitioners, including licensed professional counselors, serving WV patients by telehealth; most recently amended by 2025 Regular Session SB 299 per the code page's bill-history record; the statute itself does not address board implementation status) — https://code.wvlegislature.gov/30-1-26/ (verified 2026-08-19)
Registers an out-of-state licensee to serve Delaware clients by telehealth without a Delaware license. Carries one trap for this cohort: read literally, the eligibility provision (24 Del. C. §6002(c)) bars licensees of any state that has enacted a compact Delaware participates in — and Washington has, even though no privileges flow yet. A full read of chapter 60 adds the counterweight: §6005(b) is a mental-health-specific exception letting a provider licensed in another jurisdiction treat Delaware residents by telehealth on a Medical Request Form plus whatever registration the Division establishes — and it contains no compact-state bar. Whether the Division's registration program implements §6002(c) (the bar) or §6005(b) (no bar) is the question that decides the trap.
Ask first: whether the compact-state bar is applied literally decides everything.
None.
None reviewed.
The operative Delaware provision, 24 Del. C. §6002(c), was enacted as 83 Del. Laws c. 52, §4 and amended by 83 Del. Laws c. 484, §1; no separate later act specifically adding the compact-state bar was located.
- The bar is confirmed by the regulator's own application page: an applicant must 'not be actively licensed in a state that has enacted a compact in which Delaware participates.' Washington has. On the official language, a Washington LMHC does not qualify — ask only if you want to test a narrower reading.
Fable: 24 Del. C. ch. 60 read in full 2026-08-20 — §6002(c)'s registration path is textually limited to providers from states that have NOT adopted an applicable compact, supporting the entry's literal-reading trap; §6005(b)'s mental-health exception carries no such bar. Which section the Division's registration implements is open.
- 24 Del. C. §6002(c) — the operative interstate telehealth registration eligibility bar (NOT §6003, which the entry cites; see corrections) — https://delcode.delaware.gov/title24/c060/index.html (verified 2026-08-19)
- Delaware Division of Professional Regulation, Board of Mental Health and Chemical Dependency Professionals — Mental Health Interstate Telehealth Registration application page — https://dpr.delaware.gov/boards/profcounselors/mental-health-telehealth-registration/ (verified 2026-08-19)
New in 2026 and verified on the regulator's own pages: Colorado registers out-of-state health-care providers — mental health providers expressly included — to serve Colorado clients by telehealth without any Colorado license (SB24-141 framework, registrations open January 1, 2026). The requirements are an application and fee, a valid out-of-state credential, a clean disciplinary record for the five years before applying, Colorado's mental-health jurisprudence exam, and disclosure duties; the counselor licensing guide adds a telehealth-only attestation and a registered agent in Colorado.
Open now, from Washington, with the full license in hand.
Colorado Mental Health Jurisprudence Exam if passage is required of substantially-similar Colorado licensees (the FAQ's own conditional phrasing — for mental health professions it is, so plan on it). No national exam re-tested.
Not reviewed — the registration rides entirely on the out-of-state credential.
SB24-141 (2024) created the out-of-state telehealth registration; 2025 legislation expanded the covered professions, and registrations opened January 1, 2026 per the Division's FAQ.
- Telehealth only, strictly: in-person services in Colorado are prohibited on this registration, and it never converts to residency rights — moving to Colorado means the endorsement route.
- Real operational duties attach: patient-location and provider-location disclosures, a written emergency protocol with local crisis-resource lists for where the client sits, and staying on the line during an emergency until help arrives.
- Five-year clean-discipline lookback; any restriction, discipline, or malpractice settlement must be disclosed.
- Untested by this cohort — registrations only opened this year; treat processing details (fees, the registered-agent mechanics) as unverified until someone files.
Fable: the regulator's telehealth FAQ and the board's licensing guide were both read directly
- Colorado DPO, Out-of-State Telehealth Providers FAQ (SB24-141; registrations available to mental health providers beginning 2026-01-01; requirements, prohibitions, emergency-protocol duties; read in full) — https://dpo.colorado.gov/TelehealthFAQ (verified 2026-08-20)
- Colorado DPO, Professional Counselor Licensing Guide (rev. Feb 2025) — telehealth licensure section: jurisprudence exam, verification of another active license, telehealth-only attestation, Colorado registered agent (provided by the board's license specialist 2026-08-20)
- SB24-141, Out-of-State Telehealth Providers — https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb24-141 (verified 2026-08-20)
The cohort's shared math: privileges require the home-state license to rest on 90 quarter / 60 semester hours covering nine areas — every MAP grad is 18 quarter hours short, and career development is the most commonly missing area. The exam is not a problem (NCE or NCMHCE both satisfy the commission). Cure = added graduate coursework to 90 quarter including your missing areas.
After (1) your ~18-quarter cure, (2) Washington flags you compact-eligible (mechanism unpublished — DOH has opened no rulemaking), and (3) WA goes live (absent from every announcement; late 2027 at the earliest). Payoff: the 40 member states as they activate (Pennsylvania the newest, enacted July 2026), at modest per-state fees, without individual applications.
NCE or NCMHCE.
The 'or includes 60 semester/90 quarter hours of graduate coursework' phrasing in Washington's statute is a genuine textual argument that post-degree supplementation counts. Unconfirmed for the compact clause specifically, but the department's posture leans that way: DOH's own licensure rules expressly let related-degree holders complete supplemental coursework to cure missing program equivalencies (WAC 246-809-220(3), as amended May 2025). The DOH counselor program office is the place to ask, and one graduate's written answer serves everyone.
Washington's Counseling Compact statute — ch. 18.17 RCW, together with the related-discipline eligibility clause at RCW 18.225.090 — was enacted by Substitute House Bill 1069, chapter 58, Laws of 2023, effective July 23, 2023.
- A privilege covers practicing into member states while Washington remains your primary residence — it is never a relocation path.
- Licenses obtained via some states' universal-recognition routes are excluded from anchoring privileges.
Fable: primary sources read and analyzed directly
- RCW 18.225.090(1)(b)(i)(B) — confirms related-discipline graduates need at least 60 semester or 90 quarter hours of graduate coursework covering the nine listed content areas to exercise a counseling compact privilege — https://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=18.225.090 (verified 2026-08-19)
- Ch. 18.17 RCW (Counseling Compact), enacted by Substitute House Bill 1069, 2023 c 58, Laws of Washington, effective July 23, 2023 — https://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/2023-24/Pdf/Bills/Session%20Laws/House/1069-S.SL.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
- counselingcompact.gov — map, news and FAQ pages, plus adopted Rules Ch. 3 (examination requirements) and Ch. 5 (legacy eligibility, eff. 11/7/2024) — https://counselingcompact.gov/ (verified 2026-08-19)
- WA DOH Mental Health Counselor — Counseling Compact page — https://doh.wa.gov/licenses-permits-and-certificates/professions-new-renew-or-update/mental-health-counselor/counseling-compact (verified 2026-08-19)
- WA DOH MHC Rules in Progress page + WSR 25-11-019 CR-103P, 'Reducing barriers to licensure and streamlining the credentialing process,' filed 5/12/2025 (read in full 2026-08-19: no compact content in any active or adopted counselor rulemaking) — https://doh.wa.gov/licenses-permits-and-certificates/professions-new-renew-or-update/mental-health-counselor/rules-progress (verified 2026-08-19)
- WA DOH Counseling Compact page (fetched 2026-08-19: still reads 'Applications for Counseling Compact privileges to practice are expected to open in 2025'; no Washington go-live date given) — https://doh.wa.gov/licenses-permits-and-certificates/professions-new-renew-or-update/mental-health-counselor/counseling-compact (verified 2026-08-19)
- Counseling Compact news and fees pages (re-checked 2026-08-19: exactly seven live states — AZ, MN, OH, LA, GA, IN, AR — with Arkansas seventh on 7/30/2026; Pennsylvania the 40th member, enacted 7/12/2026; no Washington mention) — https://counselingcompact.gov/news/ (verified 2026-08-19)
The licensure map: 49 states, DC, and BC
Counselling is unregulated in BC until Nov 29, 2027, when psychotherapy becomes a regulated profession under CHCPBC. The market credential meanwhile is BCACC's RCC — and the MAP degree maps cleanly onto its six required course areas (none of the usual gap areas are required).
RCC now, at any license stage: it keys to the degree and supervision record, not the license (registration finalizes once residing in Canada). Holding it before Nov 2027 is the best grandparenting position for the new college.
None.
MAP coursework generally satisfies RCC's areas; 100 supervision hours including 25 directly observed is the item to verify from your records.
B.C. Reg. 131/2025 (Health and Care Professionals Regulation) followed the July 2024 designation of psychotherapy for regulation under the Health Professions and Occupations Act; per both CHCPBC's official page and the BC Ministry of Health's July 2026 Q&A, its psychotherapist provisions are not yet in force and take effect November 29, 2027, when CHCPBC becomes the regulator.
- Grandparenting into the 2027 college is expected but unannounced.
- Immigration is its own project and nothing here addresses it.
Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — Ministry of Health Regulation of Psychotherapy Q&A (July 2026), CHCPBC Regulating Psychotherapy page, BCACC RCC eligibility page; B.C. Reg. 131/2025 itself remains JS-gated and is corroborated by the two official documents that cite it
- B.C. Reg. 131/2025, Health and Care Professionals Regulation, Part 10 (defines 'psychotherapist' and 'psychotherapy'; provisions not yet in force) — https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/131_2025 (no fetchable official copy located 2026-08-19: the bclaws page is JavaScript-rendered and returned no text; content independently corroborated by the two official sources below, both of which cite this regulation)
- BC Ministry of Health, Regulation of Psychotherapy Q&A (July 2026) — confirms psychotherapy was designated for future regulation under the Health Professions and Occupations Act in July 2024 and will be regulated by CHCPBC effective November 29, 2027 per B.C. Reg. 131/2025 — https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/health/practitioner-pro/professional-regulation/psychotherapy_qa.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
- CHCPBC, Regulating Psychotherapy — confirms the November 29, 2027 date and that psychotherapy eligibility standards have not yet been established — https://chcpbc.org/legislation/regulating-psychotherapy/ (verified 2026-08-19)
- BCACC, RCC Eligibility — confirms the master's requirement, six required course areas, 100 supervision hours including 25 directly observed, and that registration finalizes only once residing in Canada — https://bcacc.ca/join/rcc/eligibility-rcc/ (verified 2026-08-19)
- CCPA, Canadian Certified Counsellor (CCC) Certification Guide (content last updated January 2026; filed under the site's April 2026 path) — https://www.ccpa-accp.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/CCC-Certification-Guide_April2026.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
Corroborated in writing, across three answers from the board's own licensing specialist: Colorado's endorsement route (the board's own rule, 4 CCR 737-1.12(C)(1)(b)) licenses an applicant who has held a current, unrestricted, substantially-similar-scope license for one year — and the board's license specialist confirmed the education review on that route is conferral-only: 'For the education requirement, you are only required to submit an official transcript verifying that a master's degree was awarded.' No equivalency worksheet, no credit count, no course list. The 60-hour floor and 6-credit cure cap that once closed this state live on the by-examination route and do not reach endorsement applicants. The specialist's third answer settled the remaining questions: associate-level practice counts toward the application's two-year practice attestation, and a psychology-titled degree passes on the transcript alone — moving Colorado into the open tier for anyone with a current license and two years of post-master's practice. The shared board inbox will not interpret rules; the licensing specialist answered all of it in writing.
Open now, for anyone holding a current equivalent license who can attest to two years of post-master's psychotherapy practice — associate-level practice counts, per the specialist's written confirmation, so most of this cohort's licensed members qualify today. Documents: license verification, official transcript showing the degree was awarded, the attestations, and the jurisprudence exam. (The board rule's one-year-license prong remains the paper fallback if the practice reading ever fails.)
Board jurisprudence exam, mandatory for every endorsement applicant (4 CCR 737-1.12(D), via Prometric). National exam expressly required only on the education prong.
Conferral-only on the endorsement route, per the specialist's written answer — the transcript proves a master's was awarded, and nothing in it is graded.
The portability program dates to HB 20-1326 (2020); the operative board rule version is effective 2025-09-14, and HB 26-1431 (2026) amends the framework for applications filed on or after 2026-08-12.
- One internal contradiction to carry into any filing: the licensing guide's 'all applicants' section says non-CACREP transcripts need a CCE education review, while the license specialist's written answer says endorsement applicants submit only a transcript proving the degree was awarded. The specialist's direct answer controls — keep it with the application in case an intake reviewer follows the brochure instead.
- The specialist confirmed in writing (2026-08-20): associate-level practice counts toward the two-year practice attestation, and a psychology-titled master's satisfies the education requirement with the transcript alone. Keep all three of the specialist's emails with any application.
- A staff answer is informal and non-binding; the jurisprudence exam is mandatory; and this route becomes validated only when a cohort application is adjudicated.
- Get the license in hand before relocating — and note Colorado now also has a telehealth registration (see the remote-practice section) for serving Colorado clients from Washington without any of this.
mixed: the endorsement rule and portability statute read in the sweep; the decisive practice question answered in writing by the board's license specialist 2026-08-20 (email retained by the maintainer)
- CRS 12-20-202(3); CRS 12-245-604
- 4 CCR 737-1, Rules 1.12 & 1.14 — https://www.sos.state.co.us/CCR/GenerateRulePdf.do?ruleVersionId=9767&fileName=4+CCR+737-1 (verified 2026-08-19)
- dpo.colorado.gov LPC pages (CCE equivalency notice)
- C.R.S. § 12-20-202 — Licenses, certifications, and registrations; occupational credential portability program; exceptions; rules; definitions — https://colorado.public.law/statutes/crs_12-20-202 (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- HB 26-1431, Colo. Sess. Laws 2026, ch. 407 — Competency for Occupational Licensure Portability (signed act text) — https://leg.colorado.gov/laws/session-laws/HB26-1431/407/download (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- HB26-1431 bill status page — Became Law; Governor signed 2026-06-04; effective 2026-08-12 — https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/HB26-1431 (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- HB20-1326 bill status page — Create Occupational Credential Portability Program (Colo. Sess. Laws 2020, ch. 126, eff. 2020-06-25) — https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb20-1326 (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- C.R.S. § 12-245-207 — Licensure by endorsement — https://colorado.public.law/statutes/crs_12-245-207 (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- C.R.S. § 12-245-604 — Licensure; examination; licensed professional counselors — https://colorado.public.law/statutes/crs_12-245-604 (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- C.R.S. § 12-245-607 — Interstate compact; powers and duties of the board — https://colorado.public.law/statutes/crs_12-245-607 (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- C.R.S. § 24-60-4303 — Construction of terms (Counseling Compact; 'License' means a license issued pursuant to section 12-245-604) — https://colorado.public.law/statutes/crs_24-60-4303 (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- Colorado DPO Mental Health Boards, License Specialist (professional counselor) — written answer to a direct processing inquiry, 2026-08-20: endorsement method applies to an active equivalent out-of-state license; education requirement is an official transcript verifying a master's degree was awarded; LPC Applicant Checklist (rev. Feb 2025) attached. Informal staff answer, non-binding.
- Colorado DPO, Professional Counselor Licensing Guide (rev. Feb 2025; provided by the board's license specialist 2026-08-20; read in full) — endorsement applicants attest to exam passage and to 2 years post-master's practice or 2 years active practice; the 'all applicants' CCE-review line conflicts with the specialist's answer and is flagged above.
- Colorado DPO, Professional Counselor Applications page — 'you must hold a current, equivalent license in another state to apply for licensure by endorsement'; education equivalency reviews are now outsourced to CCE (relevant to the examination route) — https://dpo.colorado.gov/ProfessionalCounselor/ApplicationsDocs (verified 2026-08-20)
- Colorado DPO, License Specialist — second written answer, 2026-08-20: 'your associate-level practice will count toward the applicable practice requirement, and your master's degree in psychology satisfies the education requirement.' Informal staff answer, non-binding.
Indiana's education wall (the non-curable practicum in 839 IAC 1-5-1) lives entirely on the licensure-by-examination route. A separate statute, IC 25-23.6-8.5-9.5, orders the board to issue an LMHC license within 30 days of a complete application to anyone holding a valid out-of-state license who passed a substantially equivalent exam — no transcript, no coursework review, no practicum question, no residency, no minimum years. The licensing agency implements it openly: its site carries a dedicated LMHC Reciprocity section, and the checklist asks for license verification and an exam score, nothing about education.
Now — if your exam is the NCMHCE. The board reads 'substantially equivalent examination' to mean the NCMHCE specifically and rejects the NCE by name, so NCE-only licensees stay out until they sit the NCMHCE (or the compact arrives).
NCMHCE required on this route; the NCE is expressly not accepted. This is the sharpest example of the exam problem: Indiana takes only the exam that Pennsylvania's list omits.
Not reviewed on the reciprocity route. The practicum bar that closed Indiana applies only to applicants qualifying by examination.
IC 25-23.6-8.5-9.5 has ordered issuance to out-of-state licensees since 2017; its current text dates to P.L.149-2022. The general health-care reciprocity chapter (IC 25-1-21, 2022) expressly carves mental health counselors out — the profession-specific statute is the operative one.
- The board is stricter than the statute: the law's exam test is functional ('substantially equivalent'), the checklist's is a named instrument (NCMHCE yes, NCE no). An NCE-holder could contest that reading, but plan around it.
- No reciprocity rule exists in the administrative code — the route runs on statute plus the agency's checklist, so confirm current requirements before filing.
- Indiana is live on the compact, so remote practice from Washington arrives by privilege once Washington goes live — relocation is what this route is for.
Fable: decisive texts read in full — the reciprocity statute set and both PLA checklists line-by-line 2026-08-19; the LMHC FAQ (NCE rejected by name) and 839 IAC 1-5-1 2026-08-20
- IC 25-23.6-8.5 (Mental Health Counselor Licensure), incl. §3 education, §4 experience, §5 exam, §9.5 reciprocity, §10 temporary permit, §12 exam exemption - https://law.justia.com/codes/indiana/title-25/article-23-6/chapter-8-5/
- IC 25-23.6-8.5-3 Educational Requirements (2025) - https://law.justia.com/codes/indiana/title-25/article-23-6/chapter-8-5/section-25-23-6-8-5-3/
- IC 25-1-21-5 Reciprocity for Health Care Professionals - Requirements (added P.L.149-2022; amended P.L.148-2023) - https://law.justia.com/codes/indiana/title-25/article-1/chapter-21/section-25-1-21-5/
- IC 25-1-21 chapter index (incl. §7 provisional license, §11 physician carve-out) - https://law.justia.com/codes/indiana/title-25/article-1/chapter-21/
- 839 IAC 1-5-1 Educational requirements (degree areas, 48/72 and 60/90 hours, practicum/internship specs, supervisor definitions) - https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/indiana/839-IAC-1-5-1 (verified 2026-08-19)
- 839 IAC 1-5-4 Exemption from examination (no blanket reciprocity; 'substantially equivalent' exam standard) - https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/indiana/839-Ind-Admin-Code-1-5-4
- Indiana PLA, State Form 50319 (R12/3-25) Application for LMHC/LMHCA incl. Forms C, C-1, P, I and Verification of Experience - https://forms.in.gov/download.aspx?id=5790
- Indiana PLA, LMHC Frequently Asked Questions (NCE not equivalent; pre-degree hours not curable) - https://www.in.gov/pla/files/LMHC_Frequently_Asked_Questions.pdf
- Indiana PLA, LMHC by Reciprocity Information and Instructions - https://www.in.gov/pla/files/LMHC-Instructions-Reciprocity-2017.pdf
- Indiana PLA, LMHC by Endorsement Information and Instructions (jurisprudence exam format; 12-hour top-up) - https://www.in.gov/pla/files/LMHC_by_Endo_Application_Instructions_2015.pdf
- Economic Impact Statement, LSA Document #25-820 - Counseling Compact $50 Indiana privilege fee; IC 25-42.5 - https://www.in.gov/pla/files/12-EIS-LSA-25-820-Counseling-Compact-Fee.pdf
- IC 25-1-21-1 — Application of chapter; effect of other requirements (the counseling carve-out) — https://law.justia.com/codes/indiana/title-25/article-1/chapter-21/section-25-1-21-1/ (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- IC 25-1-21-2 — 'Board' (cross-reference to IC 25-0.5-11) — https://law.justia.com/codes/indiana/title-25/article-1/chapter-21/section-25-1-21-2/ (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- IC 25-1-21-5 — Requirements ('Notwithstanding any other law... a board shall issue') — https://law.justia.com/codes/indiana/title-25/article-1/chapter-21/section-25-1-21-5/ (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- IC 25-1-21 — chapter index, Reciprocity for Health Care Professionals (2025 Indiana Code) — https://law.justia.com/codes/indiana/title-25/article-1/chapter-21/ (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- IC 25-23.6-8.5-9.5 — Reciprocity for Mental Health Counselors (the operative pathway). Independently re-fetched and verified verbatim by the lead researcher on 2026-08-19 — https://law.justia.com/codes/indiana/title-25/article-23-6/chapter-8-5/section-25-23-6-8-5-9-5/ (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- IC 25-23.6-8.5 — chapter index, Mental Health Counselor Licensure — https://law.justia.com/codes/indiana/title-25/article-23-6/chapter-8-5/ (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- Indiana PLA — Behavioral Health and Human Services Licensing Information: 'Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) Reciprocity' checklist, LMHC by-exam checklist, exams section, Counseling Compact section. Independently re-fetched and the two checklists compared line-by-line by the lead researcher on 2026-08-19 — https://www.in.gov/pla/professions/behavioral-health-and-human-services/behavioral-health-and-human-services-licensing-information/ (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- Indiana State Form 50319 (R12/3-25) — Application for Licensure as a Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) or Mental Health Counselor Associate (LMHCA), incl. Forms C, C-1, P, I and experience/supervision form — https://forms.in.gov/Download.aspx?id=5790 (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
Endorsement (481—880.5(1)): application + fee + license verification is the entire review — the consolidated Chapter 880 rulemaking (ARC 9401C, effective August 13, 2025) implements 2024's HF 2515 and SF 2385 at the chapter level — the endorsement paragraph's bare application-plus-fee-plus-verification text is confirmed verbatim against the rule, though the rulemaking's own summary ties HF 2515 most concretely to the supervision rule rather than this one. Whether the leniency was the specific intent or a byproduct of consolidation, the text is the text; ask the board if you want certainty before filing.
Now, with a full license.
Not reviewed.
Not reviewed.
Iowa's endorsement rule 481—880.5 reached its current application-plus-fee-plus-verification form through ARC 9401C, the Board of Behavioral Health Professionals' adopted rulemaking published in the Iowa Administrative Bulletin on July 9, 2025 and effective August 13, 2025, which created a consolidated new Chapter 880 implementing 2024 Iowa Acts House File 2515 and Senate File 2385 (90th General Assembly, 2024 session).
- A background check may still occur under separate authority.
- If endorsement is refused there's a licensure-by-verification fallback — but a verification license can never anchor compact privileges later.
Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — 481 IAC ch. 880 complete, including the 880.5→880.2(1)(a) incorporation chain (application + fee only; fingerprints, transcripts, exams, and supervision attestation are not incorporated into endorsement)
- Iowa Code §272C.12 (Licensure of persons licensed in other jurisdictions) — https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/code/272C.12.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
- 481 IAC 501.1(272C), Licensure by verification (ARC 8083C, IAB 6/26/24, eff. 7/31/24) — https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/iac/rule/481.501.1.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
- 481 IAC ch. 880, Behavioral Health Professionals Licensing (ARC 9401C, IAB 7/9/25, eff. 8/13/25) — incl. 880.2 license requirements, 880.3(1) exams, 880.4(2) education, 880.5 endorsement, 880.7 supervised clinical experience, 880.16 telehealth, 880.18 compact — https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/iac/chapter/481.880.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
- 481 IAC 880.5(154D), Licensure by endorsement (rule-level PDF; confirms license verification + attestation only, no education/exam/hours test) — https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/iac/rule/07-09-2025.481.880.5.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
- ARC 8878C, Notice of Intended Action creating new ch. 880, citing 2024 Iowa Acts HF 2515 — https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/aco/arc/8878C.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
- Iowa Board of Behavioral Health Professionals / DIAL licensing portal — https://ibplicense.iowa.gov (verified 2026-08-19)
- Counseling Compact member map — https://counselingcompact.gov/map/ (verified 2026-08-19)
- ARC 9401C, Adopted and Filed, ch. 880 (IAB 7/9/25, eff. 8/13/25; 'State or Federal Law Implemented' cites chs. 17A, 147, 154B, 154C, 154D, 272C and 2024 Iowa Acts SF 2385) — https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/aco/arc/9401C.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
Expedited endorsement (NRS 641A.242): the board must issue to a holder of a corresponding unrestricted license — no education review, no exam, no experience review. A 2025 amendment (AB 450) made it mandatory and deleted the board's open-ended documentation catch-all.
Now, as far as the statute's text goes; no years-licensed wait appears in it.
None on this path.
None reviewed.
NRS 641A.242 took its current mandatory form through Assembly Bill 450 of the 2025 Nevada Legislature, enacted as Chapter 315, Statutes of Nevada 2025, effective October 1, 2025, which changed the Board's issuance duty from 'may' to 'shall' and struck both the applicant's burden to prove no prior investigation and the Board's open-ended 'any other information required by the Board' documentation clause.
- The corresponding-license determination happens in adjudication, not by email - the staff reply is an invitation to apply, not a ruling.
- NO provisional or temporary license in practice, contra NRS 641A.242(5)'s text (staff statement 2026-08-11). Plan on full processing time with no bridge credential.
- Confirm current fees and Certemy mechanics on the board's reciprocity page.
- Mirror hazard: third-party code sites still print the pre-amendment 'may issue' text of NRS 641A.242 even though the mandatory version took effect October 1, 2025 — cite the enrolled bill or the official legislature page, not a mirror.
Fable: primary sources read and analyzed directly
- NRS 641A.231, Clinical professional counselors: qualifications ('Except as otherwise provided in NRS 641A.242...') — https://law.justia.com/codes/nevada/chapter-641a/statute-641a-231/ (verified 2026-08-19; the official leg.state.nv.us chapter page exceeded fetch limits, so the official-text mirror was used)
- NRS 641A.242, expedited license by endorsement, as amended by AB 450 (2025) — enrolled bill text read in full, confirming 'may' changed to 'shall' and deletion of the investigation-proof and open-ended documentation clauses — https://archive.leg.state.nv.us/Session/83rd2025/Bills/AB/AB450_R1.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
- NRS 641A.235, 641A.290, 641A.305 (related fee and endorsement provisions) — https://www.leg.state.nv.us/nrs/nrs-641a.html (no fetchable official copy located 2026-08-19: page exceeded fetch limits)
- NAC 641A — https://www.leg.state.nv.us/NAC/NAC-641A.html (no fetchable official copy located 2026-08-19: page exceeded fetch limits)
- Nevada Board of Examiners for Marriage and Family Therapists and Clinical Professional Counselors — https://marriage.nv.gov/ (verified 2026-08-19)
- Counseling Compact, 'Governor of Nevada signs Compact Law' (AB 163 signed 6/10/2025) — https://counselingcompact.gov/governor-of-nevada-signs-compact-law/ (verified 2026-08-19)
- Nevada board licensing staff, email reply to a cohort inquiry, 2026-08-11 (informal, non-binding; private correspondence, no public URL) — reciprocity route + no-provisional statement
Reciprocity under Plc 313.37: Washington is on OPLC's published qualifying-jurisdictions table for Clinical Mental Health Counselor. Reciprocity applicants submit NO transcripts and no exam scores — the 60-hour test was applied to Washington's standards, not to you.
Now, with a full license — no minimum time holding it appears anywhere in the rule or on the table.
Not examined on the reciprocity track.
Not examined.
New Hampshire's RSA 310:17 license-reciprocity provision was enacted by 2023 N.H. Laws ch. 111:1 (HB 594, 2023 session), effective August 27, 2023, per the source note printed on the statute's own General Court page — the statutory basis for the OPLC qualifying-jurisdictions table on which Washington appears.
- Verify Washington is still on the table the week you file — it's an agency-maintained list, not a statute.
- Universal application + fee + license verification + FBI check is the whole packet.
Fable: primary sources read and analyzed directly
- RSA 310:17, License Reciprocity, and RSA 330-A:19 (Clinical Mental Health Counselors) — https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/XXX/310/310-17.htm and https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/XXX/330-A/330-A-19.htm (verified 2026-08-19)
- NH OPLC, 'New Changes for Reciprocity in New Hampshire' — Qualifying Jurisdictions table, Board of Mental Health Practice: Washington listed for Clinical Mental Health Counselor — https://www.oplc.nh.gov/new-changes-reciprocity-new-hampshire (verified 2026-08-19)
- N.H. Code Admin. R. Plc 313 (Board of Mental Health Practice), incl. Plc 313.37 reciprocity — (no fetchable official copy located 2026-08-19: the Plc 300 rules page on gencourt.state.nh.us fetched but does not contain Plc 313.37, and no other official copy fetched)
Occupational-licensing reciprocity (ORC ch. 4796): licensed 1+ year in good standing with substantially similar scope — and Ohio dropped the NCMHCE requirement for the LPCC effective Jan 1, 2026, which invalidates every older guide.
Open now, per the board's own written answer (2026-08-21): 'You do not need to hold an out of state license for one year to qualify for a license via reciprocity.' The one-year-plus-active-practice clock belongs to the ch. 4796 universal statute; the board processes counselor reciprocity under its own rule (OAC 4757-13-06), which sets no time floor.
Settled twice over: the 1/1/2026 policy change on the board's live instructions page, and now the board's written answer — 'The NCE will suffice for LPCC licensure requirements.'
Light under reciprocity.
Ohio Revised Code chapter 4796 (universal occupational-license recognition) was enacted in its entirety by Senate Bill 131 of the 134th General Assembly, effective December 29, 2023 — every section's legislative history on codes.ohio.gov traces to that bill, and House Bill 442 of the 133rd General Assembly never touched the chapter — while the LPCC's separate NCMHCE requirement was eliminated effective January 1, 2026 per the CSWMFT Board's October 17, 2025 announcement.
- Confirm the 2026 exam change still stands when filing.
- Ohio is live on the compact, which matters to the cohort only after the 90-quarter cure.
Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — ORC 4796.03, OAC 4757-13-06, and the live LPCC Application Instructions page (which verifies the 1/1/2026 NCMHCE drop; the 10/17/2025 news-release URL is dead).
- Ohio CSWMFT Board, 'CSWMFT Board Changing Counselor Licensure Exam Requirements,' October 17, 2025 — NCMHCE eliminated for the LPCC effective January 1, 2026 — the original news-release URL went dead by 2026-08-20; the change is verified on the live LPCC Application Instructions page cited below ('You are not required to take the NCMHCE to qualify for the LPCC... exam policy change effective 1/1/2026')
- OAC 4757-13-06 (endorsement/reciprocity of an LPC or LPCC license), eff. 12/26/2023 — https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-administrative-code/rule-4757-13-06 (verified 2026-08-19)
- OAC 4757-13-02 (requirements for licensure as professional counselor; subsec. (A) 'rule 4757-13-01 or 4757-13-06'), eff. 12/26/2023 — https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-administrative-code/rule-4757-13-02 (verified 2026-08-19)
- OAC 4757-13-03 (requirements for licensure as LPCC; experience), eff. 4/13/2026 — https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-administrative-code/rule-4757-13-03 (verified 2026-08-19)
- OAC 4757-13-01 (education requirements; (A)(1) psychology degrees excluded; (A)(4) core areas), eff. 3/21/2022 — https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-administrative-code/rule-4757-13-01 (verified 2026-08-19)
- ORC 4757.22 (LPCC), eff. 4/6/2023, HB 509 (134th GA) — https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-4757.22 (verified 2026-08-19)
- ORC 4757.23 (LPC; (D) temporary license), eff. 10/9/2021, HB 263 (133rd GA) — https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-4757.23 (verified 2026-08-19)
- ORC 4796.03 (universal licensure recognition; licensure of out-of-state licensee), eff. 12/29/2023, SB 131 (134th GA) — https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-4796.03 (verified 2026-08-19)
- ORC 4796.01 and 4796.02 (definitions; application of chapter — no health carve-out), eff. 12/29/2023, SB 131 (134th GA) — https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/chapter-4796 (verified 2026-08-19)
- Ohio CSWMFT, Out-of-State Counselors reciprocity checklist — https://cswmft.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/cswmft/get-licensed/out-of-state-applicants/out-of-state-counselors (verified 2026-08-19)
- Ohio CSWMFT, LPCC Application Instructions (restates that the NCMHCE is not required effective 1/1/2026) — https://cswmft.ohio.gov/get-licensed/counselors/LPCC-application-instructions (verified 2026-08-19)
- Ohio CSWMFT, Counseling Compact Privileges ($25 + $30; began issuing privileges 1/5/2026) — https://cswmft.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/cswmft/get-licensed/counselors/counseling_compact_privileges (verified 2026-08-19)
- ORC 4743.09 (telehealth standards), eff. 4/9/2025, SB 95 (135th GA) — https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-4743.09 (verified 2026-08-19)
Endorsement: the board's own application guidance says endorsement applicants need no national-exam verification, and the rule sets no minimum time licensed.
Open now with the full license in hand. Document set per the board: FBI and OSBI fingerprint background checks (two separate checks), official transcript direct from the university, board-to-board license verification (their form or Washington's equivalent), the fee via the online portal — and then the Oklahoma jurisprudence exam, which you register for after the complete application earns an exam eligibility letter.
No national exam for endorsement (Oklahoma never required the NCMHCE for anyone — its rules name only the NCE, confirmed by a full read of the rules text). But the state's own jurisprudence exam — the Oklahoma Legal and Ethical Responsibilities Examination — is mandatory for every endorsement applicant: OAC 86:10-25-3(4), and the board's application page spells out the sequence (complete application → exam eligibility letter → register).
Corroborated in the board's own words: an endorsement application 'does not require a traditional academic review' — the degree is primary-source verified by an official transcript sent directly from the university, and nothing in it is graded.
The three-year mandatory endorsement provision at 59 O.S. §1906(E) was added by Laws 2019, c. 363, §62, effective November 1, 2019, and the companion Universal Licensing Recognition Act at 59 O.S. §4150.1 was added by Laws 2021, c. 342, §2, effective November 1, 2021, per each section's own amendment-history note (available only on the Justia mirror; no official Oklahoma copy would fetch).
- Two warnings straight from the board: do not submit a partial application (the Board will not review or accept it — gather all five items first), and fees are non-refundable once paid.
- The jurisprudence exam is settled by direct read — OAC 86:10-25-3(4) and the board page's Step 4 both require it for endorsement — and no national exam appears anywhere in the endorsement requirements.
- Transcript delivery is specific: electronically from the university bursar to the board's inbox (password-protected), or sealed by mail — not uploaded by you.
- 59 O.S. §1906(E) — the statute's mandatory-endorsement provision — requires three years since initial full (post-provisional) licensure. The board's endorsement rule (86:10-25-3, 'shall issue') sets no time floor, and the board's guidance and written answer put no time condition on endorsement — but nobody has asked the under-three-years question directly. If licensed under three years, ask it before filing.
Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — OAC 86:10-25-1 to -25-3, 59 O.S. §1906 (2025, Justia mirror), and the board's application page; jurisprudence-exam correction folded the same day
- OAC Title 86 ch. 10, LPC Permanent Rules (7/25/2024) — 86:10-5, 9-2, 11-1, 11-5, 13-1, 15-2, 15-5, 25-1 to -25-3 (endorsement), 31-3, 33 — https://oklahoma.gov/content/dam/ok/en/behavioralhealth/documents/acts-and-regulations/LPC-UNOFFICIAL-PERMANENT-RULES.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
- Licensed Professional Counselors Act, 59 O.S. §§1901-1920, board-posted PDF captioned 'AS AMENDED 2013' — confirmed stale: text stops at §1906(D) and omits subsection (E) — https://oklahoma.gov/content/dam/ok/en/behavioralhealth/documents/acts-and-regulations/ACT-LPC.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
- 59 O.S. §1906 (2025), incl. subsection (E) three-year mandatory endorsement, added Laws 2019 c. 363 §62 — Justia mirror; oklahoma.gov, oklegislature.gov and oscn.net were tested directly and are JavaScript/ASP-gated, so no official copy fetched 2026-08-19 — https://law.justia.com/codes/oklahoma/title-59/section-59-1906/ (verified 2026-08-19)
- 59 O.S. §4150.1, Universal Licensing Recognition Act (subsections (A), (B)(1), (G), (H), (L)), added Laws 2021 c. 342 §2 — Justia mirror; no fetchable official copy located 2026-08-19 — https://law.justia.com/codes/oklahoma/2024/title-59/section-59-4150-1/ (verified 2026-08-19)
- OSBBHL, Making Application — confirms endorsement requires no national-exam verification, no practicum form, no academic review; last modified 4/21/2026 — https://oklahoma.gov/behavioralhealth/making-application.html (verified 2026-08-19)
- OSBBHL, Academic Requirements, LPC (60 semester / 90 quarter hours; core areas; 5 electives; CACREP treatment) — https://oklahoma.gov/behavioralhealth/academic-requirements/licensed-professional-counselor.html (verified 2026-08-19)
- OSBBHL, Out-of-State Verification Form (captures date of issue, exam, and Section 4 supervision data) — https://oklahoma.gov/content/dam/ok/en/behavioralhealth/documents/board-info/board-forms/OUT-OF-STATE-VERIFICATION-FORM.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
- Rule Impact Statement, LPC 2025 — confirms pending amendments to 86:10-1-2, 7-2, 9-1, 9-2, 11-3 to 11-6, 15-2, 15-4, 15-8, with Subchapter 25 (endorsement) untouched — https://oklahoma.gov/content/dam/ok/en/behavioralhealth/documents/acts-and-regulations/Rule%20Impact%20Statement_LPC_2025.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
- Counseling Compact fees and jurisprudence table (OK: not live, jurisprudence Yes) — https://counselingcompact.gov/compact-fees-and-jurisprudence-exam/ (verified 2026-08-19)
- Oklahoma State Board of Behavioral Health Licensure — written answer to a direct inquiry, 2026-08-20: endorsement requires no traditional academic review (transcript is primary-source degree verification only); full document set and submission warnings provided. Informal staff answer, non-binding.
Endorsement (Reg. 36-14): the regulation's text contains no education, exam, hours, or years-licensed test — licensure on the strength of the out-of-state license — and the board's own webpage endorsement section matches the regulation.
Now, on the text.
Not required by the endorsement regulation.
Not reviewed per the text.
South Carolina's endorsement regulation, S.C. Code Regs. 36-14, took its current lenient form through a State Register rulemaking filed as S.C. State Register Volume 46, Issue 5, Document No. 5075, effective May 27, 2022 — an administrative amendment rather than a numbered session-law act; the compact provisions in the same title (§§40-75-910 to 40-75-1050) were separately enacted by 2024 Act No. 189 (S.610), effective May 21, 2024.
- The regulation is genuinely this lenient, and the board's webpage endorsement section matches it. Do not confuse the 60-hour and exam requirements shown elsewhere on the same LLR page — those belong to the Associate (initial-licensure) pathway, not endorsement.
- The board's levers are an undefined 'other documentation' clause and an equivalent-credential-level test; call to confirm scope before filing.
- The statute's verb is 'may' (§40-75-260(B)(1)) even where the companion section reads unqualified — the board retains discretion; the bare rule being applied as written is exactly what the pending board query asks.
Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — Reg. 36-14 complete: license in good standing, no pending investigations, application + read-the-rules certification + fee, 'other documentation,' equivalent credential level; no education, exam, hours, or years test in the text
- S.C. Code Ann. §40-75-220 (licensure requirements; SLED/FBI fingerprint checks; compact applicants at subsec. (C), added by 2024 Act No. 189) — https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t40c075.php (verified 2026-08-19)
- S.C. Code Ann. §40-75-240 (Associate licenses; two-year term; extension) — https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t40c075.php (verified 2026-08-19)
- S.C. Code Ann. §40-75-250 (renewal; biennial; suicide-assessment CE per 2024 Act No. 158, eff. May 20, 2024) — https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t40c075.php (verified 2026-08-19)
- S.C. Code Ann. §40-75-260 (reciprocal agreements; licensure of applicants credentialed in other jurisdictions) — https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t40c075.php (verified 2026-08-19)
- S.C. Code Ann. §40-75-800 (Behavioral Telehealth Registration; $10 fee; no in-person services, no SC office) — https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t40c075.php (verified 2026-08-19)
- S.C. Code Ann. §§40-75-910 to 40-75-1050 (Professional Counseling Compact, Article 6; enacted by 2024 Act No. 189 (S.610), eff. May 21, 2024) — https://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t40c075.php (verified 2026-08-19)
- S.C. Code Regs. 36-14, Licensure by Endorsement (confirmed verbatim: license in good standing, no pending investigation, application and fee, 'other documentation,' equivalent-credential-level test; no education, exam, or hours requirement in the text; amended eff. May 27, 2022) — https://www.scstatehouse.gov/coderegs/Chapter%2036.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
- S.C. Code Regs. 36-04, Licensing Provisions for Professional Counselor Associates (60 graduate semester hours; amended eff. May 23, 2025) — https://www.scstatehouse.gov/coderegs/Chapter%2036.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
- S.C. Code Regs. 36-05, Licensing Provisions for Licensed Professional Counselors (1,500/1,380/120 hours; supervisor pre-approval) — https://www.scstatehouse.gov/coderegs/Chapter%2036.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
- S.C. Code Regs. 36-06, Licensing Provisions for LPC Supervisors — https://www.scstatehouse.gov/coderegs/Chapter%2036.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
- Former S.C. Code Regs. 36-04(6) grandfathering clause (superseded text, retained only on this mirror; no current official copy preserves it) — https://regulations.justia.com/states/south-carolina/chapter-36/article-3/section-36-04/ (verified 2026-08-19)
- SC LLR Board of Examiners, Professional Counselor page — the Endorsement section requires only license in good standing, no pending investigation, application and fee, 'other documentation,' and equivalent credential level, matching Reg. 36-14; the 60-semester-hour and NCE/NCMHCE requirements on the same page belong to the separate Professional Counselor Associate section — https://llr.sc.gov/cou/pc.aspx (verified 2026-08-19)
- SC LLR, Requirements and Instructions for Licensure as a Professional Counselor Associate (nine content areas; 100-hour practicum; 600-hour internship) — https://llr.sc.gov/cou/pdfs/LPCA_Req_and_Inst_pkg.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
- SC LLR, Behavioral Telehealth Registration page — https://llr.sc.gov/cou/behavioral_telehealth.aspx (verified 2026-08-19)
- SC LLR Counselors Board fee schedule — https://llr.sc.gov/cou/fees.aspx (verified 2026-08-19)
- SC Board of Examiners minutes, February 10, 2026 (compact not operational; no compact application fee; jurisprudence exam in development) — https://llr.sc.gov/cou/Minutes/20260508114956559_MINUTES%202-10-26%20(DRAFT).pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
- S. 351 (2025-2026), joint resolution approving Regulation Document No. 5354 amending R.36-04 and R.36-07 (introduced 2/13/2025; still in committee, not enacted) — https://www.scstatehouse.gov/sess126_2025-2026/bills/351.htm (verified 2026-08-19)
- H. 3479 (2025-2026), Skills-Based Hiring Act, proposed §40-1-710 expedited out-of-state licensure — confirmed NOT enacted — https://www.scstatehouse.gov/sess126_2025-2026/bills/3479.htm (verified 2026-08-19)
- CCE, South Carolina Application and Education Review for Licensure as a Professional Counselor or Professional Counselor Associate — https://www.cce-global.org/assets/StateLicensure/SC_Application_and_Education_Review_for_LPC_or_LPCA.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
The no-transcript endorsement rule (ARSD 20:68:01:11) belongs to the plain LPC — real, at three years, with an NCE score verification. The LPC-MH, the tier that diagnoses and matches a WA LMHC's scope, runs through a different rule (ARSD 20:73:01:03) and the state's pages require the NCMHCE for it. So South Dakota at +3 buys the non-clinical credential; full scope equivalence is an NCMHCE question.
Open now for most of this cohort, per the board's written answer (Program Manager, 2026-08-21): 'We can count your time under supervision towards the 3 years necessary for licensure by endorsement.' Three continuous years of licensure INCLUDING associate-credential time — which a mid-2023 LMHCA start satisfied by mid-2026. The endorsement still buys the plain LPC only.
LPC: NCE score verification (no retake). LPC-MH: NCMHCE.
Not requested on the endorsement route.
Confirmed deliberate implementation of 2020's SL 2020, ch. 165 — SDCL 36-32-67 carries source note 'SL 2020, ch 165, §21' and SDCL 36-32-68 carries 'SL 2020, ch 165, §22' — with ARSD 20:68:01:11 promulgated as the implementing rule (Law Implemented: SDCL 36-32-67); no separate session law shaped the rule itself.
- Decide which credential you actually need before filing — the easy door leads to the lesser license.
- Never apply on the in-state route: South Dakota won't backdate supervision.
- Universal-recognition check 2026-08-19: South Dakota's 2021 endorsement-mandate chapter (SDCL 36-1D) is a dead letter at this board — the endorsement form cites only the ordinary statute and imposes the three-year and exam requirements the mandate chapter never mentions.
Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — ARSD 20:68:01:11 complete: three continuous years, NCE score verification, active practice per SDCL 36-32-67, an eight-item document set with no transcript. The LPC-MH split (20:73:01:03) verified in the 8/19 sweep.
- ARSD 20:68:01:11 Application for professional counselor by endorsement - applicant licensed in another state — https://regulations.justia.com/states/south-dakota/title-20/article-20-68/chapter-20-68-01/section-20-68-01-11/ (verified 2026-08-19; eight enumerated items, none of which is a transcript; official sdlegislature.gov rule viewer renders only via JavaScript and returns no text)
- SDCL 36-32-67 (endorsement; definition of active practice) and SDCL 36-32-68 (out-of-state applicants, 90-day temporary license, SL 2020 ch. 165 sec. 22) — https://law.justia.com/codes/south-dakota/title-36/chapter-32/section-36-32-67/ and https://law.justia.com/codes/south-dakota/title-36/chapter-32/section-36-32-68/ (verified 2026-08-19; §36-32-67 source note SL 2020, ch 165, §21; §36-32-68 source note SL 2020, ch 165, §22; active practice = at least 1,500 hours of clinical experience)
- SD Board of Examiners Application for Licensure by Endorsement (rev. 9/2023) — https://dss.sd.gov/docs/licensing/counselors/applications/Application_for_Licensure_by_Endorsement.pdf (verified 2026-08-19; form marked SDBCE ENDORSEMENT APPLICATION 9/2023 and requests no transcript)
- SD DSS Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) page — Plan of Supervision, CACREP or 48-hour master's in counseling, NCE — https://dss.sd.gov/licensingboards/counselors/lpc.aspx (verified 2026-08-19)
- SD DSS Licensed Professional Counselor - Mental Health (LPC-MH) page — NCMHCE required — https://dss.sd.gov/licensingboards/counselors/lpc-mh.aspx (verified 2026-08-19)
- ARSD 20:73:01:03 Licensure by reciprocity (LPC-MH) — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/south-dakota/ARSD-20-73-01-03 (verified 2026-08-19)
- ARSD art. 20:68 (LPC) and art. 20:73 (LPC-MH); SDCL ch. 36-32 — https://sdlegislature.gov/Rules/Administrative/20:68 (no fetchable official copy located 2026-08-19 — the sdlegislature.gov rules viewer serves only a JavaScript shell)
- SD Board Counseling Compact information — https://dss.sd.gov/licensingboards/counselors/compact.aspx (verified 2026-08-19; 'South Dakota is not able to issue privileges at this time')
- Counseling Compact member map — https://counselingcompact.gov/map/ (verified 2026-08-19; South Dakota listed as a member state)
- SDCL 36-1D-1 (the 'substantially equivalent' clause) — https://law.justia.com/codes/south-dakota/title-36/chapter-01d/section-36-1d-1/ (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- SDCL 36-1D-3 (compact savings clause) — https://law.justia.com/codes/south-dakota/title-36/chapter-01d/section-36-1d-3/ (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
Virginia rewrote its endorsement rule effective July 2, 2026 (Virginia Register vol. 42, iss. 20) — and the amendment deleted the former 24-of-60-months practice test is gone. The current rule is a flat six-item list: application, fee, verification of every license you have ever held (with no unresolved board action), verification of a passing score on whatever exam your licensing state required, a current NPDB self-query, and an official transcript documenting completion of a graduate degree program — all prefaced by one gate: you must hold or have held an out-of-state professional counselor license that allows independent assessment, diagnosis, and treatment.
On the current text: as soon as you hold the full, independent WA LMHC. No duration-of-licensure or years-of-practice requirement appears anywhere in the amended rule. Treat this with care — the amendment is weeks old and untested. Confirm with the board before filing.
Whatever exam your licensing state required — the NCE satisfies it for Washington licensees.
An official transcript documenting a completed graduate degree. The amended rule states no hour count and no content list; how the board actually reviews transcripts under the new text is unobserved.
18VAC115-20-45 took its current shape through a Virginia Board of Counseling regulatory amendment published at Virginia Register Volume 42, Issue 20, effective July 2, 2026, which replaced the previously subsection-structured endorsement rule (last amended at Volume 32, Issue 24, effective August 24, 2016) with a flat six-item list carrying no duration-of-licensure threshold.
- The amendment is six weeks old: expect board staff themselves to still be calibrating, and get any eligibility answer in writing.
- Request your certified WA licensure file from DOH early; it remains the slowest document.
- Associate-time questions are moot here now — the gate is holding the independent license, not years of practice.
Fable: the amended rule was read in full on 2026-08-19
- 18VAC115-20-45, Licensure by endorsement — current text read in full 2026-08-19 via the Part II full-text view; see corrections: the section contains no subsection (B)(2) and no 24-of-60-months clinical-practice test — https://law.lis.virginia.gov/admincodefull/title18/agency115/chapter20/partII/ (verified 2026-08-19)
- 18VAC115-20-51, Coursework requirements (60 semester or 90 quarter hours; 12 content areas; 600-hour internship with 240 hours face-to-face); historical notes confirm amendment at Va. Register Vol. 42, Issue 6, eff. December 18, 2025 — https://law.lis.virginia.gov/admincode/title18/agency115/chapter20/section51/ (verified 2026-08-19)
- VA Board of Counseling, LPC Endorsement applicant page and instructions — current live text requires only an 'active, unrestricted professional counselor license in another US jurisdiction that allows independent assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of behavioral health conditions,' with no numeric duration requirement — https://www.dhp.virginia.gov/Boards/Counseling/ApplicantResources/LPCapplicantinfo/LPCEndorsement/ (verified 2026-08-19)
- Counseling Compact — Virginia listed as not live/operational on the Compact's official fees and jurisprudence table — https://counselingcompact.gov/compact-fees-and-jurisprudence-exam/ (verified 2026-08-19)
- 18VAC115-20-45 section view with historical notes — shows the section was most recently amended at Virginia Register Volume 42, Issue 20, effective July 2, 2026, i.e. after the entry's own 'current through 7/1/2026' snapshot — https://law.lis.virginia.gov/admincode/title18/agency115/chapter20/section45/ (verified 2026-08-19)
- VA Board of Counseling LPC Endorsement page (the source of the entry's quoted 'unrestricted... independent assessment, diagnosis, and treatment' language) — https://www.dhp.virginia.gov/Boards/Counseling/ApplicantResources/LPCapplicantinfo/LPCEndorsement/ (verified 2026-08-19)
Universal recognition (W.Va. Code §30-1-27, 2025): the state must issue the license, with no education review and no exam, but only once you establish West Virginia residence. Without residency, West Virginia's telehealth registration serves WV clients from anywhere; see the remote-practice section.
Immediately upon moving there. The telehealth registration works without residency; see the remote-practice section.
No competency exam under universal recognition — though §30-1-27(d) permits the board to require a West Virginia law (jurisprudence) exam.
Not re-reviewed by West Virginia — but §30-1-27(b)(4)-(5) inherits Washington's requirements rather than waiving them: the statute asks whether education, exam and experience standards existed in Washington and whether Washington verifies you met them. The sending state's file is the file.
W. Va. Code §30-1-27, the Universal Professional and Occupational Licensing Act of 2025, was enacted by Senate Bill 458 of the 2025 Regular Session, and §30-1-26 (interstate telehealth registration) was most recently amended by Senate Bill 299 of the same 2025 Regular Session, both per the bill-history records printed on the WV Legislature's official code pages; those pages do not display the bills' specific effective dates.
- The board's website may lag the 2025 statute — confirm implementation.
- A universal-recognition license is WV-only and can't anchor compact privileges.
- The 5-of-7-years endorsement alternative (no residency) lands around license + 5.
- §30-1-27(a)(2) also unlocks without residency for a spouse of an active-duty military member accompanying them to a West Virginia station — a narrow alternative the residency framing above omits.
Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — §§30-1-27, 30-1-26, 30-31-8 complete; 27 CSR 1 remains unextractable (Word binary at the Secretary of State), so the board-rule layer is still unread
- W. Va. Code §30-1-27 (Universal Professional and Occupational Licensing Act of 2025; license issued without examination to a person establishing WV residence, on an out-of-state license in good standing; enacted 2025 Regular Session SB 458 per the code page's bill-history record) — https://code.wvlegislature.gov/30-1-27/ (verified 2026-08-19)
- W. Va. Code §30-1-26 (interstate telehealth registration; most recently amended 2025 Regular Session SB 299 per the code page's bill-history record) — https://code.wvlegislature.gov/30-1-26/ (verified 2026-08-19)
- W. Va. Code §30-31-8 (requirements for license to practice counseling, incl. subsec. (b) recognition of a substantially equivalent out-of-state license) — https://code.wvlegislature.gov/30-31-8/ (verified 2026-08-19)
- 27 CSR 1, WV Board of Examiners in Counseling legislative rule, §§5.2-5.3, 6.1 — document confirmed live at the Secretary of State's site but served as a Word/PDF binary that did not extract, so the cited subsections were not independently re-read (no fetchable machine-readable official copy located 2026-08-19) — https://apps.sos.wv.gov/adlaw/csr/readfile.aspx?DocId=56956&Format=WORD
- WVBEC, 'Becoming a Licensed Counselor' (confirms the endorsement path for applicants fully licensed at the highest level in another jurisdiction) — https://wvbec.org/becoming-a-licensed-counselor/ (verified 2026-08-19)
Two doors at one year: endorsement (§32-3274, no residency required — but the degree must be a master's 'in the applicable field,' and a psychology-titled MA needs pre-clearing) or universal recognition (§32-4302, which the state must grant, with no degree review at all, but which requires Arizona residency). Arizona also has a telehealth registration, covered in the remote-practice section.
Full license date + 1 year, now confirmed: the board's credentialing specialist answered in writing that licenses are not combined to meet the one-year requirement — the license must be at the same practice level, so associate time does not count. Universal recognition (§ 32-4302) works identically with one addition: Arizona residency.
NCE qualifies everywhere in the scheme; no jurisprudence exam, just an online statutes tutorial.
Corroborated in the board's own words: 'The endorsement pathway does not look at the program or hours, however the university must be regionally accredited.' Official transcripts are submitted, but only the degree and the institution's accreditation matter.
Arizona's universal-recognition statute, A.R.S. §32-4302, was enacted by House Bill 2569 of the 2019 regular session, signed April 10, 2019 and effective August 27, 2019, per the Board of Behavioral Health Examiners' own universal-recognition page; the enacting bill and year for the separate §32-3274 endorsement pathway were not determined this pass.
- The specialist's answers carry the board's standard disclaimer (staff may not interpret statute) — treat them as corroboration, keep the email, and expect the same-practice-level reading at intake.
- Ask the board whether a psychology MA passes 'applicable field' before filing endorsement — or moot it with residency-based universal recognition.
- Compact-live state, but that's irrelevant to this cohort until the 90-quarter cure and WA's go-live.
- A §32-4302 universal-recognition license is valid only in Arizona and expressly not compact-eligible (subsection (F)); the endorsement route carries no such limit. (The statute also has a military-spouse door that skips the residency requirement.)
Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — A.R.S. §§32-3274 and 32-4302 (Justia mirrors; azleg.gov JS-gated), and the credentialing specialist's three inline answers re-read verbatim in Gmail the same day. §32-3275 and the A.A.C. rules remain unfetched.
- A.R.S. §32-4302 (universal licensure recognition) — https://law.justia.com/codes/arizona/title-32/section-32-4302/ (verified 2026-08-19; azleg.gov was tested directly and is JavaScript-gated, returning no text, so the mirror was used)
- A.R.S. §32-3274 (licensure by endorsement, incl. the master's-in-the-applicable-field requirement) — https://law.justia.com/codes/arizona/title-32/section-32-3274/ (verified 2026-08-19; azleg.gov JavaScript-gated)
- A.R.S. §32-3275 (endorsement basic requirements) — (no fetchable official copy located 2026-08-19)
- A.R.S. §32-3271(A)(2) (90-day nonresident exemption) — https://law.justia.com/codes/arizona/title-32/section-32-3271/ (verified 2026-08-19; azleg.gov JavaScript-gated)
- A.R.S. §36-3606 (out-of-state telehealth registration) — https://law.justia.com/codes/arizona/title-36/section-36-3606/ (verified 2026-08-19; azleg.gov JavaScript-gated)
- A.A.C. R4-6-304, R4-6-215, R4-6-501/502/505 (Supp. 25-3, incl. the 11/2/2025 rulemaking) — (no fetchable official copy located 2026-08-19)
- AZ Board of Behavioral Health Examiners, Universal Recognition page — https://bbhe.az.gov/universal-recognition (verified 2026-08-19)
- bbhe.az.gov licensed-in-another-state and telepractice pages — (no fetchable official copy located 2026-08-19)
- counselingcompact.gov fees and jurisprudence tables (AZ live 9/30/2025; $250 + $30) — https://counselingcompact.gov/compact-fees-and-jurisprudence-exam/ (verified 2026-08-19)
- Arizona Board of Behavioral Health Examiners, Credentialing Specialist — written answers to a direct inquiry, 2026-08-20: one-year clock is same-practice-level license only (no combining); universal recognition adds only residency; endorsement does not review program or hours (regional accreditation suffices). Informal staff answer, non-binding.
Kansas has a genuinely Mississippi-shaped statute that nobody has wired up. K.S.A. 48-3406 — expanded in 2021 from a military provision to cover anyone who has established or intends to establish Kansas residency — says that notwithstanding any other law, the licensing body shall issue a license to an applicant who has held a similar-scope out-of-state license and worked a year in the occupation. No transcript clause, no education equivalence, a 45-day decision clock, and the license issues probationary then converts. It names the Behavioral Sciences Regulatory Board expressly. The problem: the BSRB has adopted no implementing regulation and publishes no application for the route, and its ordinary education rule accepts a degree in counseling 'or a related field' but requires the program itself to be identifiable as counselor training (K.A.R. 102-3-3a(b)(1), (f), (g)) — which is where a psychology-titled degree has to make its case. Statute and board practice point in opposite directions; the statute is supposed to win, but no one has made it.
One year in practice + Kansas residency (intent to establish it suffices at filing) — once the BSRB confirms in writing that it processes 48-3406 applications. Without that confirmation, fall back to the cure math below.
The NCMHCE has a substitution: 15 graduate diagnosis credits, 3 years clinical practice, or a diagnostician's attestation — two of three suffice. Under 48-3406, no exam beyond a possible jurisprudence test keyed to Kansas-law differences.
Not reviewed under 48-3406 as written. On the ordinary route, the 60-hour standard with the confirmed supplementation reading (coursework 'as a part of or in addition to' the degree).
K.S.A. 48-3406 began as a military expedited-licensure section and was extended to all residency-establishing applicants effective 2021, with further amendments through 2025. The BSRB's regulation index contains no implementing rule for it.
- Write to the BSRB citing K.S.A. 48-3406 before doing anything else — the board's silence (no rule, no form) is the whole risk. The statute obliges boards to adopt implementing rules; this one hasn't.
- Residency or documented intent to establish it is required — this is a relocation path.
- Get the degree-title reconciliation question answered in writing regardless, in case the universal route stalls and the cure route becomes the plan.
Fable: decisive texts read in full — K.S.A. 48-3406 and 48-3406a on 2026-08-19; K.A.R. 102-3-3a complete on 2026-08-20 (the 'as a part of or in addition to' supplementation text confirmed verbatim at (b)(2)).
- K.A.R. 102-3-3a Education requirements (amended eff. 6/21/2024) — https://sos.ks.gov/publications/pubs_kar_Regs.aspx?KAR=102-3-3a (verified 2026-08-19)
- K.A.R. 102-3-4b Application for licensure based on reciprocity — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/kansas/K-A-R-102-3-4b (verified 2026-08-19; the official Kansas SOS KAR page at https://sos.ks.gov/publications/pubs_kar_Regs.aspx?KAR=102-3-4b timed out on three attempts)
- K.A.R. 102-3-7a Postgraduate supervised professional experience (LCPC) — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/kansas/K-A-R-102-3-7a
- K.S.A. 65-5804a (application/licensure) and K.S.A. 65-5807 (reciprocity) — https://ksrevisor.gov/statutes/chapters/ch65/065_058_0004a.html
- K.S.A. 48-3406 universal/expedited licensure; BSRB listed at (v)(6) — https://ksrevisor.gov/statutes/chapters/ch48/048_034_0006.html
- KS BSRB LPC & LCPC FAQs (exams, 60-hour rule, reciprocity, no jurisprudence exam, temporary license) — https://www.ksbsrb.ks.gov/professions/professional-counselors/faqs
- KS BSRB Professional Counselors statutes and regulations — https://www.ksbsrb.ks.gov/professions/professional-counselors/statutes-regulations
- K.S.A. 48-3406 (full current text incl. subsections (b), (c), (i), (j), (l), (r), (s), (t), (v), and history line) — https://ksrevisor.gov/statutes/chapters/ch48/048_034_0006.html (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- K.S.A. 48-3406a (parallel 2025 version; BSRB listed at (v)(6)) — https://ksrevisor.gov/statutes/chapters/ch48/048_034_0006a.html (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- K.S.A. 65-5807 — Licensure of individuals registered, certified or licensed in another jurisdiction (professional counselors) — https://ksrevisor.gov/statutes/chapters/ch65/065_058_0007.html (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- K.A.R. 102-3-3a — Education requirements (as published in Kansas Register Vol. 41 Issue 48, BSRB permanent administrative regulations, effective Dec. 16, 2022) — https://www.sos.ks.gov/publications/Register/Volume-41/Issues/Issue-48/12-01-22-50706.html (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-part)
- Kansas BSRB — complete regulation index (no rule implementing K.S.A. 48-3406 for any of the seven professions) — https://www.ksbsrb.ks.gov/statutes-and-regulations/bsrb-regulations (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- Kansas BSRB — Statutes & Regulations for Professional Counselors (lists K.A.R. 102-3-4b 'Application for licensure based on reciprocity' as the only inbound-license rule) — https://www.ksbsrb.ks.gov/professions/professional-counselors/statutes-regulations (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- Kansas BSRB — Instructions for Clinical Professional Counseling Licensure (LCPC), out-of-state document checklist — https://www.ksbsrb.ks.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/122/638632871786400000 (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-part)
- K.A.R. 100-6-7 — Application for licensure pursuant to K.S.A. 48-3406 (Kansas State Board of Healing Arts; cited as the contrast case showing another board DID adopt an implementing rule) — https://regulations.justia.com/states/kansas/agency-100/article-6/section-100-6-7/ (verified 2026-08-19; secondary)
Endorsement at one year: Act 253 of 2024 dropped the old five-year threshold, though the board's own downloadable forms still recite five years.
Full license date + 1 year, on the full license only — the board confirmed in writing (2026-08-20) that associate time does not count. The posted form’s five-year language is stale; submit it as normal.
NCE accepted.
Light under endorsement.
Louisiana's one-year endorsement threshold traces to Act 253 of the 2024 Regular Session (SB 60, Sen. Pressly — the 'Welcome Home Act,' enacted as La. R.S. 37:51-59), which set a statewide one-year universal recognition floor and which the LPC Board's September 20, 2024 Notice of Intent for LAC 46:LX-1101 and 3701 expressly states it amended its rule 'to align with'; Act 457 of the same 2024 Regular Session is a separate act that amended the distinct education-and-hours statute La. R.S. 37:1107.
- The forms-versus-rule conflict is resolved: the board confirmed in writing (2026-08-20) that the one-year rule governs and the posted form should be used as-is while its language is updated.
- Direct-hours check: Louisiana wants 1,900 direct client hours — more than WA's 1,200 minimum, so your logged total matters.
- The endorsement rule requires documentation of at least 40 continuing-education hours within the two years before applying (LAC 46:LX-1101(A)) — a requirement the board's emailed materials list omitted. Washington's biennial minimum is 36 hours, so count your CE before filing; four hours short is a real way to stall an otherwise clean application.
Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — LAC 46:LX-1101 (current through the June 2025 Register: one-year rule, NCE/NCMHCE/oral exam, 40-CEH documentation) and both board answers re-read verbatim in Gmail. R.S. 37:1107 and the Act 253 text by Opus agent as cited.
- La. R.S. 37:1107 (LPC requirements; 60 semester hours post-9/1/2015; 8 content areas; 3,000 hours over 2 years; statistics requirement at (E)(1); 90-day temporary at (G)(1)); live text confirms 'amended... Acts 2024, No. 457, §1' — https://legis.la.gov/legis/Law.aspx?d=93050 (verified 2026-08-19)
- Act 253 of the 2024 Regular Session (SB 60, Sen. Pressly) — the 'Welcome Home Act,' a universal occupational-license-recognition statute (La. R.S. 37:51-59) setting a statewide one-year out-of-state-license floor; the LPC Board's own Notice of Intent cites this Act as the reason it dropped its endorsement rule from five years to one — https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1379399 (verified 2026-08-19)
- LAC 46:LX-1101 (endorsement; one-year rule; NCE or NCMHCE or oral exam; 40 CEHs) — https://regulations.justia.com/states/louisiana/title-46/part-lx/subpart-1/chapter-11/section-lx-1101 (verified 2026-08-19; identical current text also hosted officially by the Board at https://www.lpcboard.org/assets/docs/Laws_Rules/46v60_December-2025.pdf)
- LAC 46:LX-603 (PLPC education; 60 hours; 8 content areas; 100/40 practicum and 600/240 internship; LA LPC-S supervisor), amended LR 50:1848 eff. 12/1/2024 — https://www.lpcboard.org/assets/docs/Laws_Rules/46v60_December-2025.pdf (verified 2026-08-19 that the Board's official current rules compilation is live and contains §603; full section text not re-extracted this pass)
- LAC 46:LX-605 (supervised practice: 3,000 / 1,900 direct / 1,000 indirect / 100 supervision with 50 individual; 2-6 year window) — https://www.lpcboard.org/assets/docs/Laws_Rules/46v60_December-2025.pdf (verified 2026-08-19 that §605 is present; full section text not re-extracted this pass)
- LA LPC Board Notice of Intent, LAC 46:LX-1101 and 3701, Louisiana Register 9/20/2024 — states the endorsement threshold was dropped from five years to one 'to align with Act 253 of the 2024 Legislative Session' — https://sbp.sos.la.gov/rules/2024-09%20DOH%20Licensed%20Professional%20Counselors%20Board%20of%20Examiners%20(1).pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
- LA LPC Board FAQ (one-year academic/supervision waiver; internal five-year contradiction) — https://www.lpcboard.org/page/frequently-asked-questions (page confirmed live 2026-08-19; most content is login-gated, so the specific FAQ text was not independently re-extracted)
- LPC Endorsement Application for Licensure PDF ($300; accepted exams; non-CACREP letter) — CONFIRMS the entry's caveat: the live form still requires 'licensed and actively practicing... for at least five (5) years' to waive academic and supervision requirements — https://www.lpcboard.org/assets/docs/Licensee_Info/LPC-Endorsement-Application-for-Licensure.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
- LA LPC Board Application Information (expedited $60; 6-8 week processing; military) — https://www.lpcboard.org/page/licensee-information (no fetchable official copy located 2026-08-19)
- Registered Out-of-State Telehealth Provider application (telehealth-only registration for out-of-state highest-level licensees) — https://www.lpcboard.org/ooorapplication (verified 2026-08-19)
- LAC 46:LX-505 (Teletherapy Guidelines) — https://www.lpcboard.org/assets/docs/Laws_Rules/46v60_December-2025.pdf (verified 2026-08-19 that §505 is present in the Board's official compilation; full section text not re-extracted this pass)
- Counseling Compact — Louisiana goes live 4/20/2026 — https://counselingcompact.gov/louisiana-goes-live/ (verified 2026-08-19)
- Counseling Compact fees and jurisprudence table (LA: live, $130 + $30 = $160, no jurisprudence exam) — https://counselingcompact.gov/compact-fees-and-jurisprudence-exam/ (verified 2026-08-19)
- LA LPC Board of Examiners, Credentialing Department — written staff answer to a direct inquiry, 2026-08-20 (one-year threshold; no education requirements at one year; required materials; same-day follow-up answer: the one-year clock runs on the full license only — associate time does not count). Informal and non-binding, but first-party and current.
Universal recognition at one year — requires establishing Mississippi residency.
Full license date + 1 year, upon residency.
No national re-examination — but the Mississippi Pass/Fail Jurisprudence Examination is required of every applicant: open-book (state rules + ACA code), 35 questions, 80% to pass, taken through CCE after the application is submitted and paid.
Not reviewed under universal recognition.
Miss. Code Ann. §73-50-2, the Universal Recognition of Occupational Licenses Act, was added by Laws 2021, House Bill 1263, effective July 1, 2021, per the statute's own credits line in the official code text hosted by the licensing board and echoed on the board's LPC by Universal page.
- The statute contains its own poison pill: a license issued this way is valid only in Mississippi and expressly does not make you compact-eligible.
- The board collects a copy of your original licensure file — supervision verification forms, transcript, national exam scores — from the sending state (or from you directly if the state won't forward it). Collected for the record, not re-judged.
Fable: decisive texts read in full — §73-50-2 on 2026-08-19; the board's LPC-by-Universal page (document set, residency proof, jurisprudence exam) on 2026-08-20. Part 2201 rules by Opus agent as cited.
- Miss. Code Ann. §73-30-9 (licensing of qualified applicants; privilege to practice), eff. 7/1/2022 — https://www.msblpc.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/2018-Statutes.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
- Miss. Code Ann. §73-30-15 (reciprocity with other states; routes residents to §73-50-2), eff. 7/1/2021 — https://www.msblpc.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/2018-Statutes.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
- Miss. Code Ann. §73-30-25(l) (30-day nonresident temporary-employment exemption) — https://www.msblpc.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/2018-Statutes.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
- Miss. Code Ann. §73-30-29 (renewal fees; 24 CE hours biennially), eff. 7/1/2022 — https://www.msblpc.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/2018-Statutes.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
- Miss. Code Ann. §73-50-2 (Universal Recognition of Occupational Licenses Act, added by Laws 2021, H.B. 1263, eff. 7/1/2021) — https://www.msblpc.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/73-50-2UniversalRecognitionofOccupationalLicensesActshorttitledefinitio002.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
- 30 Miss. Admin. Code Pt. 2201, Rule 4.2 (P-LPC education: 60 semester / 90 quarter hours; post-1/1/2017 CACREP or 'counseling' in title; the 12 content areas) — https://www.msblpc.org/wp-content/uploads/Part_2201_Rules_and_Regulations_Current.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
- 30 Miss. Admin. Code Pt. 2201, Rule 4.3 (LPC: 3,000 hours / 1,200 direct / 100 supervision; NCE or NCMHCE; out-of-state applicants must meet P-LPC minimums) — https://www.msblpc.org/wp-content/uploads/Part_2201_Rules_and_Regulations_Current.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
- 30 Miss. Admin. Code Pt. 2201, Rules 4.6-4.8 (Agreement of Reciprocity; Licensure by Comity, 5 years since initial licensure; military-trained and military spouse) — https://www.msblpc.org/wp-content/uploads/Part_2201_Rules_and_Regulations_Current.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
- 30 Miss. Admin. Code Pt. 2201, Rules 4.10-4.12 (Universal Licensing Requirements, governed by §73-50-2; Temporary Work Permit; Professional Counseling Compact) — https://www.msblpc.org/wp-content/uploads/Part_2201_Rules_and_Regulations_Current.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
- 30 Miss. Admin. Code Pt. 2201, Rule 7.5 (Distance Professional Services; BC-TMH or 9 clock hours) — https://www.msblpc.org/wp-content/uploads/Part_2201_Rules_and_Regulations_Current.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
- MS Board — Statutes and Rules index (current rules effective 03/02/2026) — https://www.msblpc.org/board/statutes-and-rules/ (verified 2026-08-19)
- MS Board — LPC by Comity (pre-application requirements, jurisprudence exam, DPS note for nonresidents) — https://www.msblpc.org/license/lpc-by-comity/ (verified 2026-08-19)
- MS Board — LPC by Universal (one-year licensure, MS residency proof, affidavit, jurisprudence exam) — https://www.msblpc.org/lpc-by-universal/ (verified 2026-08-19)
- 30 Miss. Admin. Code Pt. 2201, Rule 2.1 Fee Schedule — https://www.msblpc.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Fee_Schedule.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
- MS Board news — Mississippi Enacts Counseling Compact, HB 1056 signed 3/16/2022 — https://www.msblpc.org/mississippi-enacts-counseling-compact/ (verified 2026-08-19)
- MS Board homepage — Counseling Compact status and Chapter 9 rulemaking comment period closing 7/12/2026 — https://www.msblpc.org/ (verified 2026-08-19)
Universal recognition at one year — and Missouri is unusually kind to this exact cohort: the career-development course is excused by statute for out-of-state licensees (RSMo 337.510.2(1)), and a 48-semester/72-quarter degree is grandfathered for anyone who enrolled before Aug 28, 2023 — which is every MAP grad in these classes.
Full license date + 1 year.
NCE accepted; no national re-examination under reciprocity. But every Missouri licensee takes the state's written, open-book examination on Missouri law (RSMo 337.510.4) — plan on it.
Grandfathered at 72 quarter for this cohort; keep enrollment-date documentation handy.
RSMo 337.510's current version — including the §337.510.2(1) career-development exemption for prior and out-of-state licensees — took effect August 28, 2023 as enacted by 2023 House Bills 115 and 99, merged with Senate Bill 70 and Senate Bill 157; the 48-semester/72-quarter-hour grandfather for applicants enrolled before that date sits in the implementing rule 20 CSR 2095-2.010(1)(B), and the separate general universal-recognition statute RSMo 324.009 traces to 2018 Senate Bill 840.
- The grandfather keys to either date: a degree obtained before Aug 28, 2023 qualifies on its own (20 CSR 2095-2.010(1)(B) — 'obtained a master's degree or was enrolled'), so a June 2023 conferral on the transcript is sufficient documentation. Enrollment-date proof is a backup, not a requirement.
Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — RSMo 337.510 complete (career exemption at .2(1), one-year reciprocity at .3, open-book law exam at .4) and the full 20 CSR 2095-2 chapter (grandfather at 2.010(1)(B), NCE at 2.030).
- RSMo 337.510 (requirements; career-development exemption at 337.510.2(1); out-of-state licensure at subsec. 3; jurisprudence exam at subsec. 4; eff. 8/28/2023) — https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=337.510 (verified 2026-08-19)
- 20 CSR 2095-2, Licensure Requirements — incl. 2.005 provisional, 2.010(1)(B) 48-semester/72-quarter grandfather for applicants enrolled before 8/28/2023, 2.020 supervised experience, 2.021 supervisors, 2.030 NCE, 2.065 application — https://www.sos.mo.gov/cmsimages/adrules/csr/current/20csr/20c2095-2.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
- 20 CSR 2095-2.020, Supervised Counseling Experience — https://www.sos.mo.gov/cmsimages/adrules/csr/current/20csr/20c2095-2.pdf (verified 2026-08-19; official SOS copy substituted for the entry's law.cornell.edu mirror)
- Missouri Committee for Professional Counselors, LPC reciprocity checklist — (no fetchable official copy located 2026-08-19)
- Missouri Committee for Professional Counselors, licensure overview slides — (no fetchable official copy located 2026-08-19)
- RSMo 324.009 (general universal license recognition) — https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=324.009 (verified 2026-08-19)
- Counseling Compact member map — https://counselingcompact.gov/map/ (verified 2026-08-19)
Nebraska's universal-recognition statute (Neb. Rev. Stat. §84-950, enacted 2024) orders any occupational board to issue a license at the same practice level to anyone who has held a similar-scope credential for one year, where the sending state required education, training, or exams — no Nebraska education review, no supervision reconstruction, and no residency requirement anywhere in the section. That last part matters: the supervision-ratio wall that closed Nebraska's independent (diagnosing) tier sits in the ordinary reciprocity rules this statute overrides. Nobody appears to have tested it: the health department still publishes only its old five-year reciprocity application, so the first mover will be invoking the statute in writing rather than filling in a form.
Full license date + 1 year on the statute's own terms — but expect to cite §84-950 to a department that has not built the application for it.
No new national exam; a jurisprudence exam only if Nebraska requires one of its own applicants.
Not reviewed under §84-950 — the statute asks whether Washington imposed standards and whether you met them, which Washington verifies.
§84-950 was added by LB 16 §11, Laws 2024 (effective 2024-07-19), extending Nebraska's Occupational Board Reform Act framework into a mandatory universal-recognition rule. The department's published forms have not caught up with it.
- The statute's opening clause excepts occupations 'as otherwise provided in … an occupational licensing compact,' and Nebraska is a Counseling Compact member — whether that clause switches the route off for counselors is unresolved and is the first question to put to the department in writing.
- The usual poison pill applies: a §84-950 license is valid only in Nebraska and expressly not compact-eligible.
- The 'same practice level' determination decides whether you get the independent LIMHP or the non-diagnosing LMHP — argue from the WA LMHC's independent diagnostic scope.
- Statute verified in full; department practice unverified — treat as untested until someone files.
Fable: decisive texts read in full — §84-950 with its companion sections and the 5-year reciprocity application on 2026-08-19; 172 NAC 94-006 on 2026-08-20 (the ordinary-reciprocity wall the statute overrides, confirmed: under-5-years applicants must document the full ordinary requirements).
- 172 NAC 94 Independent Mental Health Practitioners, Mental Health Practitioners, MFTs, Professional Counselors and Social Workers (eff. 7/12/2021) — incl. 94-003 initial license, 94-006 reciprocity, 94-007 educational programs, 94-008 qualified supervisor, 94-009 supervised experience, 94-010 examinations — http://govdocs.nebraska.gov/epubs/H8310/R172.0094-2021.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
- 172 Neb. Admin. Code ch. 94 sec. 003 (Initial License) — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/nebraska/172-Neb-Admin-Code-ch-94-SS-003
- Nebraska DHHS 5-year Reciprocity Application (LIMHP/LMHP/CMFT/CPC/CMSW) with scope of practice and jurisprudence exam links — https://dhhs.ne.gov/licensure/Documents/MHPreciprocityApp.pdf
- Nebraska Mental Health Practice Act statutes, Neb. Rev. Stat. 38-2101 to 38-2139 (incl. 38-2122 LMHP, 38-2124 LIMHP, 38-2125 reciprocity, 38-2128/2132/2133 certificates, 38-131 background check) — https://dhhs.ne.gov/licensure/Documents/MentalHealthPracticeAct.pdf
- Nebraska DHHS Mental Health and Social Work Practice licensure page — https://dhhs.ne.gov/licensure/pages/mental-health-and-social-work-practice.aspx
- Counseling Compact member map — https://counselingcompact.gov/map/
- Neb. Rev. Stat. § 84-950 (Laws 2024, LB16, § 11) — https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=84-950 (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- Neb. Rev. Stat. § 84-946.01, Applicability of sections (Laws 2024, LB16, § 9) — https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=84-946.01 (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- Neb. Rev. Stat. §§ 84-935 to 84-944.01 (Occupational Board Reform Act definitions, incl. § 84-938 'occupational board') — https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/display_html.php?begin_section=84-935&end_section=84-944.01 (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- Nebraska DHHS, Mental Health and Social Work Practice (board licensing page; application inventory; Counseling Compact notice re LB 752, signed 4/19/2022) — https://dhhs.ne.gov/licensure/pages/mental-health-and-social-work-practice.aspx (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- Nebraska DHHS, 5-year Reciprocity Application Information — LIMHP/LMHP/CMFT/CPC/CMSW (rev. 9.2022) — https://dhhs.ne.gov/licensure/Documents/MHPreciprocityApp.pdf (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- Effective date derivation: Neb. Const. art. III, § 27 (acts take effect three calendar months after adjournment sine die); 2024 session adjourned sine die April 18, 2024; Nebraska Dept. of Revenue lists other non-emergency 2024 acts as operative July 19, 2024 — https://revenue.nebraska.gov/about/2024-nebraska-legislative-changes (verified 2026-08-19; secondary)
Universal recognition (§58-1-302(2)): the division must license an out-of-state licensee with similar scope and one year of practice under the license — no education or exam conditions in the statute's text.
Full license date + 1 year.
The one warning: Utah's own CMHC rule wants both the NCMHCE and the NCE, and a rule preserves discretion to demand exams from endorsement applicants. Whether they exercise it is the state's one open question; a non-passing-score alternative pathway also exists.
None on the statute's face.
Utah Code §58-1-302(2)'s one-year out-of-state license recognition provision took its current form through Chapter 104 of the 2024 Utah General Session, effective May 1, 2024.
- Ask DOPL for written policy on the exam discretion before applying.
- No temporary license, no telehealth registration.
Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — §58-1-302 complete (incl. the (8)(a) clause giving it priority over conflicting endorsement provisions) and R156-60c-302b (both NBCC exams). R156-1-302 remains unfetchable.
- Utah Code §58-1-302 (license by endorsement; one-year out-of-state recognition at subsec. (2); eff. 5/1/2024, amended ch. 104, 2024 General Session) — https://law.justia.com/codes/utah/title-58/chapter-1/part-3/section-302/ (verified 2026-08-19; le.utah.gov and adminrules.utah.gov were tested directly and returned no extractable text)
- Utah Code §58-60-405 (qualifications for licensure, incl. (1)(g)(ii) non-passing-score alternative pathway; eff. 5/7/2025, amended ch. 443, 2025 General Session) — https://law.justia.com/codes/utah/title-58/chapter-60/part-4/section-405/ (verified 2026-08-19)
- Utah Admin. Code R156-60c-302b (examination requirements: requires BOTH the NCMHCE and the NCE under §58-60-405(1)(f); amended eff. 1/25/2024) — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/utah/Utah-Admin-Code-R156-60c-302b (verified 2026-08-19; adminrules.utah.gov returned no extractable text)
- Utah Admin. Code R156-1-302 (eff. 4/23/2024), preserving discretion to require examinations of endorsement applicants — (no fetchable official copy located 2026-08-19)
- Utah DOPL CMHC FAQ and endorsement guide — (no fetchable official copy located 2026-08-19)
Licensure by credential (BPC §4999.60): for anyone licensed 2+ years, the degree requirement is just 'a master's from an accredited institution' — no unit count, no content review — and the clinical exam is expressly waived. The cleanest big-state door the cohort has.
Full license date + 2 years — and the license must be unrestricted the entire two years immediately preceding. Keep the WA record spotless.
California Law & Ethics exam only; NCE/NCMHCE irrelevant.
None reviewed beyond the accredited master's. About 40 hours of California-specific short courses (law/ethics, CA cultures, child abuse, suicide) complete the file.
BPC §4999.60's licensed-two-years out-of-state structure — the two-year unrestricted-license threshold, the master's-or-doctoral-degree-only education requirement, and the waived clinical examination — was created by SB 679, chapter 380, Statutes of 2019, effective January 1, 2020, per the Board of Behavioral Sciences' own implementation guide; leginfo's 'Amended by Stats.' history note could not be read directly because the section page is JavaScript-rendered and returns no text to any fetch.
- Applying before the 2-year mark is pointless — the under-2-years path reviews units and is structurally closed to a 72-quarter psychology degree.
- Any license restriction resets the clock.
Fable: primary sources read and analyzed directly
- BPC §4999.60 (licensure by credential: 2-year current, active, unrestricted out-of-state license; degree requirement is a master's or doctoral degree from an accredited or approved institution with no unit count or content review; clinical examination expressly waived, California law and ethics exam still required) — https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=BPC§ionNum=4999.60 (no fetchable official copy located 2026-08-19: leginfo is JavaScript-rendered and returned no extractable text on repeated attempts, confirmed independently this pass; identical verbatim text verified at https://california.public.law/codes/business_and_professions_code_section_4999.60 on 2026-08-19)
- BBS, 'Applicants Licensed in Another United States Jurisdiction for at Least Two Years: Portability of License to California' — the Board's current guide on this pathway; confirms SB 679 (ch. 380, Stats. 2019) created it effective January 1, 2020, clinical exam waived, California law/ethics coursework and exam still required — https://www.bbs.ca.gov/pdf/license_portability.pdf (verified 2026-08-19; a file specifically labeled 'rev. 10/2024' could not be separately located)
- SB 775 (2025) re: BPC §4999.23 30-day provision — https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB775 (no fetchable official copy located 2026-08-19: leginfo bill-text pages are JavaScript-rendered and returned no extractable content)
MOBILE Act endorsement (§456.0145): reviews no education at all — no transcript, no CACREP, no course list. Needs an active unencumbered license, a national exam (the board expressly exempts NCE-holders from the NCMHCE), a clean record, and 2 of the last 4 years in active practice.
Conservatively, two years of practice after full licensure. Possibly much sooner: the statute counts 'active practice' rather than license age, AAMFT reported (May 2026) that board staff read the amended act to include intern and associate-level experience, and a cohort application filed August 2026 is testing exactly that. If it approves, Florida becomes an open state for anyone with two years of combined practice.
NCE or NCMHCE; either one works.
None reviewed. (The exam path closed permanently to non-CACREP degrees on 7/1/2025 — endorsement is the only Florida door, and it is wide open.)
Florida's MOBILE Act endorsement pathway at Fla. Stat. §456.0145 was created by ch. 2024-274, Laws of Florida (2024), and amended into its current two-years-of-active-practice-within-the-preceding-four-years form by ch. 2025-6 and ch. 2025-114, Laws of Florida (2025), with the 2025 changes effective July 1, 2025.
- Use form DH-MQA-5101; the older 3-of-5-years form still floating on their site is superseded.
- The board's published email address rejected messages in our testing (July 2026); call (850) 245-4292 instead.
- Florida also runs an out-of-state telehealth registration; see the remote-practice section.
Fable: primary sources read and analyzed directly
- Fla. Stat. §456.0145 (MOBILE Act; 2-of-4-years active-practice endorsement path) — https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/456.0145 (verified 2026-08-19)
- Fla. Stat. §491.006 (licensure/certification by endorsement; routes through §456.0145) — https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/491.006 (verified 2026-08-19)
- Fla. Stat. §491.005(4) (CACREP clause, exam path only) and §456.47 (out-of-state telehealth registration) — https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/491.005 and https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/456.47 (verified 2026-08-19)
- Rule 64B4-3.0031, F.A.C., Application for Licensure by Endorsement (adopted eff. 12/14/2025) + form DH-MQA-5101 (08/2025, Ref-18678) — https://www.flrules.org/gateway/RuleNo.asp?ID=64B4-3.0031 (verified 2026-08-19)
- Florida Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage & Family Therapy and Mental Health Counseling — LMHC page (cited for the NCE exemption on the endorsement route) — https://floridasmentalhealthprofessions.gov/licensed-mental-health-counselor/ (no fetchable official copy located 2026-08-19: page exceeded fetch limits; the NCE-exemption claim was not independently re-confirmed this pass)
- AAMFT, 'Did You Know? Exploring Recent Changes to Florida's MOBILE Act' (May 2026) — the associate-experience staff interpretation — https://plus.aamft.org/did-you-know-exploring-recent-changes-to-florida-s-mobile-act/ (verified 2026-08-19)
Two-year deemed equivalency (22 TAC §681.82(c)): after 2 years holding a full US counselor license, you are deemed to meet all academic and experience requirements with 48 graduate semester hours (exactly what MAP grants), 3,000 supervised hours, and 300 documented practicum clock hours.
Full license date + 2 years.
NCE or NCMHCE via NBCC transfer; Texas jurisprudence exam within 6 months of applying.
72 quarter = 48 semester suffices under this rule — the 60-hour standard never applies to you.
22 TAC §681.82 was originally adopted effective September 1, 2003 (28 TexReg 4134), and its current text — including the subsection (c) two-year deemed-equivalency language relied on here — reflects the amendment effective November 21, 2021, published at Texas Register Volume 46, Number 46 (November 12, 2021), 46 TexReg 7786.
- The work is documentation: your supervised-hours log and program practicum clock hours (SU's internship assessment forms recorded total hours — request yours from the program while records are warm).
- Read this as an audit, not an automatic deeming: the board's own applicant page reasserts the full statutory eligibility requirements, there is no separate endorsement form, and the 48-semester-hour element leaves this degree zero margin — the practicum must appear on the transcript (the MAP internship does). Both the national exam element and the Texas jurisprudence exam stand on every path.
Fable: primary sources read and analyzed directly
- 22 TAC §681.82 (academic requirements) — subsection (c) verified verbatim: an applicant holding a full active LPC in good standing from a US jurisdiction for at least two years immediately preceding receipt of the application is deemed to have met all academic and experience requirements, including the practicum, on 3,000 hours of supervised experience, 48 semester hours of coursework, and 300 clock hours of supervised practicum — matches the entry's claim exactly — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/texas/22-Tex-Admin-Code-SS-681-82 (verified 2026-08-19; the official texreg.sos.state.tx.us viewer has migrated to a JavaScript portal that returned no section text)
- 22 TAC §681.83 (academic course content, referenced by §681.82(b)) — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/texas/22-Tex-Admin-Code-SS-681-83 (no fetchable official copy located 2026-08-19; not independently fetched this pass)
- BHEC LPC Rulebook (Nov 2025) — (no fetchable official copy located 2026-08-19: bhec.texas.gov returned no extractable text and no specific rulebook PDF URL could be confirmed without guessing)
- Tex. Occ. Code ch. 503 (Licensed Professional Counselor Act; §503.302 base qualifications: master's or doctoral degree, at least 48 semester hours, 300 clock-hour practicum, 3,000 supervised hours, licensing and jurisprudence exams) — https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/OC/htm/OC.503.htm (verified 2026-08-19)
- 22 TAC sec. 681.82 (Academic Requirements / endorsement deeming rule) — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/texas/22-Tex-Admin-Code-SS-681-82 (verified 2026-08-19; secondary)
The counseling statute has an endorsement clause (§20-195dd(c)), but DPH publishes no endorsement form and does not operate the substantially-similar clause in any applicant-facing material. What it operates instead is a four-years-licensed route, and DPH's own page says it plainly: 'you will not be required to provide transcripts, verification of any training or be required to complete an examination.' Four years holding the license, and Connecticut stops asking questions. Under four years, the coursework door: 60 semester hours certified by the school on a pure checkbox form — no per-area minimums, no syllabi — across eleven named areas, plus a 100-hour practicum requirement separate from the 600-hour internship, both taught by faculty licensed or certified as professional counselors.
Full license date + 4 years on the no-questions route (this tier's label reads three-or-four; Connecticut is the four). Sooner only via the coursework door, whose checkbox form is friendlier than most but whose faculty-licensure and separate-practicum demands add real friction for this degree.
NCE accepted — the only New England state where the NCE alone suffices on the standard path.
Not reviewed at four years licensed. On the coursework door: 60 semester / 90 quarter hours certified by checkbox across eleven areas as the form prints them — human growth and development; career counseling; social and cultural foundations; appraisals or tests and measurements; counseling theories and techniques; research and evaluation; group counseling; professional orientation; and the rest of the form's list — with no per-area credit minimums and no syllabi requested anywhere.
The chapter's history notes give §20-195dd as enacted by P.A. 97-311, S. 4 and last amended by P.A. 21-121, S. 18, effective July 6, 2021.
- There is no LPC endorsement form — verified against DPH's full page index 2026-08-20. Do not plan around the statutory endorsement clause; plan around the four-year route, which is written down.
- The four-year route runs under the health-professions statute CGS §19a-14d, not the counseling chapter — and it carries its own fine print: DPH may still require an examination, may deny in the public's best interest, and requires a background check. The no-transcripts promise is DPH's own page; the statute keeps those levers.
- One year of inactivity and your file is destroyed — a new application and fee to restart. And nothing may pass through your hands: every document goes to DPH directly from its source.
- The coursework door's hidden frictions: a 100-hour practicum requirement separate from the internship, and both must have been taught by faculty licensed or certified as professional counselors — documentation MAP grads should not assume exists.
- DPH's own pages currently print three contradictory fee figures — confirm the fee inside the application, not from any webpage (including this one).
- §19a-14d(b), read in full, reserves discretion for the department to require 'all, or a portion of, any examination' of a four-year-route applicant — DPH's page promises no exams in practice, but the statute keeps the option; the NCE already passed would presumably satisfy it.
Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — CGS §19a-14d complete: shall-issue at four years' practice, chapter 383c in the covered list, the (b) exam-discretion clause, and the (d) best-interest denial reserve. The DPH page and forms read in the packet audit.
- CGS ch. 383c, §§20-195aa–20-195gg (esp. 20-195dd(a),(c),(d); 20-195cc fees) — https://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_383c.htm (verified 2026-08-19)
- CT DPH Professional Counselor Licensing Requirements (NCE or NCMHCE) — portal.ct.gov/dph
- CT OLR 2024-R-0122 (PA 24-110 telehealth registrant, expired 6/30/2025)
- counselingcompact.gov/fees (CT not live)
- Verification of Course Study (current form, post-2017 content areas) (rev. no revision date and no form number printed) — https://portal.ct.gov/dph/-/media/departments-and-agencies/dph/dph/practitioner_licensing_and_investigations/plis/professionalcounselor/lpc_cos_mat2017.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read in-full)
- Verification of Course Study (pre-2017 version, with the two-page CONTENT AREAS narrative) — still live on the DPH server, unlinked from current pathway pages (rev. no revision date and no form number printed) — https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/Departments-and-Agencies/DPH/dph/practitioner_licensing_and_investigations/plis/ProfessionalCounselor/LPCCourseOutlinepdf.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read in-full)
- Verification of Postgraduate Degree Supervised Professional Counseling Experience (rev. 04/2012 — the only revision date printed on any document in the packet) — https://portal.ct.gov/dph/-/media/departments-and-agencies/dph/dph/practitioner_licensing_and_investigations/plis/professionalcounselor/lpcverifexppdf.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read in-full)
- Verification of Licensure/Certification/Registration (rev. no revision date printed) — https://portal.ct.gov/dph/-/media/departments-and-agencies/dph/dph/practitioner_licensing_and_investigations/plis/professionalcounselor/lpclicverifpdf.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read in-full)
- Professional Counselor Licensing (hub page; fee table; pathway menu) (rev. no revision date printed; fetched 2026-08-20) — https://portal.ct.gov/dph/practitioner-licensing--investigations/professional-counselor/professional-counselor-licensing (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read in-full)
- Conn. Gen. Stat. §19a-14d (licensure of out-of-state practitioners licensed four years; (a)(4) background check, (b) discretionary examination, (d) best-interest denial) — statute identified and read in the 2026-08-20 adversarial review; DPH's four-year-route page carries the no-transcripts language
Two endorsement clocks, both counselor-specific and neither containing an equivalence test (D.C. Code §3-1207.10(c)): five years licensed gets you in on a license verification plus a written attestation of your experience — the board takes no transcript on this track — and three years gets the same if you hold the NCC. No residency requirement, no jurisprudence exam, and your existing national exam counts (DCMR 17-6605.2 accepts any exam a US counseling board administered). Since most of the cohort sits one career course from the NCC, three years is the operative number. Separately, DC's graduate-tier LGPC sits at exactly 48 semester hours — available now as a supervised foothold.
Full license date + 3 years with the NCC in hand; + 5 years without it.
Whatever you already passed — DCMR 17-6605.2 accepts an exam administered by any US jurisdiction's counseling board. No jurisprudence exam.
Not collected on the endorsement tracks per the board's published policy. Even DC's ordinary education rule is unusually friendly: psychology is an enumerated acceptable subject, and content areas are reviewed by content, not course title (DCMR 17-6602.2).
The endorsement subsection took its current shape in the Health Occupations Revision General Amendment Act of 2024 (D.C. Law 25-191, effective 2024-07-19); DC joined the Counseling Compact separately (D.C. Law 25-238, 2024-12-17), which neither amends nor conditions this route.
- The endorsement path runs on statute plus a board policy PDF — no implementing regulation exists in DCMR ch. 17-66 — so the policy could change without notice-and-comment; confirm it stands before filing.
- Career development remains DC's one clear content gap if you ever land in the ordinary education review.
- No telehealth registration — DC clients need a DC credential.
Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — D.C. Code §3-1207.10 complete: both endorsement clocks verbatim ((c)(1) five years' independent clinical practice; (c)(2) three years + the NCC), no equivalence test in the text, and the verb is 'may.' The DCMR chapter and checklists read in the 8/19 sweep and upgrade.
- D.C. Code §3-1207.10 — https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/3-1207.10 (verified 2026-08-19; (b) LGPC at 48 graduate hours, (c)(1) 5 years independent practice, (c)(2) 3 years independent licensure plus NBCC National Certified Counselor credential)
- DCMR Title 17 ch. 66 (§§6602, 6603, 6605) — https://dchealth.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/doh/publication/attachments/Professional%20Counseling%20Regulations.pdf (verified 2026-08-19; §6602 60 semester hours and content areas incl. lifestyle and career development, §6603 3,500 hours over 2–5 years with 200 immediate, §6605 NCE and alternative-exam acceptance)
- DC LPC Endorsement checklist + LGPC checklist — https://dchealth.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/doh/publication/attachments/Professional%20Counseling_ENDORSEMENT%20(updated)_1.pdf and https://dchealth.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/doh/publication/attachments/LGPC%20-%20Check%20List_1.pdf (verified 2026-08-19; landing page https://dchealth.dc.gov/publication/application-check-lists-lpc-and-lgpc)
- D.C. Code sec. 3-1207.10 (qualifications; endorsement at (c)) — https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/3-1207.10 (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- D.C. Code sec. 3-1205.07 (Reciprocity and endorsement - the equivalence provision) — https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/3-1205.07 (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- D.C. Code sec. 3-1205.03 (general qualifications; the (a)(5) rule hook) — https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/3-1205.03 (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- D.C. Code sec. 3-1205.01a (expedited licensure - NOT a mobility provision) — https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/3-1205.01a (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- D.C. Code sec. 3-1207.12 (1992 waiver - expired dead letter) — https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/3-1207.12 (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- D.C. Code sec. 3-1281.01 (Counseling Compact purpose; D.C. Law 25-238) — https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/3-1281.01 (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- D.C. Code Title 3, Ch. 12, Subchapter V - full section index (negative ULR search) — https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/titles/3/chapters/12/subchapters/V (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- D.C. Code Title 47, Ch. 28, Subch. I-B - 'Non-Health Related Occupations and Professions Licensure' index — https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/titles/47/chapters/28/subchapters/I-B (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
The explicit sub-60-credit lane: a master's under 60 credits + 3 years licensed + 3,000 hours of clinical experience, with coursework proof required in only three areas — ethics, diagnosis/psychopathology, and psychotherapy — all standard MAP territory.
Full license date + 3 years.
NCE accepted (aggregators claiming NCMHCE-only are wrong); plus a no-fail online Maryland law assessment.
Three-topic review only; note each topic wants 3 semester or 5 quarter credits, so a 3-quarter-credit course may need pairing — check your transcript's credit weights.
The regulations formerly codified at COMAR 10.58.12 as 'Supervision Requirements' were repealed and new Regulations .01–.10, 'Licensed Clinical Professional Counselors — Requirements for Licensure' — including .06's out-of-state sub-60-credit lane — were adopted effective June 28, 2021 (48:13 Md. R. 508), under authority of Health Occupations Article §§17-101, 17-205, 17-301, 17-304, 17-307 and 17-509; the session law that last shaped §17-304 itself was not located.
- Don't bother curing to 60 for Maryland; the sub-60 lane is no slower.
- Incomplete files close after 90 days.
Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — COMAR 10.58.12.06 complete: the sub-60 lane at E(1)(b) (under-60 master's + 3 years licensed + 3,000 hours), the three-topic floor at D (diagnosis/psychopathology, psychotherapy, ethics — 3 graduate semester credits each), the Maryland law examination at A(3)(b), and the B exam-waiver clause.
- Md. Health Occ. §17-304; COMAR 10.58.12.06 (and repealed 10.58.01.10 as cited by the Board) — §17-304: https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Laws/StatuteText?article=gho§ion=17-304&enactments=false (verified 2026-08-19); COMAR 10.58.12.06 (§D three-topic waiver; §E(1)(b) sub-60-credit lane, 3 years licensed + 3,000 hours): https://regs.maryland.gov/us/md/exec/comar/10.58.12.06 (verified 2026-08-19; dsd.maryland.gov/regulations/Pages/10.58.12.06.aspx redirects here). Repealed COMAR 10.58.01.10 — no fetchable official copy located 2026-08-19.
- MD Board LCPC Out-of-State application + instructions — https://health.maryland.gov/bopc/Documents/apps/lcpcappoutofstate.pdf (verified 2026-08-19; confirms NCE or NCMHCE accepted, 90-day incomplete-file close, 'Each course must be 3 semester or 5 quarter credit hours', and the three topic areas). Companion instruction sheet: https://health.maryland.gov/bopc/pdfs/instructionslcpc.pdf (URL surfaced but not fetched 2026-08-19).
- Maryland Law Assessment — https://academy.cce-global.org/jurisprudence/maryland (verified 2026-08-19; 36-item, administered by CCE for the Maryland Board, certificate valid one year)
Massachusetts amended its counselor regulations effective July 31, 2026, and the exam exclusivity survived the rewrite in definitional form: 'Board Examination' is defined as the NCMHCE (262 CMR 2.02), and reciprocal-recognition applicants must show a passing score on it (2.03(3)(c)) plus a license in good standing for the three years preceding the application. One quirk still favors the cohort: Massachusetts counts 80 quarter hours as equal to 60 semester, so a 72-quarter degree is only 8 quarter credits short — the mildest total-hours gap anywhere.
For NCMHCE-passers: genuinely reachable — full license plus three years in good standing, roughly 8 quarter credits, and an hours top-up. For NCE-only members: the exam is the wall, and it is a sit-the-test wall rather than a structural one.
NCMHCE only, by definition: the regulation defines 'Board Examination' as the NCMHCE, so no substitute exists. New in the 2026 amendment: initial-licensure applicants face a five-year score-validity limit (2.03(1)(d), (2)(d)) — but the reciprocity paragraph (2.03(3)) imposes no score expiry at all, which is more favorable for already-licensed applicants than the amended rules' reputation suggests.
The 80-quarter standard (mildest gap on the map) with a ten-area education review — elective-dependent.
262 CMR 2.00 was rewritten by the Board of Registration of Allied Mental Health and Human Services Professions and published in Massachusetts Register #1579 effective 7/31/2026 — confirmed by the regulation's own page footer, '7/31/26 262 CMR - 5 (Mass. Register #1579, 07/31/2026),' and by the Board's 7/31/2026 notice that it 'issued revised regulations to clarify and broaden licensing requirements for the licensed mental health counselor (LMHC) license, allow teletherapy for licensing experience hours permanently, and create a new licensed supervised mental health counselor (LSMHC) license.'
- The regulation was amended effective 7/31/2026 (Mass. Register #1579) — the widely-quoted 'no other exam will be accepted' sentence no longer exists, and the old exam section (2.04) is gone; anything citing it is out of date.
- Not a compact member — no privilege route ever.
- The experience rules' group-hours cap can bite a WA log.
- The 2026 rewrite also created a new associate-tier license (LSMHC) — irrelevant to full-license holders, useful context for anyone reading Massachusetts materials.
- The staff answer glossed the three years as “practicing full time” — a part-time practice history may draw scrutiny; keep practice-volume evidence.
Fable: the amended regulation was read directly on 2026-08-19
- 262 CMR 2.00 as amended eff. 7/31/2026 (Mass. Register #1579) — https://www.mass.gov/regulations/262-CMR-200-requirements-for-licensure-as-a-mental-health-counselor (PDF: https://www.mass.gov/doc/262-cmr-2-requirements-for-licensure-as-a-mental-health-counselor/download) (verified 2026-08-19: page dated 07/31/2026 and the regulation's own footer reads '(Mass. Register #1579, 07/31/2026)'; exam exclusivity is definitional via 2.02 'Board Examination'; reciprocal recognition at 2.03(3), with three-years-good-standing at 2.03(3)(d) and the five-year score-validity rule at 2.03(1)(d) and 2.03(2)(d))
- Board of Registration of Allied Mental Health Professions — https://www.mass.gov/lists/statutes-and-regulations-allied-mental-health (verified 2026-08-19; official name is the Board of Registration of Allied Mental Health and Human Services Professions)
Reciprocity, now on binding rule text: amended OAR 833-030-0011(6)(g) (effective 2/9/2026) lets 3+ years of active licensure substitute for the entire education package — including the 60-semester/90-quarter total and every content area. Psychology is expressly a qualifying degree field. Experience is separately presumed met at 3 years.
Full license date + 3 years. Board staff answered a cohort inquiry (August 2026; informal, non-binding) that the clock runs from full licensure - associate time does not count. At that mark, OAR 833-030-0011(6)(g) substitutes the licensure itself for the entire education package, including the 60-semester/90-quarter total and every content area.
NCE accepted (within 10 years); Oregon's law exam is open-book.
Nothing to cure at the 3-year mark. Entering earlier requires the full 90-quarter package plus 1,900 documented direct hours.
Permanent Administrative Order BLPCT 1-2026, filed and effective 2/9/2026 (agency approved 2/6/2026; proposal notices filed 10/28/2025 and 11/21/2025 after ten public Education Committee sessions from Sept 2024 to Sept 2025), amended OAR 833-030-0011 and carried the reciprocity substitution forward — the notice redline shows old (f) renumbered to (g) with its cross-reference deliberately expanded from 'Sections (a) through (d)' to 'Sections (a) through (e)', confirming deliberate implementation, not a drafting accident.
- Expect staff to collect the course-by-course form anyway; the substitution is what makes it moot.
- Don't confuse this education substitution with the separate experience-hours substitution.
Fable: primary sources read and analyzed directly
- OAR 833-020-0051, 833-030-0011, 833-030-0021 — 833-020-0051: https://oregon.public.law/rules/oar_833-020-0051 (verified 2026-08-19); 833-030-0011 as amended eff. 2/9/2026: https://www.oregon.gov/oblpct/Documents/PermOAR_Filed_2-9-26.pdf (verified 2026-08-19); 833-030-0021 as currently applied (1,900 direct hours; reciprocity presumption at 3 years): https://www.oregon.gov/oblpct/pages/experience.aspx (verified 2026-08-19). The Secretary of State OARD pages (secure.sos.state.or.us/oard/view.action) return no fetchable body text.
- OBLPCT Experience / LPC Courses / Exams pages (current) — https://www.oregon.gov/oblpct/pages/experience.aspx ; https://www.oregon.gov/oblpct/pages/lpc_courses.aspx ; https://www.oregon.gov/oblpct/Pages/Exams.aspx (verified 2026-08-19)
- OBLPCT Hours Rule Q&A (Clinical Supervised Work Experience Rulemaking Q&A, eff. 7/1/2023) — https://www.oregon.gov/oblpct/Documents/Hours_Rule_QA.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
- OAR 833-030-0011 rulemaking notice + redline (filed 2025-11-21, eff. 2026-02-09) — https://www.oregon.gov/oblpct/Documents/PermOAR_Notice_EdReqs_11-21-25.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
- Permanent Administrative Order BLPCT 1-2026 (filed 2/9/2026, eff. 2/9/2026) — https://www.oregon.gov/oblpct/Documents/PermOAR_Filed_2-9-26.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
- OBLPCT Applicant FAQ (reciprocity Q1-Q2 'active license... currently authorized'; Forms Q5 same phrase; Education Q7 CE-not-credit) — https://www.oregon.gov/oblpct/pages/faq_app.aspx (verified 2026-08-19)
- OAR 833-020-0051 Reciprocity Method ((2) current active license; (5)(c) basis license required an exam; (5)(d) full-review issuance) — https://oregon.public.law/rules/oar_833-020-0051 (verified 2026-08-19)
- OBLPCT staff answer to the maintainer (recorded in records review 2026-08-16): 3-year clock runs from full licensure (no fetchable official copy located 2026-08-19)
Fast Track endorsement (3 V.S.A. §136a): licensure on not more than 3 years of good-standing practice regardless of whether the licensing state's requirements are similar — Vermont's standards-blind portability statute.
Full license date + 3 years at most (the statute says 'not more than' three years — a ceiling the board could set lower). Validation warning: OPR's own instructions preserve education and exam review in ways the statute's text does not suggest; treat the everything-waived reading as unconfirmed and ask OPR directly.
The standard path demands both the NCE and the NCMHCE — another reason Fast Track is the only sensible door.
Not reviewed under Fast Track (confirm scope with OPR — their instructions are ambiguous about whether it waives review or just paperwork).
Confirmed deliberate implementation: 3 V.S.A. §136a was added by Act 152 of 2020 (2019, No. 152 (Adj. Sess.), §4), effective April 1, 2021, and amended by 2021, No. 69, §18, effective June 8, 2021 — per the statute's own source note, not a drafting accident.
- OPR instructions (January 2026) require the three years to be independent practice — the associate-time question is answered no here.
- Whether Fast Track waives the education review or only the paperwork is the state's deciding question; OPR's instructions lean toward review surviving.
- A 90-day provisional license can bridge verification delays — but only once all other requirements are met.
- Universal-recognition check 2026-08-19: Vermont's fast track (3 V.S.A. §136a) is itself the real thing — it licenses 'regardless of whether that jurisdiction has licensing requirements substantially similar to those of this State,' with no residency and no new exam. Its only gate is the three years.
- One more door in the statute itself: §136a(c) lets the OPR Director waive even the practice requirement where the waiver follows state policy and the public is protected — a discretionary softener worth knowing if the three-year clock is the only thing in the way.
Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — 3 V.S.A. §136a complete: 'not more than three years... regardless of whether that jurisdiction has licensing requirements substantially similar,' the (b) escape valve, and the (c) Director waiver. OPR instructions read in the packet audit; the scope query remains pending.
- 3 V.S.A. 136a — https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/03/005/00136a (verified 2026-08-19)
- 26 V.S.A. 3265, 3268, 3275c — https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/fullchapter/26/065 (verified 2026-08-19; Title 26 ch. 065 full text contains §3265 Eligibility, §3268 Licensing without examination, §3275c State participation in the Compact)
- VT OPR LCMHC Application Instructions (Jan 2026: both exams; Five-Year Rule 3.23(c); Fast Track) — https://outside.vermont.gov/dept/sos/office_professional_regulation/professions/allied_mental_health/allied_mental_health_clinical_counselor_application_instructions.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
- OPR Fast Track Endorsement page — https://sos.vermont.gov/opr/regulatory/reducing-barriers/fast-track-endorsement (verified 2026-08-19)
- 3 V.S.A. § 136a — Uniform process for endorsement from other states (full text, subsecs. (a)-(c), with enactment and amendment history) — https://legislature.vermont.gov/statutes/section/03/005/00136a (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- Vermont Secretary of State, Office of Professional Regulation — Fast Track Endorsement (implementation of 3 V.S.A. § 136a; LCMHC three-year independent-practice paragraph; list of ineligible credential types) — https://sos.vermont.gov/opr/regulatory/reducing-barriers/fast-track-endorsement (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
Idaho, for a licensee of five-plus years, is very likely not a coursework state at all — and the mandatory routing is printed on the face of both license applications: 'If you have been licensed in another jurisdiction for more than five years, you must complete the endorsement application to be considered for licensure by endorsement.' More than five years — and the word is must, and the endorsement packet demands no transcript, no coursework addendum, no syllabi, no supervision forms, and no exam score. Under five years, the coursework project applies — but even its rules are in disarray: the 2024 zero-based rewrite of the rule chapter deleted the content-area rule and the endorsement rule the forms still cite, the 60/90 figure survives only on a board FAQ that the agency itself disclaims as non-binding guidance, and Idaho currently circulates three incompatible eight-area lists at once. Its telehealth registration, validated, remains in the remote-practice section.
Full license date + a little over 5 years (the trigger is 'more than' five), on the board's own mandatory routing — with the honest caveat that what substantive standard governs an endorsement application is currently unclear even to Idaho's own paperwork (the rule it cites was repealed). Under five years: the coursework project, against whichever of the three lists the evaluator uses.
LPC tier: NCE. LCPC (clinical) tier: NCMHCE, no waiver.
Not filed on the endorsement route. On the under-five-years route: the 60 semester / 90 quarter figure including a career course exists only in board FAQ guidance (the rule chapter, rewritten July 2024, sets no total and names no areas), and the coursework forms cite deleted rules. Ask which list governs before enrolling in anything.
IDAPA 24.15.01 states it is promulgated pursuant to Idaho Code §§54-3402, 54-3404, 54-3405, 54-3405A, 54-3405B, 54-3405C, 54-3406, and 54-3410A, and every subsection in the current text carries a (7-1-24) effective-date stamp.
- The endorsement route is mandatory at five-plus years and its packet reviews nothing academic — but its cited rule was repealed in the 2024 rewrite and no replacement was located; a written board answer on what standard governs endorsement is the one question worth asking before filing.
- Idaho publishes three incompatible content-area lists and three inconsistent fee schedules simultaneously; treat every Idaho number as unconfirmed until the board says it in writing.
- Idaho is not a compact member — the license or the validated telehealth registration are the only doors, ever.
- The universal-recognition statute (§67-9409) does not bypass any of this (it preserves ordinary qualifications).
Fable-graded with a provenance note: both license applications (with the mandatory five-plus-years endorsement routing printed on their faces) and the endorsement packet were read in full in the 2026-08-20 application-packet audit; the IDAPA chapter and Idaho Code remain sweep-verified. The unresolved substantive-standard question is the entry's own honest caveat.
- Idaho Code 54-3401–54-3416; 54-5713, 54-5714 — https://legislature.idaho.gov/statutesrules/idstat/Title54/T54CH34/ (verified 2026-08-19)
- IDAPA 24.15.01.100 (NCE for LPC, NCMHCE for LCPC; core areas; ratios) — https://adminrules.idaho.gov/rules/current/24/241501.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
- Idaho Code 67-9406, 67-9407, 67-9409, 67-9414–67-9416 — legislature.idaho.gov
- DOPL COU pages (fees, biennial transition 10/14/2025, no temporary licenses) — dopl.idaho.gov/cou
- Idaho Code tit. 67, ch. 94 (Occupational Licensing Reform Act), full chapter text incl. §§ 67-9403, 67-9406, 67-9409, 67-9414 — https://legislature.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/statutesrules/idstat/Title67/T67CH94.pdf (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- Idaho DOPL — Board of Professional Counselors and Marriage and Family Therapists, board page and FAQ (page last updated 2026-07-10) — https://dopl.idaho.gov/cou/ (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- APPLICATION FOR PROFESSIONAL COUNSELOR LICENSE (incl. Instructions and Checklist, Counselor Coursework Addendum, and LPC Evaluation and Verification of Supervised Experience) (rev. COUA LPC/EXAM 7/2021 (printed footer on all 7 pages)) — https://dopl.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/cou-LPC-Application.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
- APPLICATION FOR CLINICAL PROFESSIONAL LICENSE (LCPC) (incl. Instructions and Checklist and LCPC Evaluation and Verification of Supervised Experience) (rev. COUA/LCPC/EXAM 2/2021 (printed footer on all 5 pages)) — https://dopl.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/cou-LCPC-Application.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
- APPLICATION FOR LICENSE BY ENDORSEMENT (LPC / LCPC / AMFT / LMFT, one form, checkbox) (rev. COUA LPC/LCPC LMFTA LAMFT/LMFT REVISED 7/2021 (printed footer on all 3 pages)) — https://dopl.idaho.gov/cou-endorsement-application/ → https://dopl.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/cou-Endorsement-Application.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
- Board of Professional Counselors and Marriage and Family Therapists — board landing page, including the Frequently Asked Questions block and the License Fees table (rev. page footer: 'last updated: July 10, 2026 at 02:15 pm'; meta article:modified_time 2026-07-10) — https://dopl.idaho.gov/cou/ (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
- CACREP Foundational Counseling Curriculum checklist (the current 'coursework addendum' the FAQ links to) (rev. no printed revision date; uploaded March 2026 (URL path /2026/03/)) — https://dopl.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/COU-CACREP-Checklist-with-instructions.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
The board publishes categorical determinations by state, and Washington is already adjudicated both ways: a WA LMHC licensed five or more years is approved for the clinical LPCC, and one licensed under five years is approved now for the LPC — Minnesota's non-clinical tier — so there is a Minnesota license available to the whole cohort today, with the clinical upgrade arriving on the five-year clock. The five-year track's statute (§148B.56 subd. 2) contains no education test at all; no residency is required; the licensure fee package runs about $432. Sub-60-credit degrees still owe the 12-credit post-licensure remediation within four years.
LPC available now; LPCC at full license date + 5 years. About 12 credits are due within 4 years after licensure either way.
Handled by the list — no NCMHCE retake demanded of listed credentials.
The 12-credit post-licensure remediation is unavoidable for this cohort.
The five-or-more-years reciprocity track at Minn. Stat. §148B.56 subd. 2 was created by Laws of Minnesota 2019, ch. 28, §1 (S.F. No. 955, expanding duty to warn and reciprocity for certain mental health professionals and social workers), signed May 17, 2019 — before that the section was a single undivided substantial-equivalency paragraph.
- The pre-approval list is internally dated March 2024; board staff confirmed it current in writing 2026-08-21 — re-verify only if filing much later.
- The statute's verb is 'may,' not 'shall,' and the board still collects full graduate transcripts with the application — expect paperwork even where no education test applies.
- The 12-credit post-licensure obligation (Minn. R. 2150.2520) is the carrying cost this cohort cannot avoid.
Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — Minn. Stat. 148B.56 complete: 'may' at both subdivisions, five years of active practice at subd. 2 with the board choosing LPC vs LPCC. The board's categorical reciprocity list (the operative instrument naming the WA LMHC) was read in the sweep; its currency is the pending query.
- Minn. Stat. 148B.5301 (LPCC requirements; subd. 1(a)(3) 48 semester/72 quarter hours and ten content areas; subd. 1(a)(4) NCMHCE; subd. 1(a)(5) 24 clinical credits; subd. 2 hours) — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/148B.5301 (verified 2026-08-19)
- Minn. Stat. 148B.53 (LPC requirements; subd. 1(a)(5) NCE 'or equivalent'; subd. 3(19) compact privilege fee) — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/148B.53 (verified 2026-08-19)
- Minn. Stat. 148B.56 (Reciprocity; subd. 1 under five years, subd. 2 five or more years) — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/148B.56 (verified 2026-08-19)
- Minn. Stat. 148B.531 (Postdegree completion; 20 semester / 30 quarter credit cap) — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/148B.531 (verified 2026-08-19)
- Minn. R. 2150.5010 (Postdegree supervised professional practice; subp. 3 supervisor qualifications, subp. 4(K) out-of-state credit) — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/rules/2150.5010/ (verified 2026-08-19)
- Minn. R. 2150.2520 (12 graduate credits within first four years; 60-credit total) — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/rules/2150.2520/ (verified 2026-08-19)
- MN BBHT, Reciprocity Licenses by State (updated 3.15.2024) - Washington LMHC 5+ years approved for LPCC — https://mn.gov/boards/assets/5.20.24%20%20Reciprocity%20Licenses%20by%20State_tcm21-625035.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
- MN BBHT, LPC/LPCC Reciprocity Application (Feb. 27, 2025) — https://mn.gov/boards/assets/LPC_LPCC_Reciprocity_Application%202.2025_tcm21-672969.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
- MN BBHT, LPCC Exam Information — https://mn.gov/boards/behavioral-health/applicants/exam-information/lpcc-exam-information.jsp (verified 2026-08-19)
- MN BBHT, Counseling Compact — https://mn.gov/boards/behavioral-health/counseling-compact/index.jsp (verified 2026-08-19)
- Minn. Stat. sec. 148B.56 (RECIPROCITY - subd. 2 has no equivalency clause) — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/148B.56/pdf (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- Minn. R. 2150.2520 (the 12-credit post-licensure obligation) — https://www.revisor.mn.gov/rules/2150.2520/ (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- MN BBHT Reciprocity Application (Feb. 2025 revision; transcript demand at item 8(a)) — https://mn.gov/boards/assets/LPC_LPCC_Reciprocity_Application%202.2025_tcm21-672969.pdf (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- MN BBHT pre-approved state list - WASHINGTON LMHC 5+ years approved for LPCC (internally dated 2024-03-15) — https://mn.gov/boards/assets/5.20.24%20%20Reciprocity%20Licenses%20by%20State_tcm21-625035.pdf (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
New York requires the NCMHCE on every path ('no other examination is acceptable'), opens endorsement only after five years of licensed practice, and can still route a Washington applicant into its full 60-hour, twelve-area education review. On top of that, diagnosing on your own requires a separate 'diagnostic privilege,' which carries its own 60-semester-hour education requirement.
Five years of qualifying experience within the ten years immediately preceding the application (a rolling window, not a simple license-birthday), at best, and the NCMHCE regardless — slow, but genuinely open: this is an exam-and-patience state, not a closed one.
NCMHCE only in practice — with a nuance validation surfaced: the statute itself says only 'an examination satisfactory to the board'; the no-other-exam exclusivity is NYSED's departmental position, stated on its license-requirements page. Departmental positions are policy, and policy can move — but plan on the NCMHCE.
60 semester hours across twelve areas on the full review; NYSED's individual evaluation can prescribe make-up coursework at its discretion.
The diagnostic privilege at Educ. Law §8401-a (and the §8401(3)-(4) definitions of 'diagnosis' and 'assessment-based treatment plans' it turns on) was added by Chapter 230 of the Laws of 2022, which NYSED's Office of Counsel confirms took effect in stages — some provisions June 24, 2022, with the Department barred from issuing any privilege until June 24, 2024 — implemented by 8 NYCRR §79-9.6; no enacting amendment for the §79-9.7 endorsement rule itself was located.
- Only pursue if New York is the actual destination.
Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — NYSED's license-requirements page complete: endorsement at 5 years within the preceding 10, 'No other examination is acceptable' (NCMHCE), the twelve substantial-equivalence areas, the Forms 1/2/3/4E/4F endorsement set, and the comparable-jurisdiction fallback to full review. Subpart 79-9 verified in the 8/19 sweep (Fable's re-fetch saved but not machine-extractable).
- 8 NYCRR §79-9.7; Subpart 79-9 — https://www.op.nysed.gov/professions/mental-health-counselors/laws-rules-regulations/subpart-799 (verified 2026-08-19)
- Educ. Law §§8402, 8401-a, 8407(1) — https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/EDN/8402 ; https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/EDN/8401-A ; https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/EDN/8407 (verified 2026-08-19)
- NYSED LMHC license-requirements and diagnostic-privilege pages — https://www.op.nysed.gov/professions/mental-health-counselors/license-requirements ; https://www.op.nysed.gov/mental-health-practitioners/Diagnostic-Privilege-for-Certain-Mental-Health-Practitioners (verified 2026-08-19)
- NY S3915/A4566 (2025-26) — https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2025/S3915 (verified 2026-08-19)
Two doors, and the packets could not be more different. Licensure by Credentials asks for no transcript, no coursework form, and no supervision verification — five items: the application, the fee, license verifications sent board-to-board from every jurisdiction you have ever held a counseling-family license in, criminal-justice reports (Alaska's plus your home state's), and a copy of Washington's own counseling statutes and rules. Its single gate is the equivalence question: it is for holders of a current equivalent license from a jurisdiction with substantially the same or higher licensing requirements. The by-examination door is the coursework project described under education below — and it carries a trap the credentials door lacks: an applicant not issued an initial license within three years of passing the exam must retake it. File by credentials if you can; the ~12-credit cure is the fallback, not the plan.
By credentials: whenever the board deems Washington's requirements substantially the same or higher — an equivalence determination not yet tested from this cohort. By examination: the day the ~12 added semester credits are done. The August 21, 2026 rules accepting out-of-state supervision help the examination route; the credentials route never asks about supervision at all.
NCE or NCMHCE, your choice.
On the credentials route: not reviewed — no transcript is filed. On the examination route: the 60-semester total with career development not required (8 of 10 areas suffice), roughly 12 added credits for this cohort, with the areas as the check sheet names them carried in the coursework forms.
The compilation is the Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing's 'Statutes and Regulations — Professional Counselors,' Rev. 07/01/2025; it notes AS 08.29.210 (supervisor certification) was repealed by secs. 24 and 26, ch. 44, SLA 2024, and ties the 'related field' definition in 12 AAC 62.990(b) to sec. 6, ch. 75, SLA 1998 as amended by sec. 7, ch. 49, SLA 1999.
- File by credentials, not by examination, if at all possible: the examination packet's exam-recency clause (initial license within three years of passing, or retake) is a trap for anyone who tested years ago, and the credentials packet reviews no education and no supervision.
- The new supervision form has not posted: as of August 20, 2026 the board's forms page still says updated applications are coming, and the live supervision form still requires board pre-approval before supervision begins — the old wall stands on paper until the new forms land. Recheck after August 21.
- Two twelve-month clocks: an application is abandoned when twelve months pass since the board last received correspondence, and the $200 application fee (of the $450 total) is non-refundable. Every applicant needs an Alaska name-based background check even if never a resident.
- Board housekeeping, resolved but worth knowing: the board operates in its statutory wind-down year while seeking an extension next session.
- Fees as printed on the 2025 revisions: $200 application + $250 initial license; two-year cycle expiring October 31 of odd years. Verify at filing.
Fable: decisive texts read in full — both application packets 2026-08-20 (packet pass); the examiner's written answer re-read verbatim in Gmail 2026-08-20; AS 08.29.120 verified on a dated mirror (text matches the July 2025 compilation, whose PDF fetched but did not extract cleanly). 12 AAC 62's new text posts 2026-08-21 — the waiting action item covers it.
- AS 08.29.110, 08.29.120; 12 AAC 62.100-62.400 (esp. 62.110, 62.120(c)-(d), 62.130, 62.220(b), 62.400) — https://www.commerce.alaska.gov/web/Portals/5/pub/CounselorStatutes.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
- Board FAQ (60 credit hours + 3,000 hours; Alaska license for Alaska clients) — commerce.alaska.gov
- Board homepage (HB 126 frozen per AO 358)
- Alaska DCCED, Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing — 'Centralized Licensing Statutes', June 2026, rev. 6/23/2026 (complete AS 08.01, AS 08.02, AS 08.03 text, incl. AS 08.01.010(36), AS 08.01.062, .063, .064, and AS 08.03.010(c)(6) and AS 08.03.020) — https://www.commerce.alaska.gov/web/portals/5/pub/Centralized_Licensing_Stats.pdf (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- Alaska CBPL, Licensing Examiner (Board of Professional Counselors inbox) — written answer 2026-08-20: board operating normally in its wind-down year, extension sought; new 12 AAC 62 rules accept out-of-state post-graduate supervision via a forthcoming completion-of-supervision form. Informal staff answer, non-binding.
- Professional Counselor License by Credentials Application (instructions + application + letter-of-explanation + credit-card form), form #08-4911 (rev. Rev. 05/14/2025 (appended forms: 08-4752 Rev. 06/03/2024; 08-4438 Rev. 11/21/2024)) — https://www.commerce.alaska.gov/web/Portals/5/pub/pco4911.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read in-full)
- Professional Counselor License by Examination Application (instructions + application + Education Coursework Check Sheet 08-4910a + Verification of Post-Doctoral/Post-Master's Experience 08-4910c), form #08-4910 (rev. Rev. 07/01/2025 (08-4910a Rev. 07/01/2025; 08-4910c Rev. 07/01/2025)) — https://www.commerce.alaska.gov/web/Portals/5/pub/pco4910.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read in-full)
- Board of Professional Counselors — Applications and Forms (board forms index; carries the Associate Counselor / Board-Approved Supervisor rules notice) (rev. no revision date printed; fetched 2026-08-20) — https://www.commerce.alaska.gov/web/cbpl/ProfessionalLicensing/ProfessionalCounselors/ApplicationsForms.aspx (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read in-full)
- Board-Approved Professional Counselor Supervisor application, form #08-4430 (linked, not fetched — superseded version pending the 8/21/2026 rules) (rev. Rev. 11/01/2024) — https://www.commerce.alaska.gov/web/Portals/5/pub/pco4430.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read partial)
- New 12 AAC 62 rules (Associate Counselor + Board-Approved Supervisor) and the new completion-of-supervision form (rev. NOT YET POSTED as of 2026-08-20) — https://www.commerce.alaska.gov/web/cbpl/ProfessionalLicensing/ProfessionalCounselors/ApplicationsForms.aspx (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read unfetchable)
The coursework review is real and filed on every path — the Required Course Summary's first line makes you tick which: Traditional, Provisional, Act 457, Military, or LBE — so classes are always part of Arkansas. But two corrections shrink the project and one changes the state's meaning entirely. First, the conversion: Arkansas prints its own ratio — 3 semester = 4 quarter credits — so 72 quarter hours is 54 semester hours here, a six-hour gap, not twelve. Second, the old three-year threshold did not vanish; it moved: three years of unbroken Washington licensure lets the board approve your supervision hours on the license alone, skipping the hour-by-hour audit. Third, and the headline: Arkansas went live in the Counseling Compact on July 30, 2026 — the moment Washington goes live, Arkansas arrives by privilege ($50 + $30) without any of this.
Whenever the coursework gap is closed — about six semester hours — plus, at three years of unbroken licensure, the supervision audit dissolves. Or wait for the compact: Arkansas is live, and a privilege beats all of it for remote practice.
NCE or NCMHCE, verified in the board's own rule.
Sixty semester hours at a B- or better, twelve areas as the Required Course Summary prints them: professional identity and ethics (3); social and cultural diversity (3); human growth and development (3); career development (3); helping relations (3); group work (3); assessment (3); research and program evaluation (3); abnormal psychology/psychopathology (3); marriage, family and relationship systems (3); a supervised practicum/internship block of nine graduate credits across at least three courses over six-plus months — credit-denominated, the same species of bar Rhode Island's closure turns on, so check your transcript's field-experience credits, not just clock hours; and use of technology in counseling — one credit, not three. At Arkansas's own 4-quarter-to-3-semester conversion, this cohort's gap is about six semester hours plus any missing named areas. Non-CACREP applicants also file two graduate catalogs and a syllabus for every listed course.
The Automatic Occupational Licensure Act was Act 457 of 2023 (effective 2023-08-01, by constitutional default). The board implements it by posting the act itself and a rule (17 CAR §75-905) that grants the license and then requires all remaining requirements within one year on pain of revocation. The endorsement rule's three-year threshold was removed in the June–July 2026 revision.
- Arkansas became the compact's seventh live state on July 30, 2026 (the board's own go-live FAQ) — for remote practice, the privilege will make this whole entry moot once Washington joins.
- Corrected 2026-08-20: the direct-hours figure is 2,000, not 2,200, and three years of unbroken Washington licensure substitutes for the hours audit entirely.
- Syllabus archaeology applies here too: non-CACREP applicants submit two graduate catalogs plus a syllabus per listed course. Collect them now.
- Twelve-month application clock with one paid extension; the universal-recognition (Act 457) route still requires Arkansas residency and defers rather than waives all of this.
- A jurisprudence exam is required of endorsement applicants (runs through CCE Academy).
Fable: application forms and the Act texts (457, 968, 725, 820) read in full 2026-08-19/20; the ABEC 2024 rules PDF is cited but was not independently re-read — the rule-text layer rides on the packet-pass forms, which recite the operative requirements.
- Ark. Code Ann. 17-27-301 (LPC qualifications; 3,000 client contact hours; degree primarily professional counseling in content) — https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-17/subtitle-2/chapter-27/subchapter-3/section-17-27-301/ (verified 2026-08-19; Justia mirror retained — no fetchable free official Arkansas Code copy located)
- Act 457 of 2023, Ark. Code Ann. 17-7-101 to 17-7-106 (Automatic Occupational Licensure for Out-of-State Licensure Act), as posted by ABEC — https://healthy.arkansas.gov/wp-content/uploads/ABEC_ACT457.pdf (verified 2026-08-19; SB 90, 94th General Assembly, approved 4/4/2023)
- ABEC Rules, 2024 Rule Revision — Rules 1.4 (telehealth), 3.3, 3.6, 4.1(c)/(m)/(n), 6.2(b)(1), 6.3, 9.1, 9.2, 9.4, 9.5, 13.1-13.4 — https://healthy.arkansas.gov/wp-content/uploads/ARBOEC-Rule.pdf (verified 2026-08-19; Rule 6.2(b)(1) reads 'National Counselor Examination (NCE) or, National Clinical Mental Health Counselor Examination (NCMHCE)'; Rule 9.1(b) sets the three-year/36-month full-licensure endorsement threshold)
- ABEC LAC/LPC Required Course Summary, eff. 7/1/2020 (quarter-hour equivalency; 12 content areas; 700/280 practicum-internship clock hours) — https://healthy.arkansas.gov/wp-content/uploads/LAC-LPC_Core_Curriculum_Summary.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
- ABEC board page — https://healthy.arkansas.gov/boards-commissions/boards/examiners-in-counseling-arkansas-state-board/ (verified 2026-08-19)
- 2026 ARBOEC Proposed Rule Revision (linked by Board; no extractable text) — https://healthy.arkansas.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026-ARBOEC-Rule-Revision.pdf (link live but returns no extractable text 2026-08-19)
- NBCC Arkansas Examination Supplement — https://www.nbcc.org/Assets/StateForms/AR.pdf (verified 2026-08-19; supplement covers both the NCE and the NCMHCE)
- Ark. Code Ann. sec. 17-7-104 (Automatic occupational licensure; the (b) deferral clause) - eff. 2023-08-01 — https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-17/subtitle-1/chapter-7/section-17-7-104/ (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- Ark. Code Ann. sec. 17-7-106 (Exemptions) with 2025 history line — https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-17/subtitle-1/chapter-7/section-17-7-106/ (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- Ark. Code Ann. ch. 17-7 chapter listing (secs. 17-7-101 to 17-7-106) — https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-17/subtitle-1/chapter-7/ (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-part)
- Act 457 of 2023 (SB 90) - enrolled act, official — https://arkleg.state.ar.us/Home/FTPDocument?path=%2FACTS%2F2023R%2FPublic%2FACT457.pdf (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- Act 968 of 2025 (SB 121) - enrolled act, official — https://arkleg.state.ar.us/Home/FTPDocument?path=%2FACTS%2F2025R%2FPublic%2FACT968.pdf (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- Act 725 of 2021 (Workforce Expansion Act - debunks the ULR premise) — https://arkleg.state.ar.us/Home/FTPDocument?path=%2FACTS%2F2021R%2FPublic%2FACT725.pdf (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- Act 820 of 2019 (military automatic licensure - not ULR) — https://arkleg.state.ar.us/Home/FTPDocument?path=%2FACTS%2F2019R%2FPublic%2FACT820.pdf (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- SB 90 bill history (Act Date 2023-04-04; no internal effective date) — https://arkleg.state.ar.us/Bills/Detail?id=SB90&ddBienniumSession=2023%2F2023R (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-part)
- LAC or LPC Required Course Summary For Application (the core-curriculum form filed with every application) (rev. "LAC/LPC Updated 7/2026" in the running header; footer still reads "Effective July 1, 2020") — https://healthy.arkansas.gov/wp-content/uploads/Updated-2020-LAC-LPC-Core-Curriculum-Summary-07082026.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read in-full)
- LAC/LPC Core Curriculum Summary — prior posted copy (same twelve areas, no licensure-path selector) (rev. Effective July 1, 2020) — https://healthy.arkansas.gov/wp-content/uploads/LAC-LPC_Core_Curriculum_Summary.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read in-full)
- Verification of State Professional License (completed and MAILED by the applicant's out-of-state board) (rev. Updated 7/2026) — https://healthy.arkansas.gov/wp-content/uploads/Updated-Verification-of-State-Prof-License-07082026.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read in-full)
- LAC/LAMFT Supervision Reporting Form (six-month hour reporting; states the Level 1 / Level 2 hour structure) (rev. Updated 7/2026) — https://healthy.arkansas.gov/wp-content/uploads/Updated-Supv-Hours-Reporting-Form-07082026.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read in-full)
- Arkansas Jurisprudence Examination Instructions (CCE Academy; also the Compact-privilege route) (rev. filename-dated 08/17/2026) — https://healthy.arkansas.gov/wp-content/uploads/ARBOEC-Arkansas-Jurisprudence-Instructions-_08172026.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read in-full)
- Arkansas Counseling Compact Go-Live FAQ — 'Arkansas became an active member of the Counseling Compact on July 30, 2026'; inbound privilege $50 + $30 (re-verified in the 2026-08-20 adversarial review)
Delaware's reciprocity runs on national certification plus a similarity review, and the board's own description says NBCC certification is a requirement of licensure for all applicants (24 Del. C. §3034). The pieces fit together like this: hold the NCC (for most of this cohort, one career course away — see the NCC section), and reciprocity is available from a substantially-similar state; at five-plus years licensed in any one jurisdiction, the board's page adds that 'no further documentation is needed' — the similarity paperwork thins out, but the certification requirement stands. The examination route's CACREP-standards course mapping remains the door to avoid.
After obtaining the NCC — the career course is the cure here — plus the similarity review of Washington's rules (which five-plus years licensed reduces to nearly nothing). A no on similarity routes to the associate license, not a denial.
NCE accepted by statute.
Not reviewed on the NCC-based reciprocity route; the CACREP-standards mapping exists only on the examination route.
The section credits show §3032 last amended by 83 Del. Laws, c. 433, §20 and §3034 last amended by 81 Del. Laws, c. 425, §18.
- Two research passes read this state oppositely within one day — one found the NCC nowhere, a re-check found the board's page requiring NBCC certification of all applicants. The board's page and the statute win; if you want certainty beyond that, the question for the board is one line: does the reciprocity route require current NCC certification?
- The DELPROS portal clock starts when you OPEN the application: six months to submit or it deletes. Gather documents first, open last.
- Delaware's background check cannot be recycled from another state's licensure.
- The telehealth registration's compact-state bar still stands (see the remote-practice section).
- Statutory anatomy of the five-year clause, for precision: §3034(a) is the certification-plus-similar-state door and reads 'shall grant'; §3034(b) is the five-year door for jurisdictions whose standards are NOT substantially similar, and reads 'may be licensed.' The board's page glosses five years as 'no further documentation' — the statute makes that door discretionary.
Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — 24 Del. C. §§3030–3034 complete and the board's live LPCMH page (modified 2026-07-08), which still carries 'certification… is a requirement of licensure for all applicants,' the five-year no-further-documentation clause, and the associate fallback.
- 24 Del. C. §§3032, 3033, 3034 — https://delcode.delaware.gov/title24/c030/sc02/index.html (verified 2026-08-19)
- DE Board Oct 2025 Evaluation of Coursework (Reg. 2.1) + LPCMH Course Comparison form rev. 10/2025 — dpr.delaware.gov
- 24 Del. C. §6003 telehealth registration — dpr.delaware.gov
- Professional Counselor of Mental Health Licensure (the LPCMH application-requirements page; carries both the Examination and Reciprocity requirement sets) (rev. no revision date printed; page metadata article:modified_time 2026-07-08) — https://dpr.delaware.gov/boards/profcounselors/newlicense/ (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read in-full)
- Evaluation of Coursework for LPCMH and LACMH (flagged "New" on the Forms page; 13 pp) (rev. Revised 4/2026) — https://dprfiles.delaware.gov/profcounselors/Evaluation_of_Coursework_LPCMH.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read in-full)
- LPCMH Course Comparison FINAL 10.2025 (the form the LPCMH and Associate pages actually link; 10 pp) (rev. Revised 10/2025) — https://dprfiles.delaware.gov/profcounselors/LPCMH%20Course%20Comparison%20FINAL%2010.2025.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read in-full)
- Evaluation of Coursework (legacy version, still live and still linked from the Forms page with no deprecation notice) (rev. Revised 4/2019) — https://dprfiles.delaware.gov/profcounselors/Counselor_Mental_Health_Eval_Of_Coursework1.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read in-full)
- Direct Supervision Reference — Professional Counselor of Mental Health (rev. Revised 05/2023) — https://dprfiles.delaware.gov/profcounselors/LPCMH_Direct_Supervision_Ref1.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read in-full)
- Delaware Board of Mental Health and Chemical Dependency Professionals, Professional Counselor licensure page — NBCC certification described as a requirement of licensure for all applicants; five-plus years licensed in one jurisdiction: 'no further documentation is needed' (re-verified in the 2026-08-20 adversarial review; both clauses read directly)
Course-by-course review against the 60-hour standard; a live statute-versus-rule conflict (the rule still contains a deleted 'applied psychology' pathway) makes outcomes less predictable than the paper suggests.
The day the coursework is done — about eight quarter hours here — with no waiting period; but check the sixty-month lookback below before assuming your hours survive.
NCE accepted.
The total is 'a minimum of 60 semester or 80 quarter hours' — Georgia converts at 80, not 90, so a 72-quarter transcript is eight quarter hours short, roughly half the cure elsewhere. The degree must be in clinical counseling or counseling psychology from a regionally accredited program — an M.A. in Psychology is neither name, a discretionary risk independent of credits. The eleven areas as the application prints them include counseling/psychotherapy theory and practicum, with career development required and addictions and sexuality not. No syllabi or catalog descriptions are demanded anywhere — course numbers and titles are read against the rule directly. The rule's own definition settles the supplementation question in this cohort's favor: the required courses may be completed 'either as part of the degree program or as additional course work completed prior to, during or after the degree program' (135-5-.02(a)11) — express post-degree supplementation. Note the rule itself prints no credit total at all: the 60-semester/80-quarter figure lives on the application and the 60/90 in the statute, making the rule a third instrument in the credit-total conflict.
O.C.G.A. §43-10A-11 was last amended by 2024 Ga. Laws 557, §2, effective July 1, 2024, following the 2022 Ga. Laws 813, §1 rewrite effective July 1, 2022.
- The credit total is itself in conflict between Georgia's own instruments: the current application prints '60 semester or 80 quarter hours' while the statute (O.C.G.A. §43-10A-11) prints 90 quarter. Eight hours short on the form's math, eighteen on the statute's — get the number in writing before enrolling, and use the higher number.
- The sixty-month lookback is Georgia's real trap: experience and supervision 'should not be reported for more than a 5 year/60-month period immediately preceding the submission of the application' — cohort members whose supervised hours ended more than five years before filing lose them.
- Georgia's own instructions conflict on filing channel too: the how-to guide says portal-only (paper returned to sender) while the 08-15-2023 application revision instructs mailing with a mail-processing fee. Confirm the channel with the board before submitting anything.
- If any supervisor was an LPC, the current application demands their ACS or CPCS credential number — reconstruct that before filing.
- Do not register for the background check before submitting the application; those fees don't come back.
- Georgia is live on the compact, so after the 90-quarter cure and Washington's go-live it arrives by privilege without any of this.
Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — Ga. Comp. R. 135-5-.02 complete: the applied-psychology pathway (f) is live in the current compilation (statute-vs-rule conflict confirmed), the 'prior to, during or after' supplementation clause verified verbatim at (a)11, and the 60-month lookback with its endorsement case-by-case discretion at (a)7(vi)/(a)8(vi). Board application forms read in the packet audit.
- O.C.G.A. § 43-10A-11 (2024), Requirements for licensure as associate professional counselor or professional counselor — 60 semester or 90 quarter hours in clinical counseling or counseling psychology — https://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/title-43/chapter-10a/article-1/section-43-10a-11/ (verified 2026-08-19; Georgia's official O.C.G.A. is LexisNexis-hosted and not machine-fetchable)
- O.C.G.A. § 43-10A-11 (2022 version with amendment history; 2022 Ga. Laws p. 523 § 1 / HB 972 eff. 7/1/2022 rewrote the section and deleted the applied-psychology pathway) — https://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/2022/title-43/chapter-10a/article-1/section-43-10a-11/
- Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 135-5-.02, Professional Counselors (subsection (f) master's degree in psychology; 4 years or 3 years plus 300-hour practicum; supervisor ACS/CPCS requirement; 60-month lookback) — https://rules.sos.ga.gov/gac/135-5-.02 (verified 2026-08-19 against the LII copy https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/georgia/Ga-Comp-R-Regs-R-135-5-.02; the official GAC page is JavaScript-rendered and returns no text to automated fetch)
- Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 135-5-.01, Associate Professional Counselors (nine required content areas; 600 practicum/internship hours after 9/30/2018; required registration of a Directed Experience Under Supervision Contract) — https://rules.sos.ga.gov/gac/135-5-.01
- Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 135-3-.04, Licensure by Endorsement (license without examination where the other state's requirements are substantially equal or greater) — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/georgia/Ga-Comp-R-Regs-R-135-3-.04
- Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 135-3-.03, Licensure by Examination — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/georgia/Ga-Comp-R-Regs-R-135-3-.03
- Georgia Composite Board Form 41, Application for Licensure by Endorsement — Professional Counselor (2 years unrestricted clinical-level licensure; NCE OR NCMHCE accepted; $110 fee; non-clinical-level licenses ineligible; Form N verification) — https://sos.ga.gov/sites/default/files/forms/41%20Application%20for%20Licensed%20Professional%20Counselor%20By%20Endorsement.pdf
- Georgia Secretary of State, Counseling Compact (LIVE June 2, 2026; fifth state; GOALS amendment application required before Compact Connect; APCs ineligible) — https://sos.ga.gov/page/counseling-compact
- Georgia Composite Board, Counseling Compact Implementation Status/Update newsletter (rules and fees, FBI background checks, privilege-to-home-state-license conversion) — https://sos.ga.gov/sites/default/files/forms/Counseling%20Compact%20Website%20Newsletter.pdf
- Georgia Secretary of State, How-to Guide: Professional Counselor (application process; common expiration September 30 of even-numbered years) — https://sos.ga.gov/how-to-guide/how-guide-professional-counselor
- Notice of Intent to Adopt Proposed Amendments to Rules 135-5-.01 and 135-5-.02, filed March 3, 2025, hearing April 4, 2025 — https://sos.ga.gov/sites/default/files/forms/R%20135-5-.01%20%20.02-NOH-%20signed%2003.03.25.pdf
- Georgia Composite Board Fee Schedule — https://sos.ga.gov/sites/default/files/forms/41%20Reference%20-%20Fee%20Schedule.pdf
- O.C.G.A. § 43-1-34.1, Expedited License by Endorsement for Military Spouses — https://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/2020/title-43/chapter-1/section-43-1-34-1/
- Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. Chapter 135-5, Requirements for Licensure (full chapter) — https://rules.sos.ga.gov/gac/135-5
- O.C.G.A. § 43-1-35 (2024) — full text incl. (a)(2) definition of healthcare provider, (b), (c), (d) exclusion, (e), (f), (g), and amendment history — https://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/title-43/chapter-1/section-43-1-35/ (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- How to Guide: Professional Counselor (the Board's current applicant-facing instruction page) (rev. no revision date printed; fetched 2026-08-20) — https://sos.ga.gov/how-to-guide/how-guide-professional-counselor (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read in-full)
- 41 Application for Licensed Professional Counselor Licensure (16 pp) — the most recent full application PDF (rev. 08-15-2023) — https://sos.ga.gov/sites/default/files/forms/41%20Application%20for%20Licensed%20Professional%20Counselor%20Licensure%2008-15-23-AA.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read in-full)
- 41 Application for Licensed Professional Counselor Licensure (18 pp) — superseded but still served; contains the dead "six of nine content areas" allowance (rev. 03/12/2022 (Form A page footer 08/18/2021)) — https://sos.ga.gov/sites/default/files/forms/41%20Application%20for%20Licensed%20Professional%20Counselor%20Licensure.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read in-full)
- 41 Application for Licensed Professional Counselor Licensure 05-02-2023 (16 pp) (rev. 05-02-2023) — https://sos.ga.gov/sites/default/files/forms/41%20Application%20for%20Licensed%20Professional%20Counselor%20Licensure%2005-02-2023.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read partial)
- 41 Reference – Fee Schedule (rev. 03/12/2022) — https://sos.ga.gov/sites/default/files/forms/41%20Reference%20-%20Fee%20Schedule.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read in-full)
No reciprocity exists and license age never helps — but the totals are friendly: 48 semester hours is exactly Hawaii's number, and the statute expressly allows post-degree supplementation with no cap. It's a pure content-area project.
The day the short areas are cured — no waiting period, no NCMHCE, no exam retake (NBCC sends your NCE verification). But everything must be complete before filing: education, practicum, and all 3,000 post-graduate hours — Hawaii accepts no in-progress applications, and an application not completed within a year is destroyed as abandoned.
NCE, by score verification; no retake.
The full checklist, from the application instructions (read in full 2026-08-20): 48 semester / 72 quarter graduate hours — exactly what MAP grants — including all nine subject areas at a minimum of 3 semester / 5 quarter hours each: (a) human growth and development; (b) social and cultural foundations; (c) counseling theories and applications; (d) group theory and practice; (e) career and lifestyle development; (f) appraisal of human behavior; (g) tests and measurements; (h) research and program evaluation; (i) professional orientation and ethics. Note that appraisal and tests-and-measurements are separate areas — the less obvious gap, since most transcripts that cover one lean on it for both. Multiple courses may combine within an area (each course counted once, per the program office), and post-degree graduate coursework fills any short area. For most MAP transcripts the gaps are career and lifestyle development and tests and measurements.
The section's source note reads L 2004, c 209, pt of §2, as amended by L 2006, c 14, §3; L 2007, c 252, §2; L 2008, c 206, §1; L 2018, c 185, §2; and L 2020, c 63, §2.
- The paperwork is the main work: the Coursework Form needs a catalog description AND syllabus for every course listed — start collecting 2022–2024 syllabi now, while the program can still produce them. Practicum (2+ terms, 6 semester / 10 quarter hours, 300+ supervised contact hours) and post-graduate experience both need notarized supervisor verification forms.
- A window trap in the experience rule: the 3,000 post-graduate hours with 100 hours of face-to-face supervision must be completed in no less than two and no more than four years. Cohort members who accrued hours slowly (part-time practice) can fail the four-year cap — check your own dates before anything else.
- Supervisors must have been licensed (MHC, psychologist, clinical social worker, psychiatric APRN, psychiatrist, or MFT) for the entire supervised period — a WA LMHC supervisor qualifies on its face.
- The program office's answers carry Hawaii's own disclaimer (HAR §16-201-90: informational, not binding on the Board). Keep the email with any application.
- No reciprocity exists — the application instructions say so flatly — and license age never helps; nothing about waiting changes this entry. Fees: $60 application; license fees vary by triennium year ($256–$444 as printed in the mid-2024 revision — verify at filing); renewal is triennial every June 30.
Fable: decisive texts read in full — the board's application instructions 2026-08-20; HRS §453D-7 complete and the program office's three answers re-read verbatim in Gmail 2026-08-20 (the supplementation clause — 'includes, or is supplemented by' — is in the statute itself, uncapped; the 2-to-4-year experience window and the 300-hour practicum floor are statutory).
- HRS §453D-7 — https://law.justia.com/codes/hawaii/title-25/chapter-453d/section-453d-7/ (verified 2026-08-19)
- DCCA-PVL application instructions MHC-00 (0624R)
- Act 93 (SLH 2024) associate license memo, eff. 7/1/2026
- Hawai'i Mental Health Counselor Program (DCCA PVL) — written answers to a direct inquiry, 2026-08-20: course-combining within areas allowed; post-degree supplementation allowed; provisional license scoped to hour-accruers. Informational per HAR §16-201-90, not binding on the Board.
- DCCA PVL, Requirements & Instructions — Mental Health Counselor License Application (rev. 06/24; read in full): nine subject areas at 3 semester / 5 quarter hours each within the 48/72 total; practicum 2 terms / 300 contact hours; post-graduate 3,000 hours + 100 supervision in 2–4 years; syllabi and catalog descriptions required per course; no reciprocity; complete-before-filing — https://cca.hawaii.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Require-Instruct-App-for-Mental-Health-Counselor_06.24R.pdf (verified 2026-08-20)
Illinois raised its degree minimum from 48 to 60 semester hours on July 1, 2026 — weeks ago — and whether the trigger is application date or graduation date is genuinely ambiguous in the rule. A graduation-date reading would nearly erase the education gate for this cohort; nobody has the answer yet.
After the cure — now definitively against the 60-hour standard — and only if the university will certify the practicum box. The strategic sequence: Illinois's LPC tier requires no post-degree experience and only the NCE, and an active Illinois LPC then substitutes for the entire clinical tier's education file — cure once, at the LPC gate.
LPC: NCE. LCPC (the independent tier): both the NCE and the NCMHCE — one of the only states requiring both.
Settled, unfavorably, by the rule's own text: 'Beginning July 1, 2026, individuals applying for licensure shall graduate from a program with a minimum of 60 semester hours or 90 quarter hours' — application date, no grandfather, so this cohort is 12 semester hours short today regardless of graduation year. Thirteen named areas at 3 semester hours each on the certification-of-education form, which the UNIVERSITY completes under seal — including a yes/no box certifying a 700-hour practicum with 280 direct hours, which a 600-hour internship fails. An undisclosed 30-semester-hour single-institution residence rule lives in the rule text and appears in no applicant document. Two favorable clauses the rule itself carries: post-degree coursework may make up deficiencies expressly, and only seven of the thirteen core areas must sit inside the degree.
The posted 225 ILCS 107 text carries P.A. 103-715, effective January 1, 2025, among its amendatory notes.
- The application-date question is settled by the rule text itself (July 1, 2026, 'individuals applying') — but both IDFPR qualification sheets still describe it in the future tense; expect confusion at intake and carry the rule cite.
- The 700/280 practicum is a sealed university yes/no certification, not an hours negotiation — ask SU whether it would check that box before spending anything on Illinois.
- The NCC substitutes for the education certification on the LPC tier expressly (§1375.30); whether it does the same at the clinical tier is unconfirmed — ask before relying. Either way, for this state the career-course-then-NCC route has real value.
- Applications stay active three years; fees are non-refundable, printed twice.
Fable-graded with a provenance note: the full Part 1375 text and both IDFPR qualification snapshots were read in the 2026-08-20 application-packet audit, and the entry carries the §1375.45 July-2026 trigger quote verbatim; IDFPR and ILGA pages are JS-gated to direct re-fetch, so no independent Fable re-read exists yet.
- 68 Ill. Adm. Code Part 1375 (full current text; §1375.45 education, §1375.130 experience, §1375.145 LCPC education, §1375.150 LCPC exam, §1375.160 endorsement, §1375.205 fees, Appendix A core areas; amended 48 Ill. Reg. 8776, eff. June 4, 2024) - https://ilga.gov/agencies/JCAR/EntirePart?titlepart=06801375 (verified 2026-08-19)
- 225 ILCS 107 Professional Counselor and Clinical Professional Counselor Licensing and Practice Act (§45 qualifications, §60 fees, §70 endorsement; P.A. 103-715 eff. 1-1-25, P.A. 104-178 eff. 1-1-26) - https://ilga.gov/Legislation/ILCS/Articles?ActID=1324&ChapterID=24 (verified 2026-08-19)
- IDFPR, Qualifications for Licensure: Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (180), eff. 05/2025 - https://idfpr.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/idfpr/core/dpr/180-qualifications-for-licensure.pdf
- IDFPR, LPC/LCPC Application Packet and Instruction Sheet (DPR-I-PC, rev. 8/24) - https://idfpr.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/idfpr/renewals/apply/forms/pc.pdf
- IDFPR Form ED-PC (Certification of Education) - https://idfpr.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/idfpr/renewals/apply/forms/ed-pc.pdf
- IDFPR Form VE-LCPC (Verification of Supervision and Experience) - https://idfpr.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/idfpr/renewals/apply/forms/ve-lcpc.pdf
- Illinois HB4642 (103rd GA), Counseling Compact Act - did not pass - https://www.ilga.gov/ftp/legislation/103/HB/10300HB4642.htm
- Illinois General Assembly — Bill Status for HB 1338, 104th General Assembly (short title 'RECOGNITION OF LICENSES ACT'; synopsis creating the Universal Recognition of Occupational Licenses Act; last action 'Referred to Rules Committee' 2025-01-28) — https://ilga.gov/ftp/legislation/104/BillStatus/HTML/10400HB1338.html (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- QUALIFICATIONS FOR LICENSURE: LICENSED PROFESSIONAL COUNSELOR (178) (rev. Effective Date: 05/2025; Revised Date: N/NNNN (i.e., never revised since issue)) — https://idfpr.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/idfpr/core/dpr/178-qualifications-for-licensure.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
- Qualifications for Licensure: Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (180) (rev. Effective Date: 05/2025; Revised Date: N/NNNN (never revised since issue)) — https://idfpr.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/idfpr/core/dpr/180-qualifications-for-licensure.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
- ED-PC — CERTIFICATION OF EDUCATION, PROFESSIONAL COUNSELORS (rev. IL486-2531 2/24 (LT)) — https://idfpr.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/idfpr/renewals/apply/forms/ed-pc.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
- VE-LCPC — PROFESSIONAL COUNSELOR VERIFICATION OF SUPERVISION & EXPERIENCE (rev. IL486-1730 1/24 (LPC)) — https://idfpr.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/idfpr/renewals/apply/forms/ve-lcpc.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
- Licensed Professional Counselor or Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor — Examination / Acceptance of Examination / Endorsement INSTRUCTION SHEET + 4-page Application + PHQ + ED-PC + CT + VE-LCPC (full legacy paper packet, ~30 pages) (rev. Packet updated 8/1/24; instruction sheet 'DPR-I-PC Instructions Revised 8/24'; application form IL486-1019E 7/24; PHQ IL486-2034 12/23; ED-PC IL486-2531 2/24 (LT); CT IL486-0850 12/23 (LT); VE-LCPC IL486-1730 1/24 (LPC); abuse-reporting notice DPR-I-abuse 12/99) — https://idfpr.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/idfpr/renewals/apply/forms/pc.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
Michigan grandfathers the 48-hour tier by program-entry date (on or before June 30, 2023) — which covers everyone in these classes. The remaining gap is typically one course wide (career development, if your electives lack it), and Michigan's endorsement rule reviews NO supervised experience at all. Separately — and now confirmed from the licensing agency's own guide (revision dated 2026-01-26) — Michigan's endorsement route stops reading transcripts entirely at five years: an applicant licensed five or more years in another state files only a Professional Disclosure Statement, with the education-and-examination presumption of R 338.1775(2) doing the rest. Under five years, the transcript and equivalency machinery reattaches. So Michigan is a cheap cure now or a paperwork state at license + 5, whichever arrives first for you.
After the career course (if needed) plus the credential evaluation — still one of the cheapest cures on the map — or, at full license + 5, a one-document filing with education and exam both presumed.
NCE accepted.
Two tiers that appear nowhere in the applicant packet — the licensing guide names no credit figure at all; the numbers live in rule: the 48-semester/72-quarter tier for program entry on or before June 30, 2023 (this whole cohort — 72 quarter meets it exactly, zero margin) and the 60/90 tier for later entrants. The only named-area list an applicant actually fills out is the evaluator's Michigan form (CCE or any NACES member — CCE is not mandated), and the areas it prints are diagnosis- and treatment-shaped. At five-plus years of full licensure, the education question disappears entirely: the rule presumes license verification, education, AND examination satisfied, and the endorsement document set is a single Professional Disclosure Statement.
R 338.1765 and R 338.1775 both carry the history '2021 AACS; 2023 AACS' — the 48-hour/60-hour split by program-entry date comes from the 2023 AACS rule set, and the January 15, 2026 final rules (2026 MR 2) amended R 338.1761, 1763, 1771, 1772 and 1781 but left R 338.1765 and R 338.1775 untouched.
- The grandfather turns on program ENTRY, not graduation — preserve admission-date evidence; the evaluator, not the guide, is where it matters.
- The tiers are invisible in the applicant packet (the guide prints no numbers) — carry the rule citation, because intake staff reading their own guide can't see your grandfather.
- The evaluator is a free choice: CCE or any current NACES member; CCE's Michigan form is itself stale (it prints only the 48/72 tier).
- The five-year endorsement presumption waives more than transcripts — examination too; the document set is one disclosure statement.
- The agency guide still cites CACREP 2009/2016 while the January 2026 rules adopted the 2024 standards — the vintage question remains with LARA (query in flight).
Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — Mich. Admin. Code R 338.1765 complete: the entry-date grandfather verified verbatim ('entered a program on or before June 30, 2023' at 48/72), 'any supplemental coursework' expressly within the evaluation's scope, and the CCE-or-NACES evaluator choice in the rule text. MCL 333.16186 and the licensing guides read in the sweep and packet audit.
- Mich. Admin. Code R 338.1751 to R 338.1781 (Counseling - General Rules, full text; R 338.1765 education, R 338.1773 exams, R 338.1774 by examination, R 338.1775 endorsement incl. 5-year presumption, R 338.1781 supervisor qualifications) - https://ars.apps.lara.state.mi.us/AdminCode/DownloadAdminCodeFile?FileName=R+338.1751+to+R+338.1781.pdf&ReturnHTML=True (verified 2026-08-19)
- Michigan Final Rules filed January 15, 2026 (amending R 338.1761, 1763, 1771, 1772, 1781; adopting CACREP 2024 standards) - https://ars.apps.lara.state.mi.us/Transaction/DownloadFile?FileName=FinalRule%28s%29.pdf&FileType=FinalRule&TransactionID=1578&EffectiveDate=1%2F15%2F2026&ReturnHTML=True
- LARA, Michigan Professional Counselor Licensing Guide, rev. 1/26/2026 - https://www.michigan.gov/lara/-/media/Project/Websites/lara/bpl/Counseling/Licensing-Info-and-Forms/Counseling-Licensing-Guide--FAQ-12626.pdf
- LARA, Counseling Examination Information - https://www.michigan.gov/lara/bureau-list/bpl/health/hp-lic-health-prof/counseling/lic-info/counseling-examination-information
- MCL 333.16186 (Licensure by endorsement / reciprocity), Public Health Code 1978 PA 368 - https://www.legislature.mi.gov/Laws/MCL?objectName=MCL-333-16186
- Michigan HB 4591 of 2025 (Counseling Compact) - passed House 10/29/2025, pending Senate Health Policy - https://www.legislature.mi.gov/Bills/Bill?ObjectName=2025-HB-4591
- LARA Limited Licensed Counselor Licensing Guide, rev. 1/26/2026 - https://www.michigan.gov/lara/-/media/Project/Websites/lara/bpl/Counseling/Licensing-Info-and-Forms/Limited-Counseling-Licensing-Guide--FAQ-12626.pdf
- MCL 333.16186, Public Health Code (Excerpt), Act 368 of 1978 — Reciprocity — https://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/mcl/pdf/mcl-333-16186.pdf (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- Michigan LARA / Bureau of Professional Licensing, MICHIGAN PROFESSIONAL COUNSELOR LICENSING GUIDE, Revision Date 1/26/2026 — https://www.michigan.gov/lara/-/media/Project/Websites/lara/bpl/Counseling/Licensing-Info-and-Forms/Counseling-Licensing-Guide--FAQ-12626.pdf (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- Mich. Admin. Code R 338.1753b (Application requirements; licensure by endorsement) — 5-year presumption clause — https://council.legislature.mi.gov/JCAR/File?path=/JCARFiles/2020+Documents+Received/Draft+Proposed+Rules/2020-033+LR+Counseling+%E2%80%93+General+Rules+DraftRuleVersion_5.doc.htm (verified 2026-08-19; secondary)
- MICHIGAN PROFESSIONAL COUNSELOR LICENSING GUIDE (Counselor Licensing Guide and FAQs) (rev. Revision Date 1/26/2026 (printed on every page; 8 pages)) — https://www.michigan.gov/lara/-/media/Project/Websites/lara/bpl/Counseling/Licensing-Info-and-Forms/Counseling-Licensing-Guide--FAQ-12626.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
- MICHIGAN LIMITED LICENSED COUNSELOR LICENSING GUIDE (LLC guide and FAQs) (rev. Revision Date 1/26/2026 (printed on every page; 6 pages)) — https://www.michigan.gov/lara/-/media/Project/Websites/lara/bpl/Counseling/Licensing-Info-and-Forms/Limited-Counseling-Licensing-Guide--FAQ-12626.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
- Michigan Board of Counseling — Resources for Counselors (landing page; authoritative forms list) (rev. not printed (web page; fetched 2026-08-20)) — https://www.michigan.gov/lara/bureau-list/bpl/health/hp-lic-health-prof/counseling (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
- COUNSELING WORK EXPERIENCE form (rev. LARA/BPL-COUNSELEXP (4/25)) — https://www.michigan.gov/lara/-/media/Project/Websites/lara/bpl/Counseling/Licensing-Info-and-Forms/Counseling-Work-Experience.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
- VERIFICATION REQUEST FOR COUNSELORS (rev. LARA/BPL-Counseling-Verif-Health (Rev. 4/24)) — https://www.michigan.gov/lara/-/media/Project/Websites/lara/bpl/Counseling/Licensing-Info-and-Forms/Counselor-Verification-Request.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
Pennsylvania's education structure is route (b) of its own statute, and it is built for exactly this degree: 'a planned program of 60 semester hours or 90 quarter hours of graduate coursework in counseling or a field determined by the board... to be closely related — including a 48-semester-hour or 72-quarter-hour master's degree.' A 72-quarter master's is the case the route contemplates, and the route by construction requires more than the master's — post-degree supplementation is its structure, not an inference. Psychology is expressly a closely related field; the NCE is on Pennsylvania's accepted list (the NCMHCE is not). The genuinely open question is narrower and is with the board in writing: whether the additional 18 quarter hours must belong to a 'planned program.' The experience side needs a real audit: 1,500 of the 3,000 supervised hours must be direct service, all post-master's, over two to six years.
After ~12 added semester credits (career among them, if your electives lack it) — with the planned-program question answered in writing first — and an experience log that clears the 1,500-direct-hour floor.
NCE.
Sixty semester / 90 quarter total including a 48-semester/72-quarter master's (met exactly); content areas per §49.2 as the board's FAQ restates them; no CACREP requirement, no syllabi, no credential evaluation anywhere in the applicant materials. The open written question: whether post-degree credits must sit inside a 'planned program' or may simply accumulate.
The §49.13 rule text carries the note that the section was amended October 10, 2014, effective 10/11/2014, at 44 Pa.B. 6557, under section 6(2) of the Social Workers, Marriage and Family Therapists and Professional Counselors Act (63 P.S. §1906(2)).
- Experience counts in either of two patterns — a single setting at 30 to 40 hours per week for at least three months, OR at least 15 hours per week for at least six months. The second clause is what makes part-time practice viable here; audit your log against it, plus the 1,500-direct floor and the two-to-six-year span.
- Supervision is a ratio with an individual floor: 2 hours per 40 of experience, at least half individual; supervisors must have been licensed where the supervision occurred.
- Citation note: the content areas live in §49.2 (the FAQ restates them). Pennsylvania does not list the NCMHCE — NCMHCE-only licensees have an exam problem here, the mirror of Indiana.
- Act 41's practical gifts stand: a provisional license to practice while completing requirements, and a 2-of-5-years recency test.
Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — 49 Pa. Code §49.13 complete: route (3)(ii) expressly contemplates a 48/72 master's inside a 60/90 planned program with no 2009 limitation; both experience patterns, the 2-per-40 supervision ratio, and the 2-to-6-year window all verified verbatim. §3111 read in the 8/19 sweep.
- 49 Pa. Code §§49.1, 49.2, 49.11, 49.13, 49.18 — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/pennsylvania/49-Pa-Code-SS-49-13 (verified 2026-08-19)
- 63 Pa.C.S. §3111 (Act 41) — https://law.justia.com/codes/pennsylvania/title-63/chapter-31/section-3111/ (verified 2026-08-19)
- PA SB 604 (2025-26, signed 7/12/2026)
- counselingcompact.gov news
- 63 Pa.C.S. § 3111 (2025) — Licensure by endorsement — https://law.justia.com/codes/pennsylvania/title-63/chapter-31/section-3111/ (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- 63 Pa.C.S. Ch. 31 — full section list (§§ 3101-3120), confirming § 3111 is the operative endorsement section — https://law.justia.com/codes/pennsylvania/title-63/chapter-31/ (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- PA IRRC — complete regulation docket, Agency 317 (this board): no Act 41 / § 3111 rulemaking exists — https://www.irrc.state.pa.us/regulations/RegSrchRslts.cfm?AGY=317 (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- Application Process to Apply for Initial Licensure as a Professional Counselor (Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) Frequently Asked Questions) (rev. Revised 11/2019 (printed in footer on every page: 'Revised 11/2019 - Please watch the Board's website for updates.')) — https://www.pa.gov/content/dam/copapwp-pagov/en/dos/department-and-offices/bpoa/social-worker/SWM%20-%20FAQs%20LPC.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
- Professional Counselor Licensure Requirements Snapshot (rev. none printed) — https://www.pa.gov/agencies/dos/department-and-offices/bpoa/boards-commissions/social-workers-marriage-family-therapists-professional-counselors/professional-counselor-licensure-snapshot (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
- Associate Professional Counselor Licensure Requirements Snapshot (rev. none printed) — https://www.pa.gov/agencies/dos/department-and-offices/bpoa/boards-commissions/social-workers-marriage-family-therapists-professional-counselors/associate-professional-counselor-licensure-snapshot (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
- Board Resources and Documents (State Board of Social Workers, Marriage and Family Therapists and Professional Counselors) — forms index (rev. none printed) — https://www.pa.gov/agencies/dos/department-and-offices/bpoa/boards-commissions/social-workers-marriage-family-therapists-professional-counselors/resources-and-documents (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
- Social Workers, Marriage and Family Therapists and Professional Counselors Licensure Guide (processing guide and timeline) (rev. none printed) — https://www.pa.gov/agencies/dos/resources/professional-licensing-resources/licensure-processing-guides-and-timelines/social-workers-guide (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
Validation improved Wisconsin's picture: the reciprocity rule itself (MPSW 11.04) conditions licensure only on a substantially equivalent out-of-state credential, a clean discipline history, and Wisconsin's statutes-and-rules exam — it says nothing about transcripts or curriculum forms. The conflict lives in the agency's downloadable forms, which do request them. And the education rule (MPSW 14.01(3)) permits up to 18 credit hours completed outside the degree program, not necessarily post-degree.
Possibly at reciprocity on the packet's own three items (plus the jurisprudence exam) — the statute-says-may versus rule-says-shall split and the DSPS ticket now pending decide how bankable that is. The §440.094 temporary credential bridges practice while any application pends.
NCE accepted.
Two doors with different document sets, side by side at last. Reciprocity (the door to take): a three-item packet — application, license verification sent by Washington, and a $75 open-book Wisconsin statutes-and-rules exam at 85% — with no transcript, no education worksheet, no course descriptions, no supervision affidavit; the test compares Washington's rules to Wisconsin's, never your transcript. The standard door: the 60-hour equivalency worksheet across the rule's named areas — and the worksheet itself is defective, duplicating one mandatory area across two sections while omitting another entirely.
- The reciprocity packet reviews states, not transcripts — three items, none academic. Whether the Section grants it (statute 'may') or must ('shall', per its own rule) is the open question riding the DSPS ticket.
- The $75 jurisprudence exam is mandatory on reciprocity: open-book, 85% to pass, three-month window, retakes cost extra.
- Keep the Washington license active — the board's own instructions require the out-of-state license to remain active until Wisconsin credentialing completes.
- Application abandonment runs about 90 days after a deficiency request (not the one-year norm) — flagged from DSPS guidance rather than a counselor-specific document; confirm.
- The education worksheet (if you end up on the standard door) is internally defective — it omits a mandatory content area; expect confusion and carry the rule.
Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — MPSW 11.04 complete: 'shall grant' on five conditions (credential, substantial equivalence, clean record, no disqualifying offenses, jurisprudence exam) with nothing academic among them, exactly as the entry reads it. The forms and §440.094 read in the sweep and packet audit; the DSPS ticket remains pending.
- Wis. Stat. 457.12 (Professional counselor license; (1m) education, (3)(a) 3,000/1,000 hours, (3m) privilege to practice, (4m) compact-eligible vs single-state election) - https://codes.findlaw.com/wi/regulation-and-licensing-ch-440-to-480/wi-st-457-12/
- Wis. Admin. Code MPSW 11.01 (application; degree routes; exam list at (4); hours at (3)(a)) - https://regulations.justia.com/states/wisconsin/marriage-and-family-therapy-professional-counseling-and-social-work-examining-board/chapter-mpsw-11/section-mpsw-11-01/
- Wis. Admin. Code MPSW 11.04 (Reciprocal license; (2) substantial equivalence test; (5) jurisprudence exam) - https://regulations.justia.com/states/wisconsin/marriage-and-family-therapy-professional-counseling-and-social-work-examining-board/chapter-mpsw-11/section-mpsw-11-04/ (verified 2026-08-19, text current through May 27, 2025; the official docs.legis.wisconsin.gov pages for MPSW 11.04 returned no fetchable text)
- Wis. Admin. Code MPSW 12.01 ((3) out-of-state hours credited without a training license) - https://regulations.justia.com/states/wisconsin/marriage-and-family-therapy-professional-counseling-and-social-work-examining-board/chapter-mpsw-12/section-mpsw-12-01/
- Wis. Admin. Code MPSW 12.02 (supervisor qualifications; supervision rate; group cap) - https://regulations.justia.com/states/wisconsin/marriage-and-family-therapy-professional-counseling-and-social-work-examining-board/chapter-mpsw-12/section-mpsw-12-02/
- Wis. Admin. Code MPSW 14.01 (master's equivalency: (2) 60 semester/90 quarter hours, content areas, practicum/internship; (3) 18-credit post-degree cure) - https://regulations.justia.com/states/wisconsin/marriage-and-family-therapy-professional-counseling-and-social-work-examining-board/chapter-mpsw-14/section-mpsw-14-01/ (verified 2026-08-19, text current through May 27, 2025; the official docs.legis.wisconsin.gov pages for MPSW 14.01 returned no fetchable text)
- DSPS Form #1962, Information for Completing Professional Counselor/Training License Application (exam alternatives; reciprocity waivers and non-waivers; jurisprudence exam) - https://dsps.wi.gov/Credentialing/Health/info1962.pdf
- DSPS Form #12503, LPC Reciprocity Key Steps ($60 application, license verification, $75 jurisprudence exam) - https://dsps.wi.gov/Credentialing/Health/fm12503.pdf
- DSPS Form #2239, Professional Counselor Curriculum Requirements (content-area checklist mapped to MPSW 14.01) - https://dsps.wi.gov/Credentialing/Health/fm2239.pdf
- DSPS Professional Counselor profession page (five application methods; Act 10 temporary credential; 60-credit approved programs list) - https://dsps.wi.gov/Pages/Professions/LPC/Default.aspx
- Wis. Stat. 457.50 (Counseling Compact), 2023 Wisconsin Act 55; MPSW 11.05-11.06 created by CR 25-040, Register November 2025 No. 839, eff. 12-1-2025
- Wis. Stat. § 440.094 — Practice by health care providers from other states (full text, incl. § 440.094(1)(c)14 and § 440.094(2)(a)); read alongside § 440.09 and §§ 440.08, 440.11, 440.12, 440.121 on the same page — https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/document/statutes/440.094 (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- Wisconsin DSPS service desk — written routing reply to a direct inquiry, 2026-08-20: support ticket opened in LicensE and routed to the credentialing team; review expected within ~10 calendar days; future contact via the LicensE Request Support form (https://license.wi.gov). Procedural only — no substantive answer yet; case number retained in the maintainer's records.
- #12503, Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) Reciprocal License — Key Steps (rev. #12503 (V1. 5/19/2023)) — https://dsps.wi.gov/Credentialing/Health/fm12503.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
- #12501, Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) License - Exam — Key Steps (the STANDARD application) (rev. #12501 (Rev. 08/20/2025)) — https://dsps.wi.gov/Credentialing/Health/fm12501.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
- #2239, Professional Counselor Curriculum Requirements (the EDUCATION worksheet) (rev. (Rev. 04/06/2026)) — https://dsps.wi.gov/Credentialing/Health/fm2239.pdf (redirects to https://wi.accessgov.com/dsps-external/Forms/Page/150/2239) (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
- #1960, Professional Counselor Certificate of Professional Education - Applicant Section (rev. (Rev. 01/02/2026)) — https://dsps.wi.gov/Credentialing/Health/fm1960.pdf (redirects to https://wi.accessgov.com/dsps-external/Forms/Page/150/1960) (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
- #2464, Affidavit of Supervised Professional Counseling Practice - Applicant Section (rev. (Rev. 01/02/2026)) — https://dsps.wi.gov/Credentialing/Health/fm2464.pdf (redirects to https://wi.accessgov.com/dsps-external/Forms/Page/150/2464) (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
A clean cure case: every hours requirement clears a WA record, the NCE is accepted, and no odd traps surfaced — just the 60-hour total plus career if your electives lack it.
The day the coverage gaps are filled — for most MAP transcripts that is the career course and little else — no waiting period, no extra exam. The rule's 60/90 total still stands behind the form; treat the coverage test as the instrument and the total as the law.
NCE accepted.
The operative applicant instrument tests coverage, not credits — 'At least one (1) course must be identified in each area,' no per-area minimums, no double-counting — across nine areas: practicum/internship, human growth and development, social and cultural diversity, helping relationships, group work, career development, assessment, research and program evaluation, and professional counseling orientation and ethics. The 60/90 total lives in the rule rather than on the form. No syllabi, no course descriptions, no notary — and on the reciprocity route, no supervisor-signed hours form at all (experience is self-reported).
Both chapter 11 rules carry the history 'Amended, Eff. 6/3/2015; Amended, Eff. 2/2/2016; Amended, Eff. 7/26/2019; Amended, Eff. 12/17/2021,' matching the Board's statement that its current rules were filed with the Secretary of State effective December 17, 2021.
- The board serves two fee figures simultaneously: the reciprocity packet read 2026-08-20 prints $419 ($375 + $39 + $5), while the application document linked from the same forms page (read 2026-08-21) prints $393 ($350 + $39 + $4). Confirm the figure with the board (WyoMHPLB@wyo.gov) before writing the check — both documents are live.
- The board will not pre-review transcripts — you learn whether the coverage reading works only after the full file is in; budget for that uncertainty.
- Fingerprint cards must be within six months of submission — get printed last.
- No late renewal exists: miss the postmark and the license is void; lapse five years and you retake the exam.
Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — 078-11 Wyo. Code R. 11-6 complete: a master's 'in professional counseling' + exam + good standing, 'upon approval of the board,' with the five-year discipline lookback; the Transcript Evaluation form (packet audit) is how the degree-title phrase gets operationalized for non-counseling-titled degrees.
- W.S. 33-38-106 (licensure requirements; (a)(v) 100 hours face-to-face INDIVIDUAL supervision; (d)(iii)(C) provisional for out-of-state independent licensee with no hour cap; (d)(v)-(vi) 36-month term) — https://law.justia.com/codes/wyoming/2022/title-33/chapter-38/section-33-38-106/
- W.S. 33-1-120 (professional licensure for individuals licensed in other jurisdictions; (b)(i)(A) degree-type equivalency; (b)(i)(B) 10-year exam waiver; (c) work experience; (d) exclusions) — https://codes.findlaw.com/wy/title-33-professions-and-occupations/wy-st-sect-33-1-120/
- W.S. 33-38-103 (exemptions, incl. 30-day nonresident) — recited on the Board's home page; statutory text not independently fetched — https://mentalhealth.wyo.gov/
- 078-11 Wyo. Code R. 11-3 (education; (b)(iii) 60 semester / 90 quarter for post-7/1/2013 graduates; (b)(iv) counselor-preparation identification; (b)(v) post-degree cure; (b)(vi) nine core areas incl. (F) Career Development and (H) Research; (A) 100 practicum / 600 internship / 240 direct) — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/wyoming/078-11-Wyo-Code-R-SS-11-3 (verified 2026-08-19; rules.wyo.gov serves chapter text only through a dynamic search application with no fetchable per-rule URL)
- 078-11 Wyo. Code R. 11-4 (supervised experience: 3,000 hours over 18-36 months; 1,200 direct; 100 DQCS supervision) — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/wyoming/078-11-Wyo-Code-R-SS-11-4
- 078-11 Wyo. Code R. 11-6 (License by Reciprocity — full operative text; five-year discipline lookback) — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/wyoming/078-11-Wyo-Code-R-SS-11-6 (verified 2026-08-19; rules.wyo.gov serves chapter text only through a dynamic search application with no fetchable per-rule URL)
- 078-7 Wyo. Code R. 7-1 (Provisional license; (d)(i) six-semester-hour cap; (e) DQCS agreement required first) — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/wyoming/078-7-Wyo-Code-R-SS-7-1
- 078-13 Wyo. Code R. 13-2 (fees, non-refundable) — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/wyoming/078-13-Wyo-Code-R-SS-13-2
- WY MHPLB Examination Information (NCE / NCMHE / CRCC menu; NBCC score transfer) — https://mentalhealth.wyo.gov/professionals-1/examination-information
- WY MHPLB Applications and Forms ($393; processing; credential list) — https://mentalhealth.wyo.gov/professionals-1/forms
- WY MHPLB LPC by Reciprocity application + Transcript Evaluation form (non-counseling degree trigger; no-double-counting rule) — https://docs.google.com/document/d/1O0fBLPVgD0uGQ7oIq-jOwUVvlLMWOBvzSmNErtA6c_I/export?format=txt
- WY MHPLB Compact status page (no estimated start date) — https://mentalhealth.wyo.gov/professionals-1/compact
- Counseling Compact fees and jurisprudence table (WY: not live, no jurisprudence exam) — https://counselingcompact.gov/compact-fees-and-jurisprudence-exam/
- Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 33-1-120 (2025) — Professional and occupational licensure for qualified individuals licensed in other jurisdictions — https://law.justia.com/codes/wyoming/title-33/chapter-1/article-1/section-33-1-120/ (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 33-38-106 (2022) — Requirements for licensure and certification (incl. (a)(iii) education standard, (d)(iii)(C) provisional/deficiency path, and the Laws 2021 ch. 37 § 2 repeals of (e)–(m)) — https://law.justia.com/codes/wyoming/2022/title-33/chapter-38/section-33-38-106/ (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- Licensed Professional Counselor by Reciprocity — Instructions, Checklist, Application, Lawful Presence, Fingerprint Instructions, Disclosure Statement Requirements, Transcript Evaluation (rev. none printed on the document; fee block reads $419 (the board's Forms page previously showed $393)) — https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uCkGrzuhxKyZSAJQJQ1kL3-bbGFuS-R8BlIDRXmIfDg/edit (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
- Transcript Evaluation — Professional Counselor Application (rev. none printed) — https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cIpvUovthw3O9anRa60lLK1UZeo_qNs6Gucr8HNM7h4/edit (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
- WY MHPLB — Application & Forms (rev. n/a (live page)) — https://mentalhealth.wyo.gov/professionals-1/forms (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
- WY MHPLB — Renewal and Relicensure (rev. page carries an in-text 'UPDATE: 2/18/2026' for the CE attestation change) — https://mentalhealth.wyo.gov/professionals-1/renewals (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
Maine's rules spell out an explicit supplementation cure (master's of 36–59 semester hours + added graduate coursework to 60), and a 1,000-hour alternative can rescue thin practicum documentation. The catch is the exam.
Classes alone don't finish Maine: the worksheet plus the NCMHCE, with the exam passed BEFORE applying (Maine sequences it first) — or skip everything at license + 5 via the transcript-review bypass. And the internship arithmetic is a surcharge, not a rescue: a 900-hour internship buys the 3,000-hour experience tier; 600 hours buys the 4,000-hour tier.
both the NCE and the NCMHCE for the LCPC; the NCE is waivable for out-of-state applicants, the NCMHCE is not. NCMHCE-passers: Maine moves several tiers friendlier for you.
The worksheet, precisely (REVISED 03/2025, read in full): ten core areas at 3+ graduate credits each — human growth and development; helping relationships (must cover counseling theories and skills); groups; measurement; research and evaluation; diagnosis and treatment; professional orientation; social and cultural foundations; practicum; and internship — plus a separate additional-areas section of at least 9 credits across at least two areas from a menu including lifestyle and career development (capped at 3), marriage and family, human sexuality, and supervision. Syllabi are required for every listed course, and the school itself must sign an Internship and Degree Verification Form certifying the internship was clinical. One conflict flagged rather than resolved: the rule permits supplementation to 60, while the applicant-facing degree language reads degree-bound — the cure's survival is a written question for the board.
The §13857 section history shows the licensure-by-endorsement paragraph (subsection 2, ¶E, keyed to 10 MRSA §8003-H) was added by PL 2021, c. 642, §41.
- The internship arithmetic is a surcharge, not a rescue: a 900-hour internship buys the 3,000-hour experience tier, and a 600-hour internship buys the 4,000-hour tier.
- Career development caps at 3 credits in the additional-areas menu — a second career course buys nothing; spread the 9 menu credits across two-plus areas.
- The school must sign the internship verification and syllabi are required per course — the same records-archaeology as Hawaii, plus a university signature.
- The rule text itself, read in full, supports the cure twice over: §2(3) accepts a 36-to-59-hour master's plus supplemental graduate coursework 'to equal or exceed 60 semester hours overall,' and its tail lets a 60-hour degree with area deficiencies cure by 'such supplemental graduate level coursework as the board deems necessary.' Two constraints ride along: supplemental courses must come from a mental health counseling program at a regionally accredited institution, and the applicant-facing worksheet still carries degree-bound language — the written question to ask before enrolling is whether the worksheet follows the rule.
- Family/intimate-partner-violence coursework can wait until first renewal; a conditional license can bridge while the exam pends.
Fable: decisive texts read in full — the board's worksheet and forms 2026-08-20 (packet pass); 02-514 CMR ch. 3 §2 complete 2026-08-20 (both supplementation doors verified in the rule text; the 1,000-hour alternative and internship tiers confirmed).
- 32 MRSA 13857, 13858 — https://legislature.maine.gov/statutes/32/title32sec13857.html (verified 2026-08-19)
- 02-514 CMR ch.3 §§2–3 (education, 1,000-hr alternative, exams), ch.6 §3, ch.6-A — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/maine/02-514-C-M-R-ch-3-SS-2 (verified 2026-08-19)
- 10 MRSA 8003-H (endorsement)
- 10 M.R.S. § 8003-H — Licensure by endorsement (full text, subsecs. 1-3, jurisprudence-exam paragraph, rulemaking paragraph, section history) — https://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/statutes/10/title10sec8003-H.html (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- C.M.R. 02, 514, ch. 6-A — chapter-level notes: effective date 4/1/2023, filing 2023-048, statutory authority 32 M.R.S. §§ 13853(2), 13858(8), 13857(2)(E); 10 M.R.S. § 8003-H — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/maine/department-02/division-514/chapter-6-A (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor Educational Worksheet (rev. filename says Rev-01-2025; the document footer prints 'REVISED 03/2025' — the footer is the later stamp) — https://www.maine.gov/pfr/professionallicensing/sites/maine.gov.pfr.professionallicensing/files/inline-files/COU-CC-Educational-Worksheet-Rev-01-2025.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
- Internship & Degree Verification Form (rev. filename Rev-1-2025; footer 'REVISED 03/2025') — https://www.maine.gov/pfr/professionallicensing/sites/maine.gov.pfr.professionallicensing/files/inline-files/COU-Internship-%26-Degree-Verification-Form-Rev-1-2025.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
- Board of Counseling Professionals Licensure — Licensing & Forms (application instructions for XL and CC, fee schedule, exam ordering, endorsement pointer) (rev. n/a (live page)) — https://www.maine.gov/pfr/professionallicensing/professions/board-of-counseling-professionals-licensure/licensing-and-forms (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
No universal-recognition law despite frequent claims, a rulebook whose cited endorsement rule doesn't exist, and an unpublished substantial-equivalency list — Montana's whole verdict hinges on one answer. The education rule, read in full, is degree-bound on its face: ARM 24.219.601 wants a degree 'that is at least 60 semester credits' (90 quarter), allows at most 12 semester (18 quarter) credits transferred into it, and still cites a repealed statute. That makes MCA 37-1-304(2) the cure's only statutory hook: when qualifications are not substantially equivalent, the board 'shall determine whether the deficiency can be addressed by the applicant's actual qualifications and work experience.'
Still unknown until the board answers — but the pending query should now be framed around the form: may the Academic Summary Sheet list post-degree courses from a second institution in its per-row university column? A yes cures Montana; a no closes it.
Hours are friendly (Montana's direct-hours bar is one you already clear).
Twelve content areas, at last named, on the mandatory Academic Summary Sheet (which 'will not be accepted in lieu of' — transcripts cannot replace it): counseling theory; counseling techniques; supervised experience; human growth and development; social and cultural foundations; the helping relationship; groups; life-style and career development; appraisal; research and evaluation; professional orientation; and advanced counseling practicum. No per-area minimums; a single total-credits line marked semester or quarter. CACREP graduates skip the table entirely. The degree-attachment question is narrowed but not settled: the form's stated purpose is to show 'your graduate program contains CACREP core courses,' yet it carries a per-row college/university column and an overflow line — structure that quietly accommodates courses from more than one institution.
ARM 24.219.601's history line ends 'AMD, 2024 MAR p. 279, Eff. 2/10/2024,' with authority and implementation tied to 37-1-131, MCA and HB 137 (2023).
- Reframe the in-flight query around the Academic Summary Sheet's own structure (the per-row university column), not the rule text — forms get straighter answers than statutes.
- Get fingerprinted late: six months from the board's receipt of results to a complete application, or you print again.
- Montana accepts whatever license-verification form Washington produces — no Montana-specific form to chase; but its own supervised-experience form assumes the supervisor will sign, so out-of-state hours need a willing signature or an alternative.
- $200 to apply; renewal annual on December 31; the application body was last updated in 2021 — confirm the fee before paying.
Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — MCA 37-1-304 (the (2) mandatory deficiency review) and ARM 24.219.601 complete (degree-bound 60/90, the 12/18 transfer cap, 6-year currency, and the repealed-statute cross-reference), plus the board's forms in the packet pass.
- MCA 37-1-302 (definitions; substantial equivalency per HB 246, 2025) — https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0370/chapter_0010/part_0030/section_0020/0370-0010-0030-0020.html
- MCA 37-1-304 (licensure by endorsement; subsection (2) mandatory deficiency review) — https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0370/chapter_0010/part_0030/section_0040/0370-0010-0030-0040.html
- MCA 37-39-309 (LCPC qualifications; subsection (3) post-degree experience cure) — https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0370/chapter_0390/part_0030/section_0090/0370-0390-0030-0090.html
- MCA 37-39-307 (LCPC Candidate; requires completed education) — https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0370/chapter_0390/part_0030/section_0070/0370-0390-0030-0070.html
- MCA 37-23-202 — REPEALED — https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0370/chapter_0230/part_0020/section_0020/0370-0230-0020-0020.html
- ARM 24.219.601 (LCPC education; 60 semester or 90 quarter credits; 12/18-credit transfer cap; 6-year currency) — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/montana/Mont-Admin-r-24.219.601 (verified 2026-08-19; the official rules.mt.gov and mtrules.org gateway pages for this rule returned no fetchable text)
- ARM 24.219.604 (supervised work experience; 3,000 / 1,000 direct / 250 group cap / 1:20 ratio) — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/montana/Mont-Admin-r-24.219.604
- ARM 24.219.403 (approved examinations: NCE or NCMHCE) — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/montana/Mont-Admin-r-24.219.403
- ARM 24.219.401 (fee schedule) — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/montana/Mont-Admin-r-24.219.401
- ARM subchapter 24.219.4 index (24.219.413 Reserved — no endorsement rule) — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/montana/department-24/chapter-24.219/subchapter-24.219.4 (verified 2026-08-19; the official rules.mt.gov subchapter page returned no fetchable text)
- MAR Notice 2025-346.1, NEW RULE 1 (Substantial Equivalency list; routine-application treatment) — https://boards.bsd.dli.mt.gov/_docs/bbh/2025-346pro-arm.pdf
- MT Board of Behavioral Health LCPC Application Checklist, 7/1/2024 (out-of-state prong; out-of-state hour documentation) — https://boards.bsd.dli.mt.gov/_docs/bbh/lcpc-app-checklist.pdf
- MT Board of Behavioral Health landing page (compact status 10/10/25; provisional license practice) — https://boards.bsd.dli.mt.gov/behavioral-health
- Counseling Compact fees and jurisprudence table (MT: not live, no jurisprudence exam) — https://counselingcompact.gov/compact-fees-and-jurisprudence-exam/
- Licensing Requirements and Application Checklist — Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC) (rev. printed footer: 'Updated 7/1//2024' (sic, double slash in the original)) — https://boards.bsd.dli.mt.gov/_docs/bbh/lcpc-app-checklist.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
- Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor Application (includes Academic Summary Sheet, Evaluation of Supervised Experience, fingerprint instructions, Applicant Rights & Consent) (rev. printed footer: 'LCPC Application Updated 1/25/21'; the embedded fingerprint-card example is stamped 'DLI/BSD Rev. 09/05/2019') — https://boards.bsd.dli.mt.gov/_docs/bbh/lcpc-app.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
- MT Board of Behavioral Health landing page (HB 276 address/service attestations added to all applications and renewals; compact status 10/10/25) (rev. in-text 'Last Updated 10/10/25') — https://boards.bsd.dli.mt.gov/behavioral-health (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
Sixty semester hours plus the NCMHCE, and Tennessee's reciprocity instruments are thin: two signed bilateral agreements (North Carolina and Kentucky — Washington is not one) plus a general 2019 board policy on out-of-state applicants. No universal licensure-recognition statute exists for counselors; the closest statute (63-22-103, as amended effective 7/1/2024) grants exam-free licensure only to marriage and family therapists.
Two roads. The coursework road: the 60-hour cure plus the NCMHCE, with everything complete before filing (deficiency letters give 60 days before the file closes). The reciprocity road: the board's December 2019 policy is general, not bilateral — three of the last five years licensed at your state's highest independent level, plus the Tennessee jurisprudence exam, and the packet's reciprocity checklist asks for no transcript and no national exam score. But read the policy to its end: its final item requires the applicant to 'meet all other minimum statutory requirements' — so the 60 hours and the exams survive reciprocity; the route eases documentation, not requirements. The board email asks whether that reading is right; until it answers, plan on the coursework road.
NCMHCE required — the one Southern state that forces it.
Career development appears nowhere in Tennessee's coursework instrument. The eleven categories on the Course Work Summary, none with per-area minimums, inside a 60-semester-hour total: theories of human behavior, learning and personality; abnormal behavior and psychopathology; theories of counseling and psychotherapy; evaluation and appraisal procedures; group dynamics; counseling techniques; multicultural counseling; ethics; research; use of the DSM; and treatment and treatment planning. The list is psychopathology-shaped — a clinical MAP transcript covers more of it than the career-centric states. One favorable detail from the rule itself: the MHSP designation's 9-hour diagnosis cluster may be completed 'either during the course of a graduate degree or as postgraduate work' (0450-01-.04(4)(c)3) — express postgraduate supplementation, at least for that cluster.
Tenn. Code Ann. §63-22-103 was amended by 2024 Tenn. Acts ch. 700, §1, effective July 1, 2024 (original Acts 1984, ch. 933, §4); rule 0450-01-.04 was last amended by a filing of January 7, 2014, effective April 7, 2014.
- Experience is the first Tennessee obstacle, before coursework: 1,500 of the 3,000 post-master's hours must be face-to-face client contact — audit your log against that before anything else.
- CONFIRMED in the board's written answer 2026-08-21: reciprocity keeps the 60-hour education floor ('less than 60 hours earned you do not qualify') — the cure precedes any Tennessee filing. The answer's timing formulation is the highest-level license for the last two of three years.
- Files close 60 days after a deficiency letter; educational requirements must be complete before the application date.
Fable: decisive texts read in full — the 2019 reciprocity policy and board forms 2026-08-20 (packet pass); Tenn. Comp. R. 0450-01-.04 complete 2026-08-20 (the rule's reciprocity is mutual-agreement-based; MHSP exams NCE + NCMHCE + jurisprudence; the 9-hour cluster's postgraduate allowance verified).
- Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0450-01-.04 (Qualifications for Licensure — LPC, LPC by reciprocity, LPC/MHSP, LPC/MHSP by reciprocity, temporary MHSP) — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/tennessee/Tenn-Comp-R-Regs-0450-01-.04 (verified 2026-08-19; the official TN SOS chapter index at https://publications.tnsosfiles.com/rules/0450/0450.htm resolves, but its 0450-01 rule PDF returned no fetchable text)
- Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0450-01-.08 (Examinations — NCE, TN Jurisprudence Exam, NCMHCE for MHSP) — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/tennessee/Tenn-Comp-R-Regs-0450-01-.08
- Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0450-01-.10 (Supervision — Post-Masters; 150 contact hours, 75 by an MHSP, supervisor 5-year and training requirements, 3,000-hour 2-to-4-year window) — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/tennessee/Tenn-Comp-R-Regs-0450-01-.10
- Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0450-01-.06 (Fees — $200 LPC application, $150 temporary, $75 MHSP upgrade, $115 biennial renewal) — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/tennessee/Tenn-Comp-R-Regs-0450-01-.06
- Tennessee Secretary of State, Official Compilation of Rules and Regulations, Chapter 0450 — https://publications.tnsosfiles.com/rules/0450/0450.htm
- Tenn. Code Ann. 63-22-104 (Professional counselors — Qualifications; 60 graduate hours in counseling or a closely related field; amended by 2024 Tenn. Acts ch. 1035 eff. 7/1/2024) — https://law.justia.com/codes/tennessee/title-63/chapter-22/part-1/section-63-22-104/
- Tenn. Code Ann. 63-22-103 (Reciprocity — Licensure without examination — Licensure by endorsement; MFT only, amended by 2024 Tenn. Acts ch. 700 eff. 7/1/2024) — https://law.justia.com/codes/tennessee/title-63/chapter-22/part-1/section-63-22-103/ (verified 2026-08-19; Tennessee's official code is LexisNexis-hosted and not machine-fetchable)
- Tenn. Code Ann. 63-22-120 (Requirements for licensure — MHSP diagnosis coursework and two years of postgraduate supervised experience) — https://law.justia.com/codes/tennessee/title-63/chapter-22/part-1/section-63-22-120/
- Tenn. Code Ann. 63-22-121 (Temporary licenses) — https://law.justia.com/codes/tennessee/title-63/chapter-22/part-1/section-63-22-121/
- Tennessee Department of Health, Board for Licensed Professional Counselors, LMFTs and LCPTs (Counseling Compact implementation status, NC and KY reciprocity agreements, telehealth FAQ, jurisprudence exam link) — https://www.tn.gov/health/licensure/pct.html
- Tennessee/North Carolina Reciprocity Agreement for Licensure — https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/health/healthprofboards/lpc-mft/Reciprocal%20Agreement%20with%20North%20Carolina.pdf
- Tennessee/Kentucky Reciprocity Agreement for Licensure — https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/health/documents/TN-KY_Reciprocal_Agreement_(SIGNED_COPY).pdf
- TN Board Policy Regarding Reciprocity for Out of State Applicants (2019) — https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/health/healthprofboards/lpc-mft/Reciprocity%20policy%202019.pdf
- Tennessee Jurisprudence Examination for LPCs (administered by CCE/NBCC) — https://academy.cce-global.org/jurisprudence/tennessee
- TN SB0020, 114th General Assembly (would exempt out-of-state licensees from the 60-credit-hour requirement; stalled 1/15/2025) — https://legiscan.com/TN/bill/SB0020/2025
- TN HB0959 / SB0789, 2025 Public Chapter 204 — https://publications.tnsosfiles.com/acts/114/pub/pc0204.pdf
- TN board Policies page (two bilateral agreements + 2019 out-of-state reciprocity policy — verified 2026-08-19)
- Tenn. Code 63-22-103 (as amended by 2024 ch. 700, eff. 7/1/2024 — MFT-only)
- PH-2722 — Applications and Procedures for Licensed Professional Counselor, Licensed Professional Counselor with Mental Health Services Provider Designation, and Temporary Licensed Professional Counselor with MHSP Designation (includes LPC Course Work Summary, Request for Temporary Licensure, Verification of Supervised Post-Masters Experience) (rev. MIXED WITHIN ONE PACKET — instruction and qualification pages stamped 'PH-2722 (REV. 07/20)'; the application body and Course Work Summary stamped 'PH-2722 (REV. 11/19)'; the temporary-licensure and supervision-verification pages stamped 'PH-2722 (REV. 08/23)'. Filename claims 'Revised 8.2023'.) — https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/health/healthprofboards/lpc-mft/LPC%20App%202019%20(PH2722)%20Revised%208.2023.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
- Board for Professional Counselors, Marital and Family Therapists, and Clinical Pastoral Therapists — POLICY STATEMENT REGARDING LICENSURE BY RECIPROCITY (rev. 'adopted ... on the 6th of December, 2019. Amended the 3rd of January, 2020.') — https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/health/healthprofboards/lpc-mft/Reciprocity%20policy%202019.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
- Board Applications page — GRADUATE DEGREE NOTICE and current form inventory (rev. n/a (live page)) — https://www.tn.gov/health/health-program-areas/health-professional-boards/pcmft-board/pcmft-board/applications.html (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
Licenses issued after the 2024 standard-change are measured against a 60-semester counseling degree and 2,250 direct hours — nearly double WA's minimum — and the board counts nothing you've done since licensure. Aging never helps.
Only a discretionary associate-level provisional license exists.
NCE is exactly what Alabama wants — the exam is the one friendly fact.
60-hour era applies to this cohort's license dates; the direct-hours wall is the true killer.
- An internal inconsistency between the rule (application date) and the board's chart (issuance date) is worth raising in writing if Alabama ever matters.
- Universal-recognition check 2026-08-19: no such statute; Alabama's endorsement provision is discretionary and its rule affirmatively re-imposes the state's education and hours requirements.
Opus agent (8/19 sweep, with revision-date pin-cites to the 6/14/25 rules), spot-checked by Fable; the Alabama admin-code site is JS-gated to direct fetch, so no independent Fable re-read exists. Closed-tier stakes are the lowest in the guide.
- Ala. Admin. Code r. 255-X-3-.01 (rev. 6/14/25) — LPC education: 60 semester / 90 quarter hours, 11 content areas, practicum 100/40, internship 600/240; experience 3,000 hours with 2,250 direct; 1,000-hour reduction per 15 graduate semester hours — https://admincode.legislature.state.al.us/api/chapter/255-X-3 (verified 2026-08-19)
- Ala. Admin. Code r. 255-X-3-.02 (rev. 6/14/25) — ALC requirements; 100 annual supervision hours with 25 individual in-person; ALC clients must be located in Alabama at time of service — https://admincode.legislature.state.al.us/api/chapter/255-X-3
- Ala. Admin. Code r. 255-X-10-.02 (Endorsement of Out-of-State License) and r. 255-X-10-.03 (Provisional Licensure, incl. (7) barring hour reductions for provisional licensees) — https://admincode.legislature.state.al.us/api/chapter/255-X-10
- Ala. Admin. Code ch. 255-X-4 (rev. 6/14/25) — Application Procedures; 255-X-4-.06 board may require additional academic work or supervised experience; 255-X-4-.05 repealed 6/14/2025 — https://admincode.legislature.state.al.us/api/chapter/255-X-4
- Ala. Code 1975 § 34-8A-7 — Qualifications for LPC; 3,000 supervised hours; 1,000-hour reduction per 15 graduate semester hours with a 1,000-hour floor — https://law.justia.com/codes/alabama/title-34/chapter-8a/section-34-8a-7/
- Ala. Code 1975 § 34-8A-3(a)(3) — nonresident exemption for services rendered not more than 30 days in any year — https://law.justia.com/codes/alabama/title-34/chapter-8a/section-34-8a-3/
- ABEC, LPC by Endorsement and Provisional Licensure (FAQ) — no reciprocity, no telehealth waivers, no temporary licensure; post-licensure work not considered; NCC is not a license — https://abec.alabama.gov/faqs/lpc-by-endorsement-faq/
- ABEC, LPC Endorsement License Application (rev. May 2026) — $200 nonrefundable; 3,000 hours with 2,250 direct excluding practicum/internship and post-licensure work; NCE required, sent directly by NBCC; syllabi required if non-CACREP — https://abec.alabama.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/LPC-Endorsement-License-Application-2026.pdf
- ABEC, LPC Endorsement License Application (rev. 05/12/22) — Equivalency Category chart: Category Four (licenses issued 01/01/2022–present) requires 60 semester / 90 quarter hours; Category Three (9/1/03–12/31/2021) required 48 semester / 72 quarter hours — https://abec.alabama.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/abec-lpc-endorsement-license-application.pdf
- ABEC, Academic Requirements for Licensure (FAQ) — CACREP not required but a counseling-titled degree is; 'No less than these hourly requirements and academic areas in a single program will be accepted' — https://abec.alabama.gov/faqs/abec-academic-requirements-for-licensure-faq/
- ABEC, Certification of amended rule 255-X-3-.01, adopted 3/21/2025, effective 6/14/2025 — redline removing the pre-January-1-2024 48-semester-hour definition — https://abec.alabama.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Counseling_Alabama_Board_of_Examiners_in___Amend_Rule_255-X-3-_01_Certification.pdf
- ABEC, Reduction of ALC Professional Experience Hours Application (rev. May 2026) — $150 fee, minimum three months, must precede the LPC application by at least one board meeting — https://abec.alabama.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/ABEC-Reduction-of-ALC-Professional-Experience-Hours-Application-2026.pdf
- ABEC, Worksheet for Reporting Course Work (2026) — the 11 required categories including Lifestyle and Career Development; syllabi required if not CACREP/CORE — https://abec.alabama.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Worksheet-for-Reporting-CourseWork-2026.pdf
- ABEC Fee Schedule — https://abec.alabama.gov/fees/
- Counseling Compact — Alabama Enacts Counseling Compact (SB 99, signed March 8, 2022) — https://counselingcompact.gov/alabama-enacts-counseling-compact/
- Counseling Compact Commission, Jurisprudence Information table — Alabama: Compact Live = No; Jurisprudence Exam = None — https://counselingcompact.gov/jurisprudence-information/
- Ala. Code § 34-8A-15 (2025) — Applicants qualified out-of-state; provisional license — https://law.justia.com/codes/alabama/title-34/chapter-8a/article-1/section-34-8a-15/ (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- Ala. Code Title 34, Ch. 8A, Art. 1 (2025) — full section index; confirms no reciprocity/recognition section other than § 34-8A-15 — https://law.justia.com/codes/alabama/title-34/chapter-8a/article-1/ (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
Kentucky's regulation names psychology-titled degrees as unacceptable, by name, (201 KAR 36:070 §1(3)) and bars remediation — the one state where the MAP degree title itself is fatal, independent of hours or coursework.
None by licensure; compact privilege after the cohort cure + go-lives — and remember a privilege supports remote practice from Washington only; it is never a path to moving there.
Irrelevant given the title bar.
Unfixable by coursework — the exclusion is categorical.
- An untested paper reading closes this state; if Kentucky ever matters to you, a board inquiry costs nothing. What the current text says (verified verbatim 2026-08-19): Section 1(3) lists psychology among degrees that 'shall not be accepted,' Section 7(2) bars remedial work for those degrees, and Section 2(2) separately requires a CACREP-accredited degree for everyone whose grandfather window closed in 2020.
- Don't spend money on Kentucky-specific coursework — the exclusions are categorical on paper.
- Universal-recognition check 2026-08-19: Kentucky has no such statute — the 2026 bill named for one (HB 458) died in committee, as did its 2023 predecessor.
Fable: the current regulation was read verbatim on 2026-08-19
- 201 KAR 36:070 (current version eff. 2/16/2024; §1(3), §7(2), §2(2) read verbatim 2026-08-19) — https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/kar/titles/201/036/070/ (verified 2026-08-19)
- Kentucky HB 458 (2026 Regular Session), 'AN ACT relating to universal recognition of occupational licenses' — bill record, summary, and action history — https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/record/26rs/hb458.html (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
The 60 hours must sit inside a degree program whose catalog says it trains counselors — post-degree aggregation likely doesn't count — plus 4,500 experience hours and a nine-area audit. Structural, not curable.
Compact privilege after the cohort cure + go-lives is the only realistic door — and remember a privilege supports remote practice from Washington only; it is never a path to moving there.
NCE accepted — not the problem.
Program-bound 60: confirm with the committee before spending anything, but expect no.
- An NJ license is required even for telehealth into NJ — no registration workaround.
- Corrected 2026-08-19: New Jersey's bar is a 60-semester-hour floor plus a degree-in-counseling title bind written into statute (N.J.S.A. 45:8B-40(c)) — not program accreditation; the board's rule even has an express non-CACREP alternative. The general endorsement statute (45:1-7.5) covers this board but is equivalence-conditioned, so it cannot reach past the statutory floor.
Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — N.J.A.C. 13:34-12.1 complete: three years' active practice, the CACREP door at (c), the non-CACREP door at (d) with the catalog-purpose test and the 60-semester/80-quarter program-bound total, 4,500 hours at (f), NCE at (g). The structural closure holds on the rule's own text.
- N.J.A.C. 13:34-12.1 — https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/new-jersey/N-J-A-C-13-34-12-1 (verified 2026-08-19)
- N.J.S.A. 45:8B-114 (compact); 45:1-62 (telehealth)
- NJ Professional Counselor Examiners Committee — njconsumeraffairs.gov/pc
- N.J.S.A. 45:1-7.5 — Issuance of professional or occupational license, certificate of registration, or certification (2025 N.J. Rev. Stat.) — https://law.justia.com/codes/new-jersey/title-45/section-45-1-7-5/ (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- P.L.2013, c.182 (A1545 4R) — chapter law text, incl. C.45:1-7.5, repealer of C.45:1-7.2 and C.45:1-7.3, and effective-date clause; approved 2014-01-13 — https://pub.njleg.state.nj.us/Bills/2012/PL13/182_.HTM (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- N.J.S.A. 45:8B-40 — Requirements, application for licensure as professional counselor (statutory 60-graduate-semester-hour / degree-in-counseling floor) — https://law.justia.com/codes/new-jersey/title-45/section-45-8b-40/ (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
New Mexico's friendly reputation is obsolete for this cohort: Washington is named on the disapproved-jurisdiction list for expedited licensure — for both the LPCC and LMHC — 'on the grounds that the education, training, or examination requirements for licensure are not consistent with New Mexico's minimum requirements' (16.27.24.8 NMAC, effective 1/18/2023, verified verbatim 2026-08-19). The LPCC also requires both the NCE and NCMHCE plus 3,000 direct hours.
None realistic for this cohort.
Both exams required.
Moot given the disapproved listing.
- A non-expedited pathway may still exist (the rules elsewhere cross-reference licensure 'by credential or reciprocity'); the disapproved list closes the expedited door, not necessarily every door — a board inquiry would clarify.
- An earlier version asserted the old five-year reciprocity 'was repealed'; that could not be sourced and was removed 2026-08-19.
- Hardened 2026-08-19: the board's disapproved-jurisdiction rule (16.27.24.8 NMAC) now names Washington by name, for both the LMHC and LPCC levels, as 'not consistent with New Mexico's minimum requirements.'
Fable: the disapproved lists were read verbatim on 2026-08-19
- 16.27.24.8 NMAC (eff. 1/18/2023; Washington on both the LPCC (B)(1)(a) and LMHC (A)(1)(b) disapproved lists — read verbatim 2026-08-19) — https://srca.nm.gov/parts/title16/16.027.0024.html (verified 2026-08-19)
- 16.27.16.12(B) NMAC (surviving cross-reference to licensure by credential or reciprocity)
- 16.27.24 NMAC, Counselors and Therapists — Expedited Licensure (incl. 16.27.24.7 definitions, 16.27.24.8 list of disapproved licensing jurisdictions naming Washington, 16.27.24.10-.12 procedures), New Mexico State Records Center & Archives — https://www.srca.nm.gov/parts/title16/16.027.0024.html (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- NMSA 1978, § 61-1-31.1, Expedited licensure; issuance — current text with amendment history (Laws 2016, ch. 19, § 1; 2020, ch. 6, § 4; 2022, ch. 39, § 7; 2023, ch. 190, § 22) and annotations describing the 2022 and 2023 amendments — https://law.justia.com/codes/new-mexico/chapter-61/article-1/section-61-1-31-1/ (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
The CACREP requirement attaches to the degree program itself and keys to application date — post-degree coursework can't confer program accreditation, so the cure buys nothing here.
No realistic route for a MAP degree; compact privilege after the cohort cure + go-lives is the only door — and remember a privilege supports remote practice from Washington only; it is never a path to moving there.
NCE fully sufficient — the exam was never the problem.
CACREP-or-equivalent program accreditation: structurally unavailable to this degree.
- Psychopharmacology is also named — moot given the accreditation bar.
- Universal-recognition check 2026-08-19: North Carolina's new recognition statute (N.C.G.S. §93B-15.3, S.L. 2025-61, effective 2025-10-01) excludes all Chapter 90 health-care practitioners — which is where LCMHCs live — and is limited to licensees from five neighboring states besides.
Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — N.C.G.S. §90-336 complete: (b2) keys to application date (on or after July 1, 2022) and requires a degree from a CACREP-accredited institution with the regional-accreditation alternative dropped entirely — the closure is even cleaner in the text than the entry states.
- N.C. Gen. Stat. § 90-336 (esp. (b2)(1) CACREP + 60 sem/90 qtr for applicants on or after July 1, 2022; (c)(1) incorporation into LCMHC) — https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_90/GS_90-336.html (verified 2026-08-19)
- N.C. Gen. Stat. § 90-332.1 Exemptions from licensure (a)(6) 30-day nonresident exemption; (b) title bar — https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_90/GS_90-332.1.html
- 21 NCAC 53 .0304 Applicants Licensed in Other States (5 yrs / 2,500 direct hrs / 2 yrs independent / comply with all other applicable rules) — https://ncblcmhc.org/Assets/LawsAndCodes/NCBLCMHC_Administrative_Rules(NCACTitle21Chapter53).pdf
- 21 NCAC 53 .0305(a),(c) Examination (NCE or NCMHCE or CRC at both levels; no-fail jurisprudence exam) — https://ncblcmhc.org/Assets/LawsAndCodes/NCBLCMHC_Administrative_Rules(NCACTitle21Chapter53).pdf
- 21 NCAC 53 .0701(1),(2),(5) Education / content areas / CACREP 60-90 hour requirement — https://www.ncblcmhc.org/Assets/21_NCAC_53.0701.pdf
- 21 NCAC 53 .0206(b),(c),(d) Graduate Counseling Experience — CACREP practicum/internship; clinical mental health setting for applications on or after July 1, 2025 — https://www.ncblcmhc.org/Assets/21_NCAC_53.0206.pdf
- 21 NCAC 53 .0205(a) Counseling Experience — 3,000 hours, 2,000 direct, 100 supervision hours, three-quarters individual; .0205(b)-(c) out-of-state applicants and reciprocity definition — https://ncblcmhc.org/Assets/LawsAndCodes/NCBLCMHC_Administrative_Rules(NCACTitle21Chapter53).pdf
- 21 NCAC 53 .0208-.0213 supervised professional practice, qualified clinical supervisor; .0311 Candidate for Licensure Pending; .0501/.0503 fees; .0702 supervision contract — https://ncblcmhc.org/Assets/LawsAndCodes/NCBLCMHC_Administrative_Rules(NCACTitle21Chapter53).pdf
- NCBLCMHC — LCMHC License by Reciprocity (Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee only; $238 fee) — https://www.ncblcmhc.org/Licensure/Applying/Reciprocity
- NCBLCMHC — Licensure by Endorsement (Rule 21 NCAC 53 .0304 requirements; Education listed as required application component) — https://www.ncblcmhc.org/licensure/applying/endorsement
- NCBLCMHC — LCMHC application, education (post-July 1, 2022 CACREP criteria), exam and supervision requirements — https://www.ncblcmhc.org/Licensure/Applying/LCMHC
- NCBLCMHC Announcement, February 1, 2023 — amendments to .0206 and .0701; CACREP top-up limited to CACREP degree-holders; July 1, 2025 additions — https://www.ncblcmhc.org/Announcements/February012023
- NCBLCMHC Updates and Announcements — effective Jan. 31, 2024 no retroactive approval of supervision contracts or hours — https://www.ncblcmhc.org/boardinfo/legislativeupdates
- NCBLCMHC Distance Counseling Policy, effective February 2, 2017 — https://www.ncblcmhc.org/LawsAndCodes/DistanceCounseling
- N.C. Gen. Stat. § 93B-15.3 (S.L. 2025-61) Licensure recognition for individuals licensed in neighboring states — excludes Chapter 90 healthcare practitioners; limited to GA/SC/TN/VA/WV — https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_93B/GS_93B-15.3.html
- N.C. Gen. Stat. § 93B-15.1 Military training/experience; licensure by endorsement for military spouses; temporary license — https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_93B/GS_93B-15.1.html
- Counseling Compact — North Carolina Joins Counseling Compact (HB 791, S.L. 2022-52, signed July 7, 2022) — https://counselingcompact.gov/north-carolina-joins-counseling-compact/
- N.C. House Bill 763, Ratified Bill (v6) — enacted as S.L. 2025-61, adding N.C.G.S. § 93B-15.3 — https://www.ncleg.gov/Sessions/2025/Bills/House/PDF/H763v6.pdf (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
Board answer (2026-08-21) reframed the mechanism: 97-02-01-04 reciprocity reaches only the base LPC — “The reciprocity law you referenced does not apply to the LPCC License.” The LPCC is a specialty layered onto a held LPC (“technically the LPC becomes the LPCLPCC”): 60 graduate semester credits including abnormal psychology/psychopathology and clinical counseling skills, 700 practicum hours, two years (3,000 hours) of post-master’s supervised clinical experience with 100 hours supervised by an LPCC, three clinical references, and a passing NCMHCE. Nor is LPC reciprocity a shortcut: “each application is reviewed for academic requirements, test results and individual supervision” against the board’s Academic Requirements — where the education rule’s degree-title test (programs “identified specifically as counseling programs” in the graduate bulletin) closes the door for a psychology-titled degree.
No formula unlocks it: the degree-title academic review runs on every route — “reciprocity or standard application” — and the LPCC layer adds a 60-semester-credit floor plus the NCMHCE on top of a held LPC.
Two layers: the NCE covers the base-LPC exam element, but the LPCC specialty requires a passing NCMHCE — no NCE-only path to the clinical title.
Degree-title test: uncurable for a psychology-titled degree.
- The ‘substantially the same requirements’ review is discretionary, not codified — and the 2026-08-21 board answer shows even that review sits behind the per-application academic screen, so the closure is board-described, not merely inferred.
- Universal-recognition check 2026-08-19: North Dakota enacted a recognition chapter (N.D.C.C. ch. 43-51.1, SB 2395, effective 2025-08-01), but it switches itself off for any board in an effective interstate compact — and this board is a Counseling Compact member — and its education clause defers to board-determined methods anyway.
Fable: the current chapter was read directly on 2026-08-19
- N.D. Admin. Code ch. 97-02-01 (read in full 2026-08-19) — https://ndlegis.gov/information/acdata/pdf/97-02-01.pdf (verified 2026-08-19)
- N.D.C.C. ch. 43-51.1, Universal Licensure and Board Operations (codified official text) — https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t43c51-1.pdf (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
- North Dakota Century Code, Title 43 chapter index — confirms ch. 43-47 (Counselors), ch. 43-47.1 (Counseling Compact), and ch. 43-51.1 (Universal Licensure and Board Operations) — https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t43.html (verified 2026-08-19; read-in-full)
Closed on the application's own text, which prints the trap twice: 'These hours are to be accrued after 60 credits are completed,' with 'After 60 Credits' stamped inside the experience grid. A post-hoc cure does not finish Rhode Island; it restarts it — coursework first, then 2,000 supervised hours all over again, then the NCMHCE. Add the second structural bar the packet surfaced: 24 semester credits of practicum and internship (12 each) inside the coursework requirement, which a MAP transcript cannot retroactively grow. And no discretionary exam-free endorsement appears anywhere in the packet.
Never, for anyone whose supervised hours predate the cure — and the sequencing trap is in the rule itself, not just the application: 216-RICR-40-05-11.3.2(A)(1)(c) requires the 60/90 credits 'prior to beginning post graduate experience and supervised case work hours.' The rule's endorsement provision (11.3.9) is written — but it recognizes only a CACREP-accredited 60-semester-hour degree as equivalent, which closes it for this degree as firmly as the by-exam route. Asking the board costs nothing; plan nothing on it.
NCMHCE (NCE not accepted) unless the discretionary endorsement applies.
Nine blocks on the Core Curriculum form: helping relationships and counseling theory at 9 credits minimum, then human growth and development, social and cultural foundations, group counseling, lifestyle and career development, appraisal, research and program evaluation, and professional orientation at 3 each, plus electives — inside a 60-semester/90-quarter total that also demands 12 semester credits of practicum and 12 of internship. The credit-denominated field experience is the uncurable part.
The rule page records the active version as an Amendment effective 05/15/2023, promulgated under R.I. Gen. Laws ch. 5-63.2 to implement the statutory amendments that created the associate-level licenses.
- The timing clause is now verified at both levels: the application prints it twice, and the rule text itself (11.3.2(A)(1)(c)) requires the credits before the post-graduate hours begin.
- Applications expire one year from receipt.
- If Washington's original supervision documentation exists on file with DOH, the packet allows it to be sent in lieu of chasing old supervisors — useful knowledge for other states too.
Fable: decisive texts read in full 2026-08-20 — 216-RICR-40-05-11 complete: the credits-before-experience sequencing is in the rule itself (11.3.2(A)(1)(c)), and the written endorsement provision (11.3.9) recognizes only CACREP 60-semester degrees. Application text read in the packet audit.
- 216-RICR-40-05-11 (§§11.3.2, 11.3.3, 11.3.9, 11.5.1) — https://rules.sos.ri.gov/regulations/part/216-40-05-11 (verified 2026-08-19)
- R.I. Gen. Laws 5-63.2-15 — webserver.rilegislature.gov
- counselingcompact.gov (RI 37th member, 6/2024)
- Instructions and Application For License As A Mental Health Counselor by Examination / Endorsement (From Another State) — includes Statement of Supervised Practice, Core Curriculum Coursework Requirement Form, Interstate Verification Form (rev. printed on the cover: 'Revised 03/17/2025 jcp') — https://health.ri.gov/sites/g/files/xkgbur1006/files/applications/MentalHealthCounselor.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
- Instructions and Application For License As A Mental Health Counselor Associate (rev. 'Revised 03/17/2025 jcp') — https://health.ri.gov/sites/g/files/xkgbur1006/files/applications/MentalHealthCounselorAssociate.pdf (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
- RIDOH — Marriage, Family and Mental Health Therapy (application links, renewal, fee-schedule pointer) (rev. page footer: 'This page last updated on August 17th, 2026.') — https://health.ri.gov/licensing/marriage-family-and-mental-health-therapy (application-packet pass 2026-08-20; read )
The accreditation problem: the one nobody can cure
First, the finding, stated plainly: the MAP holds neither CACREP nor MPCAC accreditation. The CACREP half has been this guide’s premise from the first page — the degree is an M.A. in Psychology, and Seattle University’s CACREP-accredited counseling programs sit in a different college. The MPCAC half was the live question, because MPCAC is the accreditor built for exactly this kind of degree — masters-level psychology programs that train counselors (Bastyr’s counseling-psychology M.A. in Kenmore holds it) — and a few state rules accept CACREP-or-equivalent language that MPCAC can satisfy. Checked August 19, 2026, against all four of MPCAC’s status directories (accredited, under review, deferred, previously accredited): Seattle University appears on none of them. Why this deserves its own section: of the four problems, accreditation is the only one that cannot be cured at the individual level. Hours can be added, a course can be taken, an exam can be sat — but accreditation attaches to the program in the years it operated, and nothing a graduate does afterward confers it. Program accreditation is also never retroactive: were the program accredited at some future date, that would not reach a 2022–2024 diploma — accreditation attaches to the years a program operated, and MPCAC’s own review pipeline runs one to three years besides. And the trend runs one way. This map records the ratchet in real time: North Carolina keyed its CACREP requirement to applications on or after July 1, 2022; Delaware rebuilt its coursework review around full CACREP standards in late 2025; Michigan filed rules in January 2026 adopting the CACREP 2024 standards; Mississippi draws its line at post-2017 degrees. States adopt accreditation language and key it to your application date, not your graduation date — which means a state open to you today can close before you file. That is the strongest argument in this document for acting early: every verdict on this map is a snapshot, and the direction of drift is against this degree. One more fact for context: Seattle University's current MAP is a 90-quarter-credit program — the university's own program page listed 90 credits as of August 2026 — which meets the compact's education floor. Later cohorts will not face the credit gap this guide is organized around; degrees conferred earlier keep the credit totals they were conferred with, and that is this guide's whole reason for existing.
- MPCAC, Accredited Programs directory (read in full; Washington’s only listings are Whitworth’s school-counseling M.Ed. and Bastyr’s counseling-psychology M.A.; Seattle University absent) — https://mpcacaccreditation.org/accredited-programs1/ (verified 2026-08-19)
- MPCAC, Programs Under Review (eighteen programs listed, applications dating to May 2023; Seattle University absent) — https://mpcacaccreditation.org/programs-under-review-2/ (verified 2026-08-19)
- MPCAC, Programs Deferred and Previously Accredited Programs (Seattle University absent from both) — https://mpcacaccreditation.org/programs-deferred/ and https://mpcacaccreditation.org/previously-accredited-programs/ (verified 2026-08-19)
- CACREP, Find-a-Program directory (search-based; the MAP has never appeared — this is the guide’s founding premise, restated here for completeness) — https://www.cacrep.org/directory/
- Ratchet examples above are each sourced in their own state entries: N.C. Gen. Stat. § 90-336(b2)(1); Delaware’s late-2025 coursework review; Michigan Final Rules filed January 15, 2026; 30 Miss. Admin. Code Pt. 2201, Rule 4.2.
- Seattle University, Psychology MA program page (Credits: 90; page revised 2026-08-10) — https://www.seattleu.edu/academics/all-programs/psychology-ma/ (verified 2026-08-19)
Two housekeeping rules, whatever you pursue
Rule one: the Washington license is the keystone — never let it lapse. Every open pathway in this record — endorsement, reciprocity, the years-licensed formulas, all six telehealth registrations, and any future compact privilege — presumes an active, unencumbered Washington LMHC. A lapsed home license collapses the whole map to one option: curing the degree from scratch. Renew Washington first, before any new state, every time. Rule two: licenses have carrying costs. Each new state brings its own renewal fees, its own CE requirements (sometimes state-specific mandatory courses), and occasionally a jurisprudence exam. Collect the states you will use, not the states you can get — and if you stop using one, retire it deliberately (states treat a lapse and a voluntary surrender differently) rather than by accident.
- Rule one is derived from the entries above: every open-tier, dated-tier and remote-lane pathway in this record runs through the active Washington license — see each entry’s path and caveats.
- Rule two’s specifics (fees, CE, jurisprudence exams) appear per-state in the entries; no figure is restated here because renewal costs change — check the target board’s current fee schedule before filing.
Universal-recognition laws: the full sweep
About twenty states have passed some version of a universal-license-recognition law since 2019 — statutes that say a board shall license you on the strength of your out-of-state license, usually after a year, usually on establishing residency, without re-grading your education. Where they work, they are the single most powerful instrument on this map: they are why Mississippi, Utah, Missouri and West Virginia sit where they sit, and on August 19, 2026 every remaining jurisdiction was swept for one. The sweep re-tiered four states — Indiana out of the closed tier entirely (its mandatory reciprocity statute now seats it among the open states, with an exam badge marking its NCMHCE-only wall), Nebraska and Kansas to conditional one-year routes, and Colorado, which then kept moving: within a day of the sweep, a written exchange with the board's own licensing specialist carried it all the way to the open tier (its entry tells that story) — and re-described several more. It also catalogued the four ways these laws fail counselors, worth knowing before you rely on any of them. Health-care carve-outs: Georgia's names professional counselors as excluded; Indiana's general law carves them out (a profession-specific statute rescues it). Compact switch-offs: North Dakota's law disables itself for compact-member boards. Equivalence conditions: New Jersey, Wyoming, South Dakota, Maine and Pennsylvania passed laws that sound universal but let the board re-impose its own education standard through a 'substantially equivalent' finding — those are not bypasses. And deferral instead of waiver: Arkansas grants the license first and then gives you twelve months to meet the full education requirement anyway. One more failure mode sits outside the statutes entirely: boards that ignore their own law. Kansas and Nebraska have Mississippi-grade statutes and no application form; South Dakota's board cites the old statute as if the mandate never passed. Every universal-recognition entry on this map distinguishes what the law says from what the board does, and the untested ones say so plainly. Finally, the fine print that repeats across nearly all of them: most require establishing residency (these are relocation laws, not collect-from-home laws), and most stamp the resulting license with a poison pill — valid in that state only, never compact-eligible.
- The per-state findings and their primary sources are carried in each jurisdiction's entry above; the sweep itself (six research passes covering the 34 jurisdictions not already resting on a recognition law) was run 2026-08-19 against state statutes, session laws, and board application materials, with every decisive clause read verbatim.
- Miss. Code §73-50-2 (the model these laws are measured against; read in full) — https://law.justia.com/codes/mississippi/title-73/chapter-50/section-73-50-2/ (verified 2026-08-19)
- Neb. Rev. Stat. §84-950 (read in full) — https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=84-950 (verified 2026-08-19)
Queries in flight: what the boards have been asked
This record does not wait passively for corrections. Direct questions are pending with the boards themselves, and each answer lands in the entry it concerns, quoted and dated, with the changelog moving in step. Every jurisdiction on the map has now been asked, is staged to be asked, or takes questions only by phone or application. The state of play as of August 21, 2026:
Answered
- Alaska — the board operates normally in its statutory wind-down year (extension sought next session), and the rules effective August 21, 2026 will accept out-of-state post-graduate supervision on a new form — retiring the old supervisor-preapproval wall. The filed rule text still needs reading once posted.
- Arizona — associate time does not count toward the one-year clocks ('we do not combine licenses'), universal recognition adds only residency, and endorsement 'does not look at the program or hours' — regional accreditation is the whole education test.
- Colorado — three times, closing every open question: endorsement applies; the education check is a conferral-only transcript (confirmed twice, the second time with a psychology-titled degree explicitly on the table); and associate-level practice counts toward the two-year practice attestation. Inquiry closed; the route awaits its first filed application.
- Hawaii — the program office confirmed courses may combine within a content area, post-degree coursework fills short areas, and the new provisional license is only for hour-accruers with Hawaii supervisors — the coursework project is the whole gate, now on the office's own written word (with its statutory informational-only disclaimer).
- Louisiana — twice, in writing, same-day: the one-year rule governs, no education review at one year, and associate-level time does not count toward the year. Inquiry closed.
- Massachusetts — the three years run on the full independent license only — 'fully Independently licensed … and practicing full time' — and the credit gap is completable post-degree ('You must complete the coursework to meet the 60 credits'). The group-supervision-cap question drew a request to clarify; the clarification went back same-day.
- Minnesota — the pre-approval list is current ('Yes that list is current'), the five-year clock runs on the full license only, reciprocity still verifies the transcript and credit count, and licensure opens at a 48-credit minimum with the first four years to reach 60.
- Nevada — answered before this roster existed (staff, August 2026): apply via the reciprocity route; no provisional or temporary licenses are issued in practice despite the statute authorizing them.
- North Dakota — 97-02-01-04 reciprocity 'does not apply to the LPCC License': the clinical title is a specialty atop a held LPC (60 semester credits, 700 practicum hours, 3,000 supervised hours, NCMHCE), and every LPC application, 'reciprocity or standard,' is reviewed academically. The closure now stands on the board's own words.
- Ohio — both walls fell in one answer: 'You do not need to hold an out of state license for one year to qualify for a license via reciprocity. The NCE will suffice for LPCC licensure requirements.' Re-tiered to open-now on that answer.
- Oklahoma — the board answered in nine minutes: endorsement 'does not require a traditional academic review' — the transcript only proves the degree exists. Two fingerprint checks, board-to-board verification, no partial submissions, fees non-refundable.
- Oregon — answered before this roster existed (board staff, August 2026): the three-year clock runs from full licensure; associate time does not count.
- South Dakota — supervised associate-credential time counts toward the endorsement rule's three continuous years ('We can count your time under supervision…'), so July-2023 associate starts already clear the bar; the LPC-MH clinical title stays a separate NCMHCE application. Re-tiered to open-now.
- Tennessee — the 2019 reciprocity policy applies generally to a Washington licensee, but the answer's own document list preserves the floor: 'If your graduate counseling degree is less than 60 hours earned you do not qualify' — and the license must be active two of the last three years.
Awaiting a reply
- Alabama — which era's standards govern an endorsement file, and the scope of board discretion (the closed verdict's two hinges).
- Arkansas — the endorsement mechanics the direct read could not reach: the rules layer behind the application packet, and the jurisprudence exam's place in the sequence.
- British Columbia — how an RCC application documents supervision hours from Washington's records.
- California — Path A confirmations: conferral-and-accreditation-only education test, clinical-exam waiver, and the two-year full-license clock.
- Connecticut — whether the Department operates its substantially-similar endorsement clause, and whether Washington has been evaluated.
- Delaware — whether current NBCC certification is demanded on every reciprocity route, or only at the five-year door.
- Delaware DPR (telehealth registration) — whether the mental-health registration runs under §6002(c) or §6005(b) — the section that decides whether the compact bar reaches Washington registrants.
- District of Columbia — confirmation of the endorsement policy (five years by attestation, three with the NCC) — re-sent after the published board inbox bounced.
- Georgia — via the secretary of state's contact router (2026-08-21, the board's published contact pages having gone dark): the credit-total conflict for a 48-semester-hour degree, the applied-psychology pathway's status after the 2022 rewrite, and per-area post-degree supplementation.
- Idaho — what standard governs endorsement now that the rule the application cites was repealed, whether endorsement reviews education at all, and which of the three circulating content-area lists applies.
- Indiana — whether the NCE can satisfy the reciprocity statute's substantially-equivalent-exam clause, or the NCMHCE is the only key.
- Kansas — does the board process applications under its universal-recognition statute, and how it reconciles its own degree-title clauses.
- Maine — whether Washington's licensure pathway has been evaluated as substantially equivalent for endorsement. A second question-set (the education worksheet's mechanics) is written and deliberately held until the board answers this one — one open question-set per board.
- Maryland — asked, and redirected: the general inbox declines pre-application coursework review ('Once you submit an application all of your questions will be answered by the coordinator') — the associate-year and quarter-credit-pairing questions will ride the application itself.
- Michigan — the bureau counter-asked how long the full license has been held ('The answers to your questions will depend on what you provide'); the licensure history went back 2026-08-21, and the three questions — standards vintage, entry-date grandfather, five-year no-transcript endorsement — remain open.
- Mississippi — how Rule 4.3 endorsement and the universal-licensure statute interact, and whether associate-level time counts toward the year.
- Missouri — whether associate-level time counts toward the reciprocity year, and how the favorable conferral-date grandfather is documented.
- Montana — which endorsement provisions actually govern, and the verdict-deciding question: can post-degree coursework cure the credit total at all.
- NBCC — whether a post-degree career course cures a content-area gap, and whether the license satisfies the experience requirement.
- Nebraska — does the department accept applications under the 2024 universal-recognition statute, does the compact-exception clause block counselors, and does the WA LMHC map to the independent LIMHP.
- New Hampshire — confirmation that Washington sits on the Plc 313.37 qualifying table, ahead of a September filing.
- New Mexico — whether any non-expedited pathway remains open given the disapproved-jurisdiction listing.
- New York — whether licensed associate-level practice counts toward the five-of-ten-years endorsement requirement — asked twice over: the documents-only Unit 5 inbox auto-replied, so the question was re-routed through the Office of the Professions ticket desk (2026-08-21, ticket 2198122).
- North Carolina — whether 21 NCAC 53 .0304 modifies the education standard for five-year licensees.
- Pennsylvania — whether a post-2009, 48-hour master's may complete the 60 with post-degree coursework (the packet's allowance is textually pre-2009-only), and how the 30-to-40-hours-per-week experience gate treats part-time practice.
- Rhode Island — sent 2026-08-21 to the health department's licensing unit (the board publishes no direct inbox): whether any endorsement or equivalency review exists for a non-CACREP degree under the CACREP-gated rule.
- South Carolina — the endorsement document set, education-review scope, and how Washington supervision is documented.
- Texas — via the executive council's contact form (2026-08-21, form 29907): associate time toward the two-year deemed-equivalency clock, the scope of review under deeming, and practicum-hours documentation.
- Utah — the ledger's standing question: will the division demand the NCMHCE of an NCE-based endorsement applicant?
- Vermont — whether the fast track skips education review entirely, and whether associate time counts toward its three years.
- Virginia — whether endorsement is processed under the amended rule (the old duration test deleted July 2026) and the education-review scope.
- Washington DOH — compact go-live timeline, rulemaking status, and whether post-degree coursework can supplement toward the 90-quarter education requirement.
- West Virginia — universal-recognition procedure, residency documentation, and confirmation that no education review or exam applies.
- Wisconsin — whether the work-while-curing temporary credential is actually issued to counselors, including its telehealth-only mode. The service desk confirmed in writing (2026-08-20) that it routed the question to the credentialing team as a tracked case in LicensE, with a ~10-calendar-day review target.
- Wyoming — how the board evaluates a 72-quarter-hour transcript against the degree standard — and which of its two published fees is current.
Staged, not yet sent
- Iowa — an inquiry address surfaced after all (the health department's A-to-Z directory); the question set sits addressed in drafts.
- Kentucky and New Jersey — addressed drafts (the board's application-page address and the consumer-affairs unit inbox), ready to send.
- Maine's second question-set — deliberately held until the first is answered.
No async channel
- Illinois — no inbox and no form; the department takes questions by phone only, and the question set is written as a call script.
- Florida — the board answers only by phone; its real test is the cohort application filed in August, still pending.
- The queries and their dates are recorded per-entry in the status notes above; answers are quoted in the entries as they arrive, graded as informal staff answers (corroboration, not law).
The NCC: most of the cohort is one course away
NBCC's National Certified Counselor is worth understanding as a cohort asset: it feeds several states' endorsement routes (Delaware's and DC's expressly), and most MAP grads are closer than the folklore suggests. The facts, verified against NBCC's governing policy (revised April 30, 2026): there is no CACREP requirement — the widely-circulated 'CACREP-only from 2027' deadline was announced in 2014 for 2022, postponed twice, never written into the eligibility policy, and the April 2026 revision deleted CACREP from the degree clauses entirely. The requirements that DO apply: 48 semester / 72 quarter hours (exactly what MAP grants — zero margin, so verify your transcript's total), nine content areas (career development is the one most transcripts lack — one course cannot double-count two areas), at least 10 quarter hours of supervised field experience (the standard MAP internship sequence clears it — verify your own transcript), and a degree review for non-counseling-titled degrees (discretionary, content-based, with an appeals process). A full state license waives the post-graduate experience requirement outright, and an NCE already passed for licensure transfers — $250, no retake. The smart sequence, corrected: NBCC offers no formal pre-application review — the application itself is the review, a six-to-eight-week coursework read by the certification department — so file the application first and let its reviewers name your exact gaps before you pay tuition for any course; a modest application fee is cheap insurance against buying the wrong class. certification@nbcc.org answers eligibility questions along the way, and documents can be sent early (they are reviewed in the order received). Then take the career course, if the review says you need it, as for-credit graduate coursework.
- NCC Certification Eligibility Policy (Oct 13, 2020; REVISED APRIL 30, 2026 — CACREP deleted from §C.1/C.2; §C.5 license waiver; §C.6 non-degree credit cure) — nbcc.org/assets/certification/ncc_certification_eligibility_policy.pdf
- nbcc.org/certification/ncc live page (fetched directly 2026-08-03: $250/$375 fee table, no CACREP language, no 2027 date)
- NCC Required Coursework Descriptions (rev. April 2026: 'major study in counseling', 48 sem/72 qtr, one-course-one-area rule)
- NCE Candidate Handbook for NCC Certification (rev. 9/24/2024: CACREP OR institutionally accredited; licensure-route score reuse)
- Timeline artifacts: NBCC 2014 announcement flyer + Counseling Today 11/20/2014 (2022 date); undated EducationalStandards.pdf (2024 date); Visions newsletter 7/26/2023 (2027 date — unretracted)
- Pre-application review + degree-review appeals: §C.1 NOTE, §C.7, Certification Eligibility Appeals Policy (10/27/2022)
- NBCC, Applicants FAQ (application review runs 6-8 weeks; certification@nbcc.org for questions and documents; no pre-application review service described anywhere in the applicant materials) — https://nbcc.org/resources/applicants/faq (read in full 2026-08-19)
Where to take a make-up course (verified August 2026)
Requirements for any make-up course: graduate-level, for-credit, on an official transcript from a regionally accredited institution — CE hours never count. Verified options for single-course non-degree enrollment from CACREP-accredited counseling programs: Capella (COUN5279 Life Planning & Career Development, 4 quarter credits, ~$2,275 all-in, asynchronous with weekly deadlines, quarterly starts) and Walden (COUN6753 Career Counseling, 5 quarter credits, ~$2,800, 10-week terms, effectively add-to-cart enrollment). Liberty (COUC522, ~$2,000, 8-week asynchronous, semester credits — structurally ideal for the compact math) is cheaper IF its Special-Student status actually permits counseling-course registration — unverified, one phone call. Adams State, the school most licensure guides still recommend, closed its counseling courses to non-degree students — verified on their own site. Capella is the only verified one-stop if you pursue the full 18-quarter compact cure (career, appraisal, addictions, research all sold individually at 4 quarter credits each — note four courses is 16 quarter credits, so the 18-quarter compact target means a fifth course for most transcripts): roughly $9,100–11,400 total depending on course count. Prices verified early August 2026 (Adams State's closure re-verified 2026-08-19) and will drift.
- Prices and enrollment mechanics verified on each school's current pages, early August 2026 (Adams State closure read verbatim on adams.edu; Capella/Walden/Liberty/Amberton pages fetched directly). Full working notes: 'Career Course Venues (researched 2026-08-03)' in the maintainer's records.
The validation ledger, and what is still open
What has actually been tested, newest first. VALIDATED: Idaho's $35 telehealth registration (applied late July 2026, issued 2026-08-06). IN PROGRESS: Florida MOBILE endorsement (filed 2026-08-03, pending - the associate-practice question rides with it). CORROBORATED: North Dakota (board admin, in writing, 2026-08-21: the reciprocity rule does not reach the LPCC — a specialty atop a held LPC — and every LPC application is academically reviewed); Massachusetts (board staff, in writing, 2026-08-21: three years on the full independent license only, 'practicing full time'; post-degree coursework to 60 confirmed); Minnesota (board staff, in writing, 2026-08-21: the pre-approval list is current, the clock is full-license-only, and 48 credits license with four years to reach 60 — upgrading the list's 2024 internal date); Ohio (board inbox, in writing, 2026-08-21: no one-year wait, and the NCE suffices for the LPCC — re-tiered to open); South Dakota (program manager, in writing, 2026-08-21: supervised associate time counts toward the three years — re-tiered to open); Tennessee (licensure staff, in writing, 2026-08-21: the reciprocity policy applies generally, the 60-hour floor survives in the document list); Alaska (division examiner, in writing, 2026-08-20: board operating normally in its wind-down year; the August 21 rules accept out-of-state post-graduate supervision); Hawaii (program office, in writing, 2026-08-20: courses combine within areas, post-degree coursework fills gaps); Oklahoma (board, in writing, 2026-08-20: endorsement requires no traditional academic review); Minnesota (the board's published reciprocity list pre-approves the WA LMHC); Arizona (credentialing specialist, in writing, 2026-08-20: the one-year clock is full-license-only, and endorsement does not review program or hours); Colorado (the board's license specialist, three written answers, 2026-08-20: endorsement applies, the education check is a conferral-only transcript, and associate-level practice counts toward the two-year practice attestation); Louisiana (credentialing staff, in writing, 2026-08-20: one year governs, no education review - and the year runs on the full license only); Oregon (board staff, Aug 2026: the 3-year clock runs from full licensure - associate time does not count); Nevada (staff, 2026-08-11: apply via their reciprocity route; NO provisional licenses in practice despite the statute; Certemy platform); New Hampshire (all requirements re-verified live 2026-08-07, packet built, not yet mailed). Still open, where any one graduate's written answer helps everyone: (1) WA DOH: does post-degree graduate coursework count toward the compact's 90-quarter threshold, and how would an existing licensee be re-flagged? (2) Virginia: its old duration test was deleted effective July 2026, so the open question is now whether the rewritten rule is applied as smoothly as it reads. (3) Utah: will DOPL exercise its exam discretion against endorsement applicants holding only the NCE? (4) Illinois: settled unfavorably by the rule's own text — the 60-hour floor keys to the application date ('individuals applying for licensure' beginning July 1, 2026), no grandfather. (5) Wisconsin: the conflict is now precise — the reciprocity packet files no education documents at all while the statute says 'may' and the rule says 'shall'; the department's tracked case will answer which governs. (6) South Carolina: confirmation that its strikingly bare endorsement rule is applied as written (Oklahoma's was confirmed in writing 2026-08-20: no traditional academic review on endorsement). Ask one, get it in writing, email it in - the record updates.
How this was researched, and how far to trust it
Built from primary sources wherever obtainable (mirrors are noted where an official copy could not be fetched) — statutes, administrative rules, board applications and published guidance — researched late July through mid-August 2026. The initial research was done by Claude Fable (Anthropic's extended-reasoning model), reading and analyzing sources directly. When the scope grew to all fifty states, British Columbia, and D.C., Fable coordinated teams of Claude Opus sub-agents to research entries in parallel while conserving the token budget. Most refinement since — board-reply corrections, status upgrades, editorial passes — has been Fable, with Opus agents spun up for targeted sweeps (the universal-recognition analysis, the adversarial review, the application-packet audit). Each state entry carries its own source list and names which model did the reading — 'Fable' means the decisive texts were read directly; 'Opus agent' means a sub-agent researched them and Fable spot-checked. What is not preserved: the full research trail — every page visited and rejected. What you see is what was cited. Statuses tell you how far past paper each pathway has been tested: HYPOTHESIS (paper-verified only), CORROBORATED (a board answered an actual inquiry — quoted with date), VALIDATED (a real application proved the pathway), FILED · PENDING (an application is in adjudication). CONTRADICTED is folded into notes where board practice diverges from statute text (see Nevada's provisional-license line). Rules moved repeatedly during the research window; assume something here is already stale and verify with the board before filing anything. One editorial rule keeps this document readable as it ages: entry text always describes the current state of the law, never the history of this guide's understanding. Corrections are not silent — when a verdict or number changes, the change and its evidence are recorded in that entry's dated status note and in the changelog — but the reader should never have to excavate today's rule from the story of how it was learned. Each entry's card carries its own currency line — when its decisive sources were last read, when its board was last asked (an inquiry sent or a contact form submitted), when its board last answered in writing, and when the entry text last changed — so a reader can judge staleness state by state instead of trusting the document's overall date. Nearly every board has now been asked directly; the asked-but-unanswered gap between those two dates is itself information.
Changelog
- v2.21.17 (2026-08-21) — Currency-date honesty fix (found while answering where contact dates are tracked): NH's and FL's 'board answered' dates removed — NH's 2026-08-07 was a cohort member's live OPLC site re-verification (not a board reply; the 08-20 email query is still awaiting one), and FL's 2026-08-03 is the application filing date (adjudication pending — the filing is the ask, not the answer; card shows 'board asked 2026-08-03'). Same rule as DEREG's dropped date in v2.21.13: the corroborated slot holds actual written board answers only. Both entries keep their statuses; the statusNotes carry the full story. Coverage picture at this version: 13 entries asked-and-answered, 33 asked-awaiting, 5 staged-or-phone-only (IA KY NJ IL + held ME set), OR corroborated via a cohort inquiry outside the tracked mailbox, 5 remote entries with no direct channel.
- v2.21.16 (2026-08-21) — Roster catch-up (Matt's catch — the two crosscutting rosters had been missed by the last two folds and were frozen at 08-20). 'Queries in flight' rebuilt as of 2026-08-21: Answered grows to 14 (adds MA MN ND OH SD TN with quote-level summaries); Awaiting rewritten to all 35 open channels including the overnight wave, the TX (form 29907) / GA (contact router) / NY (ticket 2198122) form submissions, MD's redirect-to-coordinator, MI's counter-question + same-day reply, and RI's 2026-08-21 send to the RIDOH licensing unit; two new groups (Staged-not-yet-sent: IA KY NJ + held ME set; No-async-channel: IL phone-only, FL phone + pending application). Validation-ledger section's corroborated roll extended with the same six answers, newest first. RI queried=2026-08-21; MI and MA notes flip staged→sent (both replies went out 07:56 PT). PROTOCOL ADDITION: every corroboration fold updates both rosters (crosscutting 'inflight' + 'questions') in the same pass — entry-level folds alone are not done.
- v2.21.15 (2026-08-21) — Email reconciliation + three new board answers folded. NORTH DAKOTA corroborated at closed — board: 97-02-01-04 reciprocity “does not apply to the LPCC License” (LPCC = specialty atop a held LPC: 60 credits, 700 practicum hrs, 3,000 supervised hrs, NCMHCE); every LPC application “reviewed for academic requirements” — mechanism rewritten, verdict unchanged. MASSACHUSETTS corroborated at y3 — board: three years on the full independent license only, “practicing full time” (new caveat); post-degree coursework to 60 confirmed; group-cap question drew a clarify request (follow-up staged). MINNESOTA corroboration upgraded to a live 2026-08-21 staff confirmation: list current, full-license-only clock, transcript review stands, 48-credit floor + 12 credits within 4 years. MICHIGAN staff counter-question (years licensed?) noted; reply staged. MARYLAND general inbox declines pre-application coursework review — noted. NEW: dates.queried on every contacted entry (board asked date), sourced from the sent-mail record: NV 08-07, FL 08-03 (filed application), the 08-20 wave (36 entries incl. COMPACT + DEREG), the 08-21 wave (ND AL BC WY + TX/GA/NY web forms). Cards render it as ‘board asked’ in the currency line. Maintenance protocol: sending an inquiry bumps queried. Not yet contacted: IA KY NJ (addressed drafts staged), IL (phone only), RI (draft; RIDOH licensing-unit address found 2026-08-21).
- v2.21.14 (2026-08-21) — Wyoming: the board's own reciprocity application (Google-Doc export, read in full) surfaced the board's contact address (WyoMHPLB@wyo.gov) and a live fee conflict — $393 on the application document vs $419 on the packet, both currently served; caveat rewritten to carry both figures. The application text also confirms the coverage-test structure ('At least one (1) course must be identified in each area') and the full document set. Illinois's 178 qualifications PDF (direct read) confirms IDFPR publishes no email (FAQ + phone only) and that the NCMHCE is expressly not accepted toward the LPC tier.
- v2.21.13 (2026-08-21) — Per-entry currency dates (Matt's call): every state and remote entry now carries machine-readable dates — sources last read, board last answered (where an answer exists), entry last updated — rendered as a currency line on each card. Backfilled from the read ledger and status notes, not invented: read dates from the verification fields, answer dates from the status notes, update dates from the version history (all entries touched 2026-08-20 by the verification rename; OH/SD/TN again 2026-08-21). Maintenance protocol: every edit bumps updated, every direct read bumps verified, every written answer bumps corroborated. Method section notes the line.
Full history (61 earlier entries)
- v2.21.12 (2026-08-21) — Overnight board-answer fold, three written answers: OHIO re-tiered y1 → OPEN NOW ('You do not need to hold an out of state license for one year to qualify for a license via reciprocity. The NCE will suffice for LPCC licensure requirements' — agrees with the rule text read this week; EITHER EXAM badge added). SOUTH DAKOTA re-tiered +3 → OPEN NOW for the plain LPC (supervised associate time counts toward the three continuous years — the cohort's 2023 associate starts already qualify; LPC-MH remains a separate NCMHCE application). TENNESSEE corroborated at cureplus: the reciprocity policy applies generally to WA, but the answer preserves the 60-hour floor verbatim ('less than 60 hours earned you do not qualify') — the conservative caveat confirmed. All three statuses now corroborated with dated quotes.
- v2.21.11 (2026-08-20) — Read-in-full Batches 5-7 (y3, y5, closed tiers + the Delaware telehealth entry): CT DC MD SD VT ID MN NY AL NJ NC RI and DEREG graded. One RI correction: the endorsement provision is written (11.3.9), not unwritten — but CACREP-60-gated, closing it for this degree; the sequencing trap is now verified in the rule text itself, not just the application. One DEREG finding: §6005(b) is a mental-health-specific telehealth exception with no compact-state bar — whether the Division's registration implements §6002(c) or §6005(b) is now the open question that decides the WA-compact trap. VT gains the §136a(c) Director-waiver note; CT gains the §19a-14d(b) exam-discretion note; NC's closure is cleaner in the text than the entry claimed. AL stays Opus-graded (JS-gated); IL and ID carry provenance notes. This completes the read-in-full program: 55 of 58 entries Fable-verified, 3 carrying honest provenance notes (IL ID AL), CO's rule-version question riding on the pending Vigil draft.
- v2.21.10 (2026-08-20) — Read-in-full Batch 4 (coursework tiers, part 2): GA IL MI PA WI WY upgraded. No corrections — every entry held. GA strengthened twice from the rule text: the 'prior to, during or after the degree program' supplementation clause is express in 135-5-.02(a)11, and the rule prints no credit total (a third instrument in the 60/80-vs-60/90 conflict); the applied-psychology pathway and 60-month lookback verified verbatim. PA's route (3)(ii) 48-inside-60 construction verified with no 2009 limitation. MI's entry-date grandfather verbatim. WI's shall-grant three-item reciprocity verbatim. WY's board-approval reciprocity text read. IL graded with an honest provenance note (rule text from the packet audit; IDFPR JS-gated).
- v2.21.9 (2026-08-20) — Read-in-full Batch 3 (coursework tiers): ME MT TN AK AR DE HI upgraded to direct Fable reads; HI and AK board emails re-verified verbatim in Gmail. No corrections — every entry held, several strengthened: HI's supplementation clause and experience window are in the statute itself; ME's rule supports the cure through two doors (36-59+supplement, and deficiency-cure for 60-hour degrees); MT's education rule confirms the degree-bound fear, making the 37-1-304(2) deficiency review the cure's statutory hook (PATH sharpened); TN gains the MHSP 9-hour cluster's express postgraduate allowance; DE gains the §3034(a)/(b) shall-vs-may anatomy; AK's credentials-route gate verified. Jurisprudence check clean across the batch (AR and TN already carried theirs). ME/MT/TN board replies still pending.
- v2.21.8 (2026-08-20) — Read-in-full Batch 2 (+1-year tier): AZ KS LA MS MO NE OH UT upgraded to direct Fable reads; AZ and LA board emails re-verified verbatim in Gmail. Corrections: MO and MS gain their state jurisprudence exams (RSMo 337.510.4 open-book law exam; MS Pass/Fail Jurisprudence Exam via CCE) — same omission class as Oklahoma's in v2.21.7, now a systematic check; LA gains the 40-CEH-documentation caveat (LAC 1101(A), omitted from the board's emailed list; WA's biennial minimum is 36); AZ gains the §32-4302(F) poison-pill caveat; OH's unlock adds the active-practice prong and its dead news-release source now points to the live instructions page; MO's grandfather caveat corrected (conferral before 8/28/2023 qualifies alone); KS's degree-title phrasing made precise. CO rule-version question still open (DPO page corroborates endorsement framing; current 737-1 text still unfetched). No tier changes.
- v2.21.7 (2026-08-20) — Read-in-full Batch 1 (now tier): IA, SC, OK, WV, BC, IN + the WV telehealth entry upgraded to direct Fable reads of their decisive texts. Two Oklahoma corrections: the Oklahoma Legal and Ethical Responsibilities (jurisprudence) Examination is required for endorsement (OAC 86:10-25-3(4) + the board page — the earlier no-exam reading was wrong), and a new caveat flags 59 O.S. §1906(E)'s three-year provision vs the rule's silence. WV gains the military-spouse alternative-unlock note. Colorado stays mixed: the SOS rule PDF served a 1.12 version (history ending ~2021) that contains no (C)(1)(b) one-year prong as cited — current-version check queued; the filing path rides on the specialist's written answers either way. No tier changes.
- v2.21.6 (2026-08-20) — Method section: replaced READ-IN-FULL / AGENT-RELAYED verification grades with actual model names (Fable for direct research, Opus agents for expanded-scope sweeps).
- v2.21.5 (2026-08-20) — Legend readability: cureplus #34505F → #7A3858 (rosewood), closed #433D35 → #A09488 (warm stone). Fixes three-way color collision between coursework+more, closed, and Washington.
- v2.21.4 (2026-08-20) — Voice pass: rewrote AI-sounding prose throughout for a more natural, direct tone. AI transparency references (agent-relayed, Claude attribution) are unchanged — the problem was style, not disclosure. Added a status-key box (HYPOTHESIS / CORROBORATED / VALIDATED / FILED·PENDING) right after the self-audit section so readers see the vocabulary before they hit any entries.
- v2.21.3 (2026-08-20) — Two settled exam rows were sitting unbadged — a reader's question exposed the first. South Dakota's row was never unsettled: the split is fully sourced (plain LPC verifies your NCE, no retake; LPC-MH — the diagnosing tier — requires the NCMHCE), which is exactly the plum badge with the split in its hover text. Same sweep found Virginia: ‘whatever exam your licensing state required’ settles both directions for Washington licensees, so VA now wears EITHER EXAM. The genuinely half-settled group (NCE accepted, NCMHCE unaddressed: OH MO MD CT DE GA MI WY, plus OR's 10-year recency) stays unbadged per policy — a badge must settle the picture for every reader.
- v2.21.2 (2026-08-20) — The unbadged states now follow a stated policy instead of an accident. Closed states carry no exam badge — when the wall is structural, the exam is trivia — which also removed Rhode Island's leftover badge. States whose exam acceptance is genuinely unsettled (Utah's pending discretion question, Oregon's ten-year recency clause, the NCE-accepted-but-NCMHCE-unknown group) stay deliberately unbadged, with the facts in their exam rows, until a source settles each. And Colorado gained the badge it had earned all along: its endorsement attests to any national or state counseling exam without scoring or verifying anything — the Arizona pattern. The legend's badge key now explains what no badge means.
- v2.21.1 (2026-08-20) — Badge semantics tightened on a maintainer catch: 'no retest' understated what these states actually do — they do not check your exam at all. The green badge now reads EXAM NOT CHECKED, and each hover title says what stands in for it (usually the license itself), with the jurisprudence and state-law exceptions still noted. DC moved to EITHER EXAM, because DC genuinely verifies the exam you passed — it just accepts any US board's. The distinction matters: 'not checked' means the exam question never arises; 'either exam' means it arises and you already satisfy it.
- v2.21 (2026-08-20) — Exam flair completed: the badges now mark the good news, not only the walls. Green badges join the plum ones — NO RETEST on the seventeen states plus BC whose operative routes sit no new national exam (each badge's hover text carries the state's nuance: jurisprudence exams, state-law exams, and route-specific differences stay noted), and EITHER EXAM on the four states verified to take the NCE or the NCMHCE interchangeably. States whose exam acceptance is uncertain stay unbadged rather than guessed — Utah, Ohio, Missouri, Maryland and the rest keep their exam facts in text until a source settles them. The legend gains a one-line badge key. The result: a reader of either exam population can skim the cards and see, at badge level, where nobody will test them again.
- v2.20 (2026-08-20) — The exam tier retired, on a taxonomy principle the symmetric-badge work made unavoidable: tier assignments must be reader-independent, and exam-gating is reader-relative — Indiana is exam-gated to an NCE-holder and open-now to an NCMHCE-holder, exactly as Pennsylvania is the reverse. Tiers now answer one question for everyone (when does the door open, once your exam matches) and the badges answer the other (which exam, and for whom it is a wall). Indiana moved to the open tier on its mandatory 30-day reciprocity; New York to the five-year tier (the rolling ten-year window stays in its entry); Massachusetts to the three-to-four-year tier (its small credit and hours top-ups stay in its entry); each keeps its NCMHCE badge, and the map's accessible labels now announce exam gates so a colored state cannot mislead at a glance. Pennsylvania and Hawaii's NCE-ONLY badges are the mirror, unchanged.
- v2.19 (2026-08-20) — Design pass, three changes and no content changes. The tier palette now encodes meaning: the time tiers run a warm ramp from green through olive, gold and orange to deep rust — sooner is greener, later is redder — while the tiers that are work rather than waiting (coursework, coursework-plus) wear a visibly different steel-blue family, with the exam tier keeping its plum and closed going near-charcoal; the map is now readable before the legend, and the lightness ordering helps colorblind readers where hue alone would not. The changelog displays its latest five entries with the full history collapsed beneath (everything remains in this one file — a separate page would reintroduce the drift the footer version exists to prevent — and printing still expands it all). And a slim sticky navigation row now rides under the banner: map, remote practice, entries, ledger, changelog. Fonts stay system-native by design; the interface stack upgraded to system-ui for non-Apple readers.
- v2.18.2 (2026-08-20) — Deduplication, on a maintainer catch: the self-audit's license-date item and the associate box had grown nearly identical associate-clock passages, because each board answer had been appended to both. One owner now: the associate box carries the full clock story (which states have live questions, which answered no, with dates); the self-audit item keeps its own job — the unlock formula — and points there. The one-owner-per-fact rule the entries already follow now applies to the framing prose too.
- v2.18.1 (2026-08-20) — The origins entry trimmed on the maintainer's call, following the adversarial review's flag: it now says the corpus was initially keyed to the maintainer's own record, without enumerating its parts, and describes the AI research tooling generically. The provenance story is unchanged; the detail level is.
- v2.18 (2026-08-20) — The exam problem made symmetric, on a maintainer observation: most of the cohort holds the NCE, but not all of it, and the display had quietly taken the NCE-holder's point of view — badging only the states where the NCMHCE is required and leaving the mirror walls unmarked. Now both directions are badged: Pennsylvania and Hawaii carry an NCE-ONLY badge (the NCMHCE does not substitute there), Illinois's clinical tier carries a BOTH-EXAMS badge, and the six NCMHCE-required states keep theirs. The self-audit's exam item and the third problem's framing now speak to both populations: whichever exam you sat, the map has a short list of states gated on the other one, and the badges point whichever way your wall runs.
- v2.17 (2026-08-20) — The adversarial review (three independent audits: internal consistency, primary-source re-verification, and a full cold read), and its corrections — including two reversals of this guide's own same-day work, recorded plainly. Delaware reversed back: the board's own page requires NBCC certification of all applicants and the statute gates reciprocity on national certification, so the NCC route stands restored and the day's earlier withdrawal was itself the error. Pennsylvania restored to the coursework tier: route (b) of its statute expressly contemplates a 48-hour master's inside a 60-hour program with no date limit, and the experience rule's second clause — at least 15 hours per week for six months — preserves part-time practice; both had been dropped. Tennessee's reciprocity softened: the policy's final item preserves all statutory requirements, so it eases documentation, not the 60 hours or the exams. The compact count corrected to seven live states with Arkansas the seventh (it had been double-counted to eight). Arkansas's area list corrected (no addictions category; a nine-credit practicum/internship block added — credit-denominated, the Rhode Island species of bar); Georgia's credit total and filing channel now presented as the conflicts they are between the state's own instruments; Connecticut's four-year route re-attributed to CGS §19a-14d with its discretionary-exam and best-interest levers; Michigan's presumption re-cited to the live rule; Idaho's quote completed; Illinois gained its rule's two favorable clauses and lost an unsupported NCC claim; West Virginia and South Carolina softened to inherit-and-verify and may-not-shall readings; Rhode Island removed from the exam-buys-entry lists; the validation ledger's corroborated roll-call completed; Oregon and Nevada added to the answered roster; awaiting entries gained their missing query markers. Mechanics: the guide now survives JavaScript-off and printing, the tested-pathways filter reaches the remote lane, and the footer reads correctly.
- v2.16 (2026-08-20) — Editorial pass, on a maintainer decision now recorded in the methods section: entry substance (path, unlock, exam, education) speaks in the present about the state; the history of this guide's own corrections lives in status notes and this changelog. Fourteen entries had accumulated self-commentary — 'this guide previously printed,' 'the framing died in the packet pass,' 'an earlier version of this entry' — all rewritten to state the current rule plainly, with no facts changed. Kept deliberately: the handful of caveats that inoculate against folklore a reader might arrive carrying (Delaware's NCC myth, Georgia's 90-quarter figure), since those corrections matter even to readers who never saw an earlier version.
- v2.15.1 (2026-08-20) — The banner's version stamp had been frozen at v2.7 since the day it was written while the document moved thirty versions past it — caught by the maintainer. Fixed structurally: the renderer now injects the live version and build date into the banner, so it can never drift again; the built line now says what is true (first built August 18, revised continuously). Roster synced: California, Idaho, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee queries sent; Maine's second question-set is written and held until the board answers the first, under a new working rule worth stating — one open question-set per board at a time.
- v2.15 (2026-08-20) — The application-packet pass: after Hawaii's rebuild exposed how much the applicant-facing forms add, all fifteen remaining coursework-tier states got the same treatment — every board's actual application packet read in full, subject areas named with per-area minimums, paperwork burdens and window traps surfaced. Four states changed tier on their own documents: Connecticut to the dated tier (DPH's four-years-licensed route promises no transcripts, no training verification, no examination — and the endorsement clause this guide once hoped for is operated nowhere); Delaware to five years (reciprocity is years-gated, not NCC-gated — the NCC advice is withdrawn); Idaho to five years (both license applications print mandatory endorsement routing at five-plus years, and the endorsement packet files nothing academic — though the rule it cites was repealed, an honest open question); and Rhode Island to closed (the hours-after-60-credits sequencing is printed on the application twice, and 24 credits of practicum and internship are structural). Pennsylvania moved to coursework-plus: its supplementation permission is textually limited to pre-2009 degrees and its 1,500-direct-hour floor with a 30-to-40-hour-per-week single-setting gate is the likelier wall — the friendliest-cure-state framing is withdrawn. Corrections elsewhere: Georgia converts at 80 quarter hours, not 90 (the gap halves to eight); Arkansas converts at 4:3 (the gap halves to six semester hours), its three-year threshold was relocated into a supervision buyout rather than deleted, its technology course is one credit — and Arkansas went live in the Counseling Compact on July 30, 2026, making eight live states; Tennessee requires no career course (the claim is withdrawn) and its 2019 reciprocity policy is general — three of five years plus a jurisprudence exam, the tier-deciding question now named; Maine's 1,000-hour 'alternative' is actually a surcharge and its career menu caps at 3 credits; Wyoming's form tests coverage, not credits, and its fee is $419; Alaska's by-credentials route files no education at all; Michigan's five-year endorsement presumes education and examination both; Illinois's 60-hour floor is live and application-date-keyed by the rule's own words, with a sealed university practicum certification and an LPC-first strategy worth knowing; Montana's twelve areas are finally named and its verdict-deciding query is re-aimed at the form's own structure. The dated tier's label widens to three-or-four years to hold Connecticut honestly.
- v2.14.10 (2026-08-20) — Hawaii's entry rebuilt to the standard a self-auditing reader needs (a maintainer critique: the entry described curing mechanics without naming what must be cured). Now carried in full from the board's own application instructions: the nine subject areas by name with the 3-semester/5-quarter per-area minimums inside the 48/72 total; the observation that appraisal of human behavior and tests-and-measurements are separate areas; and three requirements the entry had missed — every listed course needs a catalog description and syllabus (collect them while the program still has them), the 3,000 post-graduate hours must fit a two-to-four-year window (a trap for slow accruers), and everything must be complete before filing, with applications destroyed as abandoned after one year. Fees and the triennial renewal cycle added from the same document.
- v2.14.9 (2026-08-20) — Arizona answered and upgraded to corroborated, closing the last associate-clock question that had an inbox: the one-year requirement is met by the same-practice-level license only ('we do not combine licenses'), so associate time does not count — Arizona joins Louisiana, Oregon, and Vermont's standard route in the answered-no column, leaving Florida's filed application and Vermont's fast track as the only live associate-clock questions. Universal recognition differs from endorsement only in requiring Arizona residency. And the day's pattern extends to a fourth state: 'the endorsement pathway does not look at the program or hours' — regional accreditation of the university is Arizona's entire education test. The self-audit, associate box, and validation ledger all updated to match.
- v2.14.8 (2026-08-20) — Oklahoma answered — in nine minutes — and upgraded to corroborated: 'An application for licensure by endorsement does not require a traditional academic review,' with the transcript serving only as primary-source proof the degree was conferred. The board also specified the full document set (FBI and OSBI fingerprint checks, university-direct transcript, board-to-board license verification, portal fee) and two warnings now carried in the entry: partial applications are not reviewed, and fees are non-refundable. The validation ledger's open question about bare endorsement rules narrows to South Carolina alone. That makes two open-tier states corroborated on the same day on the same decisive point — the education review that non-CACREP degrees fear simply does not exist on these endorsement routes.
- v2.14.7 (2026-08-20) — The queries-in-flight roster reorganized for scanning: three labeled groups — Answered, Awaiting a reply, and No inbox exists — each alphabetical by jurisdiction. No content changed.
- v2.14.6 (2026-08-20) — Pre-publication accuracy check of the queries-in-flight roster against the maintainer's actual outbox: the California query is marked queued rather than awaiting (it is drafted and sending, not yet sent). Everything else verified current: four boards answered, nineteen awaiting, three no-inbox jurisdictions.
- v2.14.5 (2026-08-20) — Hawaii answered and upgraded to corroborated: the Mental Health Counselor Program office confirmed in writing that multiple courses may combine within a content area, that post-degree graduate coursework fills short areas, and that the new 2026 provisional license is scoped to hour-accruers with Hawaii supervisors rather than out-of-state licensees — so the coursework project is Hawaii's entire gate, now on the office's own word (carrying its statutory informational-only disclaimer, which matches this guide's treatment of every staff answer). Also: a second corroboration wave went to the boards behind the map's remaining paper-only open verdicts — Virginia, West Virginia, Oklahoma, South Carolina — plus California (the Path A education and exam confirmations) and Utah (the standing exam-discretion question); Iowa joins Texas and Florida as a no-inbox board reachable only by web form or phone.
- v2.14.4 (2026-08-20) — Alaska answered, and upgraded to corroborated: a division licensing examiner confirmed in writing that the board operates normally (its statutory extension is pending, with a wind-down year in effect), and that the rules effective August 21, 2026 accept supervision completed in another state — post-graduate, under a similar program, documented on a new completion-of-supervision form. That retires the supervisor-preapproval wall this guide's audit had traced to a repealed statute, leaving the ~12-credit education total as Alaska's entire remaining gap. The filed rule text posts August 21 and should be read before anyone documents hours; the consistency sweep confirmed no other section references the old supervision bar.
- v2.14.3 (2026-08-20) — Map correction: the British Columbia inset rendered upside down — its geometry came from a geographic (north-up) source while the US states were pre-projected to screen coordinates, and the conversion missed the vertical flip. The BC path is now flipped in the geometry asset; no data or verdict changed.
- v2.14.2 (2026-08-20) — Consistency pass after a reader-grade contradiction was caught (the maintainer, reading closely): the universal-recognition section still described Colorado as a conditional one-year route from the August 19 sweep — now updated to carry its full journey to the open tier. The same pass found and fixed four more: the keystone and remote-practice introductions still said five telehealth registrations (Colorado made six); the validation ledger predated the Louisiana and Colorado corroborations (both added); the ledger's open-question list still asked about Virginia's 24-of-60-months clock, deleted in July 2026 (question rewritten to match the current rule); and Colorado's own narrative stopped at the specialist's second answer (now carries the third). Working rule reinforced: when an entry moves, search the whole document for its name before shipping.
- v2.14.1 (2026-08-20) — Wisconsin's query is now a tracked case: the DSPS service desk answered same-day in writing that it opened a LicensE support ticket and routed the §440.094 temporary-credential questions to the credentialing team, which aims to review tickets within 10 calendar days. Routing, not an answer — the entry's substance, tier, and hypothesis status are unchanged; the status note and queries-in-flight line record the channel (the LicensE Request Support form) so the follow-up lands in the right place, and the case number stays in the maintainer's records rather than this public document. Also confirmed this sweep: the D.C. re-send to the board's recovered address went through without a bounce and remains awaiting reply.
- v2.14 (2026-08-20) — Colorado moved to the open tier — the day's fourth and final move, and the consistency reasoning is worth recording. This guide tiers to the floor a reader can bank on, which is why Florida sits at two years despite a favorable staff reading: Florida's reading is secondhand and its application form carries no favorable language. Colorado is different in kind: the two-year practice attestation is the board's own application text, the license specialist confirmed in writing — three times, on the applicant's specific facts — that associate practice counts and a psychology transcript passes with no equivalency review, and every contrary signal from the morning (the regulator's silent website, the deflecting inbox) has been resolved at the source. The status chip stays at corroborated, the conditions stay in the card, and the first adjudicated application will settle it for good.
- v2.13.2 (2026-08-20) — Colorado's inquiry closed with a third written answer from the license specialist, favorable on both remaining questions: associate-level practice counts toward the endorsement application's two-year practice attestation, and a psychology-titled master's satisfies the education requirement with the transcript alone — no CCE review mentioned even with the degree title squarely presented. Every question this guide had about Colorado's endorsement route is now corroborated in writing; the tier chip stays at the rule's one-year floor per the tiering standard, and validation awaits the first filed application. Wisconsin: the department routed the temporary-credential question to its credentialing team as a tracked case.
- v2.13.1 (2026-08-20) — The queries-in-flight section rewritten as a scannable list, one line per jurisdiction with what was asked, and brought current: Louisiana closed out, Colorado's two answers and pending third question reflected, sixteen queries awaiting replies, Texas and Florida noted as the two no-inbox boards.
- v2.13 (2026-08-20) — Colorado, round two — the board's own checklist and a discovery inside it. The license specialist's attached licensing guide (Feb 2025, read in full) sharpened the endorsement entry: the application's attestations are practice-keyed (two years of post-master's psychotherapy practice, which most of this cohort banked at the associate stage) alongside the rule's one-year license clock, and the guide's 'all applicants' CCE-review line conflicts with the specialist's transcript-only answer — flagged so filers carry her email. The discovery: Colorado now runs an out-of-state telehealth registration (SB24-141, open since January 1, 2026, mental health providers included, verified on the regulator's FAQ) — added as the sixth entry in the remote-practice lane and a sixth dot on the map. Telehealth only, jurisprudence exam, five-year clean-record lookback, real emergency-protocol duties.
- v2.12 (2026-08-20) — Colorado re-tiered to the one-year tier — this time on evidence, upgrading to corroborated. The board's professional-counselor license specialist answered the processing question in writing: an applicant holding an active equivalent out-of-state license applies by endorsement, and 'for the education requirement, you are only required to submit an official transcript verifying that a master's degree was awarded' — no equivalency worksheet, no credit review. This is the answer the morning's revert was designed to wait for: the tier chip changed only when practice, not just rule text, supported it. Remaining conditions: one year on the full license, the jurisprudence exam, and a February 2025 checklist whose currency against the mid-2026 amendment should be confirmed at filing. Status becomes validated when a cohort application is adjudicated.
- v2.11 (2026-08-20) — The map is now geographically true: the tile cartogram was replaced with real state shapes — U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundaries (public domain), Albers USA projection with Alaska and Hawaii in their conventional inset positions, simplified to keep this file self-contained. British Columbia appears as a labeled inset (Natural Earth, public domain). Every state remains clickable and keyboard-reachable with the same accessible names; the nine small eastern jurisdictions get leader-line callout labels so they stay readable and clickable; telehealth-registration dots and the legend carry over unchanged. The geometry lives in map-geo-paths.json beside this file with its sources and licenses recorded inside.
- v2.10.7 (2026-08-20) — Changelog completed backward: an origins entry (v0, dated to late July 2026) now records the research layer that predates this file — the maintainer's personal 52-jurisdiction analysis from which this cohort edition was later rebuilt greenfield. Added so the version history tells the truth about where the work started.
- v2.10.6 (2026-08-20) — Colorado reverted from the contested one-year tier back to closed, for consistency: this guide tiers to the floor a reader can bank on (Florida sits at two years despite a corroborated favorable reading), and Colorado's one-year endorsement prong has no corroboration and affirmative contrary signals — the regulator's public materials omit it, a statutory education veto sits over it, and the board's inbox declined to confirm it. The risk asymmetry drove the call: a wrong conservative tier costs waiting; a wrong optimistic tier here would cost someone a relocation to a state where the degree cannot be licensed. The prong remains prominent in the entry as a contested hypothesis with a specialist query pending; a favorable documentation answer re-tiers Colorado on evidence. Nebraska and Kansas keep their one-year ratings under a stated distinction: their universal-recognition statutes are mandatory with no education veto, and the gap there is absent implementation, not evidence of contrary practice.
- v2.10.5 (2026-08-20) — Exam-axis visibility, per Matt's call (option 1+3 from the adversarial review): the exam tier's label no longer promises 'sit the exam, then wait' — false at both edges, since Indiana has no wait and Massachusetts adds years plus a small cure — and now reads 'the exam is the wall; what follows varies.' Every card where the NCMHCE is required on the graded path (IN, MA, NY, RI, ME, TN) carries an NCMHCE badge, driven by a per-entry data flag rather than a hardcoded list, so the badge set cannot drift from the entries. No state changed tier.
- v2.10.4 (2026-08-20) — Adversarial-review fixes approved by Matt, plus Louisiana’s second answer folded in. (1) Louisiana closed out: the board’s same-day follow-up answer — ‘It is only applicable to a full license’ — settles the associate-time question (LMHCA time does not count; entry, unlock, and sources updated; no tier change). (2) Queries-in-flight arithmetic made honest: seventeen questions in flight (fifteen state boards + NBCC + WA DOH), Colorado’s specialist follow-up counted explicitly, Louisiana moved to answered-in-full. (3) Associate-clock passages reconciled across the LMHCA box and the self-audit: live = FL, AZ, and VT’s fast-track clock; answered no = LA, OR, and VT’s standard route (resolving the earlier answered-no-vs-re-asked tension); VA’s test deleted. (4) NCMHCE cluster lists completed and made consistent: Indiana joins the price-of-entry list (it refuses the NCE outright), Tennessee joins the self-audit list, and the both-exams states (IL clinical, VT standard, UT discretion) are named. No new exam tier added — tiers classify the unlock mechanism, and the exam axis stays a cross-cutting problem.
- v2.10.3 (2026-08-20) — Adversarial-review fix (Matt's catch): the renderer's hardcoded lead-in read 'Three problems, kept separate' while the section body enumerates four (the accreditation problem was added as problem four without the label keeping up). Label corrected to 'Four problems'. Remaining count inconsistencies found in the same review (pending-query arithmetic, the associate-clock state count, and the NCMHCE cluster lists) are logged as proposals for Matt, not edited.
- v2.10.2 (2026-08-20) — Queries-in-flight roster synced to sent mail: all sixteen inquiries are now out (the five previously marked prepared — DC, Maine, Montana, Hawaii, Connecticut — plus the Louisiana and Colorado follow-ups all sent 2026-08-20).
- v2.10.1 (2026-08-20) — Tone pass on the accreditation section: removed editorializing about what the program might do going forward. The section now states only the verified facts — the MAP holds neither CACREP nor MPCAC, accreditation is never retroactive, and the current program's credit total differs from the 2022–2024 cohorts' — without commentary directed at the program.
- v2.10 (2026-08-20) — The coursework tier split in two, on the difference between classes and classes-plus: 'Coursework only' (twelve states where the door opens the day the added classes are done — no waiting period, no second exam: AK AR CT DE GA HI ID IL MI PA WI WY) versus 'Coursework + more' (four states where classes alone don't finish the job: Maine and Tennessee add the NCMHCE, Rhode Island adds a possibly-fatal timing clause plus 2,000 direct hours plus the NCMHCE, and Montana may not allow a post-degree cure at all). Named courses stay surfaced per entry — career development is the near-universal ask; Connecticut, Illinois and Wisconsin add addictions; Hawaii adds tests and measurements; Alaska, unusually, does not require career at all. Also new: a queries-in-flight roster — fourteen jurisdictions plus NBCC and Washington's health department now have direct questions pending, and every affected entry carries a dated note saying exactly what was asked.
- v2.9.3 (2026-08-20) — Colorado inquiry update: the boards' shared inbox replied without answering — it cited Rule 1.12 as the endorsement requirements and stated staff may not interpret rules, referring application questions to the profession's licensing specialist. The one-year-prong question was re-routed to the specialist as a documentation/processing question. Status unchanged (contested hypothesis).
- v2.9.2 (2026-08-20) — Louisiana upgraded to corroborated: the board's Credentialing Department answered a direct written inquiry — the five-year endorsement threshold is removed (one year governs), the posted form's stale language should be ignored and the form submitted as normal, and an applicant licensed one year in their home state 'will not be subjected to meet our educational requirements.' The forms-versus-rule conflict this entry carried since v2.7 is resolved. Open sliver: the reply did not say whether associate-level licensure counts toward the year.
- v2.9.1 (2026-08-19) — Correction to the NCC section: earlier versions advised requesting a 'free pre-application review' from NBCC before paying for coursework. NBCC's applicant materials, read in full today, describe no such service — certification@nbcc.org answers questions and receives documents, but the coursework review happens inside the application itself (6-8 weeks). Sequence corrected: file the NCC application and let its review name your gaps before buying any course.
- v2.9 (2026-08-19) — Universal-recognition sweep of all 34 jurisdictions not already resting on such a law, plus corrections it surfaced. Re-tiered: Indiana closed → exam-gated (IC 25-23.6-8.5-9.5 is a mandatory 30-day reciprocity statute with no education review that the board openly implements — but only for NCMHCE-holders; the NCE is rejected by name); Nebraska closed → one-year (Neb. Rev. Stat. §84-950, 2024: no education review, no residency — untested, no application form exists, compact-exception clause unresolved); Colorado closed → contested one-year (the board's own endorsement rule carries a non-education prong its regulator's website omits); Kansas cure → conditional one-year (K.S.A. 48-3406 names the board and skips education — but the board never implemented it); Arkansas three-year → coursework tier (the 36-month endorsement threshold was deleted in the mid-2026 rule revision, exposing the education audit; the state's recognition act defers rather than waives that audit). Re-described: DC's endorsement is five years by attestation or three with the NCC, no equivalence test, no transcript, no regulation behind it; Minnesota upgraded to corroborated — the board's published list pre-approves the WA LMHC (LPC now, LPCC at five years); Michigan's five-year endorsement takes no transcript per the agency's own 2026 guide (which contradicts the January 2026 rules on which CACREP standard applies); Wisconsin gained a work-while-curing temporary credential (§440.094); Vermont's fast track confirmed as recognition-grade in substance. Premise fixes: New Jersey's bar is a credit floor and title bind, not program accreditation; New Mexico now names Washington on its disapproved list; Alaska flagged in flux (board sunset date passed without a located extension; new rules effective 2026-08-21). Also: the accreditation section now notes SU's current MAP is 90 quarter credits (the gap is fixed prospectively, not retroactively), Mississippi's decisive statute was re-read in full, and a new cross-cutting section explains universal-recognition laws and their four failure modes.
- v2.8 (2026-08-19) — Added the fourth problem — program accreditation — after settling the MPCAC question: Seattle University appears on none of MPCAC’s four status directories (accredited, under review, deferred, previously accredited; all read in full today), so the MAP holds neither CACREP nor MPCAC and the CACREP-or-equivalent escape hatch does not exist for this cohort. No state changed tier — every verdict already assumed a non-accredited degree — but the finding forecloses the one untested upside and is now stated plainly instead of implied. New cross-cutting sections: the accreditation problem (uncurable individually, never retroactive, and the application-date-keyed ratchet — North Carolina 2022, Delaware 2025, Michigan 2026 — as the argument for acting early) and two housekeeping rules (the Washington license is the keystone every pathway runs through — never let it lapse; and multi-state licensure has carrying costs).
- v2.7 (2026-08-19) — Full citation-validation and provenance pass: every source in the open, dated, exam-gated and remote tiers was fetched and verified (dead links replaced, none invented; unfetchable official pages honestly marked), lighter validation for the coursework and closed tiers, and most entries gained a 'Where this law comes from' line naming the session law that shaped the decisive rule. The pass caught a major change: Virginia rewrote its endorsement rule effective July 2, 2026, deleting the 24-of-60-months requirement — Virginia moved to the open tier as an untested new rule. Other corrections: South Dakota's no-transcript endorsement belongs to the non-clinical LPC (the diagnosing LPC-MH needs the NCMHCE); Vermont's fast track requires independent-practice years and may preserve education review; the South Carolina regulation-versus-webpage conflict dissolved on inspection; Louisiana's dueling act citations reconciled (both real, different provisions); Delaware's registration bar confirmed by the regulator's own page and re-cited to §6002(c); New York's five years run inside a rolling ten-year window; Illinois's new 60-hour floor reads application-date-keyed; North Dakota's title bar narrowed (counseling psychology qualifies); Iowa's 'deliberate, not a drafting accident' softened to match what the rulemaking record actually supports.
- v2.6 (2026-08-19) — Split the former hard tier into two honest categories: NCMHCE-gated (New York and Massachusetts — reachable by sitting the exam and waiting) versus closed to this degree (nine states whose bars are structural: title blacklists, program-bound accreditation, cure caps, hours walls, non-curable practicum, a disapproved list). Eight of the nine closed states are compact members, so remote practice remains their future path.
- v2.5 (2026-08-19) — Adversarial review and fresh verification pass before publication. Corrections: North Dakota's exam mechanism was wrong (the rule requires the applicant to have passed a board-approved exam, not that the sending state require the NCE) — rewritten from the current chapter; Massachusetts amended its regulations effective 7/31/2026, so the famous 'no other exam will be accepted' quote is gone (the NCMHCE requirement survives definitionally) — rewritten with a new three-years-good-standing element and the five-year score-validity rule; New Mexico's unsourced 'five-year reciprocity was repealed' line removed (the disapproved-list core verified verbatim); Tennessee softened (two bilateral agreements plus a general 2019 policy). Framing: Florida moved to the two-year tier with its possibly-sooner upside carried in the status note; Nebraska re-tiered to hard; a five-year tier added (Minnesota moved there); the exam elevated to a third named problem alongside the hours gap and content gaps; staff answers de-identified and marked informal and non-binding; the South Carolina entry no longer suggests withholding documents and now surfaces its own regulation-versus-board-page conflict; disclaimers moved above the fold. Compact numbers refreshed (40 members; still seven live states, re-checked today).
- v2.4 (2026-08-19) — Re-verified the 'Washington has opened no implementing rulemaking' claim against DOH's current pages (still true; DOH's compact page still promises 2025 applications). Added supporting evidence for the coursework-supplementation reading of the compact clause: DOH's own licensure rules expressly allow supplemental coursework to cure program equivalencies (WAC 246-809-220(3)).
- v2.3 (2026-08-19) — Added a color-coded map of the country (cartogram-style tiles, clickable, BC included above Washington; dots mark states with a telehealth registration). Rebuilt the remote-practice lane as full entries with statuses and sources — the five telehealth registrations plus the Counseling Compact, which moved out of the state list because for this cohort a privilege is functionally remote-practice permission: it works only while Washington remains the home state and is never a path to relocating.
- v2.2 (2026-08-19) — Separated telehealth permissions from licensure: new pre-map section covering the five registration states (Idaho validated; Florida; Arizona; West Virginia; Delaware's compact-state trap); Idaho's card re-tiered to reflect its licensure reality rather than its registration. Licensure tiers now say plainly that they presume the full license, and a new note tells LMHCA readers what is actually open at the associate stage.
- v2.1 (2026-08-19) — Language pass before first publication: removed capitals-as-emphasis throughout, replaced jargon shorthand ('floor,' 'mandatory issuance,' compressed verdict fragments) with plain sentences, and rewrote the densest lines, New York's diagnostic-privilege sentence among them.
- v2.0 (2026-08-19) — First publishable version. Full per-state source lists with verification grades; hypothesis/corroborated/validated status on every entry; validation ledger seeded (Idaho registration issued; Florida filed; Oregon and Nevada board answers, including Nevada practice contradicting its own statute on provisional licenses); statute-vs-practice split adopted after the Nevada finding.
- v1.0 (2026-08-18) — Initial draft; superseded same day - lacked citations and hypothesis framing.
- v0 (2026-07-30) — Origins, predating this file: the research corpus behind this guide began in late July 2026 as a personal licensure-portability project in a different working session — a full 52-jurisdiction analysis (49 states, DC, British Columbia, and the Counseling Compact) researched with AI assistance (Claude, directing research agents) through statutes, session laws, board rules, and application materials, initially keyed to the maintainer's own record. That personal dataset remains the parent research record and first proved out several of this guide's findings (including the Florida filing and the Idaho registration in the validation ledger). The cohort edition was then built fresh as a program-based, transcript-agnostic document — verdicts re-derived and re-verified for the 72-quarter-credit program generally rather than inherited from any one transcript — which is where the version history below begins.