Connecticut Continuing Education Requirements for Mental Health Professionals

Connecticut takes an unusual approach to licensing structure: rather than separate boards for counseling, marriage and family therapy, and social work, all three are administered directly through the Department of Public Health, with only psychology overseen by its own dedicated board. If you’re searching for Connecticut continuing education requirements, the most important thing to know up front is the renewal rhythm — Connecticut renews annually, not every two years like most states, which means CE tracking has to happen every single year. This guide breaks down Connecticut CE requirements for LPCs, LCSWs, LMFTs, and psychologists, along with renewal logistics, approved providers, and state-specific details worth knowing before your next renewal.

Connecticut Continuing Education Requirements

Connecticut is unusual in that it doesn’t use separate licensing boards for most mental health professions — counselors, marriage and family therapists, and clinical social workers are all licensed directly through the Department of Public Health, with only psychologists overseen by a dedicated board (Connecticut Department of Public Health, n.d.).

License Type	CE Requirements	Renewal / Special Requirements	Official Licensing Board
Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC)	15 CE hours every year	Minimum 3 hours ethics, 1 hour cultural competency. Additional 2 hours in mental health conditions common to veterans and their families required once every 6 years.	Connecticut Department of Public Health
Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW)	15 CE hours every year	Required during each 12-month registration period. Reinstatement after a lapsed license requires 7 hours completed in the year prior to applying.	Connecticut Department of Public Health
Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist (LMFT)	15 CE hours every year	Minimum 1 hour cultural competency. Additional 2 hours in mental health conditions common to veterans and their families required once every 6 years.	Connecticut Department of Public Health
Licensed Psychologist (PhD / PsyD)	10 CE hours every year	Up to 5 hours may be completed via home study/distance learning. Additional 2 hours in mental health conditions common to veterans and their families required once every 6 years.	Connecticut Board of Examiners of Psychologists

Clinical Note: Connecticut’s annual (not biennial) renewal cycle across all four professions means CE tracking needs to happen every year rather than every two — a rhythm that can catch clinicians off guard if they’ve previously practiced in a state with a longer cycle. The veterans’ mental health requirement is also easy to miss since it only recurs once every six years rather than every renewal. Given how often Connecticut clinicians face renewal, building continuing education into a genuinely ongoing practice — rather than a once-a-year scramble — tends to make the whole process meaningfully less stressful (Neimeyer & Taylor, 2010).

Connecticut License Renewal Requirements

Connecticut renews all four licenses annually, but fees, deadlines, and consequences for lapsing differ by profession.

LPC License Renewal

Administered by the Connecticut Department of Public Health. LPC licenses expire in the licensee’s birth month and renew annually thereafter through the state’s eLicense Online portal. There is a 90-day grace period following expiration during which an LPC may continue practicing while renewing — but on the 91st day, the license becomes void entirely, requiring a full reapplication rather than a simple reinstatement. Newly licensed LPCs are exempt from CE requirements for their first year. Documentation of completed CE must be retained for at least 3 years in case of a DPH audit.

LCSW License Renewal

Also administered by the Connecticut Department of Public Health. Licenses renew annually by the last day of the licensee’s birth month, with a current renewal fee of $200 for LCSW and $125 for LMSW. Reinstating a lapsed LCSW license requires completing 7 hours of CE in the year prior to applying for reinstatement.

LMFT License Renewal

Also administered by the Connecticut Department of Public Health, following the same annual, birth-month renewal structure as LPC.

Psychologist License Renewal

Administered by the Connecticut Board of Examiners of Psychologists. Renewal is annual, with a current renewal fee of $570 — notably higher than the fees for Connecticut’s other three licenses. Connecticut is a PSYPACT member state, so psychologists interested in interstate telepsychology should register separately with PSYPACT in addition to maintaining their Connecticut license.

Connecticut Approved CE Providers

Whether you’re looking for Connecticut online continuing education or in-person Connecticut continuing education courses, the Department of Public Health recognizes CE from a mix of national accreditors and state associations:

Accreditor / Association	Who It’s For	Recognized For
National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC)	LPCs	Widely accepted for LPC renewal
Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) / NASW	LCSWs, LMSWs	Accepted for social work CE, alongside courses from accredited social work schools
APA-approved sponsors	Licensed Psychologists	The standard for psychologist CE in Connecticut
Connecticut Counseling Association	LPCs	State-level CE and networking; one of the state’s longest-standing professional associations, tracing back to 1927
Connecticut Psychological Association	Licensed Psychologists	State-level licensing guidance and CE, including detailed PSYPACT information for members
NASW Connecticut Chapter	LCSWs, LMSWs	State-level CE, job boards, and affordable liability insurance for Connecticut social workers
Connecticut Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (CTAMFT)	LMFTs	State chapter of AAMFT, offering state-level CE and networking for marriage and family therapists

For LMFTs specifically, acceptable CE may also come from courses offered by other licensed or certified marriage and family therapy professionals, not just formal organizations — a bit more flexibility than some states allow. For a broader look at how CE approval works across all license types and states, see our full guide to continuing education for mental health professionals.

Connecticut-Specific Considerations

A few details worth knowing beyond the base CE requirements:

Interstate Compact Status

Connecticut is a PSYPACT member state for psychologists. Connecticut has also joined the Counseling Compact (via Public Act 23-195), though as of this writing the compact remains in its rulemaking process for the state, with applications not yet universally available — check the Connecticut DPH’s dedicated Counseling Compact page periodically for updates on when applications open. There is no compact yet for LMFTs or LCSWs nationally.

A Lapsed LPC License Becomes Void After 90 Days

Connecticut’s 90-day grace period for LPC renewal is notably strict — once that window closes, the license doesn’t just lapse, it becomes void, requiring a full reapplication rather than a straightforward reinstatement. This is a meaningfully harsher consequence than the reinstatement process most states allow, and worth building extra buffer time around if you’re at risk of missing a renewal deadline.

Telehealth From Out-of-State Providers

Connecticut has previously passed legislation (House Bill 519) allowing licensed out-of-state behavioral health providers to register with DPH and practice telehealth in Connecticut on a temporary basis. Provisions like this have specific expiration dates and registration requirements that can change — confirm current status directly with DPH rather than assuming a prior temporary allowance is still active.

New Licensee vs. Renewing Licensee

A few distinctions worth knowing depending on where you are in your Connecticut licensure timeline:

• Newly licensed LPCs are exempt from CE requirements for their first year of licensure, unlike renewing licensees who must complete the full 15 hours annually going forward.
• Licensees reinstating a lapsed LCSW license face a specific requirement — 7 hours of CE completed in the year prior to applying — separate from the standard annual 15-hour requirement.
• Supervisors overseeing associate-level clinicians (such as Licensed Professional Counselor Associates) take on real added responsibility during that supervised period, and having a clear clinical supervision agreement in place from the outset helps define expectations for both parties.

CE Tracker Templates for Mental Health Professionals

Even with a clear picture of your state’s requirements, actually staying on top of continuing education across a full renewal cycle is a different challenge — tracking which hours you’ve completed, which mandated categories still need attention, where you’ve saved your certificates, and when your actual deadline hits. A CE tracker template solves this by giving you one place to log activities as you complete them, monitor progress against your specific requirements, and pull everything together when it’s time to submit your renewal — rather than reconstructing two years of CE history in a panic the week before your license expires.

Get started with the free CE Tracker Template to organize your current renewal cycle, or manage your complete CE renewal process from planning through submission with this comprehensive CE Tracker Template (pictured above).

Final Thoughts on Connecticut CE Requirements

Connecticut’s annual renewal cycle is the defining feature to plan around here — CE tracking simply happens more often than in most states, and the veterans’ mental health requirement’s six-year recurrence is easy to lose track of precisely because it doesn’t show up every cycle. The strict 90-day void rule for lapsed LPC licenses is also worth taking seriously well before your renewal date approaches, not after.

Connecticut’s Counseling Compact status is also worth checking periodically rather than once — the state has joined but is still finalizing implementation, and that status is likely to change within the next renewal cycle or two. Clinicians who treat their continuing education and licensure landscape as an ongoing practice, rather than a scramble at renewal time, tend to navigate this kind of shifting terrain with far less disruption (Neimeyer & Taylor, 2010).

References

• Connecticut Department of Public Health. (n.d.). Practitioner Licensing and Investigations Section. Resource
• Connecticut Department of Public Health. (n.d.). Social worker continuing education requirements. Resource
• Connecticut Department of Public Health. (n.d.). Counseling Compact. Resource
• Connecticut Psychological Association. (n.d.). Licensing info. Resource
• Neimeyer, G. J., & Taylor, J. M. (2010). Continuing education in psychology. In J. C. Norcross, G. R. VandenBos, & D. K. Freedheim (Eds.), History of psychotherapy: Continuity and change (2nd ed., pp. 663–671). American Psychological Association.