Florida Continuing Education Requirements for Mental Health Professionals

Florida regulates LMHC, LCSW, and LMFT under one board with a shared CE structure, while psychologists are licensed separately with a higher overall hour total. If you’re searching for Florida continuing education requirements, one detail is easy to overlook: a required laws-and-rules refresher course that only recurs every third renewal cycle rather than every single one, alongside an alternating ethics-or-telehealth requirement that changes which topic you need from one renewal to the next. This guide breaks down Florida CE requirements for LMHCs, LCSWs, LMFTs, and psychologists, along with renewal logistics, approved providers, and state-specific details worth knowing before your next renewal.

Florida Continuing Education Requirements

Florida regulates LMHC, LMFT, and LCSW under one board, with psychologists licensed separately (Florida Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapy and Mental Health Counseling, n.d.; Florida Board of Psychology, n.d.).

License Type	CE Requirements	Renewal / Special Requirements	Official Licensing Board
Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC)	30 CE hours every 2 years	Includes 2 hours medical/behavioral healthcare errors and 3 hours ethics. A 3-hour laws and rules course is required every third biennium after initial licensure. Not required for the first renewal.	Florida Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapy and Mental Health Counseling
Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW)	30 CE hours every 2 years	Same structure as LMHC: 2 hours medical errors, 3 hours ethics, periodic laws and rules course.	Florida Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapy and Mental Health Counseling
Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist (LMFT)	30 CE hours every 2 years	Same structure as LMHC and LCSW. Renewal deadline is March 31 of odd-numbered years for all three license types.	Florida Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapy and Mental Health Counseling
Licensed Psychologist (PhD / PsyD)	40 CE hours every 2 years	Minimum 3 hours in professional ethics/Florida law (at least 1 ethics, 1 law and rules), plus required medical errors CE approved by the Board.	Florida Board of Psychology

Clinical Note: Florida’s “every third biennium” laws-and-rules requirement for LMHC/LCSW/LMFT is easy to lose track of precisely because it doesn’t recur every cycle — mark your calendar for it specifically rather than assuming your standard renewal checklist covers it. There’s also a related nuance worth flagging: the 3-hour ethics requirement alternates with a telehealth course requirement in many renewal cycles, meaning what satisfies this category can change from one renewal to the next depending on which topic is currently due.

Florida License Renewal Requirements

All three Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapy and Mental Health Counseling licenses share the same renewal structure, while psychology follows its own separate process.

LMHC License Renewal

Administered by the Florida Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapy and Mental Health Counseling. Renewal falls on March 31 of odd-numbered years, with CE completed between April 1 of one odd year and March 31 of the next counting toward that renewal. CE is tracked through Florida’s CE Broker system, which most approved providers report completions to directly. Licensees renewing for the first time after initial licensure are exempt from the CE requirement entirely for that first biennium.

LCSW License Renewal

Administered by the same Board and CE Broker system as LMHC, on the identical March 31 odd-year deadline. Registered Clinical Social Work Interns (RCSWI) have no CE requirement during their internship period.

LMFT License Renewal

Also administered by the same Board, same CE Broker system, and same March 31 odd-year deadline as LMHC and LCSW.

Psychologist License Renewal

Administered by the separate Florida Board of Psychology, also on a biennial cycle. Florida-licensed psychologists interested in interstate telepsychology can apply through PSYPACT, which Florida joined as the 39th member state via House Bill 33 in 2023.

Florida Approved CE Providers

Whether you’re looking for Florida online continuing education or in-person Florida continuing education courses, Florida’s Board recognizes a mix of national accreditors and dedicated state associations:

Accreditor / Association	Who It’s For	Recognized For
National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC)	LMHCs	Widely accepted, and fully compatible with Florida’s CE Broker reporting system
Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) / NASW	LCSWs	Accepted for LCSW renewal, reported directly through CE Broker
APA-approved sponsors	Licensed Psychologists	The standard for psychologist CE in Florida
Florida Mental Health Counselors Association (FMHCA)	LMHCs	The only organization in Florida dedicated exclusively to LMHCs, offering conferences, webinars, and qualified supervisor training
Florida Counseling Association (FCA)	LMHCs	State division of the American Counseling Association, listed directly among the Board’s resource organizations
Florida Psychological Association (FPA)	Licensed Psychologists	The largest professional organization for psychologists in Florida, with over 1,200 members and regional chapters
NASW Florida Chapter	LCSWs	State-level CE and advocacy, listed directly among the Board’s resource organizations
AAMFT Florida Interest Network / Central Florida Association for Marriage and Family Therapy	LMFTs	The formal statewide AAMFT Florida Division disbanded in July 2018; its work now continues through the AAMFT Florida Interest Network, the Florida Family Therapy Alliance, and regional groups like CFAMFT

Any course accepted by the Florida Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapy and Mental Health Counseling generally applies across all three of its license types, so a single course approval often covers LMHCs, LCSWs, and LMFTs alike — a genuine convenience if you hold more than one of these credentials. 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.

Florida-Specific Considerations

A few details worth knowing beyond the base CE requirements:

Interstate Compact Status

Florida joined the Counseling Compact as the 8th member state in 2022 (House Bill 1521) and joined PSYPACT as the 39th member state in 2023 (House Bill 33). Florida has not yet enacted the Social Work Licensure Compact, though a bill to join (HB 27) was introduced in 2025 — social workers should confirm current status before assuming compact privileges apply. There is no compact yet for LMFTs nationally.

Ethics-or-Telehealth Alternation

Florida’s 3-hour ethics requirement for LMHC, LCSW, and LMFT licensees has, in several recent renewal cycles, alternated with a required telehealth course — meaning the specific topic satisfying this category isn’t always ethics itself. Confirm which version currently applies to your renewal directly with the Board or your CE provider rather than assuming the same course type qualifies every cycle.

CE Broker Is the Tracking System of Record

Florida’s mental health board uses CE Broker to track completed hours, and most approved providers report completions there directly once you provide your license number. Registering for a free CE Broker account well before your renewal window opens makes it easier to confirm your standing at a glance rather than reconstructing records manually.

New Licensee vs. Renewing Licensee

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

• First-time renewals for LMHC, LCSW, and LMFT licensees are exempt from the CE requirement entirely — a genuinely more generous exemption than the narrower first-renewal exemptions some other states offer.
• Registered Clinical Social Work Interns (RCSWI) have no CE requirement during their internship period, since they’re not yet independently licensed.
• Qualified supervisors overseeing registered interns take on real added responsibility, and having a clear clinical supervision agreement in place from the outset helps define expectations for both parties — Florida’s own mental health counselors association offers dedicated qualified supervisor training worth considering alongside a formal agreement.

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 Florida CE Requirements

Florida’s shared board structure for LMHC, LCSW, and LMFT makes the baseline requirement easy to track, but the periodic add-ons — the every-third-cycle laws-and-rules course, the ethics/telehealth alternation — are exactly the kind of detail that’s easy to miss if you’re only checking your total hour count and not the specific content categories due that particular cycle.

Given Florida’s size and the sheer volume of licensed clinicians the state’s boards manage, staying current with CE Broker and confirming your specific cycle’s requirements directly with the Board — rather than relying on what a colleague or a prior renewal required — is worth the extra few minutes it takes.

References

• Florida Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapy and Mental Health Counseling. (n.d.). Licensing & renewals. Resource
• Florida Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapy and Mental Health Counseling. (n.d.). Links and resources. Resource
• Florida Board of Psychology. (n.d.). Renewals. Resource
• FL HealthSource. (n.d.). Compact. Resource
• AAMFT Florida Interest Network. (n.d.). About us. Resource
• Florida Mental Health Counselors Association. (n.d.). Local chapters. Resource
• Florida Psychological Association. (n.d.). Board of directors. Resource
• Central Florida Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. (n.d.). Home. Resource