Idaho is in the middle of a genuine structural shift right now. Both the counseling/marriage and family therapy board and the psychology board are actively transitioning from annual to biennial renewal cycles, which is exactly why so much of what’s published online about Idaho continuing education requirements is out of date. This guide breaks down Idaho CE requirements for LPCs, LCPCs, LCSWs, LMFTs, and psychologists as they currently stand, along with renewal logistics, approved providers, and state-specific details worth knowing before your next renewal.
Idaho Continuing Education Requirements
Idaho recently revised its counseling and marriage and family therapy CE rules and is transitioning several boards from annual to biennial renewal — a change worth flagging up front, since it explains why older sources on this topic often disagree (Idaho Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses, n.d.).
| License Type | CE Requirements | Renewal / Special Requirements | Official Licensing Board |
|---|---|---|---|
| Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) / Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC) | 12 CE hours every 24 months | Per current rule (IDAPA 24.15.01.100): 6 hours ethics, 3 hours professional boundaries, 3 hours suicide assessment or intervention. This board is actively transitioning from annual to biennial renewal as of October 2025 — confirm your specific cycle with the Board. | Idaho Licensing Board of Professional Counselors and Marriage and Family Therapists |
| Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) | 30 CE hours every 24 months | Minimum 2 hours professional ethics. Continuing education for clinical licensees must be clinical in nature, except up to 5 hours per year may be nonclinical if still germane to social work practice. | Idaho Board of Social Work Examiners |
| Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist (LMFT) | 12 CE hours every 24 months | Same rule and board as LPC/LCPC above: 6 hours ethics, 3 hours boundaries, 3 hours suicide assessment or intervention. | Idaho Licensing Board of Professional Counselors and Marriage and Family Therapists |
| Licensed Psychologist (PhD / PsyD) | 30 CE hours every 2 years | Minimum 4 hours in ethics or law relevant to psychology practice. This board is also transitioning to biennial licensure as of July 1, 2025. | Idaho Board of Psychologist Examiners |
Clinical Note: Idaho is genuinely in flux right now — both the counseling/MFT board and the psychology board are actively transitioning from annual to biennial renewal cycles. Older blog posts and CE-provider pages frequently cite outdated hour totals (some as high as 40 hours) left over from the prior rule structure. We’ve presented the current rule text directly from IDAPA above, but given the pace of change here, this is one state worth double-checking against the Board’s own site before every renewal, not just your first one.
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Idaho License Renewal Requirements
Because Idaho’s counseling, MFT, and psychology boards are actively phasing in a new renewal cycle, the renewal process itself looks a little different right now than it will once the transition finishes.
LPC / LCPC License Renewal
Administered by the Idaho Licensing Board of Professional Counselors and Marriage and Family Therapists, a division of DOPL. As of October 14, 2025, this board began transitioning to biennial licensure. Renewal fees vary by application type — LCPC applications, for instance, are listed at roughly $200 for annual applications and $300 for biennial applications during the transition period, so confirm the exact current fee with DOPL before submitting. Temporary licenses are not issued, so plan renewal timing accordingly.
LCSW License Renewal
Administered by the separate Idaho Board of Social Work Examiners, which also began transitioning to biennial licensure as of October 14, 2025. Confirm your specific renewal date and fee directly with the Board during this transition period, since the phase-in schedule affects different licensees at different times.
LMFT License Renewal
Administered by the same Idaho Licensing Board of Professional Counselors and Marriage and Family Therapists as LPC/LCPC, following the same renewal cycle transition and fee structure.
Psychologist License Renewal
Administered by the separate Idaho Board of Psychologist Examiners, which began transitioning to biennial licensure as of July 1, 2025. DOPL is phasing in the new cycle based on birth year — licensees with odd-year births are moving to the new cycle first, with even-year births following in 2026, specifically to avoid an overwhelming number of simultaneous renewals. Some board-level fee changes have coincided with this transition independent of the cycle shift itself, so don’t assume a fee change you notice is necessarily related to the biennial transition.
Idaho Approved CE Providers
Whether you’re looking for Idaho online continuing education or in-person Idaho continuing education courses, Idaho’s counseling board notably does not pre-approve courses before licensure or renewal, and instead recognizes CE from established national and state organizations:
| Accreditor / Association | Who It’s For | Recognized For |
|---|---|---|
| National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) | LPCs, LCPCs | Listed directly among the Idaho counseling board’s recognized professional organizations |
| Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) / NASW | LCSWs | Accepted for LCSW renewal, alongside courses that meet the Board’s clinical-content standard |
| American Psychological Association (APA) | Licensed Psychologists | The standard for psychologist CE in Idaho |
| American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) | LMFTs | Listed directly among the Idaho counseling board’s recognized professional organizations |
| Idaho Counseling Association | LPCs, LCPCs | The state’s dedicated counseling association, also active in public policy work related to the Counseling Compact |
| Idaho Psychological Association (IPA) | Licensed Psychologists | State-level CE through a dedicated Continuing Education Committee established in 2025 |
| NASW Idaho Chapter | LCSWs | State-level CE and advocacy, listed directly among the Board’s recognized organizations |
| Idaho Society for Clinical Social Work (ISCSW) | LCSWs | A specialized organization for clinical social workers, also listed among the Board’s recognized resources |
Idaho’s counseling board explicitly states it does not pre-approve courses before you apply for licensure or renewal — the responsibility for confirming a course fits the required content categories (ethics, boundaries, suicide assessment) falls on the licensee. 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.
Idaho-Specific Considerations
A few details worth knowing beyond the base CE requirements:
Idaho Is Mid-Transition on Renewal Cycles
This is worth repeating because it affects nearly everything else about renewal planning: the counseling/MFT board and the psychology board are both actively moving from annual to biennial cycles, phased in by birth year for psychologists and by a broader 2025 timeline for counseling and social work. If you’re unsure which cycle currently applies to you, contact DOPL directly rather than assuming based on a colleague’s experience or an older source.
Only LCPCs Qualify for the Counseling Compact, Not LPCs
Idaho has enacted the Counseling Compact, but the Idaho Counseling Association has specifically clarified that only LCPCs — not LPCs — are eligible to use it. The Compact requires interstate applicants to hold a license permitting independent diagnosis, assessment, and treatment of clients, and in Idaho, that authority belongs specifically to the LCPC tier, not the LPC tier below it. Idaho LPCs interested in interstate practice would need to advance to LCPC status first.
Idaho Joined PSYPACT in 2022
Idaho psychologists have had PSYPACT access since Senate Bill 1305 took effect July 1, 2022, allowing Idaho-licensed psychologists to provide telehealth and temporary face-to-face services to patients in other PSYPACT states, and psychologists from other PSYPACT states to do the same for Idaho patients. There is no compact yet for LMFTs or LCSWs nationally, and Idaho’s Board of Social Work Examiners does maintain a separate Interstate Mental or Behavioral Telehealth Registration process worth exploring if you’re a social worker practicing across state lines.
No Pre-Approval Means Real Responsibility for Licensees
Because Idaho’s counseling board doesn’t pre-approve CE courses, clinicians need to independently confirm that a given course satisfies the required content categories before relying on it for renewal — there’s no board-issued list to check against in advance the way some states provide.
New Licensee vs. Renewing Licensee
A few distinctions worth knowing depending on where you are in your Idaho licensure timeline:
- Registered Interns working toward full LPC or LCPC licensure are not required to complete CE during their supervised internship period, since they haven’t yet reached independent licensure status.
- Licensees caught in the biennial transition — meaning anyone whose renewal falls during this multi-year phase-in window — should confirm their specific prorated requirements directly with DOPL rather than assuming the standard 12-hour, 24-month total applies exactly as published, since transition-year calculations can differ.
- Supervisors overseeing Registered Interns take on real responsibility, given Idaho’s detailed supervision structure requiring at least 1 hour of individual supervision for every 20 hours of direct client contact — 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).
Frequently Asked Questions: Idaho Continuing Education Requirements
Below are the practical questions clinicians ask when completing, documenting, and reporting continuing education units (CEUs) to satisfy state board regulations and maintain active licensure in Idaho.
How many CE hours does an LPC need in Idaho?
12 hours every 24 months under the current rule, including 6 hours ethics, 3 hours professional boundaries, and 3 hours suicide assessment or intervention. Confirm your specific renewal cycle with DOPL given the ongoing transition to biennial licensure.
Does Idaho require ethics hours for every license type?
Yes — LPCs, LCPCs, and LMFTs each need a minimum of 6 ethics hours, LCSWs need a minimum of 2, and psychologists need a minimum of 4 hours in ethics or law.
Can Idaho clinicians complete all their CE online?
Current published guidance doesn’t specify a distance-learning cap for any of Idaho’s four license types — confirm any format-specific requirements directly with your board before assuming all hours may be completed online.
Where can I find Idaho continuing education courses?
Start with NBCC, ASWB, AAMFT, or APA depending on your license type, or Idaho-specific organizations like the Idaho Counseling Association, Idaho Psychological Association, NASW Idaho Chapter, or the Idaho Society for Clinical Social Work.
Is Idaho part of any licensure compacts?
Yes, with an important caveat — Idaho has enacted the Counseling Compact, but only LCPCs (not LPCs) are eligible to use it, since the Compact requires independent diagnosis and treatment authority that only the LCPC tier holds in Idaho. Idaho also joined PSYPACT in 2022 for psychologists. There is no compact yet for LMFTs or LCSWs nationally.
Final Thoughts on Idaho CE Requirements
Idaho’s mid-transition status is genuinely the defining fact for anyone practicing here right now — the rules themselves aren’t especially complex, but the fact that they’re actively shifting means the safest approach is confirming your specific situation directly with DOPL rather than trusting any single source, including this one, without a follow-up check closer to your actual renewal date.
The LCPC-only Counseling Compact eligibility is also a detail worth internalizing early if interstate practice is part of your plans — it’s easy to assume any Idaho counseling license qualifies, and that assumption would be wrong here in a way that could derail an application if discovered late.
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References
- Idaho Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses. (n.d.). Board of Professional Counselors and Marriage and Family Therapists. Resource
- Idaho Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses. (n.d.). Board of Social Work Examiners. Resource
- Idaho Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses. (n.d.). Board of Psychologist Examiners. Resource
- Idaho Counseling Association. (n.d.). Public policy. Resource
- Idaho Psychological Association. (n.d.). Home. Resource