Indiana Continuing Education Requirements for Mental Health Professionals

Indiana’s continuing education requirements are more nuanced than they first appear. At a glance, the rules seem fairly straightforward, but the requirements differ significantly depending on your profession. Licensed mental health counselors, clinical social workers, and marriage and family therapists follow a nearly identical continuing education structure, while psychologists are subject to an entirely different set of rules.

The biggest distinction is that psychologists only have a continuing education requirement if they hold a Health Service Provider in Psychology (HSPP) endorsement—an approach that sets Indiana apart from many other states. Indiana also recently began issuing Counseling Compact privileges, making it increasingly important for counselors practicing across state lines to stay current with the state’s licensing requirements.

This guide explains the current Indiana continuing education requirements for LMHCs, LCSWs, LMFTs, and psychologists, including required CE hours, ethics requirements, renewal deadlines, approved providers, and other Indiana-specific rules to help you stay compliant.

Indiana Continuing Education Requirements

Indiana licenses counselors, marriage and family therapists, and social workers through one board, while psychologists are regulated separately — though notably, only psychologists endorsed as Health Service Providers (HSPP) have any CE requirement at all (Indiana Professional Licensing Agency, n.d.).

License Type	CE Requirements	Renewal / Special Requirements	Official Licensing Board
Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC)	40 CE hours every 2 years (20 hours/year)	At least 20 hours must be Category I (formal courses/workshops), including 2 hours of Category I ethics. Reduced to 20 hours total if licensed less than 24 months; no CE required if licensed less than 12 months.	Indiana Behavioral Health and Human Services Licensing Board
Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW)	40 CE hours every 2 years (20 hours/year)	Same structure and board as LMHC. Cannot complete all 40 hours within a single year of the two-year cycle.	Indiana Behavioral Health and Human Services Licensing Board
Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist (LMFT)	40 CE hours every 2 years (20 hours/year)	Same structure and board as LMHC and LCSW: minimum 20 Category I hours including 2 hours Category I ethics.	Indiana Behavioral Health and Human Services Licensing Board
Licensed Psychologist, HSPP-Endorsed (PhD / PsyD)	40 CE hours every 2 years	Minimum 6 hours ethics (at least 3 must be Category I), minimum 20 hours Category I overall. Psychologists without HSPP endorsement have no CE requirement.	Indiana State Psychology Board

Clinical Note: Indiana’s Behavioral Health and Human Services Licensing Board treats LMHC, LCSW, and LMFT identically, which simplifies tracking if you hold more than one — but note the requirement can’t be front-loaded into a single year even though it’s a two-year total, and psychology is the outlier here: whether you owe any CE at all depends entirely on your HSPP endorsement status.

Indiana License Renewal Requirements

All three Behavioral Health and Human Services Licensing Board licenses share the same renewal structure, while psychology follows its own separate process.

LMHC License Renewal

Administered by the Indiana Behavioral Health and Human Services Licensing Board, part of the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency (PLA). Licenses renew on a fixed biennial cycle: April 1 of even-numbered years, with the license year running April 1 through March 31 of the following year. Licensees who are less than 24 months into their first licensure period have a reduced 20-hour requirement, and those licensed less than 12 months have no CE requirement at all for that first renewal.

LCSW License Renewal

Administered by the same Behavioral Health and Human Services Licensing Board and PLA portal as LMHC, on the identical April 1 (even-numbered years) deadline. Note the specific structural rule: even though the requirement is 40 hours over two years, you cannot complete the entire total within a single year of that cycle — Indiana expects roughly even distribution across both years.

LMFT License Renewal

Also administered by the same Behavioral Health and Human Services Licensing Board and PLA portal as LMHC and LCSW, with the identical April 1 (even-numbered years) deadline and Category I/ethics-hour requirements.

Psychologist License Renewal

Administered by the separate Indiana State Psychology Board. HSPP-endorsed psychology licenses run on their own distinct biennial cycle, expiring September 1 of even-numbered years and remaining valid through August 31 two years later — a different deadline pattern than the April 1 cycle shared by LMHC, LCSW, and LMFT. Only psychologists holding the Health Service Provider in Psychology (HSPP) endorsement have any CE obligation; non-HSPP-endorsed psychologists renew without a CE requirement. Indiana joined PSYPACT in July 2023, giving HSPP psychologists a path to telepsychology and temporary in-person practice across other PSYPACT member states without a separate license in each one.

Indiana Approved CE Providers

Whether you’re looking for Indiana online continuing education or in-person Indiana continuing education courses, Indiana recognizes CE from national accreditors alongside a solid bench of state-level associations:

Accreditor / Association	Who It’s For	Recognized For
National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC)	LMHCs	Widely accepted as Category I content for LMHC renewal
Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) / NASW	LCSWs	Accepted as Category I content for LCSW renewal
APA-approved sponsors	HSPP-Endorsed Psychologists	The standard for HSPP psychologist CE in Indiana
Indiana Counseling Association (ICA)	LMHCs	A branch of the American Counseling Association serving all Indiana counseling specialties, including mental health, marriage and family, and addictions counselors
Indiana Psychological Association (IPA)	HSPP-Endorsed Psychologists	State-level CE dating back to 1937, including homestudy options and an annual Fall Conference
NASW Indiana Chapter	LCSWs	State-level CE and advocacy, and a co-sponsor of Indiana’s annual mental health conference alongside the Indiana Counseling Association
AAMFT Indiana Network	LMFTs	State-level network connected to national AAMFT for Indiana marriage and family therapists

Note that Indiana specifically requires at least 20 of your 40 CE hours to be Category I (formal courses, workshops, or structured content) rather than informal or self-directed activities — a distinction worth understanding regardless of which specific provider you choose. 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.

Indiana-Specific Considerations

A few details worth knowing beyond the base CE requirements:

Indiana Just Went Live in the Counseling Compact

On June 8, 2026, Indiana became the sixth state in the country to begin issuing privileges under the Counseling Compact, following Arizona, Minnesota, Ohio, Louisiana, and Georgia. Indiana-licensed LMHCs can now apply for a privilege to practice in the other live compact states, and eligible counselors licensed in those states can apply to practice in Indiana. The Behavioral Health and Human Services Licensing Board has set a $50 fee for issuing a Compact privilege in Indiana, separate from your standard license renewal fee. Being enacted and being operational are different milestones — Indiana had enacted the Compact back in 2023 (via SB 160) but only became able to actually issue privileges in mid-2026, so confirm any other state’s live status before assuming a privilege is usable there.

HSPP Endorsement Is the Real Dividing Line for Psychologists

Indiana’s CE requirement for psychologists doesn’t hinge on renewal cycle or years of practice — it hinges entirely on whether you hold the Health Service Provider in Psychology endorsement. Non-HSPP psychologists in Indiana can renew without completing any CE at all, which is a genuinely unusual structure nationally and worth confirming directly if you’re unsure of your own endorsement status.

Indiana Joined PSYPACT in 2023

HSPP-endorsed psychologists in Indiana have had PSYPACT access since July 2023, allowing telepsychology and temporary in-person practice across other PSYPACT states without a separate license in each. There is no compact yet for LMFTs nationally, and Indiana’s Social Work Licensure Compact status should be confirmed directly with NASW Indiana or the Behavioral Health and Human Services Licensing Board, since compact adoption for social work has moved more slowly nationally than for counseling and psychology.

New Licensee vs. Renewing Licensee

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

• Licensees in their first 12 months of LMHC, LCSW, or LMFT licensure have no CE requirement at all for that initial period.
• Licensees between 12 and 24 months into their first licensure period face a reduced 20-hour requirement rather than the full 40 hours expected of established licensees.
• Supervisors overseeing associate-level clinicians working toward full licensure take on real added responsibility, and having a clear clinical supervision agreement in place from the outset helps define expectations for both parties throughout Indiana’s supervised practice requirements.

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 Indiana CE Requirements

Indiana’s shared board structure for LMHC, LCSW, and LMFT is genuinely convenient if you hold more than one of these credentials, but don’t let that consistency create a false sense that psychology follows the same logic — HSPP endorsement status, not years licensed or renewal cycle, determines whether a psychologist owes any CE at all in this state.

Indiana’s new status as a live Counseling Compact state is also worth acting on if interstate practice is relevant to you — this is a genuinely fresh development as of June 2026, and Indiana LMHCs now have real, usable access to multi-state privileges rather than a future promise.

References

• Indiana Professional Licensing Agency. (n.d.). Behavioral Health and Human Services. Resource
• Indiana Professional Licensing Agency. (n.d.). Counseling Compact fee (LSA Document #25-820). Resource
• American Counseling Association. (2026, June 8). History is made: Indiana allows counselors to practice across state lines. Newswise. Resource
• Human Services EDU. (2026). Indiana psychology license requirements. Resource
• Indiana Counseling Association. (n.d.). About ICA. Resource
• Indiana Psychological Association. (n.d.). Home. Resource