Maryland’s continuing education structure looks consistent at first — 40 hours every two years across LCPC, LCSW-C, LCMFT, and psychology alike — but the details underneath that shared number diverge quickly. Counselors and social workers both split their hours into Category A (live/formal) and Category B (self-study), yet the specific caps and required content areas don’t transfer cleanly between the two professions.
The biggest thing to know if you’re new to Maryland: the state has layered several statewide equity-focused mandates on top of the base requirement, and they land differently depending on your license. Social workers face a specific anti-oppressive content requirement that counselors don’t share, while a one-time implicit bias training applies broadly across counseling, social work, and marriage and family therapy alike. Psychologists, meanwhile, are on their own separate content track focused on culturally diverse populations.
This guide explains the current Maryland continuing education requirements for LCPCs, LCSW-Cs, LCMFTs, and psychologists, including required CE hours, ethics requirements, renewal deadlines, approved providers, and other Maryland-specific rules to help you stay compliant.
Maryland Continuing Education Requirements
Maryland splits Category A (live/formal) and Category B (self-study) CE hours for counselors and social workers, and layers several statewide equity-focused mandates on top of the base requirement (Maryland Board of Professional Counselors and Therapists, n.d.; Maryland Board of Social Work Examiners, n.d.; Maryland Board of Examiners of Psychologists, n.d.).
| License Type | CE Requirements | Renewal / Special Requirements | Official Licensing Board |
|---|---|---|---|
| Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC) | 40 CE hours every 2 years | At least 30 hours must be Category A (live/formal); up to 10 hours Category B (self-study). Minimum 3 hours ethics. One-time implicit bias training required for first renewal on or after April 1, 2022. | Maryland Board of Professional Counselors and Therapists |
| Licensed Certified Social Worker–Clinical (LCSW-C) | 40 CE hours every 2 years | Minimum 3 hours ethics, minimum 20 hours Category I (live/formal). Also requires 3 hours in anti-oppressive content (cultural humility, racial equity, implicit bias) and 1 hour on systemic oppression. One-time implicit bias training for first renewal on/after April 1, 2022. | Maryland Board of Social Work Examiners |
| Licensed Clinical Marriage & Family Therapist (LCMFT) | 40 CE hours every 2 years | Same structure as LCPC: minimum 30 hours Category A, 3 hours ethics, one-time implicit bias training. | Maryland Board of Professional Counselors and Therapists |
| Licensed Psychologist (PhD / PsyD) | 40 CE hours every 2 years | Minimum 3 hours in culturally diverse populations content. Psychologists who supervised psychology associates during the period need an additional 3 hours in clinical supervision content. | Maryland Board of Examiners of Psychologists |
Clinical Note: Maryland’s Category A/Category B split (live vs. self-study) applies across both its counseling and social work boards, but the specific hour caps and required content areas differ enough between LCPC and LCSW-C that assuming your requirements transfer cleanly between the two licenses would be a mistake — the anti-oppressive content and systemic oppression hours, for instance, are specific to social work and don’t appear in the counseling board’s structure.
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Maryland License Renewal Requirements
Maryland’s counseling and psychology boards each use a single fixed statewide deadline, while social work renewal is individualized — a genuinely important distinction to plan around.
LCPC License Renewal
Administered by the Maryland Board of Professional Counselors and Therapists. Renewal follows a fixed statewide biennial deadline — for the 2025–2026 cycle, that deadline was January 31, 2026, and the Board’s renewal notices confirm this pattern recurs on a two-year rhythm. Reported renewal fees vary slightly by source (around $276 for online renewal, with one source citing $301), so confirm the exact current amount directly with the Board before submitting. Licensed Graduate Professional Counselors (LGPC), the associate-level credential, pay a separate $150 renewal fee. Licensees with a renewal period shorter than the full two years (typically new licensees) owe a prorated 20 hours instead of the full 40.
LCSW-C License Renewal
Administered by the separate Maryland Board of Social Work Examiners. Unlike the counseling board’s single fixed deadline, Maryland social work licenses expire on the last day of the licensee’s own birth month, two years after issuance — an individualized date. At renewal, LCSW-C, LCSW, and LMSW licensees also owe a separate $26 user fee assessed by the Maryland Health Care Commission (MHCC), on top of the standard Board renewal fee; the Board collects this fee but does not retain it. A criminal background check (roughly $50) is also required for licensure.
LCMFT License Renewal
Administered by the same Maryland Board of Professional Counselors and Therapists as LCPC, sharing the identical fixed biennial deadline (January 31 in recent cycles) and renewal fee structure. Licensed Graduate Marriage and Family Therapists (LGMFT), the associate-level credential, hold a two-year supervised license before transitioning to full LCMFT status.
Psychologist License Renewal
Administered by the separate Maryland Board of Examiners of Psychologists. Renewal also follows a fixed statewide biennial deadline — for the 2025–2026 cycle, that deadline was March 31, 2026, a different date than the counseling board’s January 31 cycle. Psychologists also pay the same $26 MHCC user fee as social workers, separate from the standard renewal fee. The Board conducts random CE audits of renewal applications; documentation should only be submitted if you receive an actual audit notification, not proactively with your renewal.
Maryland Approved CE Providers
Whether you’re looking for Maryland online continuing education or in-person Maryland continuing education courses, Maryland recognizes CE from national accreditors alongside state-level associations — though one of Maryland’s dedicated professional groups is currently inactive, worth knowing before you go looking for it:
| Accreditor / Association | Who It’s For | Recognized For |
|---|---|---|
| National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) | LCPCs | Widely accepted for LCPC renewal |
| Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) | LCSW-Cs | Accepted for LCSW-C renewal, subject to Maryland’s Category I and anti-oppressive content requirements |
| APA-approved sponsors | Licensed Psychologists | The standard for psychologist CE in Maryland |
| Maryland Counseling Association (MCA) | LCPCs | State branch of the American Counseling Association, with dedicated resources specifically for LCPCs |
| Maryland Psychological Association (MPA) | Licensed Psychologists | State-level CE and a dedicated CE FAQ page addressing recent licensing changes |
| NASW Maryland Chapter | LCSW-Cs | State-level CE and advocacy for Maryland social workers |
| MetroMFT | LCMFTs | Serves LMFTs across Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, and DC, with roughly 85 online CE courses available to members |
Worth flagging directly: the Maryland Association of Marriage, Couples and Family Counselors (MAMCFC), a division of the state counseling association historically serving MFTs, is currently paused while it looks for new board leadership. LCMFTs shouldn’t assume it’s actively offering programming right now — MetroMFT is a more consistently active regional alternative in the meantime. 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.
Maryland-Specific Considerations
A few details worth knowing beyond the base CE requirements:
The Implicit Bias Requirement Is Genuinely Statewide
Maryland’s one-time implicit bias training, required at first renewal on or after April 1, 2022, applies across LCPC, LCMFT, and LCSW-C alike — a rare case where a specific content mandate is truly consistent across Maryland’s counseling and social work boards, even though most of their other requirements diverge. If your last renewal predates April 2022, confirm whether this requirement now applies to your upcoming cycle.
Social Work’s Anti-Oppressive Content Requirement Doesn’t Extend to Counseling
The 3 hours of anti-oppressive content and 1 hour on systemic oppression required of LCSW-Cs are specific to Maryland’s social work board and don’t appear in the counseling board’s structure at all. A clinician moving between an LCSW-C and an LCPC (or holding both) shouldn’t assume a course satisfying one requirement automatically satisfies the other.
Maryland’s MFT-Specific Association Is Currently Inactive
The state’s dedicated marriage and family therapy association, MAMCFC, has publicly stated it’s pausing to reorganize due to a lack of available board leadership. If you’re an LCMFT looking for Maryland-specific professional community and CE beyond the Board itself, MetroMFT (covering the broader MD/DE/VA/DC region) is currently the more reliably active option.
Maryland’s Counseling and Psychology Boards Both Use Fixed Deadlines, But Different Ones
Unlike states where every license shares one renewal date, Maryland’s counseling board (January 31 in recent cycles) and psychology board (March 31 in recent cycles) run on their own separate fixed schedules. Social work is individualized on top of that. A clinician holding licenses across more than one of these boards is tracking genuinely different deadlines, not variations on a shared one.
New Licensee vs. Renewing Licensee
A few distinctions worth knowing depending on where you are in your Maryland licensure timeline:
- Licensees with a renewal period shorter than two years (typically those newly licensed mid-cycle) owe a prorated 20 hours rather than the full 40-hour requirement.
- First renewals on or after April 1, 2022 carry the one-time implicit bias training requirement across LCPC, LCMFT, and LCSW-C — a requirement tied to renewal timing rather than years of practice, so even an experienced clinician relocating to Maryland could encounter it on their first Maryland renewal.
- Psychologists who supervised psychology associates during their renewal period owe an additional 3 hours in clinical supervision content — a requirement triggered by supervisory activity rather than license tier.
- Supervisors more broadly take on real responsibility in Maryland’s system, and having a clear clinical supervision agreement in place from the outset helps define expectations for both parties throughout the supervised experience period.
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: Maryland 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 Maryland.
How many CE hours does an LCPC need in Maryland?
40 hours every two years, with at least 30 hours from Category A (live/formal) activities and up to 10 hours from Category B (self-study). A minimum of 3 hours must be ethics.
Does Maryland require ethics hours for every license type?
LCPCs, LCMFTs, and LCSW-Cs each need a minimum of 3 ethics hours. Current published guidance doesn’t specify a standalone ethics-hour minimum for psychologists, though the Board’s culturally diverse populations and supervision content requirements apply independently.
Can Maryland clinicians complete all their CE online?
Not entirely for LCPCs, LCMFTs, and LCSW-Cs — each faces a minimum live/formal (Category A or Category I) hour requirement that self-study alone can’t satisfy. Confirm current format rules for psychologist CE directly with the Board.
Where can I find Maryland continuing education courses?
Start with NBCC, ASWB, or APA depending on your license type, or Maryland-specific organizations like the Maryland Counseling Association, Maryland Psychological Association, NASW Maryland Chapter, or MetroMFT for marriage and family therapists.
What happens if I miss my Maryland license renewal deadline?
Confirm current late-renewal and lapse policies directly with your specific board, since Maryland’s counseling, social work, and psychology boards administer renewal separately and may handle missed deadlines differently.
Is Maryland part of any licensure compacts?
Confirm current status directly with the Counseling Compact, PSYPACT, and the Social Work Licensure Compact before assuming privileges apply, since compact adoption and operational status continue to change nationally and vary by profession.
Do I need to submit CE documentation with my Maryland renewal application?
Generally no — Maryland’s boards, including the psychology board, conduct random audits rather than requiring upfront documentation with every renewal. Only submit CE records if you receive an actual audit notification; sending documentation unprompted can create unnecessary delays.
Final Thoughts on Maryland CE Requirements
Maryland’s shared 40-hour total across all four professions can create a false sense that the requirements are more uniform than they actually are. The real substance lives in the details underneath — different Category A/B splits, different mandated content areas, and genuinely different renewal deadlines depending on which board you answer to. Treating “Maryland requires 40 hours” as the whole story is exactly the kind of oversimplification that leads to a missed anti-oppressive content requirement or a late renewal.
The current gap in dedicated statewide MFT association support is also worth knowing about directly, rather than discovering it while trying to find a course — MetroMFT is currently the more consistently active option for Maryland-based marriage and family therapists.
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References
- Maryland Board of Professional Counselors and Therapists. (n.d.). Home. Resource
- Maryland Board of Social Work Examiners. (n.d.). Fee schedule. Resource
- Maryland Board of Examiners of Psychologists. (n.d.). Home. Resource
- Maryland Board of Examiners of Psychologists. (n.d.). Psychology license renewal instructions. Resource
- Maryland Board of Professional Counselors and Therapists. (n.d.). License renewal instructions. Resource
- Maryland Counseling Association. (n.d.). MAMCFC. Resource
- Maryland Psychological Association. (n.d.). CE FAQs. Resource
- MetroMFT. (n.d.). Home. Resource