Massachusetts Continuing Education Requirements for Mental Health Professionals

Massachusetts splits its mental health licenses across three separate boards, and the continuing education load isn’t distributed evenly across them. LMHCs, LMFTs, and LICSWs each land around 30 hours every two years, but psychologists sit meaningfully lower at just 20 hours — with no mandated content areas at all.

The biggest thing to understand about Massachusetts is how differently that lighter psychology requirement is structured compared to the other three professions. There’s no ethics-hour mandate for psychologists here, and up to half the requirement can be satisfied simply by publishing academic work — a real outlier compared to the more prescriptive rules governing LMHCs, LMFTs, and LICSWs in the same state.

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

Massachusetts Continuing Education Requirements

Massachusetts regulates LMHC and LMFT through one board, LICSW through a separate social work board, and psychologists through their own board — with a notably lighter CE load for psychologists relative to the other three professions (Massachusetts Board of Registration of Allied Mental Health and Human Services Professions, n.d.; Massachusetts Board of Registration of Psychologists, n.d.).

License Type	CE Requirements	Renewal / Special Requirements	Official Licensing Board
Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC)	30 CE hours every 2 years	One-time domestic and sexual violence training required (a free course is offered directly through Mass.gov). Approved providers include NBCC and the Massachusetts Mental Health Counselors Association.	Massachusetts Board of Registration of Allied Mental Health and Human Services Professions
Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW)	30 CE hours every 2 years	Lower-tier social work licenses have reduced totals on the same board: LSW requires 15 hours, LCSW requires 20 hours.	Massachusetts Board of Registration of Social Workers
Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist (LMFT)	30 CE hours every 2 years	Same board as LMHC. Board requires pre-approval of CE for LMFTs specifically, unlike the NBCC-based acceptance used for LMHCs.	Massachusetts Board of Registration of Allied Mental Health and Human Services Professions
Licensed Psychologist (PhD / PsyD)	20 CE hours every 2 years	Per the Board’s own regulation (251 CMR 4.03), no specific content area is mandated. Up to 10 of the 20 hours may be satisfied through publishing books, book chapters, or peer-reviewed journal articles relevant to psychology.	Massachusetts Board of Registration of Psychologists

Clinical Note: Massachusetts psychologists have a real outlier benefit here — no mandated ethics or content-area hours, and the ability to substitute academic publication for half the total. That’s worth knowing precisely because it’s unusual: don’t assume the ethics-hour mandates common to LMHC, LMFT, and LICSW licenses in this state also apply to psychology, since the Board’s own regulation doesn’t include one.

Massachusetts License Renewal Requirements

Massachusetts’s counseling board uses a fixed statewide deadline, while social work fees scale by license tier and psychology renewal details are less publicly standardized — worth confirming directly with the Board regardless of which license you hold.

LMHC License Renewal

Administered by the Massachusetts Board of Registration of Allied Mental Health and Human Services Professions. Renewal follows a fixed statewide biennial deadline: December 31 of odd-numbered years, regardless of when you were originally licensed. The renewal fee is $155. You cannot renew without completing the required CE hours unless you’ve obtained a formal waiver or extension from the Board directly — extenuating-circumstances requests must be submitted by email with supporting documentation.

LICSW License Renewal

Administered by the separate Massachusetts Board of Registration of Social Workers. Renewal fees scale by license tier: $120 for LICSW and LCSW, $68 for LSW, and $42 for LSWA (associate-level). A flat $57 late fee applies across all license types if renewed after expiration but within the allowable grace period. Renewal notices are typically mailed 60 days before the expiration date, and all CE requirements must be completed by that expiration date, not just by the time you submit your renewal paperwork.

LMFT License Renewal

Administered by the same Massachusetts Board of Registration of Allied Mental Health and Human Services Professions as LMHC, sharing the same fixed December 31 (odd-numbered years) deadline structure and general renewal process, though LMFT-specific CE requires direct Board pre-approval rather than the broader NBCC-based acceptance available to LMHCs.

Psychologist License Renewal

Administered by the separate Massachusetts Board of Registration of Psychologists, also on a biennial cycle. Specific renewal deadline and fee details are less consistently published across sources than for the counseling and social work boards — confirm your exact renewal date and current fee directly through the Board’s online licensing portal or by contacting the Board.

Massachusetts Approved CE Providers

Whether you’re looking for Massachusetts online continuing education or in-person Massachusetts continuing education courses, Massachusetts recognizes CE through a mix of national accreditors and state associations — with social work’s approval process working a bit differently than you might expect:

Accreditor / Association	Who It’s For	Recognized For
National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC)	LMHCs	One of two Board-recognized approval pathways for LMHC CE
Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB)	LICSWs	Accepted for social work renewal
APA-approved sponsors	Licensed Psychologists	The standard for psychologist CE in Massachusetts
Massachusetts Mental Health Counselors Association (MAMHCA)	LMHCs	Explicitly named alongside NBCC as one of the two Board-recognized CE approval pathways for LMHCs
Massachusetts Psychological Association (MPA)	Licensed Psychologists	State-level CE, including a regularly updated library of on-demand webinars
NASW Massachusetts Chapter	LICSWs	Formally submits CE hours for approval to the Board on behalf of LICSW/LCSW licensees under 258 CMR, and its approvals are also recognized by roughly two dozen other states

Note that Massachusetts requires Board pre-approval of CE specifically for LMFTs — unlike LMHCs, who can rely on NBCC or MAMHCA approval directly, LMFT-specific courses need to go through the Board itself rather than just carrying a national accreditor’s stamp. 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.

Massachusetts-Specific Considerations

A few details worth knowing beyond the base CE requirements:

Psychology’s Lighter Load Is a Genuine Statewide Outlier

Massachusetts psychologists face 20 hours every two years with no mandated content area — a meaningfully lighter and less prescriptive requirement than LMHC, LMFT, or LICSW in the same state, all of which sit around 30 hours with specific mandated training. If you’re a psychologist relocating to Massachusetts from a state with a heavier, more content-specific requirement, don’t assume the same structure applies here.

LMFT CE Needs Direct Board Pre-Approval

Unlike LMHC, where NBCC or MAMHCA approval is generally sufficient, Massachusetts requires LMFT-specific CE to be pre-approved directly by the Board itself. A course that satisfies LMHC requirements on the strength of NBCC accreditation alone doesn’t automatically satisfy LMFT requirements — confirm Board-level approval specifically before relying on a course for LMFT renewal.

NASW-MA Plays a Direct Administrative Role in Social Work CE

Rather than simply being a membership organization that happens to offer CE, NASW-MA formally submits continuing education hours for Board approval on behalf of LICSW and LCSW licensees under 258 CMR. This gives the chapter a more direct regulatory role in Massachusetts than membership associations typically have in other states, and its approvals are also recognized across roughly two dozen other states’ social work boards.

Waivers Are Available, But Require Direct Request

The Board of Registration of Allied Mental Health and Human Services Professions allows licensees with extenuating circumstances to request a CE waiver or extension — but this isn’t automatic. You must proactively email the Board with your request and supporting documentation before your renewal deadline; simply falling short on hours without requesting an accommodation risks a lapsed license.

New Licensee vs. Renewing Licensee

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

• Lower-tier social work licenses (LSW at 15 hours, LCSW at 20 hours) face reduced CE totals compared to the fully independent LICSW at 30 hours, reflecting their more limited scope of practice under supervision.
• New LMHCs must complete the one-time domestic and sexual violence training specifically — a free course offered directly through Mass.gov, worth completing early rather than treating as an afterthought during a busy first renewal cycle.
• Supervisors overseeing associate-level or lower-tier licensees take on real responsibility under Massachusetts’s tiered social work and counseling structure, 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 Massachusetts CE Requirements

Massachusetts’s biggest surprise for clinicians moving between professions or states is how differently psychology is treated here — a lighter hour count, no mandated content, and a genuine path to satisfying half the requirement through academic publication. That’s not how most states structure psychologist CE, and it’s easy to assume Massachusetts mirrors the more prescriptive LMHC/LMFT/LICSW structure if you haven’t checked the psychology board’s rules specifically.

NASW Massachusetts’s direct administrative role in social work CE approval is also worth knowing about if you’re an LICSW — it’s a more hands-on relationship between the chapter and the Board than membership associations typically have elsewhere, and it’s reflected in how broadly the chapter’s approvals are recognized nationally.

References

• Massachusetts Board of Registration of Allied Mental Health and Human Services Professions. (n.d.). Home. Resource
• Massachusetts Board of Registration of Allied Mental Health and Human Services Professions. (n.d.). Fees and license renewal schedules. Resource
• Massachusetts Board of Registration of Allied Mental Health and Human Services Professions. (n.d.). Important renewal information. Resource
• Massachusetts Board of Registration of Psychologists. (n.d.). Psychologists licensing. Resource
• Massachusetts Psychological Association. (n.d.). Home. Resource
• NASW Massachusetts Chapter. (n.d.). Home. Resource