Missouri Continuing Education Requirements for Mental Health Professionals

Missouri’s continuing education rules share a pattern that’s becoming more common nationally: a dedicated suicide prevention training requirement built directly into the CE structure, not treated as an optional add-on. Counselors, marriage and family therapists, and social workers all carry this requirement, each with their own specific hour count and timing.

The biggest thing to understand about Missouri is that this pattern isn’t limited to one profession — it’s a genuine statewide priority, written directly into state law (HB 1719) rather than left to individual board discretion. Missouri has also been active on the interstate compact front, having enacted both the Counseling Compact and joined the Social Work Compact, alongside longstanding PSYPACT participation for psychologists.

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

Missouri Continuing Education Requirements

Missouri requires suicide-prevention-related content across counseling, marriage and family therapy, and social work licenses — a pattern that’s become increasingly common nationally but is worth confirming applies to every license you hold (Missouri State Committee for Professional Counselors, n.d.; Missouri Committee for Social Workers, n.d.).

License Type	CE Requirements	Renewal / Special Requirements	Official Licensing Board
Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC)	40 CE hours every 2 years	Minimum 20 hours must be formal CE (workshops, seminars, coursework). 2 hours suicide assessment/referral/treatment/management, required at initial licensure and every renewal thereafter.	Missouri State Committee for Professional Counselors
Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW)	30 CE hours every 2 years	Minimum 3 hours ethics, 2 hours suicide assessment/referral/treatment/management, 3 hours diversity/inclusion/cultural competency. Up to 15 hours may be distance learning (this cap was waived for the 2024–2025 renewal cycle specifically).	Missouri Committee for Social Workers
Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist (LMFT)	40 CE hours every 2 years	Minimum 3 hours ethics, 2 hours suicide assessment (same structure as LPC above).	Missouri State Committee of Marital and Family Therapists
Licensed Psychologist (PhD / PsyD)	40 CE hours every 2 years	Reporting cycle runs December 1 of odd years through November 30 of the following odd year. Minimum 15 hours must be Category A (formal, accredited activities). Also subject to Missouri’s suicide prevention training requirement (HB 1719) at initial licensure. Minimum 3 hours must be professional ethics.	Missouri State Committee of Psychologists

Clinical Note: Missouri’s social work board temporarily waived its 15-hour distance-learning cap for the 2024–2025 renewal cycle — a good reminder that even well-established caps and limits can shift temporarily, and it’s worth checking your board’s current-cycle announcements rather than relying on a rule that was accurate a renewal period ago.

Missouri License Renewal Requirements

All four Missouri boards operate under the Division of Professional Registration and the MOPRO online portal, but each sets its own fees, deadlines, and late-renewal consequences — confirmed directly from each board’s own fee regulations.

LPC License Renewal

Administered by the Missouri State Committee for Professional Counselors. Licenses expire every two years on June 30 of odd-numbered years. The standard renewal fee is $75. If your renewal is 61 days to 2 years late, you’ll need to submit a reinstatement form along with the $75 renewal fee plus a $100 reinstatement fee ($175 total), a background check, and updated CE documentation. Suicide prevention training (2 hours) is required at initial licensure and every renewal thereafter, on top of the standard 40-hour total.

LCSW License Renewal

Administered by the separate Missouri Committee for Social Workers. Per the Board’s own fee regulation (20 CSR 2263-1.035), the two-year license renewal fee is $45. A $65 delinquent fee applies for failing to renew on time, and restoring a lapsed license costs $130. Sources differ on the exact renewal date — one recent source specifically ties the 2026 deadline to September 30 of odd-numbered years, while another describes a birth-month-based individualized date; confirm your specific deadline directly with the Board. As of October 30, 2024, a license expired or revoked for 2 years or more can no longer be renewed at all, requiring full reapplication under current regulations instead.

LMFT License Renewal

Administered by the separate Missouri State Committee of Marital and Family Therapists. The renewal fee is $250 for licenses renewed before the expiration date, based on the Board’s published fee schedule and historical February 28 biennial deadline pattern; confirm your specific current-cycle deadline directly with the Board. Late fees are $75 if reinstated within 60 days of expiration, or $100 if reinstated between 61 days and 2 years after expiration.

Psychologist License Renewal

Administered by the separate Missouri State Committee of Psychologists. Per the Board’s own fee regulation (20 CSR 2235-1.020), the biennial renewal fee is $300, with a $150 delinquency fee applying effective April 1 after each renewal period if not renewed on time. The reporting cycle runs December 1 of odd years through November 30 of the following odd year. Psychologists holding Health Service Provider (HSP) status pay an additional $100 biennial renewal fee specific to that credential.

Missouri Approved CE Providers

Whether you’re looking for Missouri online continuing education or in-person Missouri continuing education courses, Missouri recognizes CE from national accreditors alongside dedicated state associations:

Accreditor / Association	Who It’s For	Recognized For
National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC)	LPCs	Listed directly among the Board’s own related links
Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB)	LCSWs	Accepted for LCSW renewal
APA-approved sponsors	Licensed Psychologists	The standard for psychologist CE in Missouri
Missouri Counseling Association (MCA)	LPCs	State branch of the American Counseling Association, listed directly among the Board’s related links
Missouri Mental Health Counselors Association (MMHCA)	LPCs	Missouri’s premier association exclusively for mental health counselors, listed directly among the Board’s related links
Missouri Psychological Association (MOPA)	Licensed Psychologists	State-level CE and advocacy for Missouri psychologists
NASW Missouri Chapter	LCSWs	The largest professional social work association in the state, with over 1,400 members

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.

Missouri-Specific Considerations

A few details worth knowing beyond the base CE requirements:

Missouri’s Suicide Prevention Requirement Is Written Into State Law

Missouri’s suicide assessment, referral, treatment, and management training requirement (2 hours) stems directly from House Bill 1719, passed in 2018 and amending section 337.718.1 RSMo. Because it’s statutory rather than just a board rule, it applies consistently across LPCs, LMFTs, and psychologists as a condition of initial licensure, with LPCs and LMFTs also required to repeat it at every subsequent renewal — a distinction worth noting if you’re comparing requirements across these three professions.

Missouri Participates in All Three Major Behavioral Health Compacts

Missouri has enacted the Licensed Professional Counselors Interstate Compact (codified at RSMo 337.550), participates in PSYPACT for psychologists, and its social work board’s own site confirms participation in the Social Work Licensure Compact. This is a genuinely comprehensive commitment to interstate practice — confirm current operational status with each specific compact before assuming privileges are immediately usable, since enactment and full operational status are different milestones nationally.

A 2024 Rule Change Eliminated Long-Term Reinstatement for Social Workers

Effective October 30, 2024, Missouri social work licenses expired or revoked for 2 years or more can no longer be renewed or reinstated under any circumstances — the individual must reapply for licensure entirely under whatever regulations are in effect at that later date. This is a meaningfully firmer cutoff than simply paying a larger late fee, and worth knowing if you’re considering stepping away from practice for an extended period.

New Licensee vs. Renewing Licensee

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

• Provisional Licensed Professional Counselors (PLPC) are not required to complete continuing education for renewal — only the full LPC credential carries a CE obligation.
• New LPCs, LMFTs, and psychologists must complete the 2-hour suicide prevention training as a condition of initial licensure, separate from (and in addition to) their standard CE hours going forward.
• Missouri social work supervisors are limited to overseeing no more than 6 individuals obtaining post-degree supervised experience at one time (as of a November 29, 2022 rule change), unless they petition the Committee for an exception.
• Supervisors more broadly take on real responsibility in Missouri’s system, 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.

Final Thoughts on Missouri CE Requirements

Missouri’s statutory suicide prevention requirement is the defining feature here, and the fact that it’s written into state law rather than left to individual board discretion means it’s unlikely to quietly disappear or get watered down the way a board-level rule sometimes can. The bigger practical risk in Missouri is the patchwork of renewal deadlines and fees across its four separate boards — don’t assume your LPC renewal rhythm tells you anything reliable about your LCSW, LMFT, or psychology renewal timing.

Missouri’s participation in all three major interstate compacts is also genuinely comprehensive compared to many states, and worth revisiting periodically if multi-state practice is part of your plans, since implementation details continue to evolve nationally.

References

• Missouri State Committee for Professional Counselors. (n.d.). Home. Resource
• Missouri Committee for Social Workers. (n.d.). Home. Resource
• Missouri Committee for Social Workers. (n.d.). Fees (20 CSR 2263-1.035). Resource
• Missouri State Committee of Marital and Family Therapists. (n.d.). Home. Resource
• Missouri State Committee of Psychologists. (n.d.). Home. Resource
• Missouri Code of State Regulations. (n.d.). 20 CSR 2235-1.020 — State Committee of Psychologists fees. Resource
• Missouri Revisor of Statutes. (n.d.). Section 337.510 — Professional counselor renewal. Resource
• Missouri Revisor of Statutes. (n.d.). Section 337.550 — Licensed professional counselors interstate compact. Resource
• Missouri Counseling Association. (n.d.). Home. Resource
• Missouri Mental Health Counselors Association. (n.d.). Home. Resource
• Missouri Psychological Association. (n.d.). Home. Resource
• NASW Missouri Chapter. (n.d.). About. Resource