Virginia Continuing Education Requirements for Mental Health Professionals

Virginia’s counselor and MFT licenses renew annually with a lower yearly hour count, while social work and psychology follow entirely different cycles — social work biennially, psychology also annually but with its own separate hour total and fixed calendar date. This is a genuinely fragmented structure, and the renewal fees underneath it vary just as much: $140 for LPC/LMFT, roughly $65 for LCSW, and a psychology fee that isn’t consistently published even on the Board’s own site.

One detail worth knowing precisely if you’re dual-licensed: Virginia’s counseling board only requires LPC/LMFT dual-license holders to complete CE once, not separately for each credential — a real convenience that doesn’t extend to combinations involving social work or psychology, which sit under entirely separate boards with their own requirements.

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

Virginia Continuing Education Requirements

Virginia’s counselor and MFT licenses renew annually with a lower yearly hour count, while social work and psychology follow different cycles entirely — a genuinely fragmented structure worth understanding before you assume any single rhythm applies (Virginia Board of Counseling, n.d.; Virginia Board of Social Work, n.d.; Virginia Board of Psychology, n.d.).

License Type	CE Requirements	Renewal / Special Requirements	Official Licensing Board
Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC)	20 CE hours every year	Minimum 2 hours ethics, standards of practice, or Virginia behavioral science law. Up to 2 hours may be earned through uncompensated counseling for low-income clients (1 CE hour per 3 volunteer hours). First renewal after initial licensure is exempt. Dual-licensed clinicians under this Board complete CE only once, not per license.	Virginia Board of Counseling
Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW)	30 CE hours every 2 years	Minimum 20 hours Category I (formal), 6 hours ethics.	Virginia Board of Social Work
Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist (LMFT)	20 CE hours every year	Same board and structure as LPC above: 2 hours ethics, same volunteer-hours provision.	Virginia Board of Counseling
Licensed Psychologist (PhD / PsyD)	14 CE hours every year	Minimum 1.5 hours ethics. At least 6 hours must be face-to-face or real-time interactive. Up to 8 hours may be home study. Up to 7 hours may carry over to the next annual cycle.	Virginia Board of Psychology

Clinical Note: Virginia genuinely runs three different cycles across these four licenses — counselors and MFTs annually at 20 hours, psychologists annually at 14 hours, and social workers biennially at 30 hours. If you’re dual-licensed as an LPC and LMFT specifically, the Board only requires you to complete CE once rather than separately for each — a real convenience, but one that doesn’t extend to combinations involving social work or psychology.

Virginia License Renewal Requirements

Virginia’s Department of Health Professions (DHP) administers all four boards, but each sets its own deadline structure — confirmed directly from DHP’s own board pages and Virginia Administrative Code.

LPC License Renewal

Administered by the Virginia Board of Counseling. Resident (provisional) licenses expire annually in the month the license was issued — an individualized date, not a fixed statewide deadline. The renewal fee is $140. Renewal notices are emailed roughly 45-60 days before expiration. A 30-day grace period follows expiration, during which you can renew by paying the standard fee plus a $50 late fee (some sources cite $45); beyond that grace period, the license expires and reinstatement — a more costly and time-consuming process, with a $275 reinstatement fee — becomes necessary.

LCSW License Renewal

Administered by the separate Virginia Board of Social Work. All social work licenses (LBSW, LMSW, LCSW) renew biennially by June 30 of even-numbered years — a single fixed statewide deadline shared across all three tiers, unlike LPC/LMFT’s individualized dates. Reported renewal fees are tiered by level (LBSW around $55, LMSW/LCSW around $65), plus a $20 late fee; confirm your specific current fee directly with the Board. A license may be renewed late within one year of expiration by paying the late penalty and standard renewal fee together. Virginia’s social work board is also actively engaged with the Social Work Licensure Compact, with dedicated compact information published directly on the Board’s site.

LMFT License Renewal

Administered by the same Virginia Board of Counseling as LPC, sharing the identical individualized (issuance-month) annual deadline, $140 renewal fee, and $50 late fee/30-day grace period structure.

Psychologist License Renewal

Administered by the separate Virginia Board of Psychology. Per Virginia Administrative Code 18VAC125-20-120, licenses renew annually and must be renewed on or before June 30 each year — a fixed statewide deadline, unlike LPC/LMFT’s individualized dates. The Board has moved to a “Go Green” online-only renewal process; paper notices are no longer mailed, with email renewal reminders sent 45-60 days before the deadline instead. The exact current renewal fee isn’t consistently published in a single location; confirm the current amount directly with the Board before budgeting for renewal.

Virginia Approved CE Providers

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

Accreditor / Association	Who It’s For	Recognized For
National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC)	LPCs	Widely accepted for LPC renewal
Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) / NASW-VA	LCSWs	NASW Virginia is explicitly designated by the Board of Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapists, and Professional Counselors as a pre-approved CE provider
American Psychological Association (APA)	Licensed Psychologists	The standard for psychologist CE in Virginia
Virginia Counselors Association (VCA)	LPCs	State branch of ACA, organized into multiple specialty divisions with dedicated CE programming
Virginia Mental Health Counselors Association (VAMHCA)	LPCs	Virginia’s AMHCA chapter (renamed from NVLPC in January 2025), genuinely active with regular scheduled trainings and events
Virginia Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (VAMFT)	LMFTs	Advocates for Virginia MFTs; maintains an active presence primarily through social media rather than a confirmed standalone website, so confirm current contact channels before relying on it as a CE source
NASW Virginia Chapter	LCSWs	Board-designated pre-approved CE provider, also highly engaged in Virginia legislative advocacy

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.

Virginia-Specific Considerations

A few details worth knowing beyond the base CE requirements:

Three Genuinely Different Renewal Rhythms Under One Department

Even though DHP administers all four boards, LPC/LMFT renew annually on an individualized issuance-month date, psychology renews annually on a fixed June 30 date, and social work renews biennially on a fixed June 30 (even-year) date. Don’t assume “administered by the same department” means “renews the same way” — it genuinely doesn’t here.

Dual LPC/LMFT Licensure Shares One CE Requirement, But Nothing Else Does

Worth repeating from the Clinical Note because it’s a genuinely narrow exception: only the LPC/LMFT combination under the Board of Counseling gets the single-CE-requirement convenience. A clinician holding an LPC alongside an LCSW or psychology license still completes each board’s CE requirement fully and separately.

Virginia’s Social Work Board Is Actively Engaged With the Compact

The Virginia Board of Social Work maintains dedicated, current information about the Social Work Licensure Compact directly on its practitioner resources page — a genuine sign of active engagement rather than passive mention. Confirm current operational status and application details directly with the Board if multistate practice is part of your plans.

New Licensee vs. Renewing Licensee

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

• First-time LPC and LMFT renewals (the renewal immediately following initial licensure) are exempt from the CE requirement entirely — a genuine break before the full 20-hour annual obligation begins.
• Volunteer/uncompensated counseling for low-income clients can satisfy up to 2 of the 20 required LPC/LMFT hours, at a rate of 1 CE hour per 3 volunteer hours — a real option for clinicians who want their community service to count toward renewal.
• Psychologists may carry up to 7 unused CE hours forward into the next annual renewal cycle, offering some flexibility if you exceed the 14-hour minimum in a given year.
• Supervisors more broadly take on real responsibility in Virginia’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

Virginia’s three separate renewal rhythms — annual/individualized for LPC-LMFT, annual/fixed for psychology, biennial/fixed for social work — make a personal tracking system genuinely valuable for keeping each deadline and hour total straight. Confirming whether your dual-license CE requirement is shared (LPC/LMFT) or separate (any combination involving social work or psychology) is also easier with a running record than reconstructed from memory each renewal.

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 Virginia CE Requirements

Virginia’s continuing education requirements are genuinely fragmented across its four licenses, and the biggest risk here isn’t any single rule being complicated — it’s assuming one profession’s rhythm applies to another simply because DHP administers all of them. Counselors and MFTs work on an individualized annual clock; psychology is fixed and annual; social work is fixed and biennial.

The narrow LPC/LMFT dual-license convenience is worth remembering specifically if it applies to you, but don’t extend that assumption to any other license combination. As always, confirm current fees and deadlines directly with your specific board before finalizing your renewal plan, since some figures (particularly psychology’s exact renewal fee) weren’t consistently published even on the Board’s own site.

References

• Virginia Board of Counseling. (n.d.). Continued competency: LPC. Resource
• Virginia Board of Counseling. (n.d.). Fees. Resource
• Virginia Board of Social Work. (n.d.). Renew online. Resource
• Virginia Board of Psychology. (n.d.). Continuing education: Psychologist. Resource
• Virginia Administrative Code. (n.d.). 18VAC125-20-120 — Annual renewal of licensure. Resource
• Virginia Counselors Association. (n.d.). Home. Resource
• Virginia Mental Health Counselors Association. (n.d.). Who we are. Resource
• National Association of Social Workers, Virginia Chapter. (n.d.). Home. Resource