Becoming A Licensed Professional Counselor

The following information is a synopsis of the Louisiana Mental Health Counselor Licensing Act and the Board rules on licensure. Before one can make application for license one must have obtained a graduate degree in mental health counseling, a minimum of 3,000 hours of supervised mental health counseling experience over a minimum two year post graduate degree period, and have passed the National Counselors Examination.

Licensing Requirements

1. Twenty-one (21) years of age or older;

2. Good moral character;

3. Not in violation of any of the provisions of R.S. 37:1101-1115 and the rules and regulations adopted herein;

4. Has received a graduate degree the substance of which is professional mental health counseling in content from a regionally accredited institution of higher education offering a masters and/or doctoral program in counseling that is approved by the board and has accumulated at least forty-eight (48) graduate semester hours as part of the graduate degree plan containing the eight required areas, the supervised mental health practicum and supervised internship in mental health counseling (as defined by rules adopted by the Board listed under Chapter 5), which shall not be interpreted to exclude post-graduate course work in mental health counseling, as part of the degree plan containing 48 graduate hours including eight content areas, practicum and internship approved by the Licensed Professional Counselors (LPC) Board.

Graduate degree shall be defined as: A CACREP accredited counseling program; a counseling program incorporating the word "counseling" or "counselor" in its title; a program incorporating a counseling-related term in its title (e.g. "marriage and family therapy"); or a program incorporating the eight content areas, a counseling practicum and a counseling internship.

In addition, the above should not be construed to include degrees in disciplines licensed elsewhere by the State of Louisiana (e.g., social work, psychology) with the exception of counseling psychology, and vocational rehabilitation counseling programs.

Specific Academic Course Requirements

The following eight (8) areas are required to have at least one semester course:

5. Has declared special competencies and demonstrated professional competence therein by passing the National Counselors Examination;

6. Can document a minimum of 3,000 hours of supervised experience during a minimum of two years of post-master’s degree experience in professional mental health counseling under the supervision of a licensed professional counselor.  Five hundred hours of supervised experience may be gained for each 30 graduate semester hours earned beyond the master’s degree, provided that such hours are clearly related to the field of mental health counseling and are acceptable to the board provided that in no case the applicant has less than 2,000 hours of supervised experience.

7. Has provided to the board a Declaration of Practices and Procedures, with the content being subject to board review and approval.

8. Has provided to the board a Declaration of Practices and Procedures, with the content being subject to board review and approval.

Note: Those persons beginning their supervised counseling experience on or after January 1, 1993 must comply with the supervision requirements outlined in Part II and register their supervision with the Board office prior to beginning their experience.

Applying to Become a LPC Intern in the State of Louisiana

In order to apply to be a Counselor Intern and work towards becoming a Licensed Professional Counselor in Louisiana individuals need to:

1. Submit Part I (registering the intern), Part II (supervisor data), and Part III (practice setting)
2. Submit a $100 application fee- money order, cashier’s check or certified check.
3. Official Graduate Transcript
4. Transcript Form
5. A copy of the individual’s Declaration of Policies and Procedures

All forms and more information about the State of Louisiana’s LPC requirements can be found at www.lpcboard.org.