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LPC

Fully licensed professional counselors in Colorado are known as Licensed Professional Counselors (LPCs).  The Colorado State Board of Professional Counselor Examiners regulates LPCs in the state. LPCs generally utilize the LPCC credential while working towards their LPC post-graduation.

Applying for your LPC

The process of applying for your LPC is completed online. To begin this process once the requirements are met, or to find our more information, click here.

Post-Degree Requirements

All applicants must:

Foreign-trained applicants must:

Examination applicants must:

Endorsement applicants must:

  • Attest to passing a national or state examination that tested competence to practice professional
    counseling, including special knowledge and skills in psychotherapy.
  • Attest to one of the following:
    • At least 2 years of post-master’s or 1 year of post-doctoral practice in psychotherapy or
      professional counseling
    • Active practice of psychotherapy or professional counseling for at least 2 years before applying.

State guidelines mandate that all applications expire one year from the date of submission. Failure to provide all required documents will result in your application expiring and will require you to file a new application with all new submitted documents and a new fee.

Licensure By Examination

Generally used by LPCC's applying for their LPC after completing the post-degree requirements list above.

You may engage the online application process here.

Application Criteria

  • The applicant must submit to the Board a completed application for licensure, all fees,
    official transcript(s), and all supporting documentation required by the Board in order for
    the Board to review the application for licensure.
  • Applications for licensure remain active for one (1) year. If the applicant fails to become
    licensed within this time period, s/he must submit a new application and fee and must
    meet the educational, experience, and examination requirements in effect at the time of
    the date of the new application. The Board, in its sole discretion, may extend an
    application upon written request accompanied by a showing of good cause.
  • An applicant for licensure must pass the required examination no more than five (5) years
    prior to the date of the application for licensure. Experience and supervision requirements
    that predate the application by more than five (5) years will not be accepted by the Board
    absent a showing of good cause, as determined by the Board. However, this may not
    apply in those exceptions allowable under statutes concerning professional counselor
    candidates.
  • All applicants for licensure have a continuing obligation to update their application with
    information changes from the original application at any time prior to licensure.

Education and Training Requirements.

Below is a summary of LPC Rule 1.14. To view Rule 1.14 in total, click here.

To meet the statutory requirements, the master's or doctoral program must meet either (1)
or (2), below: 

  1. *Accredited program. The applicant obtained a master's or doctoral degree from a
    program that was approved by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related
    Educational Programs (CACREP). If enrolled after August 31, 2014, the applicant must
    be enrolled in an approved program comprised of not less than 60 semester credit hours;
    or
  2. *Equivalent program. Applicants who graduated from a non-CACREP approved program
    must establish educational equivalency through one of the following pathways:
    • Graduation from a program deemed by the Board, on an annual, to meet
      CACREP educational equivalency; OR
    • Candidates who graduated from a non-CACREP approved program or a program
      that has not been deemed educationally equivalent by the Board must submit
      their educational credentials to a Board approved credentialing agency for
      evaluation and determination of whether the program satisfies the requirements
      of this Rule.

*Additional details can be found in Rule 1.14.

Licensure By Endorsement

Generally used by those currently licensed in another state and are seeking portability.

Application Requirements

  • Hold a Current License: You must hold a current and unrestricted license, in good standing, to practice professional counseling in another state, territory or foreign country. You will need to provide verification of licensure from all states you are/were licensed. It is preferred that you provide scanned copy verification from the other state or jurisdiction website at the time of application. Otherwise, arrange for verification to be sent to the Office of Licensing – LPC Licensure (1560 Broadway, Suite 1350, Denver, CO 80202). The verification must indicate whether or not you have ever had disciplinary action taken against that license/registration.
  • Provide your official transcript(s): You must provide official transcript(s) demonstrating your master’s degree and conferral date to the Office of Licensing – LPC Licensure (dora_dpo_mentalhealthlicensing@state.co.us OR 1560 Broadway, Suite 1350, Denver, CO 80202). Your application will not be processed until your transcript(s) is received. Attest to an Examination: You must have passed an examination, the content of which tested your competence to practice professional counseling, including special knowledge and skills in psychotherapy. You must have also passed a jurisprudence examination administered by the division.
  • Additionally, you must attest to ONE of the following:
    • Attest to Post-Degree Supervised Experience: You must attest that you have at least two years of post-master’s experience or one year of post-doctoral practice in psychotherapy or professional counseling under supervision prior to licensure in the jurisdiction through which you were originally license; -OR-
    • Attest to Active Practice: You must attest that you have practiced professional counseling for at least two years immediately preceding submission of your application. Active practice means you were engaged in the practice of professional counseling for at least 20 hours per week for the entire time you were engaged in the practice, with no more than a six month absence from practice). If hours spent in the practice were spent teaching professional counseling, refer to Rule 12(6)(A) on the Laws, Rules and Policies webpage for further information: https://dpo.colorado.gov/ProfessionalCounselor/Laws.