Connecticut's Department of Public Health licenses Licensed Professional Counselors (LPC). People completing their supervised experience in Connecticut are exempt from licensure only while they finish it. Everything below comes from the board's own pages and rules, checked October 18, 2026. Fees and rules change, so confirm on the linked pages before you pay.
Check with your board. Counselor Ticket is a study aid. Not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC), the Center for Credentialing & Education (CCE), the American Counseling Association (ACA), CACREP or any state counseling board; NCE and NCMHCE are NBCC's marks, used here only to name the exams. Laws on confidentiality, duty to warn, reporting and licensing differ by state; follow your state's law, your agency and your supervisor.
Connecticut at a glance
License
Exam
What it takes
LPC (Licensed Professional Counselor)
NCE or NCMHCE
A qualifying graduate degree, 3,000 postgraduate supervised hours over at least two years, 100 hours of direct supervision. $315.
Connecticut also has an associate counselor license; check the department for its current requirements.
Connecticut, step by step
Connecticut Department of Public Health, Professional Counselor licensing
Degree: the department's main route is a graduate degree in clinical mental health counseling from a CACREP-accredited program; it lists separate educational requirements for other graduate degrees.
The exam: the NCE or the NCMHCE. To test for Connecticut, register online through NBCC's ProCounselor login; NBCC sends the score report to the department.
Supervised experience:3,000 hours of postgraduate experience under professional supervision (an LPC, a board-certified psychiatrist or a qualified APRN, among others) over at least two years, including at least 100 hours of direct supervision, meaning one-to-one, face-to-face consultation with at least a monthly written evaluation.
Apply online: the application fee is $315, with verification of your hours and supervision sent directly by the supervising authority.
The steps that hold nearly everywhere: a counseling master's degree (usually 60 semester hours, often CACREP-accredited), your board's approval, an NBCC exam, about two years of supervised experience, then the full license. The NCE has 200 questions (160 scored) in 3 hours 45 minutes; the NCMHCE is 11 clinical case studies in the same time; either can be retaken after 30 days (NBCC/CCE candidate handbooks). The full walk-through: How to get your counseling license.