How to get a counseling license in District of Columbia
DC licenses Licensed Graduate Professional Counselors (LGPC) and Licensed Professional Counselors (LPC) through the Board of Professional Counseling. Both licenses use the NCE. 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.
District of Columbia at a glance
License
Exam
What it takes
LGPC (Licensed Graduate Professional Counselor)
NCE
A CACREP (or substantially equivalent) master's with at least 48 semester hours in counseling; practices only under supervision.
LPC (Licensed Professional Counselor)
NCE
60 semester hours, 3,500 supervised hours over 2 to 5 years, 200 hours of immediate supervision.
District of Columbia, step by step
DC Board of Professional Counseling (DC Health, Health Regulation and Licensing Administration)
LGPC (17 DCMR 9103, 9107): a master's from a CACREP program or one the board finds substantially equivalent, at least 48 semester hours in counseling or a related field, and a passing NCE score. File a supervised practice form within two weeks of starting supervision.
LPC education (6602): at least 60 semester hours in counseling or related subjects after the bachelor's, covering the 11 content areas the rule lists.
LPC experience (6603): at least 3,500 hours of professional counseling over no less than two and no more than five years under a qualified supervisor, including 200 hours of immediate supervision (100 under a licensed professional counselor, 100 individual), at least one hour for every 35 hours worked.
The exam (6605): the NCE; a passed CRC exam or a counseling board exam from another jurisdiction can stand in for it.
Apply online: DC Health no longer takes paper applications; the fee is shown in the licensing portal.
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.