Maine licenses counselors at conditional and full levels: Conditional Professional Counselor and Professional Counselor (non-clinical), and Conditional Clinical Professional Counselor and Clinical Professional Counselor (clinical, LCPC). 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.
Two NBCC exams in Maine. The conditional licenses and the non-clinical Professional Counselor use the NCE, the exam Counselor Ticket is written to. The Clinical Professional Counselor requires the NCMHCE, a case-study exam our guide does not cover.
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.
Maine at a glance
License
Exam
What it takes
Conditional Clinical Professional Counselor
NCE
A graduate counseling degree of at least 60 credits; practice only under a board-approved supervisor.
LCPC (Clinical Professional Counselor)
NCMHCE
At least 2 years on the conditional clinical license with the supervised hours set in Board Rules Chapter 3 (they depend on your internship hours).
Conditional Professional Counselor
NCE
A graduate counseling degree of at least 48 credits; supervised practice.
LPC (Professional Counselor, non-clinical)
NCE
At least 2 years on the conditional license, 2,000 supervised hours (1,000 direct), 67 hours of supervision (34 individual).
Maine, step by step
Maine Board of Counseling Professionals Licensure (Office of Professional and Occupational Regulation)
Exams: the NCE for the conditional licenses and the Professional Counselor; the NCMHCE for the Clinical Professional Counselor. Once the office approves you, you register with CCE using the approval code.
Clinical track: with a 60-credit graduate counseling degree, hold the Conditional Clinical Professional Counselor license for at least two years, practicing only under a board-approved supervisor and filing a new supervision plan before any change. The hours needed for the LCPC depend on your graduate clinical internship hours (Board Rules Chapter 3).
Non-clinical track: with a 48-credit degree, hold the Conditional Professional Counselor license for at least two years while earning 2,000 hours of supervised work (at least 1,000 direct counseling) and 67 hours of supervision (at least 34 individual).
Fees: license fee $200 plus a $21 criminal history check at first issuance; renewal $200 every two years with 55 CE hours, plus a one-time 12 hours on family or intimate partner violence.
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.