How to get a counseling license in Mississippi

Mississippi licenses Provisional Licensed Professional Counselors (P-LPC) and Licensed Professional Counselors (LPC). The NCE gets you the provisional license; the NCMHCE comes after your supervised hours. 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 Mississippi. The provisional license (P-LPC) requires the NCE, the exam Counselor Ticket is written to. After the supervised hours, the board approves you to take the NCMHCE for the full LPC, a case-study exam our guide does not cover. The board also has a Mississippi jurisprudence exam.
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.

Mississippi at a glance

LicenseExamWhat it takes
P-LPC (Provisional Licensed Professional Counselor)NCE60 graduate semester hours (90 quarter) in a counseling program, a board-qualified supervisor (LPC-S). $50 application.
LPC (Licensed Professional Counselor)NCMHCE3,000 supervised hours over at least 18 months: 1,200 direct services, 100 hours of supervision.

Mississippi, step by step

Mississippi State Board of Examiners for Licensed Professional Counselors

  1. Education (Rule 4.2.C): for degrees conferred after January 1, 2017, a master's of at least 60 semester hours (90 quarter) with "counseling" in the title that follows CACREP's structure for the twelve required courses, or a doctoral or specialist degree primarily in counseling.
  2. P-LPC: submit passing NCE scores (from NBCC or another state board) with the online application and the $50 application fee, and arrange supervision with a Mississippi LPC-S.
  3. Supervised experience (Rule 4.3): 3,000 supervised hours in no less than 18 months of post-master's clinical counseling: at most 40 hours a week (25 of direct service), at least 1,200 hours of direct services, and at least 100 hours of individual supervision (at least 2 hours a month; up to 50 may be group).
  4. LPC exam: once the experience is complete, apply to the board for approval to take the NCMHCE.

Sources: Mississippi LPC Board Rules and Regulations, Part 2201 (sos.ms.gov), NBCC state board directory: Mississippi. Checked October 18, 2026.

Practice for the NCE, freeThe NCE is one of Mississippi's exams, and the one our guide is written to: all six domains, every answer sourced.

The national steps, briefly

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.

Official pages