Nebraska licenses counselors as mental health practitioners: Provisionally Licensed (PLMHP), Licensed (LMHP) and Licensed Independent (LIMHP). The LMHP cannot diagnose major mental illness; the LIMHP can. 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.
Nebraska at a glance
License
Exam
What it takes
PLMHP (Provisionally Licensed Mental Health Practitioner)
None
A qualifying master's; the license you hold while you complete 3,000 supervised hours.
LMHP (Licensed Mental Health Practitioner)
NCE or NCMHCE (counseling degrees)
3,000 hours of supervised practice, 1,500 direct client contact, at least an hour a week of face-to-face supervision.
LIMHP (Licensed Independent Mental Health Practitioner)
Same exam
3,000 hours supervised by an LIMHP, psychologist or physician, half with clients diagnosed with major mental illness.
Nebraska, step by step
Nebraska DHHS Licensure Unit, Board of Mental Health Practice
PLMHP: with a qualifying master's, get the provisional license so your supervised hours count in Nebraska.
Exam: DHHS authorizes the exam by degree: counseling graduates take the NCE or the NCMHCE, marriage and family therapy graduates the AMFTRB exam, and social work graduates the ASWB Clinical exam.
LMHP experience:3,000 hours of supervised mental health practice, at least 1,500 hours of direct client contact, with at least one hour a week of face-to-face supervision.
LIMHP: the 3,000 hours must be supervised by a Nebraska LIMHP, psychologist or physician, and 1,500 of them must involve clients diagnosed with a major mental illness or disorder (applicants from non-accredited programs need 7,000 hours). LIMHPs renew with at least 6 CE hours on major mental disorders.
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.