New Hampshire licenses Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselors (LCMHC) through the Board of Mental Health Practice. Graduates register as a Candidate for Licensure while they collect supervised hours, and the exam is the NCMHCE. 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.
New Hampshire's exam is the NCMHCE. Mhp 305.04 requires the National Clinical Mental Health Counselor Exam. Counselor Ticket is written to the NCE, so it covers the shared knowledge but not the NCMHCE's case-study format; use NBCC's own NCMHCE materials for that.
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.
New Hampshire at a glance
License
Exam
What it takes
Candidate for Licensure
None
A board-approved supervision agreement. $50.
LCMHC (Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor)
NCMHCE
A 60-semester-hour CACREP clinical mental health counseling degree, two years and 3,000 supervised hours, 100 hours of individual supervision. $325.
New Hampshire, step by step
New Hampshire Board of Mental Health Practice (Office of Professional Licensure and Certification)
Degree (Mhp 305.01): a master's or doctorate of at least 60 semester hours in clinical mental health counseling from a CACREP-accredited program, with the courses the rule lists.
Candidate for Licensure: file your supervision agreement with the board (candidate fee $50).
Supervised experience (Mhp 305.03): at least two years of post-master's supervised clinical work in a mental health setting, each year at least 1,500 hours in 12 to 24 consecutive months (3,000 in all), with at least one hour a week of individual face-to-face supervision for a total of 100 hours.
The exam (Mhp 305.04): the NCMHCE, with NBCC sending the results directly to the licensing bureau.
Fees: application $325 (includes the $28 Professional Health Program fee); renewal $325.
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.