Virginia licenses Licensed Professional Counselors (LPC). New graduates hold a temporary Resident in Counseling license while they complete a supervised residency and pass a national exam. 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.
Virginia at a glance
License
Exam
What it takes
Resident in Counseling (temporary)
NCMHCE or NCE, during the residency
A qualifying counseling degree, a supervisory contract, a named clinical supervisor and site.
LPC (Licensed Professional Counselor)
Passed before you apply
A residency of at least 21 months with 2,000 face-to-face client hours and 200 hours of supervision. $175.
Virginia, step by step
Virginia Board of Counseling (Department of Health Professions)
Resident license: apply for the temporary Resident in Counseling license with your supervisory contract, your clinical supervisor's name and license number, and your practice site (18VAC115-20-52). Residency hours count only while supervision is approved.
The exam: the board accepts the NCMHCE or the NCE, and residents take it during the residency. You do not need board approval to register; you can retake after 30 days, and you must pass before applying for the LPC. The board notes that TRICARE reimburses only counselors who have passed the NCMHCE.
Residency: at least 21 months, with at least 2,000 hours of face-to-face client contact and at least 200 hours of in-person supervision (one to four hours per 40 hours of work; up to half in groups; at least 100 hours from an LPC). At least 1,000 client hours and 100 supervision hours must fall within the two years before you apply.
LPC: application processing and initial licensure by examination is $175 (18VAC115-20-20). A resident keeps practicing under supervision until the exam is passed and the license is granted.
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.