Maine LADC & CADC Continuing Education Requirements
Maine addiction counselors must complete 25 continuing education hours every 2 years to renew their LADC / CADC license, including 4 hours of ethics.
25hours every 2 years
Topic minimums, counted within the 25
4ethics
Next deadline: November 30, 2027The renewal cycle is biennial, and CE is due by November 30 of odd years.
Where this comes from
- State source
- Maine board rule
- Last verified
- October 2026
- Ruleset version
- 2026.1
Every figure on this page is read from this rule, and the page refreshes when the ruleset changes. How we verify
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Requirements
Maine LADC & CADC requirements
Total
25 hoursYou need 25 hours every 2 years. The renewal cycle is biennial, and CE is due by November 30 of odd years.
Topic minimums, counted within the 25
The remaining 21 hours are not tied to a topic minimum.
- Ethics
- 4
- You need 4 hours each cycle.
Limits on how the hours are earned
- In-service training
- max 10 hrs
- First time presentation and publication and independent study combined
- max 10 hrs
- Home study / self-study
- max 20 hrs
Up to 20 hours may be completed through home study / self-study.
Cycle and record rules
- Renewal
- The renewal cycle is biennial, and CE is due by November 30 of odd years.
- Renewal fee
- The board renewal fee is $60 every 2 years.
- New licensees
- No continuing education is owed at the odd-year renewal that ends your initial license term: "Alcohol and drug counselors, alcohol and drug counseling aides and certified clinical supervisors need not complete continuing professional education during their initial license term" (02-384 C.M.R. ch. 7, section 4). Maine licenses end on the first November 30 after issuance, so this covers a license issued between December 1 of an even year and November 30 of the next odd year. The full hours apply to the next two-year window.
- Approved providers
- "All continuing professional education activities other than academic courses and in-service training sessions must be offered by a recognized sponsor or approved by the board" (02-384 C.M.R. ch. 7, section 3). The recognized sponsors are AdCare Educational Institute; the Board, another jurisdiction's licensing board, or another jurisdiction's IC&RC member certification board; the state Office of Substance Abuse; IC&RC; the Maine Association of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselors; NAADAC; the New England Institute of Addiction Studies; and the Rutgers School of Alcohol and Drug Studies (section 3(1)). Anything else needs Board approval, which the sponsor or you may request, no more than 60 days after the activity (section 3(2)). College courses from accredited institutions and in-service sessions need no sponsor approval. Hours count only inside the two-year window ending November 30 of the odd year.
- Recordkeeping
- Keep CE documentation for 4 years after each renewal.
- Board audit
- The board may audit licensees to verify CE compliance.
- Late renewal
- The board allows a 90-day grace period after expiration. A late renewal adds a late fee.
To keep your proof in order, see what to keep for a CE audit, which covers every state’s retention period and what the audit notice asks for.
Your hours
Check where you stand
Enter the hours you have completed this cycle to see what is left before November 30, 2027.
Your result appears here as you enter hours.
Open the full Addiction Counselor CE hours calculatorFull board policy details
- Annual license, biennial CE. "All licenses issued pursuant to this chapter expire annually on November 30th or at such other time as the Commissioner of Professional and Financial Regulation may designate" (32 M.R.S. 6219); the Board's licensing page: "Renews yearly on November 30th regardless of initial license issue date", with continuing education due "every two years, from odd-numbered year to odd-numbered year". Only the odd-year renewal requires the licensee to certify "the completion of continuing professional education during the 2 years preceding renewal" (02-384 C.M.R. ch. 7, section 1(1)). The engine's window is Dec 1 of an odd year through Nov 30 of the next odd year; the even-year renewal in between is a fee-only renewal.
- Permissible activities (02-384 C.M.R. ch. 7, section 2): seminars, workshops and institutes (uncapped); "college level courses for academic degree credit offered by accredited institutions of higher education, whether attended on site or taken via distance learning" (section 2(2), uncapped; the rule states no credit-to-hour figure); in-service training (10 maximum); teaching, writing and tape/disk/independent study (10 maximum together); distance learning (20 maximum). "Continuing professional education may be earned by completion of activities described in Section 2 of this chapter only" (section 1(3)).
- Distance learning (the self study cap). "A maximum of 20 hours may be earned through distance learning" (02-384 C.M.R. ch. 7, section 2(5)). The rule does not define the term; the cap is applied to the product's self study format (an on-demand, self-paced online or home-study course with a completion certificate) and to recorded courses, which is what distance learning ordinarily means. It is not informal reading: such courses still need a recognized sponsor or Board approval (section 3). Live interactive webinars logged as live are not counted against the 20; whether the Board treats them as distance learning is unconfirmed. Audiotapes/disks, videotapes/disks and independent study are a separate, narrower activity in section 2(4)(C), held with teaching and writing to 10.
- Teaching, writing and independent study are LADC and CCS activities. Section 2(4) says "A licensed alcohol and drug counselor or certified clinical supervisor may claim" credit for first-time presentation, writing and review/editing, and "Audiotapes/disks, Videotapes/disks, and Independent Study"; it names neither the CADC nor the aide. A CADC should not log those three activities for credit. The engine cannot cap a category at zero for one tier, so the CADC is held only to the shared 10-hour ceiling; this note is the operative limit.
- Repeat and similar courses. Credit for a "particular audiotape/disk, videotape/ disk or course of independent study" may be claimed "only once", and "Credit may not be claimed for a course of independent study that is substantially similar to a course that the licensee or registrant has previously taken for continuing professional education credit" (02-384 C.M.R. ch. 7, section 2(4)(C)). Teaching earns credit "for the first time it is presented, only" (section 2(4)(A)). No general repeat ban applies to seminars or workshops, so no repeat courses per cycle stays off.
- Board approval of other activities. An activity not offered by a recognized sponsor "will be evaluated for eligibility based on content and relevance to the 12 core functions and professional ethics" (or, for a CCS, to clinical supervision), on the Board's form with the sponsor, objectives, announcement, presenter credentials, dates and "Exact start and end times of each session". "the request must be filed no more than 60 days following completion of the activity", and a licensee's request "must also be filed no less than 60 days prior to the end of the licensing year during which the activity took place", with the fee in OPOR Chapter 10, section 4(32) (02-384 C.M.R. ch. 7, section 3(2)). The eight recognized sponsors in section 3(1) are the board approved sponsor class. The rule names NAADAC itself as a sponsor; it does not name NAADAC-approved third-party providers, NBCC or APA providers, so a course from one of those counts only if the vendor is a listed sponsor or the Board approves the activity. The provider gate is descriptive (must be approved provider false) because in-service sessions need no sponsor and the product has no in-service provider class, and because the Board can approve an unlisted activity after the fact.
- Inactive status and reinstatement. An inactive licensee renews annually and "is not required to meet the continuing educational provisions of section 6219-A" (32 M.R.S. 6219-B(1)). To return to active status under 6219-B(2) the applicant "must submit with the application proof that the applicant completed continuing professional education contact hours in the minimum amount set forth in Section 1(2) of this chapter within the year preceding application" (02-384 C.M.R. ch. 7, section 5): the tier's full biennial figure, earned inside twelve months.
- Other licenses. Chapter 7 neither credits nor excludes hours earned for a Maine LCPC, LCSW, LMFT or psychology license, and those boards run their own cycles (the Counseling Professionals board's 55 hours every two years on the licensee's own anniversary). A dual licensee owes each license's own figure on its own cycle; a course can serve both only if it meets each rule's subject and sponsor conditions. The only combined figure in this rule is the LADC plus CCS total of 37.
- Aide and stand-alone CCS (not scoped by this file). An Alcohol and Drug Counseling Aide owes "12 contact hours" including the four ethics hours (ch. 7, sections 1(2), 1(3); Board page: "12 contact hours of continuing professional education, including at least 4 hours in professional ethics"). A certified clinical supervisor who holds no LADC owes "12 contact hours" directly related to clinical supervision with no ethics floor ("other than those licensed solely as certified clinical supervisors"). Both are on the same window and caps.
Maine LADC & CADC CE: frequently asked questions
How many CE hours do Maine LADC / CADC licensees need?
Maine requires 25 continuing education hours every 2 years to renew a LADC / CADC license. The renewal cycle is biennial, and CE is due by November 30 of odd years.
How many ethics hours are required for Maine LADC / CADC licensees?
Of the total, 4 hours must be in ethics.
How often do Maine LADC / CADC licensees renew?
The renewal cycle is biennial, and CE is due by November 30 of odd years.
How much does Maine LADC / CADC license renewal cost?
The board's renewal fee is $60 every 2 years, per the Maine board fee schedule. CE course costs are separate and set by course providers.
Can Maine LADC / CADC licensees complete CE online or by home study?
Up to 20 hours may be completed through home study / self-study.
Is the first renewal different for new Maine LADC / CADC licensees?
No continuing education is owed at the odd-year renewal that ends your initial license term: "Alcohol and drug counselors, alcohol and drug counseling aides and certified clinical supervisors need not complete continuing professional education during their initial license term" (02-384 C.M.R. ch. 7, section 4). Maine licenses end on the first November 30 after issuance, so this covers a license issued between December 1 of an even year and November 30 of the next odd year. The full hours apply to the next two-year window.
Sources and verification
- State source
- Maine board rule
- Fee schedule
- Maine board fee schedule
- Last verified
- October 2026
- Ruleset version
- 2026.1
We reviewed this page against the Maine board source, and we refresh it from the compiled ruleset above. Methodology and disclaimer. Compliance data is for guidance only, not legal or board advice. Always confirm requirements with your licensing board before renewing. See something wrong? Report it
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Maine guides & data
What to keep for a CE audit →Learn what boards ask for in a CE audit, how long each state says to keep certificates, and what the notice looks like, then use the printable checklist.Maine mental health workforce data →9,452 active providers, or 668 per 100,000 residents, ranked 6 of 51. The page includes a county density map and free CSV downloads.
Other Maine CE requirement pages
Addiction Counselor CE requirements in other states
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- Arkansas
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- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- District of Columbia
- Hawaii
- Indiana
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Montana
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- New Hampshire
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- North Carolina
- North Dakota
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