Updated for 2026

Connecticut LPC & LPC-A Continuing Education Requirements

Connecticut counselors must complete 15 continuing education hours per year to renew their LPC / LPC-A license, including 3 hours of professional ethics and 1 hour of cultural competency.

15hours per year
Topic minimums, counted within the 15
3professional ethics
1cultural competency

The renewal cycle is annual, and your license renews at the end of your birth month.

What the board saysConnecticut board rule
Each licensee applying for license renewal shall complete a minimum of 15 hours of qualifying continuing education1 during the one-year period for which the license has been renewed. … on and after January 1, 2018, not less than three contact hours of training or education each registration period in the topic of professional ethics2. … For registration periods beginning on and after October 1, 2014, each licensee shall complete not less than one contact hour of training or education in each registration period on the topic of cultural competency3.
What it means
  1. 15 hours each year
  2. 3 hours of professional ethics each year
  3. 1 hour of cultural competency each year
DPH Professional Counselor Continuing EducationLast verified August 2026Ruleset 2026.4How we verify
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Requirements

Connecticut LPC & LPC-A requirements

Total

15 hoursYou need 15 hours per year. The renewal cycle is annual, and your license renews at the end of your birth month.

Topic minimums, counted within the 15

The remaining 11 hours are not tied to a topic minimum.
Professional Ethics
3
You need 3 hours each cycle.
Cultural Competency
1
You need 1 hour each cycle.

Limits on how the hours are earned

Business management
max 3 hrs

Cycle and record rules

Renewal
The renewal cycle is annual, and your license renews at the end of your birth month.
New licensees
The first renewal is different. New licensees have adjusted first-cycle requirements, such as prorated hours or first-cycle-only rules, and we apply them automatically.
Approved providers
Qualifying CE may be offered or sponsored by national professional association, regional professional association, state professional association, accredited university, and governmental agency and recognized associations in counseling, mft, social work, and psychology.
Recordkeeping
Keep CE documentation for 3 years after each renewal.
Board audit
The board may audit licensees to verify CE compliance.

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 your renewal.

Your result appears here as you enter hours.

Open the full LPC CE hours calculator

Also hold a Connecticut LMFT or LCSW license? Each board runs its own CE cycle. See the Connecticut LMFT and Connecticut LCSW requirements.

Connecticut LPC & LPC-A required trainings and mandates

Beyond the 15-hour CE total, Connecticut requires specific trainings. Some are due once around initial licensure, and others run on their own recurring schedule.

Recurring mandates outside the 1-year cycle

  • You need 2 hours of veterans' mental health every 6 years.
Full board policy details
  • CE activities must be either face-to-face live instruction or an approved home-study program that includes a proficiency examination and is offered or approved by a recognized professional organization (NBCC, ACA, AAMFT, NASW/ASWB, APA, their affiliates), a regionally accredited academic institution, or a qualifying CT state agency. No percentage cap on home-study; purely online education is acceptable if it meets these standards. Casual self-study (reading books/journals on one's own) and unstructured audio-visual materials do not count unless integrated into an approved home-study program with an evaluation mechanism.
  • No more than 12 contact hours may be earned in any 24-hour period.
  • Courses focused on organizational structure, marketing, or similar business-management topics are capped at 3 hours per renewal period. This is a content cap, not a self-study limit.
  • A licensee receives 5 contact hours for each first presentation of original professional-counseling material and 6 hours for the first publication of each original peer-reviewed paper. These are fixed awards per qualifying activity, not aggregate 5-hour or 6-hour caps. The regulations do not impose a general attendee repeat-course ban. Excess hours do not carry forward.
  • License status rules: A licensee not engaged in active practice may request a CE waiver before expiration. Return from that waiver requires 7 qualifying hours before practice resumes; this distinct context is manual because the engine has no return-from-waiver field. Reinstatement after a license has been void for 2 years or less requires 15 hours in the immediately preceding year; after more than 2 years it requires 30 hours in the immediately preceding 2 years. Medical waivers/extensions may be granted for up to one year at a time.
  • Active military duty protection (CGS 19a-88b): A license that expires while the holder is engaged in active military service is not voided by CE deficiencies attributable to that service. Upon return from active duty, the licensee may renew without CE penalty for the cycle(s) affected by deployment, and the license is protected from lapse during the period of active service. This is a statutory protection, no board petition or pre-deployment waiver request is required, though the licensee should provide documentation of active-duty dates at renewal. Distinct from the inactive-practice waiver and the medical- disability extension described above; military protection runs by operation of statute, not board discretion.

Connecticut LPC & LPC-A CE: frequently asked questions

How many CE hours do Connecticut LPC / LPC-A licensees need?

Connecticut requires 15 continuing education hours per year to renew a LPC / LPC-A license. The renewal cycle is annual, and your license renews at the end of your birth month.

How many ethics hours are required for Connecticut LPC / LPC-A licensees?

Of the total, 3 hours must be in professional ethics.

How often do Connecticut LPC / LPC-A licensees renew?

The renewal cycle is annual, and your license renews at the end of your birth month.

Are there subject-specific CE requirements for Connecticut LPC / LPC-A licensees?

Yes. In addition to ethics, Connecticut requires 1 hour of cultural competency.

Is the first renewal different for new Connecticut LPC / LPC-A licensees?

The first renewal is different. New licensees have adjusted first-cycle requirements, such as prorated hours or first-cycle-only rules, and we apply them automatically.

Sources and verification

State source
Connecticut board rule
Profession source
NBCC continuing education guidance
Last verified
August 2026
Ruleset version
2026.4

We reviewed this page against the Connecticut 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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Connecticut 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.Connecticut mental health workforce data →23,913 active providers, or 648.3 per 100,000 residents, ranked 8 of 51. The page includes a county density map and free CSV downloads.

Other Connecticut CE requirement pages

Connecticut LMFTConnecticut LCSWConnecticut PsychologistConnecticut Addiction CounselorConnecticut PMHNP

LPC CE requirements in other states