Georgia LPC & APC Continuing Education Requirements
Georgia counselors must complete 35 continuing education hours every 2 years to renew their LPC / APC license, including 5 hours of ethics and 15 hours of core counseling.
35
total hours / 2 years
5
ethics hours
15
core counseling hours
10
home study / self-study hours cap
5
live hours minimum
20
home study / self-study hours cap
Biennial · renewal date varies by licensee.
Georgia LPC & APC requirements
| Requirement | Notes |
|---|---|
| Total continuing education | 35 hours every 2 years. |
| Renewal | Biennial cycle: tied to your license's renewal (expiration) date. |
| Ethics | 5 hours required each cycle. |
| Core Counseling | 15 hours required each cycle. |
| Format limits | Up to 10 hours may be completed through home study / self-study. |
| Format limits | Up to 20 hours may be completed through home study / self-study. |
| Format limits | At least 5 hours must be earned live. |
| New licensees | First renewal is different: new licensees have adjusted first-cycle requirements (proration and/or first-cycle-only rules), which we apply automatically. |
| Approved providers | Qualifying CE may be offered or sponsored by national professional association, regional professional association, state professional association, accredited university, governmental agency, licensed hospital, and licensing board other jurisdiction and recognized associations in counseling, mft, social work, psychology, psychiatry, and psychiatric nursing. |
| Board audit | The board may audit licensees to verify CE compliance. |
| Provisional renewal | The board allows a provisional/conditional renewal for up to 6 months before full compliance is required. Audit-deficiency cure: when a CE audit disqualifies hours, the Board renews the license conditionally and provides 6 months from the notice of deficiency to obtain the required hours. Not renewable; failure to cure may result in discipline. |
Total hours
35 hours every 2 years.
Renewal
Biennial cycle: tied to your license's renewal (expiration) date.
Ethics
5 hours required each cycle.
Core Counseling
15 hours required each cycle.
Format limits
Up to 10 hours may be completed through home study / self-study.
Up to 20 hours may be completed through home study / self-study.
At least 5 hours must be earned live.
New licensees
First renewal is different: new licensees have adjusted first-cycle requirements (proration and/or first-cycle-only rules), which we apply automatically.
Approved providers
Qualifying CE may be offered or sponsored by national professional association, regional professional association, state professional association, accredited university, governmental agency, licensed hospital, and licensing board other jurisdiction and recognized associations in counseling, mft, social work, psychology, psychiatry, and psychiatric nursing.
Board audit
The board may audit licensees to verify CE compliance.
Provisional renewal
The board allows a provisional/conditional renewal for up to 6 months before full compliance is required. Audit-deficiency cure: when a CE audit disqualifies hours, the Board renews the license conditionally and provides 6 months from the notice of deficiency to obtain the required hours. Not renewable; failure to cure may result in discipline.
Full board policy details
- At least 25 of the 35 hours must be obtained through synchronous (live, real-time interactive) activities. A maximum of 10 hours per cycle may be obtained asynchronously (self-paced, recorded). Live webinars with full real-time participation qualify as synchronous and are treated equivalently to in-person training.
- Independent study (self-directed activities such as writing papers/books, preparing presentations, research, etc.) is capped at 5 hours per cycle. Independent study hours may NOT be used to satisfy the ethics requirement or the core hours requirement. Documentation via notarized affidavit required if audited.
- The 5 required ethics hours must be obtained through synchronous activities only (live in-person or live interactive webinar). Recorded or self-paced ethics courses are not accepted.
- No more than 20 hours of continuing education may be claimed from any single CE program, course, workshop, presentation, or academic course. Multi-session conferences with multiple distinct workshops are not subject to this single-event cap.
- Academic coursework conversion: 1 semester hour = 15 CE hours; 1 quarter hour = 10 CE hours, up to a maximum of 20 CE hours per course. Graduate course must be from an academic department in the relevant specialty at an accredited institution.
- Course repeat restrictions: The rule does not explicitly prohibit repeating the same CE course for credit within a cycle, but the 20-hour per-single-activity cap applies. Instructor/presenter credit is not separately awarded; preparing and delivering a presentation falls under independent study (capped at 5 hours per cycle regardless of how many times the same material is taught).
- License status rules: Full licensees (LPC) may elect Inactive status (not available for Associate Professional Counselors). While inactive, no CE or renewal fees are required. Inactive status is limited to 5 years; failure to reactivate within 5 years results in administrative revocation. To reactivate, the licensee must submit evidence of 35 hours of continuing education (including 5 ethics hours, per Rule 135-9) obtained within the 2 years preceding the reactivation application. After more than 5 years inactive, reinstatement under Rule 135-6-.04 is required.
- Hardship waiver: The Board may waive CE requirements for up to 12 months upon a licensee's satisfactory showing of undue hardship (per O.C.G.A. § 43-10A-16).
- Dual-license credit reuse: A licensee holding more than one license under the Composite Board (e.g., dual LPC/LMFT) may apply the same CE hour toward renewal of both licenses, provided the hour meets the requirements for each specialty. Each license's core-hour distribution must still be satisfied independently.
- Audit deficiency cure: If a post-renewal audit disqualifies CE hours and the licensee no longer meets requirements, the license is renewed conditionally and the licensee has 6 months from notice of deficiency to obtain the required hours. Failure to cure within 6 months may result in discipline.
- Supersession carve-out to the first-renewal CE exemption: when an Associate Professional Counselor (APC) license is superseded by issuance of a full LPC license (or, on the MFT side, when an Associate MFT license is superseded by an LMFT license, or an MSW by an LCSW), the first-renewal CE exemption does NOT apply to the upgraded license. The licensee must satisfy the full 35-hour CE requirement at the first renewal of the new license. The engine does not currently detect supersession (LicenseContext has no previously_held_license_type field), so this constraint is enforced descriptively rather than structurally — reviewers auditing first-renewal exemptions must manually confirm the licensee was not promoted from an associate-level license.
- Standards Committee discretion: the Board's Standards Committee may, at its discretion, accept CE hours obtained from sources substantially similar to the provider types and disciplines enumerated in credit_admissibility (national/regional/state professional associations, accredited universities, governmental agencies, licensed hospitals, other-jurisdiction licensing boards, and the listed mental-health disciplines). This is an equivalency catch-all — providers not literally on the list may still qualify if the Committee deems them substantially similar. Informational only; the credit_admissibility lists remain the structured qualifying-provider definition.
We turn all of this (every category, format limit, and one-time rule) into a live checklist on your Georgia LPC / APC record, and reapply board changes automatically as they happen.
Track Georgia LPC / APC CE free →Georgia LPC & APC CE: frequently asked questions
How many CE hours do Georgia LPC / APC licensees need?
Georgia requires 35 continuing education hours every 2 years to renew a LPC / APC license. Biennial cycle: tied to your license's renewal (expiration) date.
How many ethics hours are required for Georgia LPC / APC licensees?
Of the total, 5 hours must be in ethics.
How often do Georgia LPC / APC licensees renew?
Biennial cycle: tied to your license's renewal (expiration) date.
Are there subject-specific CE requirements for Georgia LPC / APC licensees?
Yes. In addition to ethics, Georgia requires 15 hours of core counseling.
Can Georgia LPC / APC licensees complete CE online or by home study?
Up to 10 hours may be completed through home study / self-study. Up to 20 hours may be completed through home study / self-study. At least 5 hours must be earned live.
Is the first renewal different for new Georgia LPC / APC licensees?
First renewal is different: new licensees have adjusted first-cycle requirements (proration and/or first-cycle-only rules), which we apply automatically.
Sources & verification
- State source
- Georgia board rule
- Profession source
- NBCC continuing education guidance
- Last verified
- May 2026
- Ruleset version
- 2026.1
Reviewed against the Georgia board source and refreshed from the compiled ruleset above. Methodology and disclaimer. Compliance data is informational only and not legal or board advice. Always verify requirements with your licensing board before you renew. See something wrong? Report it →
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