Missouri LPC Continuing Education Requirements
Missouri counselors must complete 40 continuing education hours every 2 years to renew their LPC license, including 20 hours of formal continuing education and 2 hours of suicide assessment.
40
total hours / 2 years
2
suicide assessment hours
20
formal continuing education hours
Biennial renewal · calculating the next statewide deadline
Missouri LPC requirements
| Requirement | Notes |
|---|---|
| Total continuing education | 40 hours every 2 years. |
| Renewal | Biennial cycle: CE due by June 30 of odd years. |
| Formal Continuing Education | 20 hours required each cycle. |
| Suicide Assessment | 2 hours required each cycle. |
| Format limits | Up to 20 hours may be completed through home study / self-study. |
| Approved providers | Qualifying CE may be offered or sponsored by national professional association, regional professional association, state professional association, accredited university, and national certifying body and recognized associations in counseling, mft, social work, psychology, psychiatry, and medicine. |
| Recordkeeping | Keep CE documentation for 4 years after each renewal. |
| Board audit | The board may audit licensees to verify CE compliance. |
| Late renewal | A late renewal allows a late fee. |
| Provisional renewal | The board allows a provisional/conditional renewal for up to 24 months before full compliance is required. Missouri does not offer a true conditional renewal for CE-deficient licensees. The licensee must either complete CE by the deadline or obtain a hardship extension/waiver in advance (request must be filed at least 30 days before expiration). If the license lapses, reinstatement is available within 24 months upon application, renewal fee, and a delinquency fee. |
Limits on how the hours are earned
Board caps and floors on where the 40 hours can come from.
- home study / self-studymax 20 hrs
- continuing education workshop instructionmax 4 hrs
- faculty teachingmax 20 hrs
Keeping the proof in order: what to keep for a CE audit, with every state’s retention period and what the audit notice asks for.
Full board policy details
- Acceptable providers include the American Medical Association (AMA) and its chapters or divisions. CE sponsored or approved by the AMA and its constituent/component bodies qualifies; accordingly, medicine is an accepted provider discipline alongside counseling, marriage and family therapy, social work, psychology, and psychiatry.
- At least 20 of the 40 hours each cycle must be formal CE (a regulatory activity category that includes academic courses, verified meetings, publications, presentations, workshops, seminars, conferences, and qualifying teaching). No more than 20 hours may be self-study (independent reading, videos, talk preparation, etc.).
- Live-interactive online training (webinars, online courses from approved providers with documentation of completion) is treated as formal CE — there is no in-person attendance requirement. The distinction is formal-vs-self-study, not physical presence.
- Conference/meeting attendance without broken-out verified CE sessions is capped at 3 hours of credit per full day of attendance.
- Academic credit conversion: 1 semester credit hour from a regionally accredited college/university = 15 CE hours.
- Publication credit: refereed journal article = 6 hours; editing a book = 10 hours; authoring a book = 15 hours. Each unique publication may be claimed only once.
- Teaching/presentation activities: faculty teaching counseling courses may claim up to 20 hours per year; teaching CE workshops capped at 4 hours per cycle. No credit shall be granted for any subsequent presentation on the same subject matter during the same renewal period (instructor repeat restriction).
- No double-counting of presentation preparation: time spent preparing for a presentation, workshop, or course that is claimed as formal (teaching) CE may not ALSO be counted as self-study CE. Talk preparation counts toward the self-study allowance only when the presentation itself is not credited as formal CE — a single activity cannot yield both formal and self-study hours.
- REPEAT RESTRICTIONS: No credit is awarded for a subsequent presentation of the same subject matter during the same renewal period, and each publication may be counted only once. The current rule does not impose a blanket repeat ban on attendees.
- FIRST-RENEWAL LIMITATION: 20 CSR 2095-1.070 ties an exemption to whether the LPC was licensed before July 1 of an even year. Because the product does not evaluate that issue-date/year-parity condition, no universal is_first_renewal override is encoded. The Board's older CE summary describes a separate 20-hour first-cycle case; licensees near this boundary require manual review.
- LICENSE STATUS RULES: Missouri does not have a formal inactive or retired license category. An unrenewed license simply expires; while expired the licensee cannot practice but is not accruing CE. Reinstatement is available within 2 years of expiration upon written application, renewal fee, and a delinquency fee — the committee may request documentation of CE that should have been completed during the lapsed period. After 2 years lapsed, a person must re-apply for licensure as a new applicant. Hardship extensions or waivers (illness, military service, other circumstances beyond control) may be requested at least 30 days before expiration; the committee has sole discretion.
We turn every category, format limit, and one-time rule on this page into a live checklist on your Missouri LPC record, and reapply board changes automatically as they happen.
Track Missouri LPC CE free →Missouri LPC CE: frequently asked questions
How many CE hours do Missouri LPC licensees need?
Missouri requires 40 continuing education hours every 2 years to renew a LPC license. Biennial cycle: CE due by June 30 of odd years.
How often do Missouri LPC licensees renew?
Biennial cycle: CE due by June 30 of odd years.
Are there subject-specific CE requirements for Missouri LPC licensees?
Yes. In addition to ethics, Missouri requires 20 hours of formal continuing education, 2 hours of suicide assessment.
Can Missouri LPC licensees complete CE online or by home study?
Up to 20 hours may be completed through home study / self-study.
Sources & verification
- State source
- Missouri board rule
- Profession source
- NBCC continuing education guidance
- Last verified
- August 2026
- Ruleset version
- 2026.3
Reviewed against the Missouri board source and refreshed 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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Create your free recordMissouriguides & data
What to keep for a CE audit
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