Updated for 2026

Tennessee LPC & LPC-MHSP Continuing Education Requirements

Tennessee counselors must complete 20 continuing education hours every 2 years to renew their LPC / LPC-MHSP license, including 3 hours of ethics and jurisprudence.

20hours every 2 years
Topic minimums, counted within the 20
3ethics and jurisprudence

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

What the board saysTennessee board rule
Each person registered with the Board is required to complete twenty (20) clock hours of continuing education every two (2) calendar years1. … Three (3) clock hours2 of the twenty (20) clock hour biennial requirement shall, pertain to the following subjects: (i) Professional ethics2; and/or (ii) Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 63, Chapter 222; and/or (iii) Official Compilation, Rules and Regulations of the State of Tennessee, Chapter 0450-01.
What it means
  1. 20 hours every 2 calendar years
  2. 3 hours of ethics and jurisprudence (ethics, the practice act, or board rules)
Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0450-01-.12Last verified August 2026Ruleset 2026.5How we verify
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Requirements

Tennessee LPC & LPC-MHSP requirements

Total

20 hoursYou need 20 hours every 2 years. The renewal cycle is biennial, and your license renews at the end of your birth month.

Topic minimums, counted within the 20

The remaining 17 hours are not tied to a topic minimum.
Ethics and Jurisprudence
3
You need 3 hours each cycle.

Cycle and record rules

Renewal
The renewal cycle is biennial, and your license renews at the end of your birth month.
Approved providers
Tennessee does not pre-approve individual CE programs. Before enrolling, confirm that the activity fits Rule 0450-01-.12. Qualifying options include relevant master's or doctoral coursework from a nationally or regionally accredited institution, programs sponsored by national, state, regional, or local professional associations in counseling, and profession-related events for which an accredited institution awards CEUs. You are responsible for deciding whether a course is appropriate, so keep the course description and completion certificate in case the Board audits you.
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 30-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 your renewal.

Your result appears here as you enter hours.

Open the full LPC CE hours calculator

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

Tennessee LPC & LPC-MHSP required trainings and mandates

Beyond the 20-hour CE total, Tennessee requires specific trainings. Some are due once around initial licensure, and others run on their own recurring schedule.

Recurring mandates outside the 2-year cycle

  • You need 2 hours of suicide prevention every 5 years.
Full board policy details
  • Multi-media (internet, correspondence, video, audio, CD-ROM, DVD, teleconference, videoconference, and other distance-learning formats requiring a written post-experience examination) is capped at 10 hours during the two-calendar-year accrual period for a single license. The cap rises to 15 hours for licensees holding two of this Board's licenses and 20 hours for those holding three. Because the rule expressly includes internet and videoconferencing, this regulatory category is not equivalent to self-study; credits must be tagged as multimedia for the structured cap to evaluate them.
  • No CE is required during the calendar year in which the license was initially approved. The engine cannot subtract that calendar year using only is first renewal without the approval date, so this exception remains a manual first-renewal check rather than a prorated structured total.
  • Suicide-prevention exemption for new licensees: an applicant for initial licensure on or after January 1, 2020 who completed a qualifying two-hour academic suicide-prevention training within the two years prior to licensure is not required to complete a separate suicide-prevention CE for two years (their first renewal cycle) after the date of initial licensure. Encoded structurally via applies when on the suicide prevention requirement (suppressed when this is the licensee's first renewal AND proof of the academic training was submitted at licensure).
  • Teaching, presenting, publishing, holding office, board/committee participation, business meetings, banquet speeches, and routine job duties do NOT qualify for CE credit in Tennessee. Only attendance at approved educational programs (and qualifying academic coursework from accredited institutions) counts.
  • Repeating an identical CE course within the same renewal cycle is not explicitly prohibited by rule, but the Board treats each CE hour as a unique educational experience; identical content taken twice in a cycle is generally not credited twice.
  • Inactive/retired status: a licensee in retired status is exempt from CE during retirement. To reactivate within one year of retirement, the licensee must complete the CE that would have been required had the license remained active. To reactivate after more than one year of retirement, the licensee must show 10 hours of CE completed in the 12 months immediately preceding reactivation. CE completed for reactivation cannot also be counted toward the next renewal cycle. The Board may waive or modify reactivation CE upon written request in emergency circumstances.
  • Reinstating an expired license: the licensee must show CE equal to what would have been required had the license remained active, completed within the 12 months immediately preceding the reinstatement application, plus any late fees.
  • License revoked for CE noncompliance: a license revoked for failure to comply with the continuing-education requirement may be reinstated only after the licensee completes the required CE hours. Completing the missed CE hours is a positive condition of reinstatement eligibility.
  • Hardship waiver/extension: the Board may waive or extend the CE requirement for a given renewal cycle if compliance is beyond the physical or mental capabilities of the licensee. A written request with supporting documentation must be submitted before December 31 of the year CE is due. Waivers apply only to the cycle for which they are granted.
  • For licensees holding multiple licenses under this Board (LPC + LMFT or LPC + LMFT + LCPT), at least 10 of the required CE hours must pertain to each field of licensure. The 3-hour ethics/jurisprudence requirement is a single 3 hours total, not 3 per license.
  • Renewal is due on the last day of the licensee's birth month under the Division of Health Related Boards' biennial birthdate renewal system (Rule 0450-01-.09(1)(a)); the expiration printed on the certificate governs. An initial license is not issued for a whole two-year cycle: its first expiration is set at the birth-month boundary roughly two to three years after issuance (a 2025-10-30 issue date carried a 2028-11-30 expiration), so the first renewal window runs from issuance to the printed expiration rather than stepping back 24 months from it.

Tennessee LPC & LPC-MHSP CE: frequently asked questions

How many CE hours do Tennessee LPC / LPC-MHSP licensees need?

Tennessee requires 20 continuing education hours every 2 years to renew a LPC / LPC-MHSP license. The renewal cycle is biennial, and your license renews at the end of your birth month.

How many ethics hours are required for Tennessee LPC / LPC-MHSP licensees?

Of the total, 3 hours must be in ethics and jurisprudence.

How often do Tennessee LPC / LPC-MHSP licensees renew?

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

Sources and verification

State source
Tennessee board rule
Profession source
NBCC continuing education guidance
Last verified
August 2026
Ruleset version
2026.5

We reviewed this page against the Tennessee 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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Tennessee 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.Tennessee mental health workforce data →19,801 active providers, or 270.7 per 100,000 residents, ranked 47 of 51. The page includes a county density map and free CSV downloads.

Other Tennessee CE requirement pages

Tennessee LMFTTennessee LCSWTennessee PsychologistTennessee Addiction CounselorTennessee PMHNP

LPC CE requirements in other states