Updated for 2026

New Mexico Psychologist Continuing Education Requirements

New Mexico psychologists must complete 40 continuing education hours every 2 years to renew their Psychologist license, including 4 hours of ethics, 15 hours of sponsored continuing education, 4 hours of equity and inclusion, and 2 hours of cultural competency.

total hours / 2 years

ethics hours

cultural competency hours

equity and inclusion hours

New Mexico Psychologist requirements

Requirement	Notes
Total continuing education	40 hours every 2 years.
Renewal	Biennial cycle: tied to your license's renewal (expiration) date.
Renewal fee	$500 board renewal fee every 2 years; a late (delinquent) renewal adds a $100 fee.
Ethics	4 hours required each cycle.
Sponsored Continuing Education	15 hours required each cycle.
Equity and Inclusion	4 hours required each cycle.
Cultural Competency	2 hours required each cycle.
New licensees	New licensees owe no regular CPE for the period from initial licensure to their first renewal ("They shall have no CPE requirement during this initial licensing period from issuance to renewal" — 16.22.9.12.A NMAC). The only first-cycle obligation is 8 hours of board-approved New Mexico cultural awareness coursework completed before the first renewal (16.22.9.12.B NMAC).
Approved providers	Provider classification is enforced only for credits tagged as category I (sponsored/formal programs): those must be approved by or under the auspices of an accredited institution of higher education offering graduate instruction, or certified/recognized by one of the ten organizations enumerated in 16.22.9.9.A(2) NMAC (APA, American psychiatric association, AMA, AAMFT, ACA, international congress of psychology, NASW, New Mexico psychological association, NASP, or the New Mexico state board of psychologist examiners). Category II experiential activities (presentations, publications, service) have no sponsor; category II independent/home study must also be conducted by the listed agencies (16.22.9.9.B(1) NMAC), which is recorded in the format rules.
Recordkeeping	Keep CE documentation for 2 years after the end of each cycle.
Board audit	The board may audit licensees to verify CE compliance.
Late renewal	A late renewal allows a $100 late fee.

Limits on how the hours are earned

Board caps and floors on where the 40 hours can come from.

board servicemax 20 hrs
teachingmax 8 hrs
professional servicemax 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

TIER STRUCTURE: New Mexico divides CPE into two activity categories (16.22.9.9 NMAC). Category I — formally designed programs presented in a group setting with monitored attendance (university-affiliated workshops/classes with rosters, programs certified or recognized by the ten organizations listed in 16.22.9.9.A(2), formal graduate courses at 5 credits per semester credit, participation in the board up to 20 hours, advanced certification up to 15 credits, and online education with verified attendance). Category II — experiences outside formal presentations (independent/home study, convention presentations, publications, books, first-time teaching, association service). At least 15 of the 40 hours must be category I (16.22.9.8.C NMAC), so at most 25 hours per cycle can come from category II. Credits from category I programs should carry the Category I (sponsored/formal program) tier tag so the floor can count them.
SELF-STUDY / HOME STUDY: no absolute cap. "Non-supervised independent study or home study programs, including online programs, conducted by accrediting agencies listed in Paragraph (2) of Subsection A of 16.22.9.9 NMAC will be granted hour-for-hour CPE credit" (16.22.9.9.B(1) NMAC) — category II, so home study is limited only by the 15-hour category I floor (arithmetic maximum 25 of 40 hours). Home-study programs must come from the same listed accrediting agencies; that provider condition on category II study is recorded here because the structured provider gate is scoped to the category I tier.
LIVE / ONLINE FORMAT: there is no minimum live or in-person hour requirement. "Online education qualifies as category I if: (a) it meets the above criteria; (b) attendance is verified by the instructor's organization, e.g., electronically monitoring when the learner is online" (16.22.9.9.A(6) NMAC); non-monitored online programs are category II home study. No per-day or per-course credit caps exist for course attendance.
NO CARRYOVER: "No hours shall be carried over from one compliance-reporting period to another compliance reporting period." (16.22.9.10.A NMAC).
EXCLUDED ACTIVITIES: "The board shall not allow continuing education credit for personal psychotherapy, workshops for personal growth, the provision of paid or volunteer services to professional associations other than APA or statewide associations of licensed psychologists in New Mexico, foreign language courses, computer training, office management, or practice building." (16.22.9.11.A NMAC).
BOARD PARTICIPATION SATISFIES ETHICS: "Participation in the board will be granted hour-for-hour CPE credit up to 20 hours. These hours satisfy the ethics CPE requirement." (16.22.9.9.A(4) NMAC). The engine cannot let one category's hours automatically discharge another category's minimum, so board-participation credits should be tagged with Board or Committee Service (for the 20-hour cap), Ethics (per this provision), and the Category I tier (it is a category I activity) — the tags make the ethics minimum, the category I floor, and the cap all bind on the same credit, which is exactly what the rule states.
FIRST-TIME-ONLY CREDIT: teaching/presenting earns credit only "for the first time the presentation is made or the course is taught"; new material in an existing course may be claimed up to eight hours "the first time it is presented" (16.22.9.9.B(5) NMAC); convention presentations earn four hours "for the first time each scientific or professional presentation was made" (16.22.9.9.B(2) NMAC). No rule prohibits a licensee from repeating a course they attend.
PRESCRIBING PSYCHOLOGIST OVERLAY: conditional and unrestricted prescribing psychologists owe 60 hours of CPE per biennium, of which 40 hours must be psychopharmacology or psychopharmacotherapy (16.22.9.8.B and 16.22.9.8.C(4) NMAC) — encoded as a conditional requirement gated on a prescription-certificate endorsement. The prescription certificate itself renews biennially at $125 (16.22.13.8.C(3) NMAC). PSYPACT: New Mexico is NOT a participating state as of 2026-08-09 — HB 33 (2026 regular session) passed the House but stalled in the Senate Judiciary Committee and did not become law. The prescribing obligation is an overlay recorded distinctly from the ordinary 40-hour requirement; the prescription certificate has its own biennial renewal fee line, and the rule text does not describe a separate CPE reporting form or process — the biennial attestation at renewal covers the licensee's full CPE obligation.
SPONSOR STANDARDS: "The board accepts the criteria of the national professional organizations listed in 16.22.9.9 NMAC in accrediting continuing education hours." (16.22.9.8.D NMAC). The criteria in 16.22.9.8.D(1)-(6), adapted from APA's Standards and Criteria for Approval of Sponsors of Continuing Education for Psychologists (2009), apply to New Mexico accrediting organizations when approving continuing education requests: content grounded in a methodical, theoretical, research, or practice knowledge base; qualified instructors teaching at a post-doctoral level; accuracy/utility and risk statements during each presentation; content building on a completed doctoral program; relevance to psychological practice, education, or science; and disclosure of commercial support and conflicts of interest. These are standards the accrediting organizations apply to programs — not licensee-side hour requirements — so they are recorded here rather than as engine-evaluated requirements.
EXTENSIONS: "Extensions of time for completing and reporting CPE requirements shall be granted for good cause only upon a written request filed with the board by the licensee prior to the date for compliance. Unless extenuating circumstances beyond the control of the licensee cause extraordinary hardship, the extension of time … shall not exceed one (1) year. The board may grant one extension of time of up to sixty (60) calendar days for filing a request for the extension of time upon a finding of good cause" (16.22.9.10.B(2) NMAC). Credits completed under an approved extension require manual review — the engine cannot condition the accrual window on a case-by-case approval.
RENEWAL COHORTS: licensees renew "biennially on or before July 1 of alternate years" (16.22.8.8 NMAC). The rule does not assign a statewide even/odd cohort — each licensee's two-year window ends at their own July 1 expiration, so the cycle is anchored to the license expiration date rather than a statewide phase year. New licensees renew "for two (2) years at the first renewal period following the issuing of their license" (16.22.9.12.A NMAC); the fee schedule's "one-time annual renewal … meeting first-year New Mexico licensure requirements" (16.22.13.8.C(1) NMAC) aligns first-year licensees onto the July-1 biennial clock.
INACTIVE / RETIRED STATUS: NOT exempt from CPE — "Licenses on retirement or inactive status as provided in Part 10 are not exempt from CPE requirements of this Part 9" (16.22.9.10.B(1) NMAC). An inactive licensee may not practice (16.22.10.8.C NMAC) and renews annually at $50 (16.22.13.8.C(4) NMAC). Reinstatement to active status within three years requires an application, satisfactory proof of completion of the Part 9 CE requirements, and the $300 reinstatement fee; after three years it additionally requires passing the online jurisprudence examination (16.22.10.9 NMAC).

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New Mexico Psychologist CE: frequently asked questions

How many CE hours do New Mexico Psychologist licensees need?

New Mexico requires 40 continuing education hours every 2 years to renew a Psychologist license. Biennial cycle: tied to your license's renewal (expiration) date.

How many ethics hours are required for New Mexico Psychologist licensees?

Of the total, 4 hours must be in ethics.

How often do New Mexico Psychologist licensees renew?

Biennial cycle: tied to your license's renewal (expiration) date.

How much does New Mexico Psychologist license renewal cost?

The board's renewal fee is $500 every 2 years, per the New Mexico board fee schedule. Renewing late adds a $100 delinquency fee on top. CE course costs are separate and set by course providers.

Are there subject-specific CE requirements for New Mexico Psychologist licensees?

Yes. In addition to ethics, New Mexico requires 15 hours of sponsored continuing education, 4 hours of equity and inclusion, 2 hours of cultural competency.

Is the first renewal different for new New Mexico Psychologist licensees?

New licensees owe no regular CPE for the period from initial licensure to their first renewal ("They shall have no CPE requirement during this initial licensing period from issuance to renewal" — 16.22.9.12.A NMAC). The only first-cycle obligation is 8 hours of board-approved New Mexico cultural awareness coursework completed before the first renewal (16.22.9.12.B NMAC).

Sources & verification

State source: New Mexico board rule
Fee schedule: New Mexico board fee schedule
Last verified: August 2026
Ruleset version: 2026.1

Reviewed against the New Mexico 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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New Mexicoguides & data

What to keep for a CE audit

What boards ask for in a CE audit, how long each state says to keep certificates, what the notice looks like, and a printable checklist.

New Mexico mental health workforce data

13,693 active providers, or 644.2 per 100,000 residents, ranked 9 of 51. County density map and free CSV downloads.

Other New Mexico CE requirement pages

New Mexico LPC New Mexico LMFT New Mexico LCSW