Pennsylvania Psychologist Continuing Education Requirements
Pennsylvania psychologists must complete 30 continuing education hours every 2 years to renew their Psychologist license, including 3 hours of ethics, 2 hours of child abuse recognition and reporting, and 1 hour of suicide prevention.
30
total hours / 2 years
3
ethics hours
1
suicide prevention hours
2
child abuse recognition and reporting hours
Biennial renewal · calculating the next statewide deadline
Pennsylvania Psychologist requirements
| Requirement | Notes |
|---|---|
| Total continuing education | 30 hours every 2 years. |
| Renewal | Biennial cycle: CE due by November 30 of odd years. |
| Renewal fee | $300 board renewal fee every 2 years. |
| Ethics | 3 hours required each cycle. |
| Child Abuse Recognition and Reporting | 2 hours required each cycle. |
| Suicide Prevention | 1 hour required each cycle. |
| Format limits | Up to 15 hours may be completed through home study / self-study. |
| Carryover | Up to 10 unused hours can carry into the next cycle. |
| New licensees | First biennial renewal: the Board exempts a psychologist who received a license within 2 years of the first application for biennial renewal from the 30-hour continuing-education requirement (including the ethics and suicide-prevention minimums) - the only first-renewal requirement is 2 hours of child abuse recognition and reporting training under 49 Pa. Code 41.77(b) (41.59(h)(1)). Because every license expires on the common November 30 odd-year date regardless of issuance (41.11(c)), an ordinary first renewal always falls within 2 years of licensure. The full 30-hour requirement begins with the second renewal. |
| Approved providers | Course and program credit must come from Board-approved sponsors: 'Courses and programs approved by Board-approved sponsors will be accepted as satisfying all or part of the continuing education requirement,' and it is the psychologist's responsibility to ascertain the sponsor's approval status before undertaking the activity (49 Pa. Code 41.59(d)(1)). The approved sponsor classes are (i) accredited colleges or universities where the course corresponds to the scope of practice of psychology and generates semester/quarter hour credit, (ii) the American Psychological Association and APA-approved sponsors, and (iii) AMA-approved sponsors meeting the 41.59(d)(4) criteria whose programs relate to the practice of psychology (41.59(d)(3)); the Board also approves, on a biennial basis and on application ($165 fee, 41.12), national and regional professional associations and their approved sponsors (41.59(d)(4)), and publishes a Board Approved CE Sponsors/Providers list on its renewal page. Home study courses must likewise be offered by approved sponsors (41.59(e)). Irrespective of sponsor, the Board may reject a course that is outside the scope of practice of psychology or otherwise unacceptable - courses unrelated to actual practice, for example office management or practice building, are not accepted (41.59(d)(2)). Child abuse courses run through the separate DHS/Bureau approval process of 41.78 and are accepted without regard to the 41.59(d) sponsor standards (41.59(b)). Professional writing has no sponsor - admissibility turns on the publication venue (41.59(g)) - so publication credits are exempt from the provider gate. Enforcement shape: because every course/program hour must come from an approved sponsor, the engine requires each non-exempt credit to name its provider (a credit recorded with no provider at all is rejected as provider-not-approved, and the rejection is shown to the licensee); the accepted_provider_types classification list itself is informational rather than an automatic pass/fail match (provider_lists_enforced: false), since sponsor approval attaches to broad classes plus a Board-maintained list and the Board itself adjudicates acceptability - so a named provider is never auto-zeroed by its classification. |
| Recordkeeping | Keep CE documentation for 4 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 late fee. |
Limits on how the hours are earned
Board caps and floors on where the 30 hours can come from.
- home study / self-studymax 15 hrs
- teachingmax 15 hrs
- publicationmax 10 hrs
- carryovermax 10 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.
Total hours
30 hours every 2 years.
Renewal
Biennial cycle: CE due by November 30 of odd years.
Renewal fee
$300 board renewal fee every 2 years.
Ethics
3 hours required each cycle.
Child Abuse Recognition and Reporting
2 hours required each cycle.
Suicide Prevention
1 hour required each cycle.
Format limits
Up to 15 hours may be completed through home study / self-study.
Carryover
Up to 10 unused hours can carry into the next cycle.
New licensees
First biennial renewal: the Board exempts a psychologist who received a license within 2 years of the first application for biennial renewal from the 30-hour continuing-education requirement (including the ethics and suicide-prevention minimums) - the only first-renewal requirement is 2 hours of child abuse recognition and reporting training under 49 Pa. Code 41.77(b) (41.59(h)(1)). Because every license expires on the common November 30 odd-year date regardless of issuance (41.11(c)), an ordinary first renewal always falls within 2 years of licensure. The full 30-hour requirement begins with the second renewal.
Approved providers
Course and program credit must come from Board-approved sponsors: 'Courses and programs approved by Board-approved sponsors will be accepted as satisfying all or part of the continuing education requirement,' and it is the psychologist's responsibility to ascertain the sponsor's approval status before undertaking the activity (49 Pa. Code 41.59(d)(1)). The approved sponsor classes are (i) accredited colleges or universities where the course corresponds to the scope of practice of psychology and generates semester/quarter hour credit, (ii) the American Psychological Association and APA-approved sponsors, and (iii) AMA-approved sponsors meeting the 41.59(d)(4) criteria whose programs relate to the practice of psychology (41.59(d)(3)); the Board also approves, on a biennial basis and on application ($165 fee, 41.12), national and regional professional associations and their approved sponsors (41.59(d)(4)), and publishes a Board Approved CE Sponsors/Providers list on its renewal page. Home study courses must likewise be offered by approved sponsors (41.59(e)). Irrespective of sponsor, the Board may reject a course that is outside the scope of practice of psychology or otherwise unacceptable - courses unrelated to actual practice, for example office management or practice building, are not accepted (41.59(d)(2)). Child abuse courses run through the separate DHS/Bureau approval process of 41.78 and are accepted without regard to the 41.59(d) sponsor standards (41.59(b)). Professional writing has no sponsor - admissibility turns on the publication venue (41.59(g)) - so publication credits are exempt from the provider gate. Enforcement shape: because every course/program hour must come from an approved sponsor, the engine requires each non-exempt credit to name its provider (a credit recorded with no provider at all is rejected as provider-not-approved, and the rejection is shown to the licensee); the accepted_provider_types classification list itself is informational rather than an automatic pass/fail match (provider_lists_enforced: false), since sponsor approval attaches to broad classes plus a Board-maintained list and the Board itself adjudicates acceptability - so a named provider is never auto-zeroed by its classification.
Recordkeeping
Keep CE documentation for 4 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 late fee.
Full board policy details
- SPONSOR MODEL: Pennsylvania regulates course admissibility through Board-approved sponsors, not individual course preapproval. Approved sponsor classes (49 Pa. Code 41.59(d)(3)): accredited colleges/universities (course must correspond to the scope of practice of psychology and generate semester/quarter hour credit); the APA and APA-approved sponsors; AMA-approved sponsors meeting the (d)(4) criteria with programs related to psychology. National and regional professional associations and their sponsors may be approved on biennial application ($165, 41.12) if they offer courses with specific learning objectives and have a procedure for determining consumers' perceptions of whether the objectives were met (41.59(d)(4)); approval may be withdrawn for cause (41.59(d)(5)). Certificates of attendance/completion must contain the licensee's name, the date of the course/program, the number of continuing education hours earned, and a statement that the course/program was offered by an approved sponsor (Board CE Information PDF). A psychologist will be notified in writing, with reasons, of any rejected course (41.59(d)(2)).
- ACTIVITY KINDS: Three families - (1) courses and programs from approved sponsors, uncapped up to the full 30 (41.59(b), (d)); (2) instruction, up to 15 contact hours (course in psychology at a regionally accredited college/university generating credit, or a workshop for an approved sponsor, 41.59(f)); (3) professional writing, up to 10 contact hour equivalents (journal article abstracted in PSYCHLIT/PsycINFO, or chapter(s) in a text or trade book for psychologists, 41.59(g)). No named activity groups or lettered categories exist, and no rule requires hours from a minimum number of different activity kinds.
- HOME STUDY: up to 15 of the 30 hours, from approved sponsors, with specific learning objectives and sponsor evaluation of learning (49 Pa. Code 41.59(e)). Webinars are home study unless participants can interact with the instructor in real time; a real-time interactive webinar is equivalent to in-person attendance (Board CE Information PDF; PPA guidance). No per-day or per-course hour caps exist, and no minimum of in-person hours - the only format constraint is the 15-hour home-study ceiling.
- TOPIC DESIGNATION RULES: ethics credit requires 'ethics' or a derivative in the course title, or an ethics-hours designation on the completion certificate; suicide-prevention credit requires 'suicide' or a derivative in the title, or a certificate designation (Board CE Information PDF). A course meeting both definitions may be counted toward ethics OR suicide prevention, not both, and the 1 suicide-prevention hour may not be used toward the 3 ethics hours (Board CE Information PDF; PPA guidance).
- SUICIDE-PREVENTION HOUR - PROVENANCE: the 1-hour requirement comes from the Matt Adler Suicide Prevention Continuing Education Act (Act 74 of 2016, 63 P.S. 1221-1225), whose section 3 (63 P.S. 1223) directs that a licensee complete at least 1 hour of continuing education in the assessment, treatment and management of suicide risks as a portion of the total continuing education required for license renewal (quoted at 55 Pa.B. 3730). It is enforced through the Board's renewal requirements ('30 hours ... including at least 3 hours in ethics, 1 hour in suicide prevention, and 2 hours in child abuse recognition and reporting' - Board renewal page) but does not yet appear in the codified text of 41.59; the May 31, 2025 proposed rulemaking would codify it.
- CARRYOVER: up to 10 contact hours in excess of 30 from the immediately preceding biennium may be carried over (49 Pa. Code 41.59(b)). Carried hours count only toward the succeeding biennium's 30-hour total: ethics excess may not satisfy the next ethics floor (but counts toward the total), and child-abuse excess may not be carried over at all (41.59(b)); PPA guidance applies the same reading to the suicide-prevention hour (carryover cannot fulfill the ethics, suicide, or child-abuse floors). The engine credits carried hours against the total requirement only - identical to the rule's treatment of ethics excess; child-abuse hours are administered per-biennium through the provider's electronic reporting (41.77(b)).
- FIRST RENEWAL AND RECIPROCITY PRORATION: an ordinary first renewal owes only the 2 child-abuse hours (41.59(h)(1) - encoded as the first-cycle override). A psychologist licensed under 41.52 (persons licensed in other states) is NOT exempt: 'the psychologist's contact hours will be prorated on a quarterly basis from the date of licensure in this Commonwealth to the next biennial renewal date. Each quarter will consist of 3 months. Beginning with the quarter immediately following license in this Commonwealth, at least 3.75 contact hours (375 CEU) shall be earned for each quarter' (41.59(h)(2)) - the parenthetical '(375 CEU)' is a typographical artifact of the official text; 3.75 contact hours equals .375 CEU under 41.59(a) (one CEU = 10 contact hours). The child-abuse 2 hours are also required (41.59(h)(2)). Method of licensure (examination vs 41.52 reciprocity) is not a license-context dimension the engine tracks, so the engine applies the (h)(1) exemption to all first renewals and the (h)(2) quarterly proration for 41.52 licensees requires manual review. Whether (h)(2) extends to licensees admitted by endorsement under 41.52a (63 Pa.C.S. 3111) is not stated in the rule.
- REINSTATEMENT AND STATUS: a psychologist whose license is inactive or lapsed may not practice except in exempt settings (49 Pa. Code 41.13(b)) and owes no CE merely to hold inactive status - CE is a condition of biennial renewal (41.59(b)). Reactivation requires Board forms, the current biennium's renewal fee, a notarized affidavit identifying periods of nonpractice or exempt-setting practice, and proof of CE compliance - 'compliance with the continuing education requirement during the biennium immediately preceding the request for reinstatement' (41.59(i)(1)), including the child-abuse training (41.13(a)): the standard 30 hours with 3 ethics, 1 suicide prevention, and 2 child abuse, measured against the biennium before the request. A licensee whose license was suspended or restricted must show CE compliance during the period of suspension or restriction (41.59(i)(2)). Unauthorized practice while inactive/lapsed draws a late renewal fee of $5 for each month or part of a month of unauthorized practice, plus the biennial renewal fees for those bienniums (41.13(b)); the late fee is not imposed for documented nonpractice.
- WAIVERS AND DEFICIENCIES: a psychologist who cannot meet the CE requirement may apply in writing for a waiver, describing circumstances sufficient to show why compliance is impossible; requests are evaluated case-by-case at the Board's discretion (49 Pa. Code 41.59(j)). A psychologist with a deficiency may apply in writing for leave to make up contact hours in arrears, with an explanation and a cure plan (41.59(k)); the pending rulemaking proposes deleting this cure provision. No conditional or provisional registration exists for CE shortfalls.
- PENDING RULEMAKING (NOT IN FORCE): the Board proposed on May 31, 2025 to amend 41.1, 41.12 and 41.59 (55 Pa.B. 3730): moving the biennium/contact-hour definitions to 41.1 and redefining a contact hour as a minimum of 50 minutes; renaming home study to distance education and raising the cap from 15 to 30 contact hours; codifying the suicide-risk requirement and adding 3 contact hours per biennium of diversity training; adding the Canadian Psychological Association and its approved sponsors as approved sponsors; updating professional-writing requirements; clarifying reactivation, reinstatement and waiver requirements; and deleting the cure provision (41.59(k)). It becomes effective only upon final-form publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin, which has not occurred - the codified text current through 56 Pa.B. 3438 (June 6, 2026) still carries the 15-hour home-study cap and no suicide/diversity text.
- OVERLAYS AND NON-LICENSEES: Pennsylvania participates in PSYPACT (PA SB 67, enacted May 8, 2020, effective July 8, 2020) - PSYPACT authority to practice (APIT/TAP on an ASPPB E.Passport or IPC) is a mobility overlay on the Pennsylvania license with its own ASPPB-side renewal and adds no hours to this CE requirement. Pennsylvania grants psychologists no prescriptive authority; Chapter 41 contains no prescription-certificate tier or associated CE. This file covers the Psychologist license - the Board's only plenary, biennially renewable license (41.11); PhD, PsyD, and EdD holders all hold this same license. The provisional endorsement license (41.52b, up to 1 year plus one extension while an endorsement application is pending) and the 41.52(c) temporary out-of-state practice permission (6 months plus one extension) are time-limited tiers with no biennial renewal or CE obligation. Unlicensed professional employees with graduate training in psychology work under the full direction, control and supervision of a licensed psychologist (41.58) - Pennsylvania issues no psychological associate license. School psychologists are certified by the Department of Education (Educational Specialist I or II); their private practice of school psychology requires that PDE certificate plus concurrent school employment (41.56) - a different regulator.
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How many CE hours do Pennsylvania Psychologist licensees need?
Pennsylvania requires 30 continuing education hours every 2 years to renew a Psychologist license. Biennial cycle: CE due by November 30 of odd years.
How many ethics hours are required for Pennsylvania Psychologist licensees?
Of the total, 3 hours must be in ethics.
How often do Pennsylvania Psychologist licensees renew?
Biennial cycle: CE due by November 30 of odd years.
How much does Pennsylvania Psychologist license renewal cost?
The board's renewal fee is $300 every 2 years, per the Pennsylvania board fee schedule. CE course costs are separate and set by course providers.
Are there subject-specific CE requirements for Pennsylvania Psychologist licensees?
Yes. In addition to ethics, Pennsylvania requires 2 hours of child abuse recognition and reporting, 1 hour of suicide prevention.
Can Pennsylvania Psychologist licensees complete CE online or by home study?
Up to 15 hours may be completed through home study / self-study.
Is the first renewal different for new Pennsylvania Psychologist licensees?
First biennial renewal: the Board exempts a psychologist who received a license within 2 years of the first application for biennial renewal from the 30-hour continuing-education requirement (including the ethics and suicide-prevention minimums) - the only first-renewal requirement is 2 hours of child abuse recognition and reporting training under 49 Pa. Code 41.77(b) (41.59(h)(1)). Because every license expires on the common November 30 odd-year date regardless of issuance (41.11(c)), an ordinary first renewal always falls within 2 years of licensure. The full 30-hour requirement begins with the second renewal.
Sources & verification
- State source
- Pennsylvania board rule
- Fee schedule
- Pennsylvania board fee schedule
- Last verified
- August 2026
- Ruleset version
- 2026.1
Reviewed against the Pennsylvania 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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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.
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