Updated for 2026

Washington Psychologist Continuing Education Requirements

Washington psychologists must complete 60 continuing education hours every 3 years to renew their Psychologist license, including 4 hours of ethics and 2 hours of health equity.

total hours / 3 years

ethics hours

health equity hours

Triennial · renewal date depends on the licensee's birth month.

Washington Psychologist requirements

Requirement	Notes
Total continuing education	60 hours every 3 years.
Renewal	Triennial cycle: renews at the end of your birth month.
Renewal fee	$295 board renewal fee every 3 years; a late (delinquent) renewal adds a $150 fee.
Ethics	4 hours required each cycle.
Health Equity	2 hours required each cycle.
Approved providers	Washington enforces no provider-approval gate: "The board does not review individual courses for preapproval." (WAC 246-924-240(3)). Substantive eligibility is activity-level — "All continuing education (CE) activities must be directly relevant to maintaining or increasing professional or scientific competence in psychology" (246-924-240(1)), and "Courses or workshops primarily designed to increase practice income or office efficiency, are specifically noneligible for CE credit" (246-924-240(2)). Qualifying sponsors are described, not rostered: accredited institutions offering graduate-level coursework, the American Psychological Association, regional or state psychological associations or their subchapters, psychology internship training centers, "[o]ther professionally or scientifically recognized behavioral science organizations," and the board itself (246-924-240(4)) — the open-ended catch-all in (4)(e) makes this a qualification description rather than an enforceable closed list, and the burden is on the licensee to show at audit that completed CE meets the rule (DOH psychologist CE page). The must_be_within_cycle_window flag is set because excess hours "cannot be carried forward to the next reporting cycle" (WAC 246-12-230); the no-repeat flag encodes "The same course taken more than once during a reporting cycle will only be counted once." (WAC 246-12-240). A credit hour is at least fifty minutes of time actually spent (WAC 246-12-220).
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 $150 late fee.
Other mandates	"Six hours in suicide prevention, every six years. Qualifying trainings must meet the standards in WAC 246-924-255 and be listed on the department's model list." (WAC 246-924-230(1)(c)); "Each licensed psychologist shall, at least once every six years, complete a six-hour training in suicide prevention" (WAC 246-924-255(1); RCW 43.70.442(1)(a)(vi)). The six-year cadence spans two three-year CE cycles, so it is evaluated as a rolling 72-month lookback rather than a per-cycle topic floor.

Limits on how the hours are earned

Board caps and floors on where the 60 hours can come from.

jurisprudence / state lawmax 1 hrs
teachingmax 30 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.

Washington Psychologistrequired trainings & mandates

Beyond the 60-hour CE total, Washington requires specific trainings — some once around initial licensure, some on their own recurring schedule.

Recurring mandates outside the 3 years cycle

"Six hours in suicide prevention, every six years. Qualifying trainings must meet the standards in WAC 246-924-255 and be listed on the department's model list." (WAC 246-924-230(1)(c)); "Each licensed psychologist shall, at least once every six years, complete a six-hour training in suicide prevention" (WAC 246-924-255(1); RCW 43.70.442(1)(a)(vi)). The six-year cadence spans two three-year CE cycles, so it is evaluated as a rolling 72-month lookback rather than a per-cycle topic floor.

Full board policy details

STRUCTURE: Washington enumerates no general activity-type list, no named or lettered activity groups, and no rule requiring hours from a minimum number of categories (WAC 246-924-240). The only distinctly-treated activities are teaching/panel presentation (30-hour cap, encoded as teaching_cap) and the jurisprudence examination (one hour per cycle, encoded as jurisprudence_cap); everything else is ordinary sponsor-offered coursework. The board may additionally award discretionary total or partial credit for an APA CE-program recognition award or certificate, an ABPP or ABPH diplomate award, or other specialty-board certifications "if and when they are established" (WAC 246-924-250(2)) — discretionary and unquantified, so it remains prose-only by design.
FORMAT: No delivery-format quotas exist. All 60 hours may be completed online ("Yes, you may complete all 60 continuing education activities online." — DOH psychologist CE page), online and in-person activities are credited identically, there is no live or in-person minimum, and no per-day or per-course limit appears anywhere in WAC 246-924-180 through -330 — every engine verdict is identical to having no format quotas at all. Faculty providing CE offerings must meet the training and full qualifications of their professions and have demonstrated expertise in the areas they instruct (WAC 246-924-230(2)).
SUICIDE PREVENTION DETAIL: The six-hour training must meet WAC 246-924-255 standards and appear on the department's model list. The first training must be in suicide assessment, treatment, and management; thereafter ("Beginning July 1, 2021") each training must be an advanced training or a training in treatment modalities shown to be effective with people who are suicidal, with substitution allowed when a qualifying training is not reasonably available (246-924-255(1)(a)-(b); RCW 43.70.442(2)(a)(ii)). New licensees owe the first training during the first full CE reporting period after initial licensure, and a qualifying training completed within six years before applying defers the first post-licensure training for six years (RCW 43.70.442(2)(a)(i), (2)(b)(i)) — the pre-licensure deferral requires historical documentation and is not automatically inferred. State or local government employees, and employees of community mental health agencies or licensed SUD treatment programs, are exempt from the corresponding parts of 246-924-255(1) when the employer provides six hours of equivalent training every six years, and that employer training may earn CE credit with proper documentation (246-924-255(2)-(4)). The mandate also binds retired-active licensees (RCW 43.70.442(1)(b)).
JURISPRUDENCE TRANSITION: Before August 14, 2025 the jurisprudence examination was a condition of licensure; WSR 25-15-068 moved it into the CE framework. A psychologist licensed before that date who passed the exam during licensing never retakes it; a psychologist in their first CE cycle on or after that date must take and pass it within that cycle (WAC 246-924-230(1)(d); DOH psychologist CE page). After the first cycle the exam is optional and worth one hour per cycle.
LICENSE STATUS RULES: Psychologists have no inactive status (chapter 246-924 authorizes none and the fee schedule lists none). A retired active credential is available (WAC 246-924-500; chapter 246-12 WAC Part 5) for intermittent (at most ninety days per year) or emergency practice; its renewal requires a declaration that CE requirements are met "if required for the profession" (WAC 246-12-130(2)(d)), no reduced hour count is stated for retired-active psychologists, and the six-year suicide-training mandate expressly continues to apply (RCW 43.70.442(1)(b)). This rule file covers the active license. An expired license may not be used to practice until returned to active status (WAC 246-12-040(1)); reinstatement tiers are: within one renewal cycle — late penalty, renewal fee, and compliance with current CE; more than one cycle but under three years — abbreviated application, fees including reissuance, and a declaration that CE for the two most recent years has been met; three years or more — the same plus "40 hours of continuing education (CE), including four hours of ethics … obtained within the two years prior to reinstatement" (WAC 246-924-250(1); WAC 246-12-040(3)).
WAIVERS AND EXTENSIONS: The board may extend the CE due date on the extension-request form for licensees needing additional time or in other extenuating circumstances, and may limit provision of consumer psychological services until CE is met (WAC 246-924-330(1)). An indefinite waiver is available for illness while the psychologist provides no consumer psychological services; on resumption the licensee must notify the board and "CE credit hours will be prorated for the portion of that three year period involving resumption of services" (246-924-330(2)). Requests should reach the board at least two months before the renewal due date (DOH psychologist CE page).
OVERLAYS: Washington participates in PSYPACT — the Psychology Interjurisdictional Compact is codified as chapter 18.83A RCW (enacted by SHB 1286 (2022)), and the department charges a $30 Psypact application and $30 renewal fee (WAC 246-924-990(3)). PSYPACT authority (APIT for telepsychology, Temporary Authorization to Practice for in-person work, built on an ASPPB E.Passport or IPC) is a mobility overlay carried on the Washington license; nothing in chapter 246-924 attaches CE hours to it. Washington grants psychologists no prescriptive authority (no RxP tier exists in chapter 18.83 RCW). The licensed psychological associate (RCW 18.83.105; WAC 246-924-151 through -161) is a separate supervised trainee credential with its own fee schedule and no stated CE requirement, and is not covered by this rule.

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Washington Psychologist CE: frequently asked questions

How many CE hours do Washington Psychologist licensees need?

Washington requires 60 continuing education hours every 3 years to renew a Psychologist license. Triennial cycle: renews at the end of your birth month.

How many ethics hours are required for Washington Psychologist licensees?

Of the total, 4 hours must be in ethics.

How often do Washington Psychologist licensees renew?

Triennial cycle: renews at the end of your birth month.

How much does Washington Psychologist license renewal cost?

The board's renewal fee is $295 every 3 years, per the Washington board fee schedule. Renewing late adds a $150 delinquency fee on top. CE course costs are separate and set by course providers.

Are there subject-specific CE requirements for Washington Psychologist licensees?

Yes. In addition to ethics, Washington requires 2 hours of health equity.

Sources & verification

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

Reviewed against the Washington 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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Washingtonguides & 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.

Washington mental health workforce data

53,146 active providers, or 664.2 per 100,000 residents, ranked 7 of 51. County density map and free CSV downloads.

Other Washington CE requirement pages

Washington LPC Washington LMFT Washington LCSW