Counseling Licensure in Oregon

Oregon is a state that has two distinct levels of licensure. The two levels are the Registered Intern (RI) and the Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC). The RI is the starter license which allows you to accumulate the experience needed to become an LPC.

The following pre-requisites must be met to become a Registered Intern (RI) and eventually a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in Oregon:

1. The first step is to work on completing your education and earning your Graduate degree in Counseling from a Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) accredited school.
2. Pass a criminal background check.
3. Apply to the Oregon Board of Licensed Professional Counselors and Therapists to receive your Registered Intern (RI) title.
4. Accumulate the necessary hours to complete the supervised experience requirement.
5. Pass the Oregon Rules and Laws examination.
6. Apply with the Oregon Board of Licensed Professional Counselors and Therapists take your National Counselor Examination (NCE) as administered by the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC) for the Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) title.
7. Apply to the Oregon Board of Behavioral Health and Therapy to receive your Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) title.

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Educational Requirements

Oregon law states that you will need to fulfill the following educational requirements if you wish to become licensed in counseling.

• You probably will want to begin by attaining your Bachelor’s degree in Counseling. You will find that the majority of Master of Counseling programs consider the Bachelor of Counseling to be the most favored degree for applicants. If you do not want to get a Bachelor of Counseling degree, then you will most certainly need to obtain a Bachelor’s in a highly related Behavioral Science discipline such as Psychology, Social Work or Human Services.
• The next step is to apply to and get accepted into a Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) accredited Master of Counseling program.
• Your studies must include some sort of practicum, internship or field work that gives you supervised clinical experience.

Apply for your RI Title

You will now need to apply for your RI Title.

• Apply with the Oregon Board of Licensed Professional Counselors and Therapists for your RI Title.
• Submit to the Oregon Board of Licensed Professional Counselors and Therapists your plan for supervised experience which is included in your RI application (link above).
  • You can find the form for your supervision plan here:
  • The application form is here:
• Pass a criminal background check.

Supervised Experience

If you want to go on to earn your LPC title you will now need to accrue the following supervised experience requirements:

• You will need to complete 2400 hours over a five year period.
• In some cases you may convert some hours of your graduate experience to count towards your supervised experience. You will need to contact the Oregon Board of Licensed Professional Counselors and Therapists for potential conversion.
• You must have a board approved supervisor which can either be from a list the board maintains or licensed Mental Health professionals who have received the relevant training in supervision.
• You will want to be aware of what specific activities can be used to count towards your supervised work experience component. You can find out more information on specifics, which can be updated here: http://www.oregon.gov/OBLPCT/Pages/experience.aspx
• You are required to have two hours per month of supervision, up to 45 hours of supervision. If you exceed 45 hours of work in a month you will need one additional hour of supervision.
• 50% of your supervised hours must be one-on-one in person supervision. The remaining 50% can be group supervision and you may have 75% of all supervision in the form of streaming video or other communication technologies.
• You will need to contact the board each year to renew your internship temporary license.

Apply for and Take Your NCE

Now you will need to apply with the Committee to sit for the NCE:

• Apply to the Oregon Board of Licensed Professional Counselors and Therapists to take your National Counselor Examination (NCE) as administered by the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC) if you.
• Pass the NCE with a score acceptable to the Oregon Committee.
• Pass the Oregon Rules and Laws examination.

Apply for Your LPC Title

You are now eligible to apply to the Committee for your full LPC title.

• Apply to the Oregon Board of Licensed Professional Counselors and Therapists for your LPC title.
• You will need to provide the Board with a professional disclosure statement at the time of your application for the LPC title.
  • You can find the appropriate form here:

Continuing Education and License Renewal

You must renew your license every two years. You must be able to show that you have earned Continuing Education credits.

• You will need to complete 40 hours of continuing education credits.
• At least 6 CE credits must be in Ethics.
• Every five years you will need to submit to a new criminal background check and fingerprinting.

You will want to take the time to at least one per year review any changes to the licensure process and continuing education component by visiting the Oregon Board of Licensed Professional Counselors and Therapists website which you can find here: