State Licensure Requirements
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Clinical Mental Health Counseling (CACREP) – Indiana

Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC)

Specific Licensing Requirements

Indiana requires that applicants for this licensure have a master’s or doctorate degree in an area of mental health counseling from an eligible postsecondary educational institution that meets the requirements of the board. All education criteria must be met by postsecondary educational courses. Certifications cannot be used to meet educational requirements.

Graduate coursework in counseling must include either a master’s degree or a doctor’s degree in counseling. The graduate course work must include the following content areas:

  • Human growth and development
  • Social and cultural foundations of counseling
  • Helping relationship, including counseling theory and practice
  • Group dynamics, processes, counseling, and consultation
  • Lifestyle and career development
  • Assessment and appraisal of individuals
  • Research and program evaluation
  • Professional orientation and ethics
  • Foundations of mental health counseling
  • Contextual dimensions of mental health counseling
  • Knowledge and skills for the practice of mental health counseling and psychotherapy
  • Clinical instruction

Applicants must have one (1) supervised clinical practicum, internship, or field experience in a counseling setting, which must include a minimum of seven hundred (700) clock hours consisting of one (1) practicum of one hundred (100) hours, and one (1) internship of six hundred (600) hours with at least sixty-six (66) hours of face-to-face supervision.

Exam Requirements

The Board has adopted the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) examinations. The Board will accept the National Counselor Examination (NCE) to obtain the mental health associate counselor license and the National Clinical Mental Health Counselor Examination (NCMHCE) to obtain a mental health counselor license.

All applicants applying by reciprocity will be examined on the statutes and rules for the Indiana Behavioral Health and Human Services Licensing Board. This is a 30-question true-false and multiple-choice examination. Passing criteria is 75%.

Additional Requirements

Students must take EDCO 705 to meet the Contextual Dimensions coursework requirement. Indiana students may register for this course through Academic Advising, and this can be used as the program elective.

For more information:

https://iga.in.gov/laws/2022/ic/titles/25#25-23.6-8.5

https://www.in.gov/pla/professions/behavioral-health-and-human-services/