Andrew A. Helwig is Professor Emeritus at the University of Colorado Denver and recently retired after 22 years at the university. In 1990, Dr. Helwig wrote the first edition of the Study Guide for the National Counselor Examination and began conducting counselor exam review workshops. He has now conducted over 225 workshops in 17 states and his NCE Study Guide is in its fifth edition.
State Counselor Licensure Requirements
Most states use the National Counselor Examination (NCE) for their counselor licensure process. Below is more detailed information for eleven of the states including requirements for licensure and how to contact the state boards for additional information. These states use the NCE and are generally the states with the most licensed counselors except for California which is just beginning the process. Some of this information came from the American Counseling Association publication titled, Licensure Requirements for Professional Counselors. Additional information listed under some states came directly from the individual state law or the rules implementing the statute.
More information about the NCE is available from the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) at www.nbcc.org. Many of the universities listed for each state also use the Counselor Preparation Comprehensive Examination (CPCE) which also comes from NBCC. That exam is similar to the NCE so preparing for one facilitates preparation for the other.
Counselor licensure is described and summarized for the following states: