Counselors in Tennessee who have obtained their licensure are known as licensed professional counselors (LPCs)—although those who have continued their education and further developed their clinical skills can also obtain licensure as a licensed professional counselor with mental health service provider designation (LPC/MHSP). The state’s premier professional organization for LPCs is the Tennessee Counseling Association, a branch of the American Counseling Association whose mission is to “promote the development of all counseling professionals, advance the counseling profession under a unified association, and to use the profession of counseling to promote the well-being, respect for diversity, and human dignity of all Tennesseans.”

Licensure for Tennessee LPCs is managed by the state Board of Licensed Professional Counselors, Licensed Marital and Family Therapists, and Licensed Pastoral Therapists, a division of the Tennessee Department of Health. Licensure requirements for counselors in Tennessee, including education, supervision, examination, fees, renewal, and “licensure by reciprocity,” are examined in further detail below, along with salary information from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, scholarship opportunities, and loan repayment programs available to LPCs in the state.

Sponsored Online Counseling Programs Now Enrolling in Tennessee

Licensure as a professional counselor in Tennessee requires the completion of a master’s degree in counseling or a closely related field that includes 60 graduate hours in counseling or a closely related field and has completed a supervised clinical experience in the form of a practicum or internship.  

Appropriate degree programs will include 60 graduate hours of coursework with instruction in each of the following core content areas:

For LPC’s seeking MHSP designation, Tennessee also requires that a minimum of nine (9) graduate semester hours of coursework must be “specifically related to diagnosis, treatment, appraisal, and assessment of mental disorders.” This coursework can occur during the course of a graduate degree or as postgraduate work, in courses in which diagnosis, treatment, and treatment planning, appraisal, and assessment of mental disorders, psychopathology, and the use of the DSM were the entire focus of the course or comprised a substantial portion of the coursework. The Tennessee board emphasizes to applicants that counseling degrees with less than 60-hours earned will not qualify you for any level of LPC licensure within the state.

Tennessee LPC licensure requires completion of a supervised field experience, either as a practicum or an internship. Either must be at least 500 hours long, with at least 300 hours in a mental health or community agency setting. 

This practicum/internship requirement is distinct from post-graduate supervision, which is also necessary for LPC licensure in Tennessee.

(Back to Top)

Supervision is shorthand for directed, post-graduate experience in professional counseling under supervision in a work setting. Tennessee requires aspiring LPCs to complete two years of supervision with no less than 10 hours per week and 50 contact hours of supervision per year, totaling 1,000 clinical hours and 100 hours of supervision. 

For LPC’s seeking Mental Health Service Provider (MHSP) designation, Tennessee requires the post-master’s supervision to include 3000 hours of direct clinical experience completed no sooner than two (2) years and no more than four (4) years following the beginning of supervised clinical practice. 1,500 of the 3,000 hours of supervised experience shall be face-to-face client contact hours, and at least 1,500 hours shall be clinically-related activities.  Additionally, 75 of the 150 required contact hours are to be supervised by a Tennessee-approved MPC-MSHP supervisor.

(Back to Top)

Tennessee LPC licensure requires a passing score on two exams: The National Counselors Examination, the National Clinical Mental Health Counseling Examination, and the Tennessee Jurisprudence Exam pursuant to Rule 0450-01-.08. 

The National Counselor Examination (NCE) is administered by the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC). It is a multiple-choice exam designed to assess a candidate’s knowledge, skills, and abilities related to effective counseling practice. Some states use the NCE as the required exam for licensure, while others accept it as one of multiple exam options.

For individuals pursuing professional licensure as a counselor with mental health service provider designation (LPC/MHSP), a passing score on the National Clinical Mental Health Counseling Examination (NCMHCE) is required. The NCMHCE is also administered by the NBCC. This exam focuses on clinical knowledge and decision-making, including assessment, diagnosis, treatment planning, counseling, and other aspects of clinical mental health practice. A passing score on the Tennessee Jurisprudence Exam is also required.

(Back to Top)

Tennessee LPCs can expect to pay the following fees for their license application:

(Back to Top)

Tennessee LPC licenses must be renewed through the state’s licensure system. The board sends renewal reminders about 45 days before expiration, and licensees may renew online up to 70 days before the expiration date. For more information on renewal timelines and fees, contact the Tennessee Board of Licensed Professional Counselors, Licensed Marital and Family Therapists, and Licensed Pastoral Therapists by phone at (615) 741-5735 (local) or 1-800-778-4123 (nationwide), or by email at Unit1HRB.Health@tn.gov. 

In Tennessee, licensed professional counselors must complete 10 clock hours of continuing education each calendar year, which counts as 20 hours toward a single license over a standard two-year renewal cycle. However, individuals who hold two licenses or certificates must complete 30 clock hours every two calendar years, and those who hold three must complete 40 hours every two years; in each case, at least 10 hours must relate to each profession held. Three hours every two years must cover professional ethics, Tennessee Code Annotated Title 63, Chapter 22, and/or the board’s rules. 

Acceptable CE includes master’s- or doctoral-level coursework from a nationally or regionally accredited institution and educational events sponsored by national, state, regional, or local professional associations, as well as events for which a nationally or regionally accredited institution grants CEUs. Licensees must keep CE documentation for 4 years, may be randomly audited, and must provide records within 15 working days upon request. 

The board does not pre-approve CE programs, and CE Broker is the board’s recommended tracking system. For first renewal periods, CE may be prorated, and licenses issued for 12 months or less are not required to complete CE for that renewal.

(Back to Top)

For Counselors Licensed in Other States

Tennessee allows licensure by reciprocity for counselors who are licensed at the highest independent-practice level available in their home state, have held that license for at least three of the past five years, have an active unencumbered license, pass the Tennessee jurisprudence exam, and meet all other statutory requirements for the Tennessee license they are seeking. Tennessee also has more specific reciprocity agreements with Kentucky and North Carolina.  Under these agreements, Tennessee treats the comparable out-of-state license as substantially equivalent, but applicants must hold an active, unrestricted, undisciplined license and meet experience thresholds—five years for the Kentucky agreement and three years of full-time counseling experience or equivalent for the North Carolina agreement—while also satisfying the other state’s application requirements, such as fees, jurisprudence/ethics exams, and background materials.

(Back to Top)

The following types of Tennessee counselors can expect to earn these mean hourly and annual wages, according to May 2024 data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics:

(Back to Top)

National Association of Junior Auxiliaries Graduate Scholarship Program

National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program

Scholarships for Disadvantaged Students

(Back to Top)

*Licensure information, including requirements, renewals, scholarships, and fees, was retrieved in April 2026. Information may have changed since; check with the state’s board of licensing for more details.