Colorado CE Requirements and Courses for Behavioral Health Licensees

Colorado doesn’t use a simple CE hour count. Counselors, marriage and family therapists, social workers, and addiction counselors renew through the Continuing Professional Competency (CPC) program. Here’s what that program asks of you before licenses expire on August 31, 2027, and which of our courses may count toward it.

How the CPC program works

• Step 1: Complete your board’s Professional Practice Survey and Self-Assessment. Social workers use a Professional Practice Rubric instead. You keep it; it isn’t sent to the Board.
• Step 2: Set learning goals and write a Learning Plan.
• Step 3: Earn 40 PDH that fit your plan before you renew. One PDH equals one clock hour. You can’t change the plan after you renew.
• Step 4: Keep your Learning Plan and proof of each activity for at least 5 years.

If your license was issued partway through the cycle, you need 1.66 PDH for each month you’re licensed. Registered candidates need 60 PDH at their second and later renewals; their registrations expire December 31 every 3 years. Some licensees meet CPC another way, through Deem Status (a Colorado state department’s professional development program) or a military exemption. Forms and manuals are on each board’s CPC page, linked below.

The 20-hour limit on courses

For LPCs, LMFTs, and CAT, CAS, and LAC credential holders, the rules say no more than 20 PDH from a single Professional Development Activity can be credited each cycle. Coursework is one of those activities, so CE courses alone can’t cover all 40 PDH. The other hours can come from activities your board allows, such as volunteer service, mentoring or supervision, presenting, independent learning, or group learning. The addiction counselor program says online, self-paced CE courses count as Coursework, not Independent Learning.

Social workers have an exception. Coursework provided by an accredited educational institution or a nationally or regionally recognized professional organization can count for up to the full 40 PDH (4 CCR 726-1, Rule 1.18 E). The rule doesn’t define those terms. If you plan to count more than 20 PDH of our courses, check with the Board first.

Requirements by license

Hold more than one Colorado mental health license? The counselor, MFT, social work, and addiction counselor rules allow an exemption when you’ve already met CPD requirements under another of those licenses. The addiction counselor program says each license still needs its own survey and Learning Plan.

Courses that may count toward your PDHs

None of our courses is approved by a Colorado board, and Colorado’s boards don’t approve CE providers. A course counts when it fits the goals in your Learning Plan, within the 20-PDH limit on coursework.

More supervision courses

These may help LPC supervisors with the 3 supervision PDH, or anyone whose Learning Plan includes supervision.

• Legal and Ethical Issues and Responsibilities in Clinical Supervision (6 CE hours, $33)
• Culturally Responsive Clinical Supervision (3 CE hours, $17)
• Technology in Clinical Supervision (3 CE hours, $17)
• Clinical Supervision: Ethics and Techniques for Addiction Professionals (3 CE hours, $10; NAADAC-approved, no NBCC credit)

Records and audits

• No CE Broker: Colorado doesn’t use CE Broker for these licenses, and we don’t report hours to Colorado. Download and save each certificate when you finish a course.
• Keep records 5 years: keep your Learning Plan and proof of each activity for at least 5 years from the license expiration date for the cycle in which you earned the hours.
• Audits: the boards audit after a renewal period ends. If you’re selected, you send your Learning Plan and supporting documents. For psychologists, the Board may audit up to 5 percent of licensees each cycle.

The jurisprudence exam

Colorado’s jurisprudence exam is part of applying for a license. It’s also required to reinstate or reactivate a license that has been expired or inactive for more than two years (for example, LPC Rules 1.13, 1.14, and 1.19). It isn’t a renewal CE requirement. The exam is taken online; see the Division’s mental health FAQ.

What’s new

• Since May 22, 2024: registered candidates complete CPD before their second and later registration renewals.
• 2026: HB26-1195 limits how psychotherapists may use AI. For example, before AI records or transcribes a session, the client must be told in writing and give written consent. AI also can’t create treatment plans or recommendations without your review and approval.