M.A. in Mental Health Counseling Licensure

Clinical Mental Health Counselor Licensure

Our M.A. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling program follows New Hampshire Board of Mental Health Practice standards in order to fulfill eligibility requirements for state licensure as a licensed clinical mental health counselor (LCMHC) and prepares you for the National Clinical Mental Health Licensing Exam.

Eligibility requirements for licensure as a CMHC in New Hampshire have three primary components of the pre-master’s educational and practice guidelines as well as post-master’s practice standards:

  1. Applicants have a 60-semester-hour master’s or doctoral degree in clinical mental health counseling from a Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) accredited institution pursuant to RSA 330-A: 19 or a school that is a regionally accredited institution of education meeting regulatory rules in Mhp305.01 (b).
  2. Successful completion of the National Clinical Mental Health Counseling Exam (NCMHCE) taken after degree completion. Information about the NCHMCE is found here.
  3. The completion of 3,000 hours of post-master’s clinical work in a counseling environment that must occur over 2-4 years, supervised by an LCMHC, and pre-approved by the NHBMHP. Additional rules, forms, and details are found on the NHBMHP website.

Each state has its own licensure rules, although most follow this same general structure. It is the student’s responsibility to determine the licensure requirements for any state where they plan to apply for licensure. Students should contact the specific state licensing board directly to verify the information.

For example, our program does not automatically align with MA. Each student who wants to be licensed as a counselor in MA needs to visit this page for contact information or contact Executive Director, 1000 Washington St Suite 170 Boston, Massachusetts 02118-6100, (617) 727-3080 (tel.) and (617) 727-1627 (fax).

Use the link provided above to identify the contact information for each state you seek to licensure.