Licensure and Certification

A LPC is a protected title license. As a LPC, you can work as a professional counselor offering therapeutic counseling services to children, adolescents, and adults. You may work in a community agency, school or higher education setting. You must work under the supervision of a licensed clinical counselor, clinical social worker, psychologist, marriage and family therapist, or psychiatrist. However, as a LPC, you cannot work as an independent practitioner. This means that you must always receive weekly counseling supervision when you work with clients.

How to Become a LPC

In order to obtain an LPC license, you must:

• Have a master's degree in counseling or its equivalent. This means a 60 credit-hour program with at least one course in each 13 counseling areas. Each course must be three semester credit hours (or equivalent). Programs accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP)  automatically meet this education requirement.
• Apply to the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) for a Professional Counselor license. Complete the online application (when applicable, paper-based application forms must be completed in black ink).
  • When you complete the page one top portion of the IDFPR LPC/LCPC application ED-PC form, you will need to leave the social security section blank and include your written signature.
  • The page two main portion of the ED-PC form is completed by the program counseling licensure liaison before delivering to the NIU Registration and Records office to complete and affix the university seal.
  • Within the main application, “PART VII: Examination Coding Information (This part is for examination applicants only)” (a) enter "01", (b) enter "9999", (c) enter "001737", and (d) enter the two-digit representation of the number of attempts of exam administration you are applying with submission of the respective application form.
  • The CT form is not applicable for M.S.Ed. Counseling graduates, as it is required only if you have ever held or hold a permanent license in any state or country
  • The VE-LCPC form is not applicable for LPC applications.
• Pass the National Counselors Examination (NCE). There are two ways to seek approval to register to take the NCE examination.
  • You can apply for this examination during your last semester in NIU's counseling program as a part of your National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC) National Certified Counselor (NCC) credential application.  The program counseling licensure liaison will send  you an invitation the semester prior to your anticipated degree completion to inquire and confirm your eligibility to be added to the respective NBCC NCC roster if you wish to pursue this credential before graduation.
  • Or you can wait until after you graduate and register to take the NCE when you apply for your LPC license (or a few years later when applying for the LCPC license).
• Even if you complete the NCE as part of NBCC NCC credentialing, you must apply to IDFPR for your LPC license after your graduate degree has been conferred. If you take the NCE as part of your NBCC NCC credential pursuit, you will need to request that NBCC to send your official exam scores to the IDFPR after your application has been submitted and confirmed.
• Include a copy of your official transcripts (post-degree conferment) with your application packet.
• After sending your LPC application to the IDFPR, including your licensure credential fee, you will receive notification of your approval to register to test with Continental Testing Services.
• Once CTS registration to test is submitted and the associated registration fee is successfully processed, you will receive communication from the Center for Credentialing and Education (CCE; sibling organization to NBCC). CCE handles IL state licensure while NBCC handles national certification. In creating your CCE Credentialing Gateway account for state licensure, you will be able to pay for the exam itself.
• After the exam fee payment is processed, CCE will provide instructions on accessing the PearsonVue website to schedule your NCE testing date and location.
• Once your exam has been passed and scores routed to the IDFPR (manually if completed through CCE or by request from NBCC), you will be able to confirm your active license through the IDFPR license look-up portal and print your license for your records and display where requested.

To work as a professional school counselor in most K-12 school settings, students must be licensed with a Professional Educator License through the Illinois State Board of Education. The licensure program provided by Northern Illinois University is certified by the Illinois State Board of Education and is designed to assure candidates meet all state laws and regulations.

Upon completion of the 60-semester hour program in school counseling, students are eligible to apply for Professional Educator Licensure with endorsement in School Counseling. This Professional Educator License allows graduates to work as a K-12 Professional School Counselor in Illinois.

How to Obtain a School Counselor Educator License

Complete a department-level entitlement request form during your first academic term of program matriculation.

• Register and pass school counselor 235 content area exam prior to starting your school counseling internship
  • • Register through the Illinois Licensure Testing system
    • Have scores sent to Illinois State Board of Education
• Complete Educator Licensure Process
  • • Department Application for Professional Educator License and Endorsement for School Counseling prior to your last semester of internship enrollment.
• Send official transcripts via email to transcripts@isbe.net or by mail: 
  • Illinois State Board of Education
    Educator Effectiveness - E240
    100 N. 1st Street
    Springfield, IL 62777
• Receive confirmation from program-level counseling licensure liaison that appropriate paperwork has been submitted to the Illinois State Board of Education licensure office after graduation (ELIS).
• Look for an email from ISBE and check ELIS account for "Completed Program" status change and notice to redeem license (pay associated licensure and registration fees)

The Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC) is a clinical-level independent practitioner license in the state of Illinois, with both title and service protections. As an LCPC, you can work as a clinical counselor offering professional clinical counseling services to children, adolescents and adults, in individual, paired, or group formats you have been prepared for. You may work in a community agency, school, higher education or in a private practice setting. You can provide independent telehealth counseling services and independently bill for services to insurance providers, when applicable.

How to Become a LCPC

In order to obtain an LCPC license, you must:

• Have a master's degree in counseling or its equivalent. This means a 60-semester hour program with at least one course in 13 counseling areas. Each course must be 3 credits.
  • CACREP accredited programs automatically meet this education requirement.
• Have completed 3,360 hours of supervised professional counseling work experience (equivalent of two years of full-time counseling work; of which 1,680 hours were direct counseling services) and one hour per week of supervision with a qualified counseling supervisor over a minimum of two-years.
  • You must have worked under the supervision of a licensed clinical counselor, clinical social worker, psychologist, marriage and famiy therapist or psychiatrist.
  • You can submit as many VE-LCPC forms as applicable from as many different approved clinical supervisors as relevant based on the amount of time and locations of practice from completing your supervised professional counseling hours.
• Apply to the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) for a Clinical Professional Counselor license.
• Pass the National Counselors Examination. Many applicants for the LCPC license already have their LPC license, so they have previously taken and passed the NCE. If you have not taken and passed this examination, you must pass the NCE before registering and taking the NCMHCE in order to obtain your LCPC license.
• Pass the National Clinical Mental Health Counseling Examination (NCMCHE). When you complete your minimum clock hours of counseling work experience and apply to IDFPR for your license, IDFPR will register you for the NCMCHE.
• "The new (as of fall 2022) format of the NCMHCE was expertly developed, written, designed, and reviewed by counselors, for counselors,” said Callie Marino, NBCC’s vice president of credentialing and quality assurance. "In creating this examination, counseling professionals have determined the standards for what counselors need to know in order to practice safely and effectively."
• The new format includes 11 case studies, each with a set of 13 multiple-choice questions broken into three sections. Examinees may sit for the examination in person at a PearsonVUE center or online through OnVUE. Test-takers are given 260 minutes of total seat time, including 225 minutes for the examination, five minutes for the non-disclosure agreement, a 15-minute tutorial, and a 15-minute break. A format comparison (PDF) and sample case study (PDF) are available on our website.
• There are two ways to register for the NCMHC examination—as part of an application for national certification or solely for state licensure. The examination in each of these scenarios is the same, and the scores from either route can be used for licensure or national certification.

Visit the National Board of Certified Counselors for current and complete information regarding national certification.

Students can apply to become National Certified Counselors (NCC) prior to graduation from our program. Alumni can also apply after graduation by creating an account within the NBCC Credentialing Gateway.

In order to become a National Certified Counselor (NCC), you must obtain a passing score on the National Counselor Examination (NCE) or the National Clinical Mental Health Counseling Examinations (NCMHCE) while also holding a master's or doctorate degree in counseling from either a CACREP-accredited degree program or a counseling program administered by an institutionally accredited educational institution: The program must include at least 60 semester hours or 72 quarter hours of graduate-level coursework and at least six semester or 10 quarter hours of graduate degree–related supervised field experience in counseling.

The Approved Clinical Supervisor (ACS) program credential identifies those professionals who have met approved national professional supervision standards; promotes the professional identity, visibility and accountability of approved clinical supervisors; and encourages the professional growth of approved clinical supervisors.

• You must have a master's degree or higher in a mental health field.
• You must hold either professional licensure that authorizes independent practice in a mental health field or the National Certified Counselor Certification (NCC).
• You must have a minimum of five years of post-master's experience in the mental health field that includes at least 4,000 hours of direct service with clients.

Visit the Center for Credentialing and Education for complete information regarding Approved Clinical Supervisor certification and to apply.