New York continuing education for the LMSW, LCSW, LMHC and LMFT

How many hours

• 36 hours in each three-year registration period (Education Law §7710 for the LMSW and LCSW; §8412 for the LMHC and LMFT)
• A registration period shorter than three years: one hour for each month of it (NYSED's FAQs); your first renewal after licensure is shortened to move you to your birth month
• Licensed as both an LMSW and an LCSW: no more than 36 hours in all (§7710)

Do I need continuing education in my first registration period?

No. Social workers are exempt for the three-year period in which they are first licensed (§7710). NYSED's LMHC and LMFT FAQs say the same, and add that the second period, shortened to your birth month, needs a prorated number of hours.

Three hours on professional boundaries

“Commencing with registration periods beginning on or after April 1, 2023, a licensee shall complete, as part of the required 36 hours of continuing education, three hours of continuing education on issues related to maintaining appropriate professional boundaries between licensees and patients, from a provider approved by the department” (8 NYCRR 74.10). NYSED's LMHC and LMFT FAQs state the same rule for counselors and therapists.

Which courses count

• Only courses from providers NYSED has approved; independent study and study groups don't count
• Some other activities count too: preparing and teaching a course for an approved provider or at a college or psychotherapy institute, a technical presentation at an approved provider's professional conference, and a first-time peer-reviewed article or book chapter (two hours) or book (five hours), each with limits (NYSED's social work FAQ; 8 NYCRR 79-9.8 for the LMHC, 79-10.8 for the LMFT)
• Live online courses with a NYSED-approved provider have no limit
• Self-study (recorded or written, without live interaction): at most 12 hours in a three-year period, or one third of the hours for a shorter one
• 50 minutes is one hour of credit; one CEU is 10 hours (NYSED's social work FAQ)
• Courses only for personal development, marketing, business practices or maximizing profits don't count (8 NYCRR 74.10 for social workers, 79-9.8 for the LMHC)
• For the LMHC, supervising a limited permit holder doesn't count as continuing education (8 NYCRR 79-9.8)

Can I carry extra hours over?

No. “Continuing education hours taken during one triennium may not be transferred to the subsequent triennium” (§7710), and for the LMHC and LMFT, §8412(2), as NYSED's FAQs say.

Records and audits

You attest to your hours when you renew. Keep your records for six years from the date you completed each course; you send certificates only if you are audited or are applying for a delayed registration.

If you haven't finished your hours

NYSED can issue a conditional registration so you can keep practicing while you make them up: for no more than one year, for the same fee again, and it can't be renewed (§7710(3) for social workers, §8412(3) for the LMHC and LMFT; NYSED's FAQs).

Renewing your registration

• Your license is for life; your registration, which lets you practice, is renewed every three years
• Online renewal opens five months before your registration ends and stays open until four months after; you need the PIN from your renewal notice and a credit card, and it can take three business days to process
• Fees on NYSED's fee chart: LMSW and LCSW $224 ($179 registration and $45 continuing education); LMHC and LMFT $241 ($196 and $45)
• NYSED's diagnostic privilege page gives the LMHC and LMFT registration fee as $196 in one place and $193 in another; the fee chart says $196. Your renewal notice shows the fee charged
• On an inactive registration you need no continuing education while inactive. To come back, you make up the hours that would have been due: one hour for each month you were inactive. If you practiced in another state meanwhile, you also complete the new period's hours; if you didn't, hours you completed in the 12 months before re-registering can count