Ethics requirements for license renewal: psychologists, counselors, therapists and more

There is no national license for psychologists, counselors, social workers, therapists or rehabilitation professionals. Each state licenses each profession separately, with a separate practice act for every profession and a board to match, or a board shared with related professions. That board writes the continuing education (CE) rules: how many hours you need, how long the renewal cycle is, which topics are compulsory and which providers count.

Because of this, two colleagues in the same clinic can face completely different ethics obligations. A clinical social worker and a physical therapist in California renew under different boards, on different rules, with different required topics. The same social worker moving to New York finds a 3-year registration period and a list of approved providers instead.

Across the boards we checked, three patterns repeat:

• A total hour figure per cycle, usually measured over 2 years (New York uses a 3-year registration period).
• Named topic requirements inside that total, such as law and ethics, professional ethics with state laws and rules, prevention of medical errors, telehealth, suicide risk assessment or cultural diversity. Some are due every renewal; others are one-time or every third cycle.
• Provider rules that decide which courses count at all. These matter as much as the hours, because hours from a provider your board does not recognize may not count.

Every figure in this table was taken from the relevant board's renewal page or regulations in October 2026. Where we could not confirm a figure from an official source, we left the cell general rather than guess. Boards revise these rules, so use the table to orient yourself and then verify each number with your board.

Psychologists

Psychology boards tend to pair ethics with state law. California asks for at least 4 hours of laws and ethics inside its 36-hour requirement, and Florida asks for 3 hours covering professional ethics and Florida statutes and rules, with at least an hour of each. If you hold licenses in several states, check whether one course can count in both: a state-specific laws and rules hour usually cannot.

Counselors, marriage and family therapists and clinical social workers

These professions often share a board. In California, the Board of Behavioral Sciences covers LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs and LEPs with one rule set: 36 hours per 2-year period and 6 hours of law and ethics every renewal. Florida's equivalent board asks for 3 hours of ethics and boundaries in alternating cycles, with telehealth in the other cycles. Notice the word boundaries: the board names it explicitly. In Texas, all four behavioral health professions sit under the Behavioral Health Executive Council, but the hours are set in each profession's own rule, so an LPC and an LMSW should not assume the same answer.

Physical therapists and PTAs

Physical therapy boards often fold ethics into a small law-and-ethics requirement or leave it out. California requires 2 hours in ethics, laws and regulations within 30 hours per cycle, plus 4 hours of life support training. Florida's physical therapist renewal page lists 24 hours with medical errors and first-renewal HIV/AIDS, but no separate ethics hours.

Occupational therapists and OTAs

California measures OT renewal in professional development units: 24 per renewal period, with at least half directly related to delivering occupational therapy services. Florida requires 26 hours, including 2 hours of laws and rules and 2 hours of medical errors. NBCOT certification is a separate credential with its own renewal (36 units to renew); keeping it current does not by itself satisfy a state board, and the reverse is also true.

Respiratory therapists, speech-language pathologists and other licensees

We have not listed figures for these professions because we could not confirm them from official board pages for this guide. The checking method below works the same way for any license.

It is easy to confuse a national association with your licensing board. The difference matters when you plan CE.

Professional associations also publish ethics codes that boards often draw on, such as the NASW Code of Ethics (last revised in 2021), the ACA Code of Ethics, the APA Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct, and the AOTA and APTA codes. These bind association members; the binding standard for your license is the practice act and board rules, which in many states write ethics expectations directly into regulation.

1. Find the right board. Search your state plus your exact license title (for example "Texas LMFT renewal" or "Florida LMHC renewal"). Use only the .gov site. In Florida, every health board sits under the Department of Health; in California, under the Department of Consumer Affairs; in New York, under NYSED's Office of the Professions.
2. Open the renewal or CE page for your license type. Note the total hours, the cycle dates and whether the requirement differs at first renewal. Florida's 491 board exempts first renewals; California's BBS has different first-renewal content.
3. List the named topics and their frequency. Mark which are every cycle, which are every third cycle and which are one-time. Florida's domestic violence and laws and rules hours, for example, fall every third biennium.
4. Read the rule, not just the summary. Boards cite their regulations (16 CCR for California, 64B chapters for Florida, 22 TAC for Texas, Commissioner's Regulations in New York). The rule decides edge cases such as home-study caps and carry-over.
5. Check provider rules. Look for words such as "approved provider", "board-approved", "sponsor" or a percentage limit. Texas BHEC requires at least half your hours from qualifying providers; New York accepts only approved providers.
6. Check the tracking system. Florida uses CE Broker for its boards, and Texas BHEC licensees must track CE in CE Broker from January 1, 2026. Upload or confirm completions well before your deadline.
7. Keep your own file. Save certificates, agendas and your notes in one place for at least the period your board's rule sets for audits.

If anything is unclear, email the board and keep the reply. A written answer from your own board is better evidence than any vendor's summary, including ours.

Hours are only half the question. The other half is whether your board accepts the course at all. Three approaches appear in the boards we checked:

• Approved providers only. New York's psychology, social work and physical therapy CE must come from providers approved by the State Education Department. A course from anyone else does not count toward the 36 hours.
• Board-approved for specific topics. Florida requires medical errors hours from a board-approved provider, even where general hours are more flexible.
• A percentage rule. Texas BHEC requires that at least 50% of CE hours come from providers that meet its approved provider criteria. The remaining hours have more flexibility, within each profession's rule.

Even where no ethics hour is required, boards' rules and their professions' codes concentrate on the same practical areas. These are worth studying whether or not they count for credit, because they are where everyday practice decisions go wrong:

• Boundaries and dual relationships. Gifts, social media contact, treating friends or family members, small-community overlap, and romantic or sexual involvement, which professional codes prohibit with clients. Florida names "ethics and boundaries" as a required CE topic for its counseling, MFT and social work licensees.
• Confidentiality and records. HIPAA's Privacy Rule, the special status of psychotherapy notes (which generally need the patient's authorization to disclose), the 42 CFR Part 2 rules that protect SUD treatment records, minors, couples and family work, and responding to subpoenas.
• Telehealth. Licensure across state lines, consent, privacy and emergency planning. California's BBS made telehealth law and ethics a one-time requirement; Florida alternates it with ethics and boundaries.
• Informed consent. Explaining services, fees, limits of confidentiality and risks in plain language, and recording it.
• Documentation. Timely, accurate notes that would stand up if a board asked for them.
• Honesty in billing and attestations. Including truthful answers when you attest to completed CE at renewal.

Each US course is US$89 and runs around 3 hours online at your own speed. Scoring 16 of 20 (80%) on the final test earns a certificate, and you also complete a reflective account. They are written for mixed professions, so a counselor, a social worker and a physical therapist will each find examples that fit their work.

Licensees use them for:

• Self-directed learning on an ethics area you know is weak, beyond whatever your board requires.
• Preparing for a required topic, before you take the approved course your board accepts.
• Employer or supervisor requests where the organization, not the board, asks for documented study.
• Hours in states with flexible rules, but only after you have confirmed your board accepts self-selected providers for the hours you plan to claim.

If you are dealing with a complaint rather than a renewal, our guide to licensing board complaints for therapists and counselors covers that process. Physicians, nurses, pharmacists, dentists and PAs have their own renewal guides, linked from the course catalogue.