How To Verify A Therapist’s License: Understanding State Requirements

A therapist’s licensure shows that they have the education and experience necessary to work as a mental health professional, and learning how to check if a therapist is licensed can be important to ensuring that you get the best support. You can verify a therapist’s license by searching licensing board sites or asking your therapist for their credentials. If you’re experiencing mental health challenges and would like to connect with a licensed mental health professional, you may also consider using an online therapy platform that thoroughly vets their mental health professionals.

Why is licensure important?

There is a reason most therapists are required to acquire a specific degree, practice a certain number of hours, and pass various tests prior to becoming licensed to practice. Mental wellness can be a central component of overall health, and proper care can improve an individual’s life in a meaningful way. In a broad-based review of studies, researchers concluded that there is strong evidence to support the efficacy of therapy, specifically cognitive-behavioral therapy, when treating common mental health concerns.

Because accurately assessing and treating mental health concerns and social work can be such important services, mental health professionals must have a properly developed skillset. Additionally, the vast differences between the different fields a therapist can practice within dictate that they satisfy requirements specific to their area of expertise. For example, a marriage and family therapist may address concerns in a therapy session that are much different than those a child psychologist might treat.

According to a survey of practitioners, there has been a significant increase in the number of people seeking mental health care over the past few years. As more and more people pursue treatment, it can be essential that they have easy details to information on their therapists’ licensure. A quick note on the difference between certification and licensure. Certification is voluntary, while licensing is mandatory. To gain a license a professional counselors must go through a government-run licensing board, subjected to specific control. Certifications can be gained through safe entities. If an individual misrepresents a license, they would be subject to severe disciplinary action.

The licensing process

Generally, a therapist must satisfy certain requirements set by the licensing board of the state they’re operating in before they obtain a license for their specific field. Depending on their area of expertise, this typically means they’ve fulfilled supervised clinical hours, obtained a specific degree, passed certain tests, and completed various other requirements.

Therapists can operate as licensed clinical social workers (LCSW), licensed professional counselors (LPC), licensed marriage and family therapists (LMFT), psychologists (PhD, PsyD), or one of several other types of mental health professionals. Within these designations, a provider may further specialize (e.g., school counselors), which could require additional licenses and certifications as determined by the licensing board. Even speech language pathologists, who aren’t necessarily mental health professionals in the same way a licensed marriage and family therapist is, may need to follow the license requirements set forth by the board.

The licensing process may look different depending on the therapist’s area of expertise and the state in which they plan to practice. For example, licensed psychologists in the US are typically required to have between 3,000 and 6,000 total supervised hours, depending on the state licensing board. They’ll also need to obtain a doctoral degree from an accredited school and pass the Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology (EPPP), among several other strict qualifications.

Knowing that your mental health provider has gone through such a rigorous licensing process with oversight from a licensing board can provide you with confidence as you begin to receive care.

How to verify a therapist’s licensure

Now that we’ve outlined why licenses are important and how therapists obtain them, let’s discuss how you can verify a provider’s qualifications. The following methods can help you learn what license a mental health professional holds, when it was obtained, when it expires, and other useful information before you begin therapy.

Search licensing board sites

For example, the Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council has a government website that allows visitors to search for licensure by name, license type, license number, city, and county. When you search the Council’s psychology board lookup page, you can see an individual mental health professional’s license type (e.g., licensed psychologist, licensed clinical social worker, licensed marriage and family therapist), number, and status (e.g., active, expired), as well as the date they were first licensed and the date their license expires.

You can do a Google search to find the specific licensing board for each state, or you can take advantage of the multiple nationwide, profession-specific service sites that clusters information on licensure. For example, if you’re looking for information on a psychologist and you know the state in which they operate, the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards (ASPPB) can take you to that state’s board and license lookup site, where you can search for their credentials. If you needed a clinical social worker, you could visit their profession-specific site for social workers, the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB).

Below is a list of profession-specific associations that provide links to license information for the behavioral sciences:

• Psychology - Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards (ASPPB)
• Social work - Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB)
• Professional counseling - American Counseling Association (ACA)
• Substance use counseling - Association for Addiction Professionals (NAADAC)
• Marriage and family therapy - Association of Marital & Family Therapy Regulatory Boards (AMFTRB)
• Psychiatry - Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB)

Certain websites like Psychology Today offer a searchable list of licensed therapists and social workers, along with their contact information and license type. Using a search site like this may make it easier to find a therapist in your area.

Ask your therapist for their credentials

Many therapists, regardless of whether they’re a marriage and family therapist, cognitive behavioral therapist, or another kind of mental health professional, display their license information in a public way in their office or are willing to provide their license number upon request. If you're working with an online therapist, you may not be able to see their licensing information framed in a physical office, but you can request to see the license information through in-app messaging. Verifying licensure doesn't have to be an uncomfortable conversation, and your therapist should be willing to provide their licensed verification, as they likely have it readily available in their records. They may also be able to inform you about any continuing education requirements they’ve fulfilled.

How to connect with a therapist online 

If you’d like to connect with a licensed therapist, one way you might do so is to try online therapy on a platform like BetterHelp, where there are thousands of licensed therapists who have been thoroughly vetted. Not only can you work with a therapist online, but another benefit is that you may be paired with a therapist who has experience in the particular area with which you’d like guidance and support.

A large amount of evidence points to online therapy as a useful method for helping individuals find qualified mental health professionals, and more research is being conducted in this area every day. One study found that online therapy may have additional benefits compared to traditional in-person therapy. According to researchers, these benefits include a decrease in wait times for treatment, lower costs, and greater avoidance of the perceived stigma associated with therapy. They also noted that online therapy could eliminate geographical barriers to treatment, making it easier for individuals with reduced availability to providers to receive mental health care.