Psychologist Licensure in Kentucky: Degree, Supervised Hours and the EPPP

Kentucky licenses the practice of psychology at the doctoral level, and the statute names the titles that go with it: licensed psychologist, licensed psychological associate, licensed psychological practitioner, and the legacy certified psychologist (KRS 319.056).

A doctoral applicant whose application the board has accepted can meanwhile practise under conditions of temporary licensure set by the board.

The health service provider designation on the psychologist license matters beyond labelling: 201 KAR 26:155 requires a temporary licensee's supervisor to be a licensed psychologist with it, and KRS 319.050(6) names it as the basis for employing and supervising certified psychologists and licensed psychological associates.

The statute's substantive conditions for the psychologist licence begin with the degree: a doctoral degree in psychology acceptable to the board, from a regionally accredited educational institution.

An educational institution outside the United States qualifies if it would otherwise be accredited by a regional accrediting body.

The statute does not name a programmatic accreditor for the degree in this subsection, so read the board's application instructions for how it evaluates specific programs.

The statute describes the experience as at least two years of supervised professional experience satisfactory to the board, one of which shall be an internship.

The rule states its hours for the applicant for licensure as a psychologist with the authorization to provide psychological health care services: a minimum of 3,600, of which at least 1,800 must be a predoctoral internship carrying at least 100 hours of supervisory sessions and completed within 24 months.

The remaining 1,800 may be predoctoral, postdoctoral, or a combination — so Kentucky does not require a postdoctoral year.

Experience at the pre-internship level — practica and field placement — may be conducted in person or by two-way interactive video.

Applicants must have passed the national EPPP at the doctoral level; the rule sets a scaled score of 500 or greater for the psychologist and practitioner licences and 400 or greater for the associate, or a previous EPPP passing score for licensure at the master's level in effect when the applicant last sat.

On top of the EPPP sit two Kentucky exams: a jurisprudence examination on Kentucky mental health law, passed at eighty percent, and a competency examination of ethical principles and professional practice, where one hundred percent is the pass mark.

The rule does not state whether the competency exam is administered orally or in writing.

No EPPP Part 2 requirement was found; ASPPB's single integrated EPPP begins for first-time takers in fall 2027.

Each exam allows a maximum of three attempts.

A temporary licensee's proposed supervisor must be a licensed psychologist with the health service provider certification, approved by the board, and supervision runs at a minimum of one hour of individual, face-to-face contact weekly.

A temporary license is valid for one year; under exceptional circumstances, and on a written request cosigned by the board-approved supervisor, the board may approve extensions in six-month increments, and no licensee may hold a temporary license longer than six years in total.

Once licensed, a psychologist with the health service provider designation may employ and supervise certified psychologists and licensed psychological associates, up to a total of six such credential holders or applicants for licensure at one time.

The detailed supervision standards sit in 201 KAR 26:171.

Licensed psychologists may function independently without supervision.

The licensed psychological associate may perform certain functions only under a board-approved licensed psychologist's supervision and shall not practise independently except under that employment and supervision.

The licensed psychological practitioner is not a direct master's route: KRS 319.053(1) opens it only to holders of a credential as a certified psychologist or licensed psychological associate.

The application carries three endorsement letters, sixty semester hours of graduate study, the EPPP at the doctoral passing score, and an exam on psychological practice, ethical principles, and the law.

Section 319.053(1)(d) and 201 KAR 26:190 §5 require the equivalent of two full-time years of supervised professional experience completed after that credentialing, a clock the rule runs from initial credentialing as a psychological associate, excluding temporary-licence time.

Once licensed, the practitioner works without supervision but shall not supervise certified psychologists, practitioners, or associates (§ 319.053(8)).

One warning: 201 KAR 26:230, filed in 2022, is the only saved rule still printing five years; the amended statute and the 2026-amended 26:190 say two full-time years.

Kentucky joined PSYPACT through KRS 319.054, created by 2021 Ky.

Acts ch. 46 with an effective date of June 29, 2021.

The PSYPACT Commission map, as read in September 2026, lists Kentucky as a member in effect on the strength of KY HB 38, enacted March 18, 2021, effective June 28, 2021.

The compact is doctoral-level only, so neither the associate nor the practitioner can use it.

A Kentucky licensed psychologist uses it to practise telepsychology or temporary in-person work in another participating state, through ASPPB's E.Passport or Interjurisdictional Practice Certificate plus the PSYPACT authorization.

The rules read give out-of-state applicants one concrete relief: the Kentucky competency examination is not required of an applicant who is board-certified by the American Board of Professional Psychology or who holds a current license in good standing from a jurisdiction with a reciprocity agreement with this board.

Everything else — the EPPP score, the doctorate, and the supervised experience — still stands on the statute's terms.

The sources read name no further endorsement or reciprocity route, so verify your file with the board directly before relying on an equivalency.

Each credential holder documents at least thirty-nine continuing education hours within each three-year renewal period.

Inside that total, the rule requires a minimum of three hours in either ethical practice or risk management and three hours on social and cultural factors, a category the 2026 amendment added; a psychologist with the health service provider designation who supervises an applicant for licensure, a certified psychologist, or a licensed psychological associate must include, as part of the thirty-nine hours, three hours in supervision theory or techniques, beginning with the renewal period after the original supervisory training under 201 KAR 26:171.

Six hours on suicide assessment, treatment, and management fall due within the first year of licensure and every six years thereafter, as KRS 210.366 requires — subject to exemptions for a three-semester-hour graduate course taken during graduate education, primary employment in an accredited clinical setting requiring per-patient suicide risk assessments, and teaching the subject.

Each one-semester-credit-hour course counts as fifteen continuing education hours, and no hours carry over between renewal periods.

2024 Ky.

Acts ch. 93 amended KRS 319.050, 319.053, and 319.064 effective July 15, 2024; the statute as amended by ch. 93 reads the practitioner's experience as two full-time years.

The documented rule change came on February 12, 2026: 201 KAR 26:190 (52 Ky.R.

863) cut its own practitioner experience from five full-time years to two, its regulatory impact analysis describing the change as "rather than the current five (5) years", and added two-way interactive video for supervised experience at the pre-internship level.

The same effective date covers 201 KAR 26:175 (52 Ky.R.

861, adding the social and cultural factors category) and 201 KAR 26:155 (52 Ky.R.

854, 1330).

201 KAR 26:230, filed in 2022, is the only saved rule text still printing five years; 2022 Ky.

Acts ch. 34 had earlier amended KRS 319.064 effective July 14, 2022.