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

Maine's chapter licenses two practising credentials: the psychologist and the psychological examiner (32 M.R.S. §3831(1)-(2)).

Neither track has a named pre-licensure associate tier; instead the board issues conditional and temporary licences, each running one year and conditioned on supervision.

A conditional licence may go to an applicant for a permanent licence or, without examination, to a licensee of an equivalent out-of-state board (§3836).

The temporary licence follows the same shape on the board's page: one year from date of issue, non-renewable, and a letter of agreement signed by the applicant and a licensed Maine psychologist who will supervise the work.

The chapter covers holding yourself out as a psychologist as well as practising, so the job title on a business card falls inside the licensing rule (board page).

The degree rule is §3831(2)'s phrase: a doctorate reflecting comprehensive training in psychology from an accredited institution the board recognizes as maintaining satisfactory standards, at the time the degree was granted.

The statute then does something distinctive: it accepts degrees granted by administrative units other than a department of psychology, so long as the comprehensive training was received in or accepted by a single program — naming programs approved by the National Association of School Psychologists or the American Psychological Association designation program or their successors or other organizations approved by the board — and it directs the board to adopt a list of these programs.

Degrees from programs not on that list are evaluated case by case, which makes the program list worth checking before applying.

Since January 1, 2020, initial applicants must also complete a minimum of 3 hours of course work in family or intimate partner violence screening and referral and intervention strategies; it can be course work inside the degree, and an applicant who cannot show it at application may demonstrate it at the first renewal.

The experience rule is one clause: at least 2 years of experience in psychology of a type the board considers qualifying in nature (§3831(2)).

No hour totals, no direct-client minimums and no internship or postdoctoral split appear in the statute, the board's licensing page or the exams page.

The board's administrative rules (02-340 CMR) would carry that detail, but they were not among the sources read — the rules PDF linked from the board's site is a 2020 scanned image.

Nor does the statute contain an accredited-program route that converts internship or practicum hours into a post-degree requirement; no such clause appears in the texts read.

The master's tier carries its own line: at least one year of full-time supervised experience in psychology, of the same board-judged qualifying type (§3831(1)).

Because the statute hands the board the judgment call on what counts as qualifying, and the application checklist requires documentation of supervised experience, confirm with the board how your internship and any postdoctoral hours will be counted before you build a supervision plan around them.

The board's licensing page names both exams: pass the EPPP with a passing score of 70% and pass the Maine Jurisprudence Exam.

The statute lets the board examine applicants by methods it deems practical, written or oral, or both (§3832); the texts read show the written EPPP plus the jurisprudence exam, whose suggested reference material spans the board's law and rules chapters, several related statutes, the APA ethical principles and the ASPPB code of conduct (board exams page).

EPPP results must reach the board directly from ASPPB.

Both licences carry one more exam condition: an applicant may not have failed an examination within the preceding 6 months (§3831).

No EPPP Part 2 (Skills) requirement appears in the sources read.

That question is time-limited anyway: ASPPB's integrated EPPP replaces the two-part exam for first-time takers from fall 2027 and is the only version from April 1, 2028, and nothing in the Maine texts read addresses the switch.

The chapter's supervision clause for would-be licensees is §3813: students of psychology, psychological interns and other persons preparing for the examiner or psychologist professions may perform the chapter's functions as part of their training, but only under the supervision of a licensed psychologist.

No separate trainee registration appears in the texts read, and none of them says whom the board's one-year temporary licence is for, so an intern's route — the §3813 training exemption, a temporary licence, or both — should be confirmed with the board.

Supervision also structures the examiner's intervention work: intervention such as consultation, behavior management or social skills training happens under a licensed psychologist's supervision or as otherwise provided in law or rules, and the board is directed to establish rules for supervision of examiners' intervention services (board page).

The board's page describes the psychologist's practice broadly: diagnosing, assessing and treating mental, emotional and psychological illness, disorders, problems and concerns, plus evaluation and treatment of vocational, social, educational, behavioral, intellectual and learning and cognitive disorders, through techniques from testing and psychological interviews to psychotherapy, behavior modification and consultation.

The psychological examiner's practice is much narrower: interviewing and administering and interpreting tests of mental abilities, aptitudes, interests and personality characteristics for psychological evaluation or for educational or vocational selection, guidance or placement.

Examiners may apply for Intervention Privileges on the board's form.

Within psychology licensure, the psychotherapy bar on the master's tier is absolute: a graduate who wants to practise psychotherapy as a psychologist needs the doctoral route, not the examiner licence.

Maine enacted the Psychology Interjurisdictional Compact as subchapter 4 of its psychologists chapter, codified at 32 M.R.S. §3841 et seq.

(PL 2021, c.

331).

The PSYPACT Commission map, as read in September 2026, lists Maine as a member in effect: ME HB 631, enacted June 22, 2021, effective October 18, 2021.

PSYPACT is doctoral-only — a compact rule defines a graduate degree as a doctoral degree — so a Maine psychological examiner cannot use it.

A Maine psychologist uses it to practise telepsychology or work temporarily in person in a participating state through ASPPB's E.Passport or Interjurisdictional Practice Certificate plus the matching PSYPACT authorization.

§3836 lets the board grant a conditional licence without examination to someone licensed by a similar board of another state whose standards the board finds equivalent; the licence runs one year, confines the licensee to supervised practice, and the board may require an approved examination during the term.

The board's application list shows the routes in practice: an Endorsement form and a National Register form sit alongside the EPPP forms.

Whoever applies, the documentation bar is high — official licence verifications for every professional licence the applicant holds or has ever held, including expired ones, showing licence number, type, issue and expiry dates and any discipline; copies of licences are not acceptable (board page).

The statute sets licences to expire biennially or as established by the Commissioner of Professional and Financial Regulation (§3835) — biennial is the default, and a different cycle is the Commissioner's to establish.

The board's page publishes an annual renewal on April 30th, with a $125 renewal fee and a $50 late fee after the expiration date.

Confirm your own cycle and due date with the board before your licence comes due.

More than 90 days late, an application is subject to the new-applicant requirements, though the board may waive the examination within two years of expiration.

On continuing education, the texts read give no hour total: the board's pages reference a 2012–2014 continuing-education period, no longer collect CE logs at renewal, and instead certify CE on the renewal form with audits of a randomly selected group of licensees.

One requirement is clear: a one-time minimum of 3 contact hours on family or intimate partner violence screening, referral and intervention strategies, in place since January 1, 2020, which may count toward the licensee's required continuing education (§3835).