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

Oregon licenses both doing the work and holding yourself out as doing it: the statute bars unlicensed practice and unlicensed representation as a psychologist, and representation includes any title or description of services incorporating psychology, psychological, psychotherapy or psychologist.

An applicant doing post-degree supervised work enters a contract and is designated a psychologist resident.

The psychologist associate — the state's former master's-level licence — was repealed for new applicants effective January 1, 2022; the board continues to regulate associates licensed before that date.

A job posting or business name that implies psychology practice therefore needs the matching licence unless an exemption applies.

The statute requires a doctoral degree in psychology from an approved doctoral program, and the board's rule defines approved by accreditation: APA or CPA accreditation as of the date the degree was conferred, PCSAS accreditation, or a regionally accredited program that applied to the APA or CPA before conferral and received a site visit.

Applicants from foreign programs, where APA or CPA accreditation is unavailable, take a detailed equivalence route that includes at least three academic years of full-time graduate study and one continuous year in residence at the degree-granting institution.

The transcript and program matter as much as the degree title, so check where your program stood on the date you graduated.

The statute asks for two years of supervised employment in the field of psychology, under an Oregon-licensed psychologist or someone the board treats as having equivalent supervisory competence, or in the military.

The rules give the hours: the pre-degree half is an internship of at least 1,500 hours completed within twenty-four months, with at least a quarter of it in direct client contact, plus a separate program practicum of at least 300 hours.

The post-degree half is one year of post-doctoral supervised work with a minimum of 1,500 hours of supervised psychological services over not less than twelve months.

The rules read contain no route letting internship or practicum hours stand in for that year — it must come after the doctorate is conferred.

Candidates for licensure pass the EPPP, where computer-administered forms take a scaled score of 500, and the Oregon Jurisprudence Exam, which measures knowledge of state law and the APA ethical principles the board incorporates.

The board's exams page says either exam may be taken before, during or after the post-doctoral year, in either order; the OJE is taken online on your own computer and is open book.

No EPPP Part 2 requirement appears in the rules read.

That question has a clock on it anyway: ASPPB's single integrated EPPP becomes the version for first-time takers from fall 2027 and the only version from April 1, 2028, so check the board's exam page for which version you will sit.

Post-doctoral experience completed in Oregon on or after August 1, 2018 counts only under a Board-approved Resident Supervision Contract, and a contract runs no more than two years unless extended for good cause.

The supervisor must be an Oregon licensed psychologist; the two years of licensure can come from Oregon, from a doctoral-based licence issued by a board in an ASPPB member jurisdiction, or a combination.

Out-of-state supervision is a separate route under 858-010-0036(2)(c), only for experience completed in other jurisdictions.

The supervisor need not be on site, and must keep an active or semi-active licence at all times while supervising (residency page).

By hours worked: at least one individual hour in any week of 1 to 20 hours, and at least two hours in a busier week, one of which may be group supervision — a formal, ongoing group of at least three mental health professionals, facilitated by a licensed psychologist and approved by the resident's supervisor.

Supervision under an unlicensed person does not count (residency page) — pick a supervisor whose licence will hold all year.

Psychology practice is counted where the client sits, including by telephone or video.

The statute exempts, each on stated conditions: teaching psychology, conducting psychological research or consulting to an organization, without supervising direct services or treating any disorder, plus such a person's expert testimony; graduate students rendering services only for academic credit in an organized, supervised training program; people pursuing a degree or licence in another exempted profession; Oregon-authorized mental health providers within their lawful scope, no psychologist title; employees of a government agency, listed public university or state-licensed community mental health or drug and alcohol program, within scope of employment and the agency's confines, no psychologist title; clergy acting in a ministerial capacity; and credentialed school psychologists employed by an educational institution, school setting only.

Subsection (2) lets a doctoral graduate practise unlicensed at such an agency for no more than 24 months, without the title, but the board's residency page states that exempt-site work outside a residency contract on or after August 1, 2018 does not count toward the required post-doctoral year.

Oregon psychologists cannot prescribe.

Per the PSYPACT Commission map as read in September 2026, Oregon has not enacted PSYPACT and had no active legislation, so there is no compact route into or out of the state.

Because the practice rule turns on where the client sits, an out-of-state psychologist serving an Oregon client by video needs Oregon authority.

The short-term route is the limited permit for an out-of-state licensee in good standing.

The statute caps the limited permit at 180 calendar days in any 24-month period, and OAR 858-010-0055 splits it in two.

The visitor's permit, for psychologists not seeking full Oregon licensure, is effective no more than 30 days in a 12-month period; its application carries a statement of work (purpose, location, specific dates of service), resubmitted on each re-entry.

The temporary permit, for an applicant approved for full licensure, is effective no more than 90 calendar days, with the jurisprudence examination required within 90 days of approval; applicants with under five years of licensure must consult an Oregon licensed psychologist at least one hour weekly on Oregon law, named on the application.

The board may license without the national examination an applicant who holds an essentially-equivalent out-of-state licence, is an ABPP diplomate in good standing, is licensed in a jurisdiction with an Oregon reciprocity agreement, holds ASPPB's Certificate of Professional Qualification or the National Register's Health Service Provider credential, or has maintained a doctoral-based licence in an ASPPB member jurisdiction for at least 15 years.

Every route still takes the board's Oregon-law examination.

The endorsement rule, OAR 858-010-0017, applies its experience tiers only to applicants who have maintained an active psychologist licence for fewer than 15 years: those with five years or more document education under OAR 858-010-0010(1), (2) or (3), twelve months of post-doctoral supervised work and an EPPP pass; those licensed fewer than five years must also show at least 1,500 hours within that twelve months, and their education can only be 858-010-0010(1) or (2) — the site-visit route in (3) does not qualify.

All candidates pass the Oregon Jurisprudence Exam.

Licensees must earn at least 40 continuing education credits during the period between license renewals, with set-asides in each reporting period: four credits of professional ethics and Oregon laws and regulations, one credit of pain management, four credits of cultural competency, and — effective July 1, 2022 — two credits on suicide risk assessment, treatment and management.

New licensees get a first-renewal exclusion: no continuing education reporting is required for individuals licensed twelve months or less on their first renewal date (OAR 858-040-0015(2)).

The statute separately conditions renewal on completing a one-hour board-approved pain management program within the previous 36 months.

The cycle is stated in the board's fee rule: the Board shall renew licences on a biennial birth month renewal schedule (OAR 858-030-0005(3)(d)), with biennial renewal fees for active, semi-active and inactive licensees and a $210 delinquency fee for renewals within thirty days after the stated due date.

Check your birth-month renewal date before your licence comes due.