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

The Psychologist Licensing Act requires a licence to practise, and 58-61-301(2) lists what the Division issues: three licences — psychologist, certified psychology resident and licensed school psychological practitioner — plus two certifications, certified prescribing psychologist and provisional prescribing psychologist.

The psychologist licence carries the full scope: all acts and practices of psychology without supervision, in private and independent practice or as an employee, limited only by the licensee's education, training and competence.

The certified psychology resident is the supervised training stage — the Act requires certification to engage in a residency program of supervised clinical training (58-61-301(1)(b)), which the rule frames as postdoctoral (R156-61-302b(3)(a)) — and a resident may not engage in the independent practice of psychology.

The prescribing certifications do not replace the psychologist licence; they stack on it.

The statute asks for certified transcripts verifying a doctoral degree in psychology with the division rule's core course work, from a program that met the division's approval criteria when the degree was received.

R156-61-302a sets how a program qualifies: accreditation by the APA's Commission on Accreditation or Canada's CPAAP; or regional accreditation plus the rule's criteria — at least three academic years of full-time graduate study, a nine-area curriculum, a supervised practicum of at least 400 hours including at least 150 of direct service and at least 20 of scheduled supervision, and internships of at least 2,000 hours accredited by the APA-CoA or CPAAP or Division-determined substantially equivalent; or, for a United States, district, territory or Canadian program, a single "designated" status from the ASPPB National Register Joint Designation Committee.

Programs outside the United States and Canada qualify instead under the ASPPB National Register Designation Guidelines.

R156-61-302a(5) adds a respecialization step: a doctorate not designed to lead to clinical practice, or a move to a substantially different practice area, requires a respecialization program meeting the rule's criteria.

The number is 4,000: at least 4,000 hours of psychology training approved by the Division in collaboration with the Board, under an approved psychologist supervisor, gathered while enrolled in an approved doctoral program or licensed as a certified psychology resident (R156-61-302b(1)).

The training must be completed in not more than four years following the awarding of the doctoral degree, unless the Division approves an extension for extenuating circumstances, and a supervised training position counts at no more than 40 hours per week full-time or 20 part-time.

The rule then says the quiet part: any portion of the 4,000 hours may be accrued in a predoctoral program, so Utah does not require a postdoctoral year.

To be qualified to engage in mental health therapy, add not less than 1,000 hours of supervised therapy training obtained after a master's level of education in psychology, counted inside the 4,000, with documented supervision of not less than one hour for each 40 hours (58-61-304(1)(e)).

Rule R156-61-302c(1), as amended effective June 5, 2025, requires the two-part EPPP with a passing score as recommended by the ASPPB, and the Utah Psychologist Law and Ethics Examination with a passing score of at least 75%.

Read literally, two-part means EPPP Parts 1 and 2 — but DOPL's own exam page names only the Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology and never mentions Part 2, so the sources read do not settle whether Utah requires Part 2; ask DOPL before planning around either reading.

The question is time-boxed anyway: ASPPB's single integrated EPPP replaces both parts for first-time takers from fall 2027 and is the only version from April 1, 2028.

Admission comes late in the file — 58-61-305 requires certifying, under penalty of perjury, that the degree is awarded and the supervised training complete.

Three EPPP failures trigger a SMART-format plan, a Board appearance and a completed plan of study before re-admission (R156-61-302c(4)).

Only an approved psychologist supervisor under R156-61-302d generates hours that count toward the 4,000.

The ratio is a minimum of one supervision hour per 20 hours of predoctoral training and experience, one per 40 postdoctoral.

A postdoctoral residency requires the certified psychology resident certification.

An on-the-job training program is open only to individuals who have completed all courses required for graduation in a qualifying doctoral degree; it starts immediately upon completion of those courses, ends no later than 60 days from the date it begins or upon licensure, whichever is earlier, may not be extended or used a second time, is done while employed by a public or private agency engaged in the practice of psychology, and runs under weekly in-person supervision by a supervisor licensed under Title 58, Chapter 61.

For the mental-health-therapy hours under 58-61-304(1)(e), remote direct supervision needs a signed written agreement under R156-61-302b(6): supervision completed before the Division grants written approval does not count toward the real-time live direct-supervision requirement, with in-person supervisor visits at least quarterly unless the Division approves less.

A Utah psychologist's scope runs to all acts and practices of psychology without supervision, limited only by education, training and competence.

Prescribing is carved out of it: only a certified or provisional prescribing psychologist may prescribe, administer and discontinue selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and other Division-approved medications, and never narcotics or controlled substances (58-61-308(1)(b), (e)).

The collaboration rule names the certified prescribing psychologist only: they must identify and maintain a collaborative relationship with the health care practitioner currently overseeing the patient's general medical care — a Chapter 67 or 68 physician or a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner (58-61-308(1)(d)); the sources read state no parallel requirement for the provisional certification.

The licensed school psychological practitioner may provide services outside a school setting only under National Association of School Psychologists standards and only for the statute's listed purposes (58-61-308(3)(a)) — and in every setting, the same subsection bans diagnosing, mental health therapy, psychological evaluation, neuropsychological assessment and neuropsychological evaluation (58-61-308(3)(b)).

The PSYPACT Commission map, as read in September 2026, lists Utah as a member in effect: SB 106, enacted 2017-03-17, effective 2020-07-01.

DOPL maintains a PSYPACT page, which was not read for this review.

The compact lets a psychologist practise as a telepsychologist or work temporarily in person in other participating states, through ASPPB's E.Passport or Interjurisdictional Practice Certificate plus the matching PSYPACT authorization.

It is a doctoral-level compact, so Utah's licensed school psychological practitioner cannot practise under it, and the home-state Utah licence remains the qualifying credential throughout.

Endorsement under 58-61-304(2) requires a current licence in another state, district, territory or Division-approved jurisdiction; no disciplinary action pending or in effect in any jurisdiction; a passing score on the Utah Psychologist Law and Ethics Examination; and evidence of actively practising psychology in that jurisdiction for not less than 2,000 hours or one year, whichever is greater.

The applicant must also show the other jurisdiction's licensure requirements were substantially equivalent to Utah's — or hold ABPP Board Certified Specialist status, National Register credentialing as a health service provider in psychology, or ASPPB's Certificate of Professional Qualification.

On the examination route instead, R156-61-302b(5) credits training already completed outside Utah when the Division finds it equivalent, and R156-61-302b(6), which is tied to the 58-61-304(1)(e) mental-health-therapy hours, stops any hour of remote supervision completed before the Division grants written approval of the supervision agreement from counting toward the real-time live direct-supervision requirement.

Licences run on a two-year renewal cycle, and each licence expires unless renewed (58-61-302).

DOPL's renewal page sets the psychologist requirement at at least 48 hours of continuing education during each two-year renewal cycle commencing October 1 of each even-numbered year, at least six in ethics and law and at least 30 completed in person or as live interactive webinars.

The licensed school psychological practitioner has the same 48-hour total and the same 30-hour in-person or live interactive floor; the certified psychology resident renews on 24 hours, six of them live.

Category caps apply: teaching, supervision and related activities share a combined 10-hour allowance, clinical readings up to six, peer consultation up to six, and internet or distance courses up to 18 with an exam and APA or state or province association recognition.

A licence first taken mid-cycle raises or lowers the required hours proportionately to the licensure date.

Renewals are due September 30 of even years, with a $138 renewal fee.

S.B.

26, the Behavioral Health Licensing Amendments, was signed on March 19, 2024.

It created the certified and provisional prescribing psychologist certifications, wrote the prescribing scope and collaborative-relationship requirement into 58-61-308(1), and created the multi-professional Behavioral Health Board that now advises the Division.

In 2025, chapter 443 amended the licensed school psychological practitioner's qualifications in 58-61-304(7), and R156-61-302b and -302c — the experience and exam rules — took their current form effective June 5, 2025.

The sources read included no pre-2025 text of those rules, so no wording on this page, including the two-part EPPP requirement and the supervision ratios, is attributed to that or any earlier amendment.

Whether R156-61-302b(4)'s predoctoral allowance is new in that amendment was not isolated in the sources read.

Chapter 64 of the 2026 General Session amended 58-61-301's classification list.

Utah's one non-doctoral psychology licence is school-specific.

It takes a master's degree or Division-approved equivalent certification program of at least 60 semester hours or 90 quarter hours in school psychology covering the statute's seven topic areas, a one-school-year internship — or the equivalent — with a minimum of 1,200 clock hours, at least 600 of them in a school setting or a setting with an educational component, and at least five years of successful experience as a school psychologist in the state, plus recommendations from the applicant's institution and employing education agencies (58-61-304(7)).

Inside schools the licensee practises school psychology.

Outside them, 58-61-308(3)(a) allows services only under National Association of School Psychologists standards and only for the statute's listed purposes.

The exclusions in 58-61-308(3)(b) — diagnosing, mental health therapy, psychological evaluation, neuropsychological assessment and neuropsychological evaluation — are not scoped to a setting: they apply wherever the licensee practises.

There is no general-practice master's licence in Utah.