Counselor Licensure in Hawaii: LPC Requirements, Hours and Exams

Hawaii's chapter issues two counseling licences as of July 1, 2026.

The Licensed Mental Health Counselor is the independent licence; using a counselor title without a licence is a prohibited act carrying a fine of no more than $1,000 for each separate offense, each day of violation counting separately.

Beneath it sits the Licensed Associate Mental Health Counselor, a provisional licence for graduates who hold the qualifying degree and practicum under §453D-7.5(a)(1) and are accruing the supervised experience.

It is a licence, not a registration: the department issues it, the licence itself names the supervising licensed clinical supervisor, and practise is confined to that supervisor's direct oversight.

The degree must be a master's or doctorate from an accredited educational institution — one accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges or a comparable regional body — in counseling or an allied field related to the practice of mental health counseling.

The graduate counseling coursework, whether included in the degree or supplementing it, must total at least 48 semester hours or 72 quarter hours across ten named course areas, with a minimum of 3 semester hours or 5 quarter hours in each, running from human growth and development to appraisal of human behavior with an emphasis on DSM categories and on to professional orientation and ethics.

Area (J) is the practicum: at least two academic terms for at least 6 semester hours of graduate credit, with 300 hours of supervised client contact under an approved supervisor.

The statute names institutional accreditation only; CACREP accreditation is not a condition.

The experience requirement is stated in one sentence, and its terms matter for planning.

The 3,000 hours are post-graduate — the statute does not credit pre-degree hours — and they must be in the practice of mental health counseling; no direct-client minimum appears in the sections read, so confirm with the program what counts toward the total before you book the work.

The 100 hours of face-to-face clinical supervision carry their own clock, and both figures must be completed in no less than two years and no more than four years.

Supervision must come from the six approved licence types, the same list that qualifies a clinical supervisor for an associate's provisional licence.

Licensure requires passage of the National Counselor Examination for Licensure and Certification, which the department administers at least once a year under NBCC standards; the examining fee is paid by the applicant directly to the National Board for Certified Counselors, and the director sets the passing score.

The NCMHCE is not named for current applicants.

The chapter's transition provisions show the exam menu was once wider: a grandfathering route under §453D-7(b) deemed qualified an individual who held current national certified counselor or national certified rehabilitation counselor certification before the chapter took effect, passed the NCE, the NCMHCE, or the CRCC examination between January 1, 2000 and July 1, 2005, and applied within one year of the chapter's July 1, 2005 effective date.

That route is long closed, and today's applicants sit the NCE.

Hawaii issues no supervisor credential; qualification is a licence type, and the same six-type list covers the practicum, the 3,000 hours, and an associate's clinical supervision.

For an associate the stakes are structural: the provisional licence names the supervising licensed clinical supervisor on its face, and practise is allowed only under that person's direct supervision, so the job offer and the supervisor choice are one decision.

The 100 supervision hours must be face-to-face, but the statute lets the applicant, in collaboration with the supervisor, elect to fulfil some or all of them by videoconference that complies with federal and state privacy, security, and confidentiality laws, including HIPAA.

The statute attaches a warning to that election: review other jurisdictions' laws first, because electronic supervision can affect licensure by endorsement or reciprocity elsewhere.

The practice of mental health counseling is defined to include the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of, and counseling for, mental and emotional disorders, and of substance abuse and conduct disorders defined in the approved diagnostic and statistical manual, along with preventive educational techniques and consultative services.

For an LMHC that means diagnostic authority is part of the licence itself; the sections read name no separate diagnostic privilege and no testing restriction layered on top.

The licence's sharpest edge is the title: exemptions preserve room for clergy, students, counselors employed by government agencies, and qualified members of other licensed professions — social workers, registered nurses, psychologists, marriage and family therapists, physicians — to do overlapping work, provided they do not present themselves as mental health counselors.

The chapter's only route for an out-of-state counselor is reciprocity by agreement, and it is discretionary twice over.

The director may enter into an agreement with any state that licenses mental health counselors, and only after finding that state's requirements substantially the same or higher than Hawaii's; the agreement must then provide that a currently licensed resident of that state is licensed in Hawaii on meeting or exceeding this chapter's requirements.

No endorsement-by-credentials section exists in the chapter, and whether any reciprocity agreement is in force was not located in the sources read.

A counselor moving to Hawaii should plan on the standard application under §453D-7 and ask the program directly whether an agreement covers their state.

Hawaii has not enacted the Counseling Compact: it does not appear on the commission's member list as of September 2026, and it is not among the states issuing or accepting compact privileges.

There is therefore no compact privilege in either direction — a Hawaii LMHC cannot carry one to another state, and a counselor licensed in a compact state cannot use it to practise in Hawaii.

The routes in remain Hawaii's own: the examination licence under §453D-7, or a reciprocity agreement under §453D-8 if one exists.

Because the commission's list is the source of record here, check it for movement before relying on this page.

Licences renew triennially, and the renewal window opens no earlier than ninety days before June 30.

Letting a licence lapse forfeits it; a forfeited licence can be restored within one year on payment of renewal and restoration fees, after which it terminates and the person may be required to reapply as a new applicant.

On continuing education the honest position is a gap: no CE requirement appears in the HRS 453D sections read, and the program's administrative rules were not read, so this page states neither a CE figure nor a claim that Hawaii requires none.

Confirm CE expectations with the Mental Health Counselors Licensing Program before your first renewal.

Act 93 of the 2024 legislature took effect July 1, 2026 and rebuilt the chapter's entry path.

It created the provisional associate licence in §453D-7.5, extended title protection under §453D-5 and the director's powers under §453D-3 to the associate titles, and set licence terms at three years with provisional licences at one.

Videoconference supervision was already in §453D-7(a)(2) before Act 93, which did not amend that section.

What did not change is the LMHC core: the 48 semester hours, the 300-hour practicum, the 3,000 post-graduate hours with 100 face-to-face supervision hours, and the NCE all read as before.

The program announced in its June 2, 2026 release that applications for the new provisional licences were open.