Substance Abuse Counselor Requirements in Ohio: Credentials, Hours and Exams

ORC 4758.02(A) protects the activity of substance use disorder counseling for a fee and, in the same subsection, names the five credentials that let you charge for it: LICDC-CS, LICDC, LCDC III, LCDC II and the CDCA certificate.

A graduate cannot legally accept payment for counseling under any of those titles until OCDPB has issued one of these credentials.

Ohio also runs a separate Registered Applicant certificate under §4758.61, but that credential authorizes only prevention services under someone else's supervision — it is not a rung on the counseling ladder. §4758.03 lists three exemptions from the licensing requirement: (A) anyone already licensed, registered or certified under another Revised Code chapter working within that profession's own recognized scope; (B) clergy and others performing pastoral counseling within their regular ministerial duties under an established church's auspices; and (C) students in an accredited institution carrying out supervised, prescribed coursework activities without holding themselves out as licensed.

The CDCA certificate needs no degree, only age eighteen, a high school diploma or equivalent, and forty hours of approved substance use disorder specific education for the thirteen-month preliminary certificate, then thirty more hours for the two-year renewable certificate.

LCDC II accepts an associate degree in a behavioral science or nursing, or a bachelor's degree in any field, plus 180 hours of SUD-specific education.

A second LCDC II route skips the degree entirely: an applicant who has continuously held and actively worked under a CDCA certificate in good standing since December 31, 2008 may substitute that history for the degree, but must still complete the standard 2,000-hour and 180-hour requirements.

LCDC III raises the degree bar to a bachelor's or higher specifically in a behavioral science or nursing.

LICDC always requires a master's or higher in a behavioral science or nursing; a master's from one of six named programs — including clinical psychology, counseling psychology or social work — satisfies that same coursework check without itemizing individual graduate courses.

LCDC II, LCDC III and LICDC each require 2,000 hours of work experience or a combination of work experience plus a supervised internship or apprenticeship, of which at least twenty percent — 400 hours — must be in the clinical core functions of substance use disorder treatment services.

Within that 400-hour floor, at least 220 hours must fall across four itemized functions: screening and assessment (40 hours), treatment planning (70 hours), counseling (90 hours) and professional and ethical responsibilities (20 hours).

These are stacked minimums, not competing totals.

LCDC II also has a 1,000-hour alternative for applicants who hold an associate's or bachelor's degree in a behavioral science or nursing with a specialization in substance use disorder counseling (ORC 4758.42(B)(1)): while holding an active CDCA certificate, complete 1,000 hours of compensated CDCA work experience, a 240-hour supervised practicum at a site providing intensive outpatient treatment or a higher level of care with at least two hours per week of clinical supervision, completed within two semesters and not exceeding three years, plus a written recommendation from the CDCA's supervisor.

LCDC II, LCDC III and LICDC applicants must pass the IC&RC (ADC) exam or another board-approved alcohol and drug counselor exam.

LICDC-CS applicants instead take the IC&RC or another board-approved clinical supervisor exam.

LCDC III, LICDC and LICDC-CS applicants can skip their own exam by documenting an existing Ohio license, certificate or credential whose scope already covers the right mix of authority — for LCDC III and LICDC that means substance use disorder counseling plus diagnosing and treating substance use disorder conditions, a two-part scope, while LICDC-CS needs a broader three-part scope covering the clinical supervision of substance use disorder counseling, substance use disorder counseling, and diagnosing and treating substance use disorder conditions.

LCDC II has no exam exemption in its rule; an LCDC II applicant sits the exam regardless of any other credential held.

A CDCA may practice substance use disorder counseling and its listed tasks only while under the supervision of a listed professional: an LICDC-CS, LICDC or LCDC III; a physician; a psychologist; a registered nurse, professional clinical counselor, independent social worker or independent marriage and family therapist whose own scope of practice covers that supervision; or a certified nurse practitioner or clinical nurse specialist. §4758.59(C) bars a CDCA from practicing as an individual practitioner.

A narrower, separate list at §4758.561 governs who may supervise an LCDC III's own diagnosis and clinical-supervision work, and who may supervise an LICDC's own clinical-supervision work under §4758.55(C): an LICDC-CS, a physician, a psychologist, a registered nurse, professional clinical counselor, independent social worker or independent marriage and family therapist whose scope covers it, or a certified nurse practitioner or clinical nurse specialist — it does not include another LICDC or LCDC III.

LCDC II and LCDC III may not practice as individual practitioners either.

LICDC is the only Ohio SUD counselor license that can diagnose and treat substance use disorder conditions without a supervision qualifier attached to that specific authority.

LCDC III may diagnose, but only under supervision, and may not practice as an individual practitioner.

LCDC II's authority section covers treatment planning, assessment, counseling and referral, with no diagnosis authority listed at either the independent or supervised level.

CDCA covers the same functions as LCDC II but only while under supervision.

ORC 4758.70 caps all five credentials at the substance use disorder scope defined in this chapter: none of them authorizes the practice of psychology, professional counseling, social work or marriage and family therapy.

Unlike states where a private association holds the IC&RC seat, OCDPB itself is the IC&RC member board for Ohio, mapping LCDC II, LCDC III and LICDC to the ADC reciprocal level and LICDC-CS to the CS level.

Holding the state license is not automatic IC&RC reciprocity: license holders must apply for the ADC reciprocal endorsement to have IC&RC reciprocity, and LICDC-CS holders must separately apply for the CS endorsement.

Separately, ORC 4758.25(A) requires the board to issue a license, certificate or endorsement under Ohio's universal-licensure-recognition chapter to an applicant who satisfies either of two conditions: holding a license, certificate or endorsement in another state, or — only in a state that does not itself issue that license, certificate or endorsement — having satisfactory work experience, a government certification, or a private certification.

Ohio licenses under chapter 4758 expire two years after they're issued, except the CDCA's first certificate, which expires in thirteen months — that expiration schedule is set by §4758.26(A).

Renewal itself follows two different paths under §4758.26(B): an individual renewing that initial CDCA certificate satisfies the additional training requirement established under §4758.52, not the standard continuing-education rule, while every other license, certificate or endorsement renews under the standard CE requirement in §4758.51.

That standard CE requirement is normally thirty clock hours per period, twenty if the individual is sixty-five or older, or whatever hours the IC&RC itself requires for a holder of its own international certificate. §4758.51(C) lets the board waive continuing education entirely for an individual unable to complete it because of military service, illness, residence outside the United States, or another board-accepted reason.

OAC 4758-5-03 through -06 took effect July 3, 2023, setting the current 2,000-hour structure for LCDC II, LCDC III, LICDC and LICDC-CS.

OAC 4758-5-01, the CDCA rule, followed on April 1, 2024.

ORC 4758.25 changed December 29, 2023, under SB 131, tying Ohio's reciprocity to the state's Chapter 4796 universal licensure recognition framework.

Most recently, HB 96 (136th General Assembly), effective September 30, 2025, rewrote ORC 4758.02 through .59 to replace the older 'chemical dependency counseling' phrasing with 'substance use disorder counseling' throughout the chapter — a terminology change, not a new credential or hour requirement.

LICDC-CS starts from an active LICDC in good standing, then adds two distinct 2,000-hour blocks that OAC 4758-5-06(F) states are additional to, and exclusive from, whatever hours qualified the underlying LICDC.

The first block is 2,000 hours of general work experience or a supervised internship, with the same twenty-percent core-functions floor used at the LICDC tier.

The second block is 2,000 hours of clinical substance use disorder supervisory work experience, of which at least 200 hours must be face-to-face and all of it performed under proper supervision.

On top of both blocks, the applicant completes thirty hours of clinical-supervision-specific education across five content areas — counselor development, professional and ethical standards, program development and quality assurance, performance evaluation, and administration — each with its own four-hour floor inside the thirty-hour total.