Continuing Education

Every three years when a psychologist renews his or her license, they must be able to show that they have completed 60 hours of continuing education (CE). Completion of CE ensures that psychologists review existing concepts and techniques and keep informed of advances in the field.

All CE activities are linked to maintaining or increasing professional or scientific competence in psychology. Courses or workshops primarily designed to increase practice income or office efficiency, while valuable to the licensee, are specifically non-eligible for CE credit.

Program sponsors or institutes should not apply for, nor expect to receive, prior or current board approval for CE status or category. Recognized activities include:

1. Courses, seminars, workshops and post-doctoral institutes offered by educational institutions chartered by a state and recognized (accredited) by a regional association of schools, colleges and universities as providing graduate level course offerings. Such educational activities must be recorded on an official transcript or certificate of completion.
2. Courses (including correspondence courses), seminars, workshops and post-doctoral institutes sponsored by the American Psychological Association, regional or state psychological associations or their subchapters, psychology internship training centers, other professionally or scientifically recognized behavioral science organizations, and the board.
3. Credit toward the CE requirement may be earned through teaching an approved CE program. Credit earned through teaching shall not exceed thirty hours every three years. Credit for teaching an approved CE program may be earned on the following basis:
   1. One credit hour for each sixty minutes actually spent teaching the program for the first event. Credit may be conferred for teaching similar subject matter only if the psychologist has actually spent an equal or greater amount of preparation time updating the subject matter to be taught on a later occasion.
   2. One credit hour for each sixty minutes actually spent participating in a panel presentation.
4. A minimum of four hours credit in ethics must be included in the sixty hours required. Areas to be covered, depending on the licensee's primary area(s) of function are practice, consultation, research, teaching, and/or supervision.
5. The board reserves the right to require any licensee to submit evidence, e.g., course or program certificate of training, transcript, course or workshop brochure description, evidence of attendance, etc., in addition to the affidavit form in order to demonstrate compliance with the sixty hours CE requirement.

In the event a licensee fails to meet requirements, because of illness, retirement (with no further provision of psychological services to consumers), failure to renew, or other extenuating circumstances, each case will be considered by the board on an individual basis.

When circumstances justify it, the board may grant a time extension. The board may, in its discretion, limit in part or in whole the provision of psychological services to the consumers until the CE requirements are met.

In the case of retirement or illness, the board may grant indefinite waiver of CE as a requirement for re-licensure, provided an affidavit be received, indicating the psychologist is not providing psychological services to consumers.

If such illness or retirement status is changed or consumer psychological services are resumed, it is incumbent upon the licensee to immediately notify the board and to resume meeting CE requirements for re-licensure. CE credit hours will be prorated for the portion of that three-year period involving resumption of such services.