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Continuing Education Requirements for National Certified Counselors (NCCs)

Continuing Education Requirements for NCC Recertification

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The continuing education (CE) requirement for NCCs is 100 continuing education clock hours in each (five year) certification cycle. One CE clock hour is defined as 50-60 minutes of time during which you are in contact with the learning event or instrument.

Be careful not to confuse CEUs and all other types of CE credit. The term CEU is often misused. It is not the same as a clock hour. One real CEU is actually worth 10 clock hours. Here is an example of correct usage: You attend a four day conference and 23 clock hours of workshops. Your certificate would be correct if it said EITHER 23 CE clock hours OR 2.3 CEUs. If your certificate said 2.3 CEUs you would have to multiply times 10 to get the 23 hours you were actually at the conference.

NOTE: If your certificate said (incorrectly) 23 CEUs, you should NOT multiply times 10 to claim 230 clock hours of CE credit for that conference. Don't make this mistake. NCCs who have made this mistake assumed they had many more hours than they actually did and so came up short at recertification time.

Other CE Terms

  • 23 CE contact hours = 23 CE clock hours
  • 23 CE credits = 23 CE clock hours
  • 23 CE credit hours = 23 clock hours
  • 23 CE's = 23 CE clock hours

Other Types of Credit

  • One academic semester hour (or semester credit) = 15 CE clock hours
  • One academic quarter hour (or quarter credit) = 10 CE clock hours

Continuing Education Requirements for the CCMHC

In order to maintain the CCMHC credential, counselors are required to maintain the NCC credential. In order to recertify the CCMHC credential, 50 percent of the 100 hours required for the NCC must relate directly to the four clinical content areas listed below.

  1. Counseling and Psychotherapy Theory and Practice
  2. Abnormal Psychology and Psychopathology
  3. Testing and Appraisal
  4. Group Counseling and Psychotherapy

Continuing Education Requirements for the MAC

In order to maintain the MAC credential, counselors are required to maintain the NCC credential. In order to recertify the MAC credential, 25 percent of the 100 hours required for the NCC must relate directly to the seven content areas listed below:

  1. Drug Information and Terminology
  2. Theories of Addictions
  3. Medical & Psychosocial Aspects of Addictions
  4. Addictions Assessment
  5. Issues in Treatment of Addictions
  6. Addictions Group Counseling
  7. Family Addictions Counseling

Continuing Education Requirements for the NCSC

In order to maintain the NCSC credential, counselors are required to maintain the NCC credential. In order to recertify the NCSC credential, 25 percent of the 100 hours required for the NCC must relate directly to the six content areas listed below:

  1. Appraisal of Individuals
  2. Group Counseling
  3. Cultural Diversity in Counseling
  4. Career Development
  5. Fundamentals of School Counseling
  6. Supervised School Counseling Practicum