How to Become a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor in Montana
Montana licenses counselors as Licensed Clinical Professional Counselors (LCPCs), through the Montana Board of Behavioral Health. Before full licensure, you'll hold LCPC Candidate status, commonly abbreviated PCLC, while completing supervised hours.
Step 1: Earn a Qualifying Master's Degree
Full LCPC licensure requires a graduate degree of at least 60 semester hours (90 quarter hours) from a CACREP-accredited program covering the Board's required coursework. Montana allows candidates to begin with a 45-semester-hour (67.5 quarter hour) counseling-related degree if they complete the remaining coursework later.
Step 2: Apply for LCPC Candidate Status
Apply online as an LCPC candidate. You'll need a fingerprint-based background check through the Montana Department of Justice, with results sent directly to the Board, plus official graduate transcripts.
Step 3: Complete Your Supervised Experience
Montana requires at least 3,000 total supervised practice hours, with at least 1,500 completed post-degree and at least 1,000 of the post-degree hours in direct service. Supervision accrues at one hour for every 20 hours of work, and supervisees may not work more than 80 hours between supervisory sessions. Over the full supervisory period, your supervisor must spend at least 10 hours reviewing unedited sessions, whether live or recorded.
Step 4: Pass Two Exams
Montana requires passing scores on both:
The National Counselor Examination (NCE)
The National Clinical Mental Health Counseling Examination (NCMHCE)
Step 5: Apply for Full LCPC Licensure
Submit your LCPC application with your supervised experience documentation and both exam scores.
Apply for Your License
Start or continue your application directly with Montana Board of Behavioral Health, the official licensing authority. Applications submitted anywhere else won't be processed.
A Note on Accuracy
This post reflects information from the Montana Board of Behavioral Health and its published LCPC application checklists. Licensing rules, fees, and statutes change. Verify current requirements directly at boards.bsd.dli.mt.gov before making any licensure decision.
Montana's two-exam requirement (NCE and NCMHCE both) is less common nationally, so confirm your testing timeline accounts for both before assuming one exam clears you for full licensure.
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