New Jersey
Counseling Association

Steps for Licensure

  • As a student, it is a good idea to familiarize yourself with application requirements before you graduate. As you are aware, New Jersey has a 2 tiered system of licensure: Licensed Professional Counselor, which is a full plenary license and Licensed Associate Counselor, which is a temporary, conditional and supervised licensed. Essentially three areas of proficiency must be met for licensure: education, work experience and personal ethical background.
  • To download the Application for Licensure go to the NJCA website homepage: http://www.njcounseling.org. Scroll down to the Important Links box on the bottom of the page and click The Marriage and Family Therapy Examiners website, which is the Board under which The Professional Counselors Examiners Committee sits.
  • Click on The Professional Counselors Examiners Committee hyperlink and once on that site, click on Applications. (Important: be careful not to complete the application on the State Board home site as that is for Marriage and Family Therapists not for Professional Counselors or Associate Counselors.)
  • In order to be considered for Licensure in the State of New Jersey, you must have passed the National Counselors Examination (NCE). The NCE is administered by the National Board for Certified Counselors. See: www.nbcc.org. New Jersey is a Computer-Based Testing state (although, as of this writing, it is not listed as such on the NBCC website). The NCE is currently offered monthly at two locations: Robbinsville and Wayne.
  • You must apply to take to the exam by submitting an application to the The Professional Counselors Examiners Committee. That application is the same one which you submit for licensure. Complete the application as if you are applying for the LAC. Once the Committee receives your application and approves you to take the NCE, you will receive an admission letter. This letter indicates that you have met the requirements for licensure except for the exam. Once you pass the exam, you will be granted a license. NCE scores are automatically sent to the state by the NBCC. However, you must submit a Score Verification Request Form and pay a $20 processing fee to the NBCC for this to occur. See: http://www.nbcc.org/Exams/ScoreVerification. Remember to You must bring your NBCC admission letter and two forms of identification – one of which includes a picture (e.g., driver’s license) – to the testing site. Examples of acceptable IDs include a driver’s license or picture ID from the Department of Motor Vehicles, passport, or military ID. bring your admission letter issued from the Professional Counselors Examiners Committee and 2 forms of ID (one with a photo) to gain entrance to sit for the exam. See: http://www.nbcc.org/StateLicensure/Registration.

More information on licensure and continuing education requirements can be found in the Regulations and Statutes governing LACs and LPCs which are linked to the NJCA website Important Links Box at www.njcounseling.org.