The LCMHC-A Journey

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By: Joseph Lowe (he/him), LCMHCA

 

Introduction

 

Are you a cautiously optimistic clinical counseling graduate student in North Carolina trying to figure out the licensure process? You’ve come to the right place. The anxiety around submitting licensure application materials to the counseling board and overcoming the fear of making a mistake is a palpable feeling.

 

Leading up to graduation a few months ago, I found myself searching for guidance on the licensure process involved with becoming a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor Associate (LCMHC-A) and was met with horror stories, inconsistent timeline expectations and more questions than when I originally sought after answers. Truthfully, you might endure the same experience. A number of my fellow university cohort members and recently licensed counselors at Three Oaks can attest to this fact.

 

With this experience in mind, we sought out to create a short how-to guide for graduate students around the North Carolina area in hopes it might lower your cortisol levels and relieve the anxiety we endured ourselves. We encourage all graduate students to always reach out to the North Carolina Board of Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselors (NCBCLMHC) if you have any concerns about your application process, as we’re not experts here. But we hope this mini guide helps! 

 

This short guide could not be possible without the help of Jamie Carbon and Carolina Messick, two rockstars in their own right. We always advocate for licensed and soon-to-be licensed therapists attending therapy. If you’re searching for a therapist as you experience your career shift, these two counselors should be at the top of your list.

 

Step-by-step List

 

Here is a step-by-step list of the tasks you must complete to gain licensure as a clinical mental health counselor associate.

 

  • Application
  • Payment
  • Legal documentation
  • Transcripts
  • Education review
  • Graduate experience review
  • LiveScan/Fingerprint Card
  • National exam receipt submitted
  • National exam scores received
  • Professional disclosure statement 
  • Jurisprudence exam certificate
  • Professional references received
  • Professional references review
  • Criminal background check results
    • Electronic release form
  • Application affidavit notary
  • Supervision contract

 

Accessing Your Application

 

First thing is first, where do you begin? In order to access your application and all the documentation needed to submit for licensure, visit: https://portal.ncblcmhc.org/index.aspx and create a profile. Look for the tab labeled Application and select the LCMHC-A option. Your application is perhaps the most straightforward part of this process. The application is filled out online similar to any job application you’ve filled out before. It’ll request information such as your name, mailing address, marital status, primary address, education history, references and graduate counseling experience. 

 

There are two application sections that require a little extra effort on your part. The first section is the graduate course portion. This section requires you to list each course taken during your graduate education by code and identify its corresponding subject requirement by NCBCLMHC standards. In full transparency, this was more of a guessing game in my experience. As a word of advice, try your best to match the course name to the most similar subject requirement and press submit. If the board has any questions at all, a board member will reach out to you for clarification to ensure all your requirements are met. If you’ve attended a CACREP institution, this should be a relatively seamless process. The second section that requires attention is the graduate counseling experience section. This section requires that you list your practicum and internship experience sites as well as detail regarding your counseling duties. It’s important to fill out this section as thoroughly as possible, including your hours worked per week and the responsibilities held. For example, it would be ideal if you explained what theories/interventions were utilized during your practicum and internship experience as well as what type of group therapy sessions you spearheaded or joined.

 

Payment

 

“I’ve already paid tuition to get my graduate degree, you’re telling me I have to pay more for licensure?” Yes, I am. 

 

As of this year, the application fee is $200 and the criminal background check cost $38 for a total of $238 due upon application sendoff. Additionally, you will be required to take a jurisprudence exam (which we will get to later) that costs $54. You will also need to send an official transcript to the NCBCLMHC, which will vary cost-wise based on your institution. In my experience, the transcript cost $15. Lastly, you will need to complete an affidavit attesting your identity as well as go through the fingerprinting process at your county sheriff’s department. Some counties offer this service for free as long as you schedule a time to come in, though most notaries will charge $5 or more to notarize your document. This means you will need about $315 ($312 if we don’t include processing fees) to fully submit all required documentation to the board. Unfortunately, there are no ways to lessen this fee – trust me I tried – so it’s important to start saving up for application season.

 

Transcripts

 

You are required to submit an official transcript post graduation to the NCBCLMHC. Some institutions allow students to pre-order transcripts to be sent by the institution on your behalf. According to the NCBCLMHC website, it’s recommended that, “..official transcripts: must be received directly from the university, and emailed from the school to transcripts@ncblcmhc.org”.

 

Education review + Graduate experience review

 

An education review and graduate experience review consists of three separate components: your official transcript, your verification of graduate counseling experience and review of your graduate courses via your application. Your application and transcript has already been mentioned (look up a few paragraphs), but the verification of graduate counseling experience might be a novel concept. This form simply verifies your hours during your practicum experience and internship experience. You will need to provide your direct and indirect hours count. It must be completed, signed off, and sent by your university supervisor. The form can be found and sent off by hovering over the “Forms” tab, selecting online forms and requests, using the dropdown selector to choose verification of graduate counseling experience, typing in your supervisor’s email address and pressing send. 

 

National exam receipt submitted

 

If you’re in the process of studying for the National Counselor Examination (NCE), you’re going to do great! Good luck and happy studying. For my folks that have already passed the NCE, congratulations and job well done! Once you’ve passed the NCE, you should receive a receipt to your email address that includes your score and contact information associated with your account. Go ahead and save that file and upload it to your licensure portal.

 

National exam scores received

 

Before you pay the $25 fee to submit your NCE scores to the board, wait a moment and answer this question. Did you register for the NCE as a Nationally Certified Counselor (NCC) applicant or as a regular applicant? 

 

The difference can save you a few dollars and a lot of time. If you register as a regular applicant, unaffiliated with the NCC licensure, the testing board will send your NCE score to the NCBLCMHC on your behalf approximately one month after completing your exam. If you registered for the NCC route, which will involve a special code granted to you by your university, you must pay for your NCE exam score to be sent to NCBLCMHC. Do not ask me why this is the case. But please know that I called the board five times to clarify because it proved to be a confusing process for me. 

 

Professional disclosure statement (PDS)

 

The NCBLCMHC understands that you are not employed yet. What this means is that your PDS will be a semi-false representation draft until you are officially employed. For example, on my original PDS document, my supervisor listed was my internship supervisor because I wouldn’t actually have a clinical supervisor for a few months. In my PDS draft that was sent to the board, I attempted to create a document that was specific enough to speak to my values, theoretical orientation and credentials but vague enough to be edited later when I landed my first job. If the board has any particular concerns about your PDS after submission, they will email you specific edits and requests. A template for your disclosure statement can be found at the bottom of this website: https://www.ncblcmhc.org/Licensure/Applying/LCMHCA.

 

Jurisprudence exam certificate

 

Prior to visiting the licensure portal, I was under the impression that the only exam I would need to complete would be the NCE. I was wrong. The jurisprudence exam is a $54 50-question exam designed to clarify counseling ethics. By no means is it as difficult as the NCE. A guide with corresponding documents to every answer is provided with the exam, and it takes an average of 1-2 hours to complete (in my estimation). I’m confident that you will pass, and even if you don’t, you can take it as many times as you’d like until you do pass. The website to the jurisprudence test is here:https://www.continuingedcourses.net/active/courses/course138.php. Good luck!

 

Professional references received + Professional reference review

 

Just because they received your references does not mean they have reviewed them. In my experience, it took two months for my references to be reviewed once they were sent. Remember to try your best to be patient! Regarding references, it’s encouraged that you choose individuals who can speak to your counseling experience or are counseling professionals themselves. As a requirement, one recommendation must be a LCMHC. Ideally, the LCMHC could be your supervisor from your practicum and/or internship experience, but this isn’t necessarily a requirement. The application form will have a checkbox which will allow you to send an emailed recommendation form that will need to be filled out by your reference. As a word of caution, technology challenges happen. Sometimes recommendation requests get lost in overfilled inboxes or worse, they are lost in the depths of spam folders. There is another dropdown menu labeled Forms. Select that dropdown and you’ll be presented with options on how to email your recommendation request as many times as you’d like to whomever you’d like. Note this process is nearly the same as requesting your verification of graduate counseling experience. It took me three tries for one of my recommendation requests to go through to a reference, so don’t give up and check in with your references who are busy people too. 

 

Legal documentation + LiveScan/Fingerprint Card + Criminal background check results

 

As a counseling applicant, you will need to be fingerprinted at your local sheriff’s department and go through the criminal background check process. For some applicants, visiting a sheriff’s office is a triggering experience. I’d like to take a moment to acknowledge that feeling and encourage folks who are hesitant to proceed. You got this! 

 

The CBC and fingerprinting process is a two-part process. First, you must visit the board portal, click the Applications menu, and select CBC and Livescan. There you will fill out your legal information and agree to undergo the background check process. The second step is to officially be fingerprinted for the background screening at your local county sheriff’s office. Every county will handle these requests differently. Some counties offer the service for free and allow walk-in applicants. Other counties require a form or payment and to schedule via their website. I would recommend searching online for your county requirements and proceeding as requested. 

 

Electronic release form: When visiting the sheriff’s office, it is important for the Electronic Fingerprint Submission Release of Information form to be signed by an official at the department. This will need to be completed when you are fingerprinted and will be submitted online within the portal.

 

Application affidavit notary

 

The affidavit’s purpose is to simply confirm your identity. The affidavit can be found under the forms tab and on the bottom of the page for download. Print off the document, bring it to a notary with a form of ID, sign it, and allow them to stamp it. A notary usually costs $10 at UPS (or somewhere similar) or can be done for free at your bank. This will also need to be uploaded to your portal.

 

Supervision contract

 

Oh, you thought it was over? I hate to disappoint. This sneaky requirement is one that I’ve seen dupe a number of counselors-to-be, including yours truly. Before you can practice as a therapist, even if your license has been approved and you’ve been awarded that coveted licensure number, you must inform the board of your clinical supervisor and have the board approve that supervisor. The supervision contract can be found here: https://www.ncblcmhc.org/Assets/Forms/Supervison_Contract.pdf. This contract can take 4-6 weeks to process and must be submitted after you’ve been officially licensed. 

 

Conclusion

 

From start to finish, it took me about 3-4 months to have my license approved. After graduating, it took about one week for me to officially receive my license number. I’ve heard of some folks that took longer and some folks who received it the day after their transcripts were sent. It varies for no rhyme or reason. If I may provide a word of advice: practice patience. It is easy during this process to feel discouraged and frustrated because you’ve spent so much time working towards this moment as a graduate student. It’s hard to believe that there can be a significant waiting period just to start working post graduation. It’s easy to grow seeds of doubt when someone from the board says they’re working on your application, but you’re not seeing movement. Patience, patience, patience. I firmly believe the board does try their very best ot ensure everyone’s applications are reviewed as quickly as possible, even if it doesn’t feel that way at the moment. If you’re in that waiting period now, hang in there because you’re so close!  

 

If you have any questions, we always recommend reaching out to the board directly or visiting their LCMHC-A requirements website here: https://www.ncblcmhc.org/Licensure/Applying/LCMHCA#addsearch=superv. 

 

Good luck on your counseling journey!