How the Counseling Compact Enables Counselors to Work Across State Lines

States and professional groups have been working on creating solutions to enable licensed mental health professionals to practice across state lines while still ensuring public safety. 

What does this mean for counselors, and what do you need to know?

What’s the Counseling Compact? 

The Counseling Compact is an agreement between U.S. states to allow eligible counselors licensed in a participating state to provide mental health services in another participating state.

As of May 1, 2023, 23 U.S. states have officially signed Counseling Compact legislation. 

States that have adopted the Compact include: Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Louisiana, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming.

That said, it doesn’t mean counselors can immediately begin practicing across state lines in those states.

Counselors still need to apply for practice privileges in each additional compact state where they wish to practice.

Our ebook on The Future of Mental Health Licensing examines how state-based licensure creates barriers to care and how interstate compacts are one way states can work together to lessen those barriers and expand access to care.

How Does the Counseling Compact Work?

The Counseling Compact allows counselors licensed in a member state to engage in in-person or telehealth care with a client located in another member state, without having to obtain a new license in the state where the client is located. 

While such interstate compacts can be structured in a variety of ways, the Counseling Compact is designed to follow the framework of other such compacts in health care, such as the Nurse Licensure Compact and the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact. 

The Counseling Compact doesn’t change any state’s counselor scope of practice or lessen any state’s authority to regulate practice within its borders. Instead, it ensures that boards will share licensure and disciplinary information through a joint database.

Notably, the right to practice in other member states won’t be automatic if your home state is part of the compact. You would still need to complete another member state’s jurisprudence requirements (such as a law and ethics exam or specific CE in that state’s laws) and potentially pay the other state a fee before you could practice there.

That said, it would save you significant time and money as you would not be required to go through the full process of obtaining a new license in that state.

What Happens Now for Counselors in Counseling Compact Member States?

Under the Counseling Compact, licensed counselors in compact states will have a streamlined process for obtaining practice privileges in other participating compact states.

However, it’s essential to understand that those privileges in other compact states are not automatic.

Counselors do need to apply for practice privileges in each additional compact state where they wish to practice.

They may also need to pay additional fees, complete other states’ laws and ethics exams (also sometimes called a jurisprudence exam), or fulfill other requirements.

Counselors will be able to apply for compact privileges in early 2024. When applications open, counselors can apply on the Counseling Compact website.

What Happens Now in Counseling Compact Non-Member States?

In states that haven’t adopted the compact so far, nothing changes. They’ll continue business as usual, with the usual limitations on practicing across state lines.

However, the ACA and related counseling organizations are working to get as many additional states as possible into the compact.

As of May 1, 2023, legislation to join the compact was pending in 16 additional states.

If your state is not included in the member states, the Counseling Compact web site includes fact sheets and other information you can use to get involved in supporting enactment of the compact in your state.

What About Interstate Compacts for Other Mental Health Professions?

As its name implies, the Counseling Compact as it stands now would only apply to licensed professional counselors. Licensed clinical social workers (LCSWs) and licensed marriage and family therapists (LMFTs) aren’t included in the Counseling Compact.

That said, the National Center for Interstate Compacts (which worked to establish the Counseling Compact) is partnering with the Association of Social Work Boards and the Department of Defense on a similar interstate compact for LCSWs, called the Social Work Licensure Compact.

Similarly, psychologists have the Psychology Interjurisdictional Compact, also known as PSYPACT, which allows eligible psychologists licensed in a participating state to apply to practice telepsychology and/or temporary in-person psychology sessions across state lines in participating states. PSYPACT legislation is now enacted in 36 U.S. jurisdictions.

Find out more about these additional mental health interstate compacts.

While the Counseling Compact isn’t an immediate or sweeping measure, it’s a good first step in removing some of the barriers clients face to receive mental health care in the U.S..

As more states adopt this compact, and as more are formed for other professions, hopefully access to care will increase. 

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