The law specifies didactic training, clinical supervision, and examination requirements for all persons engaged in the practice of counseling including the regulation of independent practice. Forty-seven states and all Canadian provinces provide for some type of licensure or certification for counseling practice at the masters level.
Individual jurisdictions have different requirements for licensure.
Some permit licensure with 48 semester hours of training, e.g., Illinois, while others require a 60 hour program. Indiana law specifies a 60 hour training program but allows for those who have graduated from 48 hour programs to apply for licensure provided they have taken the remaining 12 hours at an accredited institution of higher education. Indiana law also specifies 1,000 hours of pre-degree supervised clinical experience as a condition for licensure candidacy. The net result is that a number of graduates from 48 hour programs who are working in human service and mental health facilities are in the process of being disenfranchised from practice. Indiana law does have a grandparenting provision but it requires a minimum of five years of post-degree supervised experience to qualify.