Multi-state practice
Multi-State Therapist CEU Tracking: The Telehealth Problem
April 14, 2026 · ~5 min read
Holding licenses in two states used to be a niche situation. After 2020, it became normal. The tracking tools did not catch up.
Why this is messy
Every state board writes its CE requirements independently. The categories look similar on the surface (everyone requires ethics, most require cultural competency or health equity) but the hour totals, the cycles, and the fine print are all different.
Here's what a dual-licensed LCSW actually faces:
| State | Total hrs | Ethics | Other quirks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oregon | 40 / 2 yr | 6 | 6 cultural competency; 10-hr carryover |
| Washington | 32 / 2 yr | 6 (law + ethics) | 6 suicide / 6 yr; 2 health equity / 4 yr |
| California | 36 / 2 yr | 6 (CA law) | One-time suicide, telehealth, human trafficking |
| Arizona | 30 / 2 yr | 3 | AZ statutes tutorial; "clock hours" language |
The overlap trap
The same 6-hour ethics course can plausibly satisfy Oregon's "ethics" requirement and Washington's "ethics and law" requirement. But only if the content includes Washington state law (most don't by default). A national APA-accredited ethics course usually covers Oregon cleanly and only partially covers Washington.
Do not assume overlap. Read the fine print on the certificate. If the course name is generic, ask the provider for a content outline before you count it twice.
One-time requirements are their own flavor
California is the main offender here. Suicide (6 hours), telehealth (3 hours), and human trafficking (3 hours) are one-time trainings, completed once in your career. They do not repeat at each cycle, but they must be on file.
Track them separately from per-cycle totals. Mixing them up is how people end up redoing trainings they already completed three years ago.
What a working tracking system looks like
The right data model for multi-state tracking is simple: courses are a single row, states are tags. One ethics workshop logged once, tagged for OR and WA (when it qualifies), contributes hours to both dashboards without being duplicated.
A spreadsheet with a separate tab per state breaks down fast. You end up either duplicating rows (easy to miscount) or keeping a master sheet you manually reconcile (easy to miss things). Neither holds up at audit.
Deadlines are different, too
Oregon's biennial renewal falls at the end of your birth month. Washington renews annually on your birthday with a 2-year CE cycle underneath. California just expires, no grace period. Arizona has a 90-day grace period with a $100 fee.
If you hold more than one license, you have more than one calendar. Put both on the same system. The "I'll remember" approach has a 100% failure rate over a long enough timeline.
Built for dual-state clinicians.
Still Licensed lets you log a course once and tag the states it counts toward. OR, WA, CA, and AZ supported. Category minimums, deadline tracking, and one-time requirement pinning are all handled automatically.
Keep it that way.