Relevant Professional and Continuing Education Experience
As used in Ala. Admin. Code r. 255-x-2-.24, Other Supervision; 255-x-3-.02, Associate Licensed Counselor; and 255-x-11-.01, Ethical Standards, “synchronous” refers to events happening, existing, or arising at precisely the same time; recurring or operating at exactly the same periods.
Acceptable Continuing Education will conform to the Continuing Education Policy.
Re: 255-X-2-.18
Adopted: 01/21/2022
In its continuing improvement of the licensure system, the Board has adopted the following Continuing Education Policy that will go into effect on August 1, 2022.
CE's that were acquired prior to Aug. 1, 2022 will be honored under the pre-Aug. 1, 2022 policy for those licenses that renew after Aug. 1, 2022
Frequently Asked Questions
ABEC no longer approves individual continuing education courses and, instead, has adopted a broader Continuing Education Policy (available here: https://abec.alabama.gov/forms-and-applications/continuing-education/).
All requirements of Continuing Education for ABEC are detailed in that document. If the course was not NBCC or CRC approved, or provided/sponsored by one of the organizations on the Continuing Education list, then ABEC will not accept it for renewal CE’s.
No, this is specifically forbidden by ABEC Administrative Rule 255-X-3-.01(3)(b)2:…Formal graduate course work used as a substitution for supervised experience to become a Licensed Professional Counselor cannot also be utilized as continuing education for licensure renewal.
ABEC no longer approves individual continuing education courses and, instead, has adopted a broader Continuing Education Policy (available here: https://abec.alabama.gov/forms-and-applications/continuing-education/).
All requirements of Continuing Education for ABEC are detailed in that document. If the course was not NBCC or CRC approved, or provided/sponsored by one of the organizations on the Continuing Education list, then ABEC will not accept it for renewal CE’s.
All certificates of completion/verification of attendance must contain: licensee’s name, name of workshop/seminar/training, name of providing/sponsoring entity (with provider numbers, see providers below), dates of the activity, whether course is synchronous (live/interactive) or asynchronous (self-study) and number of contact hours granted.
Specialized hours also may need to be detailed, such as ethics or supervision hours that were a part of a larger CE event.
ABEC accepts the following providers:
NBCC - the National Board for Certified Counselors, Inc.
CRCC - the Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification
NAADAC - National Association of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Counselors
ASCA - American School Counselor Association
State of Alabama Department of Mental Health
CE events sponsored by PESI can sometimes be an issue. ABEC honors PESI CE’s if that CE course is given under a provider that we recognize, such as NBCC or NAACAD. The problem is that PESI is not offering all of their training courses under all of their possible providers numbers. You will need to confirm that any training course that PESI offers, that you wish to use for CE’s, is sponsored by one of the entities on the ABEC acceptable CE list and that it is also on the CE certificate when you are finished.