Telehealth went from emergency workaround to permanent fixture in about two years, and licensing boards are still catching up. California became one of the first to write telehealth training into the license — a sign of where things are heading for behavioral-health clinicians everywhere. If you've been delivering care over video since 2020 without any formal training in the modality, your board may now expect you to fix that.
California: a one-time telehealth course
The California Board of Behavioral Sciences requires a one-time 3-hour course in telehealth for licensees renewing or reactivating after July 1, 2023. It applies to LMFTs and LPCCs alike. The word that matters is one-time — once you've completed it and kept the certificate, you don't repeat it. The full California therapist picture is in the California LMFT law & ethics guide, which also covers the one-time suicide-assessment course and the recurring 6-hour law-and-ethics requirement.
This sits inside California's 36-hour biennial total for both license types. So a California LMFT renewing for the first time after mid-2023 is looking at: 36 hours overall, 6 in law and ethics every cycle, a one-time 6-hour suicide course, and this one-time 3-hour telehealth course. The pile of one-time requirements is exactly why understanding one-time vs recurring mandates saves California therapists from retaking courses they've already cleared.
Why telehealth CE makes sense
Delivering therapy over video raises issues in-person practice doesn't: verifying client location and identity, handling a crisis remotely, managing privacy across platforms, and knowing which state's laws govern a session when clinician and client are in different places. That last point connects to a deeper licensing issue — telehealth across state lines can require you to be licensed where the client sits, not just where you are. The behavioral-health professions are still working through this, and the Social Work Compact and similar arrangements aren't fully resolving it yet.
Where this is heading
California is early, not unique. Expect more boards to add telehealth training as virtual care stays embedded in practice — it's one of the categories worth watching in the 2026–2028 rule changes. The pattern with new topic mandates is predictable: a few states adopt, others follow, and the structure (one-time versus recurring) gets borrowed. Telehealth is following the same path human trafficking and implicit bias did.
If you practice across state lines
This is the practical heart of the matter for telehealth clinicians. If you see clients in multiple states, you likely need a license in each, and each license carries its own CE — including, increasingly, its own telehealth requirement. A California telehealth course satisfies California; it won't satisfy another state's version if that state adds one. The general principle is in a plan for each license, and for counselors specifically, the title-and-licensing variation in LPC vs LPCC vs LMHC vs LCPC compounds the complexity.
How to handle it
If you're a California therapist renewing for the first time since mid-2023, confirm whether you've completed the one-time telehealth course — and if you have, file the certificate where you can find it years from now, because one-time means the proof has to outlive the course. If you practice in multiple states, audit each license for a telehealth requirement; don't assume one course covers all.
For official wording, the California Board of Behavioral Sciences CE page describes the one-time telehealth course. Find your specifics on California LMFT requirements or counselor CE by state.
White Glove CME confirms whether you've cleared a one-time telehealth course and tracks per-state requirements if you practice across lines — for $99 per license renewal. We plan; we don't grant credit. Tell us where you practice and we'll map the telehealth piece for each license.
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Stop guessing what CME you need. Tell us your license type, state, and renewal date, and we'll map exactly which continuing-education hours and mandated topics you need — and by when. Flat $99 per plan.