How to check that a therapist's licence is real and current

There is one thing worth doing before a first appointment that almost nobody does, and it takes about two minutes: look the person up on their state licensing board’s website.

This matters because of a gap in how directories work — this one included. No directory can tell you whether a licence is currently valid. We publish what the federal registry says: that someone registered, what type of provider they said they are, and where. The registry is not updated when a licence lapses, is suspended, or is surrendered. Only the board that issued it knows that, and every board publishes it free.

The two-minute version

1. Search for “[your state] board of [profession] licence lookup” — for example “Ohio counselor social worker marriage family therapist board license lookup”, or “Texas physical therapy board license verification”.
2. Search by last name, or by licence number if you have it.
3. Check three things: the name matches, the status says active (or your state’s equivalent wording), and the expiry date is in the future.
4. While you are there, look for a disciplinary or public-actions section. Most boards publish these.

That is the whole procedure.

Which board, though?

This is the part that trips people up: mental health professions are usually regulated by different boards within the same state, and sometimes several professions share one board.

• Social workers (LCSW, LICSW) — a board of social work, or a combined behavioural health board
• Counselors (LPC, LMHC, LPCC) — often the same combined board, sometimes separate
• Marriage and family therapists (LMFT) — usually with the counselors
• Psychologists (PhD, PsyD) — almost always a separate board of psychology
• Psychiatrists (MD, DO) — the state medical board, not a mental health board
• Physical and occupational therapists — a board of physical therapy, sometimes combined with occupational therapy

If a state has a single “Department of Health Professions” umbrella site, one search box usually covers all of them.

For the umbrella directories that list every state’s board, the associations are the reliable route: ASWB for social work, ASPPB for psychology, and FSBPT for physical therapy.

What the statuses usually mean

Wording varies by state, but the common categories are:

• Active / Current / In good standing — what you want to see.
• Inactive / Lapsed — the licence exists but the person is not currently authorised to practise. Often just an administrative lapse, but it means they should not be seeing clients.
• Probation / Restricted / Conditional — active, but with conditions attached following a board action. The board usually publishes what the conditions are, and it is worth reading.
• Suspended / Revoked / Surrendered — not authorised to practise.

A record with no disciplinary history is the norm. Finding one is not automatically disqualifying — the details matter, and boards act on things ranging from serious misconduct to late paperwork — but you should read it rather than skip it.

Three details worth knowing

The licence must be in the state where you are. For in-person care this is obvious. For telehealth it is the part people get wrong: with limited exceptions, the therapist generally needs to be licensed in the state where the client is physically located during the session, not where the therapist lives. If you move, or you are away for the summer, that can matter.

Names change. If a search returns nothing, try a maiden or previous surname, or search by licence number. Directory records — ours included — are refreshed on a schedule and can lag a name change.

“Registered” is not “licensed”. Some states have a lower tier — associate, provisional, registered intern — for people completing supervised hours. That is legitimate and supervised, but it is a different thing from full licensure, and the board record will say which one it is.

What we can and cannot check

To be explicit about our own limits: this site reproduces the federal NPI registry, which records a self-reported practice address and provider type. It does not carry licence status, disciplinary history, insurance networks, fees or availability. We do not verify any of it, and we do not have a mechanism to.

That is not a temporary gap we intend to close — the data simply does not exist in any national public source. The state boards are the authority, they are free, and they are two minutes away.