Yes. As of June 8th, 2026, Indiana is an operationally live state in the Counseling Compact. Indiana is one of the states currently live for Compact privileges, along with Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Minnesota, and Ohio. What this means is that as of June 8, professional counselors in the state of Indiana can gain privilege to practice in the other states within the Compact.
When can counselors apply for Indiana Compact privileges?
As of June 8, 2026, at 1:00 PM Eastern Time (ET), counselors in Indiana may apply for a privilege to practice in the other states in the Compact through Compact Connect. Each state requires its own application once the license has been granted eligibility through Compact Connect.
Does the Counseling Compact apply to Indiana LMHCs?
Yes, Licensed Mental Health Counselors, or LMHCs, in Indiana qualify for the Compact. For LMHCs in Indiana, it may be confusing to see the “LPC” license listed all over the Compact news and application pages. In fact, many states have different titles to designate the same professional identity. The Compact itself uses Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) as an umbrella term for the various designations from state to state. For Compact purposes, Indiana’s eligible license type is the Licensed Mental Health Counselor, or LMHC. On Compact materials, that license may be grouped under the broader Licensed Professional Counselor, or LPC, category.
The Compact was created specifically for Licensed Professional Counselors in a state to provide clinical services across state lines.
It is important to note that an applicant must have an unencumbered license to practice and must not be an associate (LMHCA) to gain eligibility.
Who does not qualify for the Compact in Indiana?
The Compact is specifically for LMHCs in Indiana, which means that LCSWs, LMFTs and school counselors do not qualify. Additionally, associate-level or provisionally licensed LMHCAs do not meet qualifications. LMHCs which are encumbered with disciplinary or legal actions also do not qualify.
Which states can practice in Indiana, and where can Indiana counselors practice?
The benefit of the Counselor Compact is that it allows professional counselors to practice outside of their home-state boundaries, often via telehealth. An LMHC who resides in Indiana can gain the privilege to practice in any other state that is operationally live under the Counseling Compact. Each state must be applied for individually within CompactConnect once the license has been deemed eligible.
For example, a licensed counselor who lives and works in Indiana can gain the privilege to practice in Minnesota through the Compact. They can also apply to practice in Louisiana or Arizona, all the while residing in Indiana.
On the other hand, a clinician from another state, e.g., Arizona, can gain privilege to practice in Indiana as well. Think of it like a growing network of states who recognize the importance of bridging gaps in care for their populations with counselors in other states.
Note that the names of the licenses will differ from state to state. While the Counseling Compact considers all professional counselors to be Licensed Professional Counselors (LPCs), the LMHC in Indiana is equivalent to the LPC in Arizona, Georgia, and Louisiana. All the while, Minnesota and Ohio use LPCC. The license title may differ by state, but the key question is whether the license is the eligible professional counseling license for that state under the Compact.
How do Indiana counselors apply for a privilege to practice?
To apply for the Counseling Compact privilege, you must hold an active, unencumbered Indiana LMHC license and use it to register on the CompactConnect website. The process is straightforward once your account is created. After your license is approved through the Compact, you apply separately for each individual state where you want a privilege to practice. The application for a privilege in Georgia, for example, is separate from the one for Minnesota, but all of it runs through CompactConnect.
Indiana’s path is different from Georgia’s and may differ again for states that join the Compact in the future. In Georgia, the license holder has to complete a separate state-level application in addition to the Compact process. Indiana has no separate state application: the privilege routes through CompactConnect directly. Indiana’s state fee is collected as part of that process; see the cost section below for the breakdown.
How much does an Indiana Compact privilege cost?
The total cost of an Indiana Compact privilege is $80.00: a $50.00 Indiana state fee plus the $30.00 Compact administrative fee that is standard across every live state. Indiana does not offer a reduced fee for active-duty military members or their spouses. (Fees verified on the CompactConnect/Counseling Compact fees page, June 9, 2026.)
Does Indiana require a jurisprudence exam for the privilege?
No. If your license is a terminal and unencumbered LMHC, you have already completed the jurisprudence exam for Indiana. As such, there is no requirement to take another jurisprudence exam or retake the Indiana exam to apply for privilege to practice in other states. In other words, the Compact does require you to have taken the jurisprudence exam at some point (along the journey to your LMHC) but does not require you to take the exam solely for the purpose of privilege to practice eligibility.
What does the Compact mean for telehealth in Indiana?
The power of the Counseling Compact is that it comes at a time when telehealth is very popular in the field of professional counseling. If you reside in Indiana and you gain the privilege to practice in another state, you can see those clients via telehealth. What is crucial to remember is that you must abide by the laws in which the client resides, known as the state-of-the-client rule. It is important to familiarize yourself with the subtle differences in telehealth law between states. This may impact how a clinician keeps notes, what programs they use to provide services, and how to construct a consent form.
Who should Indiana counselors contact?
If you are an LMHC in Indiana and would like to learn more about the Counseling Compact, there are two contact points. For questions and concerns regarding Indiana licensing and eligibility, contact the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency (PLA). For questions regarding cross-state privilege, reach out to the Compact Commission.
FAQ
No. A Compact privilege is not the same as full licensure reciprocity. It allows an eligible counselor with a qualifying home-state license to practice in another live Compact state after receiving a privilege for that state. It does not automatically convert the Indiana LMHC license into a full license in the remote state.
No. Eligible Indiana LMHCs use their active, unencumbered Indiana LMHC license as the home-state license when applying for Compact privileges in other live states.
No. Some states have enacted the Compact, but this is not the same as being operationally live. The first step to adopting the Compact is to enact the Compact, which many states have done. But only six states have progressed to the second and final step, which is becoming operational.
The privilege is tied to the home-state license. Therefore, if the home-state license (in this case, Indiana) lapses, the privilege to practice in other states does as well.
No. The privilege is only between states that are operationally live.
Sources
- Counseling Compact. “Indiana will become the sixth state in the nation to begin issuing privileges under the Counseling Compact. ”Counseling Compact News. Accessed June 9, 2026.
- Counseling Compact. “Fees, Jurisprudence Exam, and Contact Information.” Accessed June 9, 2026.
- Counseling Compact. “Jurisprudence Information.” Accessed June 9, 2026.
- Counseling Compact. “Info for Counselors.” Accessed June 9, 2026.
- Indiana Register. “LSA Document #25-820: Counseling Compact Privilege Fee.” Published January 14, 2026.
- Indiana Professional Licensing Agency. “Behavioral Health and Human Services.” Accessed June 9, 2026.
- Indiana Professional Licensing Agency. “Behavioral Health and Human Services Licensing Information.” Accessed June 9, 2026.
- Counseling Compact. “Counseling Compact Map.” Accessed June 9, 2026.