Behavioral Health Compacts Compared: Counseling, PSYPACT, Social Work and MFT

Group practices hiring across professions keep running into the same surprise: the four master's- and doctoral-level behavioral health professions have four different answers to the question "can this clinician see a client in another state?" The compacts were designed by different professions, at different times, around different priorities, and they work differently in ways that matter for scheduling, billing and compliance.

We license counselors, so the Counseling Compact gets the most detail here. Our sister sites go deeper on PSYPACT and on MFT licensing.

At a glance

• Counseling Compact (professional counselors): a privilege to practice, bought one remote state at a time, resting on your home-state license. In person and by telehealth. Forty member jurisdictions; ten issuing as of October 2026.
• PSYPACT (doctoral psychologists only): an authorization to practice telepsychology across participating states (APIT), and a separate authorization for temporary in-person practice (TAP), each built on an ASPPB credential. Operating.
• Social Work Licensure Compact (social workers): a single multistate license covering all member states. Enacted in more than thirty states; not issuing any licenses as of October 2026.
• Marriage and family therapists: no compact. AAMFT chose a model law, Access MFTs, that states adopt to make endorsement easier. A separate license in each state remains the rule.

Counseling Compact

What you get

A privilege to practice in a specific remote state, issued through CompactConnect. It is not a license. Each state you add is a separate privilege with its own fee, and each expires on your home license's expiration date. The privilege covers telehealth and in-person practice in the remote state, under that state's laws. See privilege vs. license.

Who qualifies

Professional counselors holding an unencumbered license to practice independently at the highest level in their home state, which is the state where they primarily reside. Provisional and associate licenses are excluded. No encumbrance on any license or privilege in the previous two years. Each member state must require a national exam, a 60-semester-hour counseling degree or equivalent coursework, and supervised postgraduate experience; counselors licensed before their state joined are covered by a legacy rule.

Cost

$30 per privilege to the Commission plus each state's fee. In the ten live states, totals ran from $30 (Oklahoma) to $280 (Arizona and Wyoming). Many states add a jurisprudence exam. See the full fee table.

Status

Issuing in Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Wyoming. Twenty-nine more states and DC have enacted it. California, Texas, New York, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan and five others are not members. See enacted but not live.

Its quirks

The home state is defined by residence, so a move can strand your privileges. Renewal is a separate step after every home renewal. CE follows the home state only. Payers and platforms may not accept a privilege for billing.

PSYPACT

What you get

Two separate authorizations from the PSYPACT Commission. APIT authorizes telepsychology into participating states and rests on ASPPB's E.Passport. TAP authorizes temporary in-person practice, capped at 30 days per year per jurisdiction, and rests on ASPPB's Interjurisdictional Practice Certificate. Most psychologists need only APIT. Our sister site explains APIT vs. TAP.

Who qualifies

Doctoral-level licensed psychologists only. Master's-level clinicians, including LPCs, LCSWs and LMFTs, are not eligible at any level of experience, and neither are master's-level psychology licensees. The E.Passport requires an active license in a participating state, and APIT requires the psychologist to be physically located in a participating state when practicing. See PSYPACT does not cover master's clinicians.

Its quirks

Unlike the Counseling Compact, PSYPACT is not a per-state purchase: one authorization covers telepsychology into all participating jurisdictions. The E.Passport is renewed annually and requires continuing education specific to telepsychology. California and New York are among the states that do not participate.

Social Work Licensure Compact

What it will be

A true multistate license. Once it operates, a social worker whose home state is a member will hold one multistate license that authorizes practice in every member state, rather than buying privileges state by state. It is designed to cover bachelor's, master's and clinical social work licenses.

Status

More than thirty states have enacted it. As of October 2026 no multistate licenses had been issued, and the Commission's data system was not expected to be ready before spring 2027. Until then, social workers practicing across state lines need a license in each state. We do not license social workers; a separate White Glove social work service is planned.

Marriage and family therapists

There is no MFT compact, and none is planned. AAMFT decided against pursuing one and built Access MFTs instead, a model law that streamlines licensure by endorsement for experienced MFTs. Each adopting state amends its own law, so the details vary, and the MFT still holds and renews a separate license in each state. Our sister site covers why there is no MFT compact and how Access MFTs works.

One trap worth naming: an MFT cannot use the Counseling Compact, even in a state where the same board licenses both professions. It is limited to licensed professional counselors.

Addiction counselors

There is no addiction counselor compact. Credentialed addiction professionals can often move through IC&RC reciprocity between member boards at matching credential levels. Whether a licensed addiction counselor can use the Counseling Compact depends on whether they also hold the state's independent professional counselor license; our colleagues cover this in the Counseling Compact and addiction counselors and the IC&RC reciprocity guide.

Three scenarios, four answers

A client moves from Ohio to Indiana

The client's counselor, an Ohio LPCC living in Columbus, buys an Indiana privilege in CompactConnect for $80, completes Indiana's jurisprudence requirement, and keeps seeing the client by video. The client's psychologist, if she holds an E.Passport and APIT and practices from a participating state, can continue under PSYPACT without a new state credential, assuming Indiana participates. The client's LCSW needs a full Indiana license, and so does an LMFT.

A clinician moves from Arizona to California

California is outside both the Counseling Compact and PSYPACT. An Arizona LPC who becomes a California resident loses her compact home state and needs California's LPCC to see California clients, with its state-specific coursework and exams. A psychologist licensed only in California cannot obtain an E.Passport on that license. A social worker or MFT needs a California license under any scenario.

A college student goes home for the summer

The student's counselor can follow her into another live compact state with a privilege, if the counselor's home state is live. A psychologist with APIT can usually follow her by telepsychology. A social worker or MFT needs a license in the student's home state or must rely on that state's temporary practice rules, if any. Our colleagues cover this in college students and telehealth licensing.

Common misreadings

• "The Counseling Compact gives me a multistate license." It does not. Each remote state is a separate privilege with its own fee. The Social Work Compact is the one that will issue a multistate license.
• "My state joined, so I can practice anywhere." Enactment is not operation. Your home state and the remote state must both be live for counselors, and no state was issuing social work multistate licenses in October 2026.
• "PSYPACT covers our whole clinical team." Only doctoral psychologists. Counselors, social workers and MFTs in the same practice need their own routes.
• "MFTs can use the Counseling Compact if they also call themselves counselors." No. Eligibility depends on holding an independent professional counselor license in the home state, not on job titles.
• "A privilege or authorization means insurers will pay." Payer credentialing is separate in every case.

What this means for a multidisciplinary practice

1. Plan by profession, not by practice. A counselor in Ohio can add Indiana in minutes; an LCSW in the same office needs an Indiana license; a psychologist in the office may already be covered by APIT.
2. Check where the clinician lives. Counseling Compact eligibility runs through the state of residence. A remote counselor who lives in a non-member state cannot use it, whatever state the practice is in.
3. Do not assume payers treat these alike. Insurers decide for themselves whether to credential on a privilege or authorization.
4. Track different renewal clocks. Counseling privileges renew with the home license; PSYPACT's E.Passport renews annually; full licenses renew on each state's cycle.
5. Expect change. More counseling states will go live, the Social Work Compact will start issuing, and states will keep adopting Access MFTs.

For the professions side by side outside of portability, see LPC vs. LMFT vs. LCSW. For counselors, our compact service covers eligibility, jurisprudence prep, a guided filing session you complete yourself, and renewal tracking; see pricing.