Chapter 337 RSMo: How Missouri Regulates Professional Counselors
Where the counselor statutes live
Professional counseling is regulated in Chapter 337, RSMo, but the chapter is shared. The sections governing counselors (roughly 337.500–337.540) sit alongside separate sections for marital and family therapists and for social workers. Always read the definitions section first. A recurring trap is a question that quotes a section number and asks which licensee it governs - the reliable method is to identify the defined term, not to guess from the number.
The licensure pathway the statute builds
- A qualifying graduate degree in counseling with the required course content.
- Supervised post-degree clinical experience accumulated while holding a provisional license (PLPC).
- Passage of the national counselor examination.
- Application, fee, and background check, then biennial renewal with continuing education.
Title protection and practice limits
The statute bars practicing professional counseling, or holding yourself out as a licensed counselor, without a license. A provisional licensee may practice only under Committee-approved supervision and must identify as provisional. Licensed counselors do not prescribe medication and must not present themselves as psychologists.
Discipline
The Committee receives complaints through the Division of Professional Registration; contested license cases are heard by the Administrative Hearing Commission, with appeal to circuit court. Grounds include incompetence, unprofessional conduct, fraud in obtaining a license, and impairment.
Rule of thumb
Identify the person's status first. An unlicensed person doing counseling is an unlawful-practice question. A fully licensed counselor whose conduct is deficient is an ethics/disciplinary question. A provisional licensee acting outside the supervision agreement is a supervision violation - and the supervisor shares exposure.