Alabama LPC license requirements: a counseling master’s of at least 60 semester hours from a CACREP or CACREP-equivalent program, a passing score on the National Counselor Examination, and 3,000 hours of supervised experience, 2,250 of them direct, earned as an Associate Licensed Counselor under a board-approved LPC-S. The board charges a $200 application fee for each license, plus $150 for the ALC and $300 for the LPC.^1,2,3

Those numbers are the easy part. The Alabama Board of Examiners in Counseling (ABEC) counts an hour only if you earned it at a site listed on your approved supervision plan, under the one supervisor named on your license, with enough supervision behind it. Alabama licensure works like a chain of custody, and the expensive mistakes are breaks in the chain: a new job site nobody filed, a supervisor change that left a gap, a thin year of supervision that gets prorated, a shortcut another state later refuses to honor. The rules fix how much supervision you get. Nothing in them guarantees its quality, and quality is what shapes the clinician you become.

I am a clinical social worker, not an ABEC licensee and not a lawyer. Everything below comes from the Code of Alabama, ABEC’s administrative rules as amended effective June 14, 2025, and the board’s own forms and FAQs, all checked in November 2026. Where the board’s forms and its current rules disagree, I say so. When your license is at stake, confirm with ABEC.

Alabama LPC requirements at a glance

The statute sets the floor for both licenses: you must be at least 19, of good moral character and not in violation of the counseling licensure law. The LPC section adds U.S. citizenship or legal presence, and ABEC’s ALC application asks for proof of citizenship too. Both LPCs and ALCs may diagnose and write treatment plans. Neither may use projective techniques to assess personality.^1,6

ABEC also has a new address. Since February 1, 2026 its office has been at 400 South Union Street, Suite 245, Montgomery, AL 36104, with mail going to P.O. Box 305030, Montgomery, AL 36130-5030. The relocation notice, the contact page and the May 2026 forms all give Suite 245, though the site footer still shows Suite 320, so send mail to the P.O. box. The contact page lists 334-569-8640.^4,6 Older guides, including the earlier version of this one, give the Zelda Road address and a 205 phone number. Both are out of date.

Step one: the degree, the ALC application and the NCE

For applications received since January 1, 2024, the degree must be a single conferred master’s in counseling of at least 60 semester hours. It can come from a CACREP or CORE program, or from a regionally accredited program whose courses focus squarely on nine core areas, from counseling theory and human development to appraisal, research and professional orientation.² ABEC’s FAQ adds that clinical psychology, counseling psychology and non-counseling degrees with a counseling specialization do not qualify.⁵ The 60-hour floor is not arbitrary. The Counseling Compact, which Alabama joined in 2022, requires member states to demand a 60-semester-hour counseling master’s or 60 semester hours of graduate counseling coursework, and ABEC said its academic changes were made partly to meet Compact requirements.^1,5

The field placements carry their own ratios. The practicum must total 100 clock hours with at least 40 in direct service, and the internship 600 hours with at least 240 direct. In both, at least 80 percent of direct service has to be actual counseling sessions, assessment can make up no more than 20 percent, and you need one hour a week of individual faculty supervision plus an hour and a half of group supervision.²

The ALC application packet includes the nonrefundable $200 application fee, official transcripts, a coursework worksheet, a proof-of-citizenship form and a notarized Proposed Plan of Supervision. ABEC now accepts official transcripts by email at [email protected], so the blanket advice that nothing sent digitally counts is out of date. The application itself still goes in on paper with a check or money order. The form warns that the process “could take several months.” You may not counsel, and no hours accrue, until the ALC license is issued and the $150 license fee is paid.^6,3

The National Counselor Examination is owned by the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC). ABEC authorizes you to register once your ALC application clears academic review, and the rule lets you sit for it then or wait until your experience hours are done.^5,7 The current NCE has 200 multiple-choice items, 160 of them scored, with 225 minutes of testing time.⁸ NBCC has published specifications for a new version effective July 1, 2027: 170 questions with three answer options each, 30 of them unscored field-test items.⁹ NBCC sets the fee and keeps it if you miss your testing window, so take the figure from the current handbook, not an old blog post.

Supervision under the June 2025 rules

The statute is blunt: an ALC “may not practice without direct supervision by a licensed professional counselor,” and the board must approve the supervision plan before any counseling happens.¹ The Proposed Plan of Supervision (PPoS) names your Supervising Counselor and lists every site where you will see clients, with each site’s type: private practice, government agency, nonprofit or exempt employer. It sets out learning goals and how they will be evaluated, and both of you sign it before a notary. Adding or changing a site requires a revised PPoS, and hours from the new site do not count until the board approves it.⁶

The amendments that took effect June 14, 2025 changed the supervision mix. Your Supervising Counselor must personally provide an annual average of at least 100 hours. Fifty are “direct” hours. At least 25 of those must be individual, in person, one-to-one and in real time, focused on client care. The other 25 direct hours may be virtual if your supervisor has completed at least two hours of board-approved training in virtual supervision. Without that training, all 50 direct hours must be in person. The remaining 50 hours can be “other” supervision, such as group supervision.^7,6 ABEC’s FAQ says “other” supervision still requires your approved supervisor to be present in real time, and that a supervisor using the expanded virtual ratio must attach the training certificate to your final report.⁵ The PPoS form revised in May 2026 still prints the older rule of 50 in-person hours, so ask ABEC which version it will apply to your plan before you rely on virtual hours.⁶

Several other rules catch people:

• Clients must be in Alabama. An ALC’s in-person and virtual hours must be with clients located in Alabama at the time of service.⁷ Hours supervised in another state, by a supervisor ABEC did not approve, do not transfer.⁵
• One supervisor, exclusively. All supervision comes from the Supervising Counselor named on your license. Concurrent supervision, meaning a second supervisor overseeing the same clients to meet another state’s or credentialing body’s requirements, is prohibited.⁷
• Short supervision gets prorated. If a final report shows less supervision than required, ABEC counts your client hours for that period in proportion. Log 80 percent of the required supervision and only 80 percent of your client hours count.^7,10 For supervision lasting less than a year, ABEC’s forms ask for a weekly average of two hours, at least half of it direct.⁶
• A gap voids the license. If you are no longer under LPC-S supervision, your ALC license is invalid, you must return the certificate, and you cannot see clients until you have a new ABEC-approved LPC-S, a new PPoS and a newly issued ALC license certificate. That includes the months your LPC application sits in review.⁷
• Paperwork deadlines. Your supervisor files a final supervision report within 30 days after supervision ends for any reason. The PPoS affidavit also commits the supervisor to an annual progress report on your license anniversary. Both of you keep logs that the board may examine for three years after supervision ends, and ABEC will not settle disputes about what the reports say.^7,6 If a log needs fixing after the fact, the same principles apply as for correcting a clinical note without altering the record.
• Your title is regulated. When you announce services, the rule’s model wording is “John Doe, M.A., Associate Licensed Counselor under the supervision of Jane Smith, Ph.D., Supervising Counselor.”⁷

ABEC sets no price for supervision. What it costs, and whether an employer pays, is between you, your supervisor and your workplace.

Becoming an LPC-S

An LPC who wants to supervise needs five years of full-time clinical practice, meaning at least 20 hours a week, as an LPC. ABEC’s policy manual reads that as five years as an ABEC-licensed LPC.^11,10 Applicants also need an ABEC-approved supervisor training of at least 24 contact hours, completed within the three years before applying and including two hours on virtual supervision. The May 2026 application form also has boxes for graduate coursework in supervision and for national supervisor credentials, so ask ABEC whether those can stand in for the approved training in your case.^11,6 Applicants submit a typed statement of their supervision philosophy and models, peer recommendations from three current Alabama LPCs, and a $150 fee. An LPC-S may carry no more than five supervisees at once and must log five CE hours on supervision in each two-year renewal cycle. Those hours count toward the regular 40. Supervising earns CE as well, at one hour for every ten hours of supervision, capped at ten hours per two-year period.¹¹

What this looks like in therapy

For a client, seeing an ALC means a third person is part of the treatment. Under Alabama’s rule, the supervising LPC accepts “full professional responsibility and liability” for every service the ALC provides and must be available for emergency consultation.⁷ The American Counseling Association’s code requires supervisees to tell clients how supervision affects the limits of confidentiality.¹² In practice, informed consent with an ALC should name the supervisor and say plainly that the case will be discussed with that person. Those limits sit alongside the other exceptions clients ask about, including Alabama’s duty-to-warn statute and what confidentiality covers.

For the clinician, the research is less flattering to the rules. A systematic review of 18 studies found that supervision consistently has some positive effects on the supervisee, but the evidence was of variable quality.¹³ Whether supervision helps clients is less clear. C. Edward Watkins examined 18 supervision-outcome studies spanning 1981 to 2011, threw out more than a third as misidentified, and concluded that the field still could not say that supervision contributes to patient outcome.¹⁴ The strongest exception is a trial by Bambling and colleagues. They randomly assigned 127 clients with major depression to supervised or unsupervised therapists delivering eight sessions of problem-solving treatment. Supervision improved the working alliance, symptom reduction and retention. The authors also noted that they could not separate supervision from a single pre-treatment training session, and that allegiance effects may have inflated the results.¹⁵ ABEC can count your hours. The research cannot yet tell you that the count is what helps.

One limit on supervision is what never gets said in it. In a study of 108 supervisees, Ladany and colleagues found an average of about eight things each had not told their supervisor. The most common was a negative reaction to the supervisor. Supervisees most often withheld something because it seemed unimportant or too personal, because of negative feelings, or because the supervisory alliance was poor.¹⁶ Depth psychology offers one reason that matters. In 1955 Harold Searles argued that a supervisor’s emotional reactions during supervision carry information about what is happening between therapist and patient.¹⁷ The case that frightens you, or the reaction to a client you are ashamed of, is usually the material supervision is for. When you choose an LPC-S, ask how they handle risk, whether they use live observation or recordings, and whether you could tell them about a mistake. You will spend at least 100 hours a year in that relationship.

Applying for the LPC, and when cutting hours costs you later

Once your final supervision reports total the required hours, you file the LPC application with a $200 fee. ABEC wants NCE scores sent directly by NBCC, copies of every final supervision report, and any approval letter for reduced hours.⁶ You also need prorated continuing education covering the time since your last ALC renewal: 0.83 contact hours for each month or part of a month, rounded up, including at least two hours of ethics.⁷ After the board approves you, it bills the $300 LPC license fee.³ Keep seeing your supervisor the whole time. ABEC’s application form repeats that an ALC may not practice without supervision until the LPC is actually issued.⁶

The hours reduction is written into the statute. Each block of 15 graduate semester hours (or 22.5 quarter hours) beyond the master’s subtracts 1,000 hours, split 750 direct and 250 indirect, down to a floor of 1,000.^1,2 Any graduate coursework beyond the master’s, doctoral courses included, can qualify, but only if it is clearly about professional counseling in the nine core areas. ABEC rejects, among other things, post-master’s practicums and internships, residencies, thesis and dissertation hours, courses on teaching or leadership, and courses built for another discipline’s license. There are no partial reductions, so nine credits earn nothing. This also corrects an older claim in this guide that a doctorate never shortens the path. Coursework used for a reduction can never double as renewal CE. The request costs $150, can take at least three months, and should reach the board at least one meeting before your LPC application.^5,6

The reduction has two costs that are easy to miss:

• Other states may not honor it. ABEC’s own FAQ warns that if you later apply for licensure by endorsement elsewhere, the other state may find you short. ABEC cannot certify 3,000 hours you did not complete.⁵
• Medicare has its own threshold. Since January 1, 2024, LPCs can bill Medicare as mental health counselors, paid at 75 percent of the clinical psychologist rate. Enrollment requires at least two years or 3,000 hours of post-master’s supervised clinical experience.¹⁸ If a reduction lets you finish in under two years with fewer than 3,000 hours, check your eligibility before you build a Medicare caseload.

Renewal, continuing education and ABEC fees

ALC. The license runs 12 months from issue and renews by its anniversary with 10 CE hours, at least two of them in counseling ethics. At least 75 percent of CE must be real-time and interactive, which leaves no more than 2.5 self-paced hours. Up to three hours can come from one qualifying activity: presenting counseling training, publishing peer-reviewed counseling material, or serving at least 30 hours a year on a counseling board or professional organization. A lapsed ALC license cannot be used to sit for the exam or to apply for the LPC or an hours reduction. Renewing it takes the renewal fee, a $100 lapsed fee, 10 CE hours from the previous 12 months and a new PPoS.¹⁹

LPC. Licenses expire every two years on July 31 of the renewal year, and the application and $300 fee must reach the board by close of business that day. Missing the deadline automatically suspends your right to practice. Renewal requires 40 CE hours with six in ethics, under the same 75 percent real-time rule. Up to 10 hours can come from two of the three activities listed for ALCs. ABEC audits a random 10 percent of renewals, audited counselors have 30 days to send proof, and certificates must be kept for three years. Renewing a lapsed license costs the renewal fee, a $100 lapsed fee and 40 CE hours earned in the previous 24 months. An LPC license lapsed for more than six years is treated as gone: you reapply as a new ALC and forfeit all accrued hours. The rule also keeps a narrower reinstatement route, for a $500 fee, for counselors lapsed up to 15 years who have spent at least eight years in a profession where counseling is part of the daily routine.¹⁹ An older version of this guide listed “therapy received” as a CE activity. It is not in the current rule.

Which CE counts. ABEC’s policy, revised November 17, 2024, accepts programs approved by NBCC or the Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification, and programs sponsored by NAADAC, the American School Counselor Association, the Alabama Department of Mental Health or the American Psychological Association. No other CE source counts, apart from formal graduate coursework (not thesis or dissertation credit), which the renewal rules accept separately. A course from a large national CE company qualifies only if that specific program carries one of those approvals. Ethics hours must be clearly labeled as ethics, and ethics training written for other professions does not count.^20,19

ABEC still labels this schedule “current as of May 2022,” and it was the posted schedule in November 2026.³ The rules also change more often than most counselors notice. The June 2025 package amended the supervision, licensure and renewal rules, and the board scheduled a public hearing for September 18, 2026 on a proposed change to Rule 255-X-6-.03, which governs reactivating an inactive license.⁴ For renewal paperwork, privacy rules and new state laws in one place, see the Alabama therapist compliance guide.

1099 work, LLCs and private practice

The earlier version of this guide said ABEC flatly forbids ALCs from working as 1099 contractors or forming LLCs. The rules do not say that. The licensing statute does not mention W-2s, 1099s or business entities, and none of ABEC’s 77 administrative rules, as published in November 2026, mentions 1099s, independent contractors or LLCs.^1,21 What the rules do say leaves little room for independent practice. The ALC works under the exclusive supervision of one named LPC-S, who holds “clinical authority” over the ALC’s work and accepts full responsibility and liability for it. Practice procedures are planned with that supervisor, and every site must be on an approved plan.^1,7 Asked about an ALC who had accepted two contract positions, ABEC answered that there is no limit on the number of sites as long as each one is on an approved PPoS.⁵

So the accurate version is this. An ALC cannot run an independent practice through an LLC or any other structure, because Alabama has no such thing as unsupervised ALC practice. Whether a group practice may pay a supervised ALC as a contractor is first a tax and employment question. The IRS weighs behavioral control, financial control and the type of relationship.²² Supervision rules that give someone else clinical authority over how you do your work look a lot like the behavioral control the IRS treats as a sign of employment. Ask a CPA or employment lawyer before you sign a contract either way. Social workers answer to a different board with its own rules; see whether LMSWs in Alabama can work as 1099 contractors. If you are comparing professions, see Alabama’s social work licensing path and LMFT licensure in Alabama.

Once you hold the LPC, private practice is a business build. The practical steps that apply in Alabama:

• Entity. An Alabama LLC is formed by filing a Certificate of Formation with the Secretary of State, which charges $200. You must reserve the name first, and the name must include “Limited Liability Company,” “L.L.C.” or “LLC.”²³ For tax years beginning after December 31, 2023, an entity whose Alabama business privilege tax would only reach the statutory minimum is exempt from both the tax and the return.²⁴
• Identifiers and networks. You need a National Provider Identifier for any HIPAA standard transaction, including electronic claims.²⁵ Plans that use CAQH, which now operates as DataSpring, pull your credentialing data from its Provider Data Portal, where you enter it once and share it with the plans you authorize.²⁶ Medicare enrollment for counselors is described above. If you join a network through a platform or a group, read what happens to those contracts if you leave.
• Self-pay clients. Under federal rules, most providers must give uninsured or self-pay clients a good faith estimate when they schedule at least three business days ahead or ask for one. A client may be able to dispute a bill that runs at least $400 over the estimate.²⁷
• Privacy and records. For the federal privacy rules that apply this year, see what HIPAA requires of a small practice in 2026. Zuckerman and Kolmes’s The Paper Office for the Digital Age collects consent forms, policies and record-keeping templates written for therapists.²⁸
• Insurance and office. Carry professional liability for clinical claims and general liability for the premises, such as a client falling in your office. A health care provider’s professional office is a public accommodation under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act.²⁹ Renting a room part-time in an existing suite keeps overhead low while a caseload builds.

Moving to Alabama: endorsement, provisional licenses and the Counseling Compact

Alabama has no reciprocity. Licensure by endorsement is reviewed case by case, and it has to rest on a single current license that you qualified for directly, not one you obtained by endorsement elsewhere. You must meet the Alabama requirements that were in effect when you applied in your original state, and you supply a copy of that state’s rules from that date.³⁰ ABEC wants documentation of 3,000 supervised hours (2,250 direct, 750 indirect), not counting practicum, internship or work after licensure. An NCC certification is not a license. If you never passed a qualifying exam, you take the NCE.⁵

If the review finds gaps, you can ask for a provisional license. It lasts one year, costs $150 and requires a written plan for fixing the deficiencies. ABEC’s FAQ says an approved provisional licensee is licensed as an ALC and fills the gaps under an Alabama LPC-S. Provisional licensees cannot use the hours reduction.^30,5,3 A nonresident licensed at home may practice in Alabama for no more than 30 days a year under the statute’s exemption. ABEC stresses that this grants no license.^1,5

Alabama enacted the Counseling Compact in 2022. The Compact defines counseling as taking place where the client is located.¹ As of October 19, 2026, the Compact was live in 11 states: Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Wyoming. Alabama was listed as a member state but was not yet live.³¹ Even when it goes live, a privilege is not a license. You will apply separately for each state.⁵

If you are an ALC or LPC in the Birmingham area looking for a clinical home, start with Taproot’s careers page. Questions about working here, or about therapy for yourself, can go through our contact page.

References

1. Alabama Legislature. (n.d.). Code of Alabama 1975, Title 34, Chapter 8A, §§ 34-8A-2, 34-8A-3, 34-8A-7, 34-8A-8, 34-8A-50 and 34-8A-52. Retrieved November 8, 2026, from https://alison.legislature.state.al.us/code-of-alabama?section=34-8A-7
2. Alabama Board of Examiners in Counseling. (2025). Ala. Admin. Code r. 255-X-3-.01: Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) (amended effective June 14, 2025). https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/alabama/Ala-Admin-Code-r-255-X-3-.01
3. Alabama Board of Examiners in Counseling. (2022). Fees (schedule “current as of May 2022,” retrieved November 8, 2026). https://abec.alabama.gov/fees/
4. Alabama Board of Examiners in Counseling. (2026). Contact, home-page relocation notice (effective February 1, 2026) and public hearing notice on proposed Rule 255-X-6-.03. https://abec.alabama.gov/contact/
5. Alabama Board of Examiners in Counseling. (n.d.). Frequently asked questions: academic requirements; supervision; reduction of supervised experience; LPC by endorsement; National Counselor Examination; interstate compact. Retrieved November 8, 2026, from https://abec.alabama.gov/faqs/
6. Alabama Board of Examiners in Counseling. (2026). ALC initial license application; Proposed Plan of Supervision; LPC initial license application (from ALC); Reduction of ALC professional experience hours application; LPC-S application (revised May 2026). https://abec.alabama.gov/forms-and-applications/lpc-alc-applications/
7. Alabama Board of Examiners in Counseling. (2025). Ala. Admin. Code r. 255-X-3-.02: Associate Licensed Counselor (ALC) (amended effective June 14, 2025). https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/alabama/Ala-Admin-Code-r-255-X-3-.02
8. National Board for Certified Counselors. (2024). Candidate handbook for state licensure: National Counselor Examination (NCE) (revised September 24, 2024). https://nbcc.org/assets/exam/handbooks/nce.pdf
9. National Board for Certified Counselors. (2026). National Counselor Examination (NCE) examination specifications, effective July 1, 2027. https://nbcc.org/assets/exam/nce_exam_spec_2027.pdf
10. Alabama Board of Examiners in Counseling. (2022). ABEC policy manual. https://abec.alabama.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/ABEC-Policy-Manual.pdf
11. Alabama Board of Examiners in Counseling. (2022). Ala. Admin. Code r. 255-X-3-.03: Supervising counselor (amended effective October 15, 2022). https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/alabama/Ala-Admin-Code-r-255-X-3-.03
12. American Counseling Association. (2014). ACA code of ethics. https://www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/ethics/2014-aca-code-of-ethics.pdf
13. Wheeler, S., & Richards, K. (2007). The impact of clinical supervision on counsellors and therapists, their practice and their clients: A systematic review of the literature. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 7(1), 54–65. https://doi.org/10.1080/14733140601185274
14. Watkins, C. E. (2011). Does psychotherapy supervision contribute to patient outcomes? Considering thirty years of research. The Clinical Supervisor, 30(2), 235–256. https://doi.org/10.1080/07325223.2011.619417
15. Bambling, M., King, R., Raue, P., Schweitzer, R., & Lambert, W. (2006). Clinical supervision: Its influence on client-rated working alliance and client symptom reduction in the brief treatment of major depression. Psychotherapy Research, 16(3), 317–331. https://doi.org/10.1080/10503300500268524
16. Ladany, N., Hill, C. E., Corbett, M. M., & Nutt, E. A. (1996). Nature, extent, and importance of what psychotherapy trainees do not disclose to their supervisors. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 43(1), 10–24. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.43.1.10
17. Searles, H. F. (1955). The informational value of the supervisor’s emotional experiences. Psychiatry, 18(2), 135–146. https://doi.org/10.1080/00332747.1955.11023001
18. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (n.d.). Marriage and family therapists & mental health counselors. Retrieved November 8, 2026, from https://www.cms.gov/medicare/payment/fee-schedules/physician-fee-schedule/marriage-family-therapists-mental-health-counselors
19. Alabama Board of Examiners in Counseling. (2025). Ala. Admin. Code r. 255-X-7-.01 and 255-X-7-.02: License renewal for LPCs and ALCs (chapter amended effective June 14, 2025). https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/alabama/Ala-Admin-Code-r-255-X-7-.01
20. Alabama Board of Examiners in Counseling. (2024). Acceptable continuing education for licensure renewal (revised November 17, 2024). https://abec.alabama.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/ACCEPTABLE-CONTINUING-EDUCATION-FOR-LICENSURE-RENEWAL.pdf
21. Alabama Board of Examiners in Counseling. (2025). Alabama Administrative Code, Chapter 255-X (rules 255-X-1 through 255-X-11). https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/alabama/title-255
22. Internal Revenue Service. (n.d.). Independent contractor (self-employed) or employee? Retrieved November 8, 2026, from https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/independent-contractor-self-employed-or-employee
23. Alabama Secretary of State. (n.d.). LLCs. Retrieved November 8, 2026, from https://www.sos.alabama.gov/business-entities/llcs
24. Alabama Legislature. (n.d.). Code of Alabama 1975, § 40-14A-22: Levy and amount of tax. Retrieved November 8, 2026, from https://alison.legislature.state.al.us/code-of-alabama?section=40-14A-22
25. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (n.d.). National Provider Identifier standard (NPI). Retrieved November 8, 2026, from https://www.cms.gov/regulations-and-guidance/administrative-simplification/nationalprovidentstand
26. DataSpring. (n.d.). DataSpring, powered by CAQH: For clinicians & office staff. Retrieved November 8, 2026, from https://www.dataspring.com/clinicians
27. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. (n.d.). What is a good faith estimate? and Dispute a bill. Retrieved November 8, 2026, from https://www.cms.gov/initiatives/your-patient-rights/medical-bill-rights/get-help/guides-resources/what-good-faith-estimate and https://www.cms.gov/initiatives/your-patient-rights/medical-bill-rights/get-help/dispute-bill
28. Zuckerman, E. L., & Kolmes, K. (2017). The paper office for the digital age: Forms, guidelines, and resources to make your practice work ethically, legally, and profitably (5th ed.). Guilford Press.
29. Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. § 12181(7)(F). https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/12181
30. Alabama Board of Examiners in Counseling. (n.d.). Ala. Admin. Code r. 255-X-10-.02 and 255-X-10-.03: Endorsement and provisional licensure. https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/alabama/Ala-Admin-Code-r-255-X-10-.02
31. Counseling Compact Commission. (2026). Counseling Compact (status as of October 19, 2026). Retrieved November 8, 2026, from https://counselingcompact.gov/