Delaware · State research dossier

Delaware practice guidance

Delaware regulates counselors, marriage and family therapists, social workers, and psychologists through Division of Professional Regulation boards, but does not issue a general behavior-analyst license; school, Medicaid, autism, telehealth, compact, entity, privacy, employment, and program rules remain material.

Public research guide—not professional advice.Verified against the cited official sources on 2026-08-11. Informational only; not legal, clinical, employment, tax, or billing advice.Editorially cross-checked by a second research agent. Professional approval was confirmed by the project owner on 2026-08-11; reviewer identity and credentials are retained outside this public guide.This remains informational research—not legal, clinical, employment, tax, or billing advice, and not approval by a regulator, licensing board, or payer.
Source verification
2026-08-11
Next scheduled review
2026-09-11
Independent cross-check
Cross-checked
Professional review
Approved — owner attested

Scope before answers

Who this guide is for

Practice owners, operations leaders, supervisors, and clinicians evaluating work in Delaware.

Coverage

  • Professional credentials, supervision, telehealth registration, and compact status
  • Behavior-analysis school, Medicaid, and certification boundaries
  • Entity, privacy, breach, employment, payer, facility, and locality operations

Limitations

  • This guide does not determine whether a rule applies to a particular person or organization.
  • Payer contracts, facilities, employers, local governments, and federal law may add requirements.

Current and future authority

Transitions and conflicts

Future-effective, proposed, and conflicting sources are labeled instead of being blended into current requirements.

Published research

New supervisor form is effective

Counselor and MFT applicants using an alternative-profession supervisor must follow the Board’s July 2026 form requirement.

Enacted, not operational

Compacts are not interchangeable

PSYPACT is operational, while the counseling and social-work compact pathways are not yet live.

Regulator and credential map

Choose the profession before the rule

Each dossier keeps credential, supervision, cross-border, entity, client, records, renewal, and discipline research tied to the correct authority.

LACMH · LPCMH · Mental Health Interstate Telehealth Registration

Counselors

Delaware licenses associate and professional counselors of mental health, requires an approved supervised-experience pathway, and offers a separate registration route for eligible out-of-state telehealth practitioners.

Regulator
Board of Mental Health and Chemical Dependency Professionals

LAMFT · LMFT · Mental Health Interstate Telehealth Registration

Marriage and family therapists

Delaware separately licenses associate and independent marriage and family therapists and applies credential-specific application, supervision, examination, reciprocity, and telehealth requirements.

Regulator
Board of Mental Health and Chemical Dependency Professionals

LBSW · LMSW · LCSW · Social Work Interstate Telehealth Registration

Social workers

Delaware licenses bachelor, master, and clinical social workers; recent legislation changed LMSW supervision authority and narrowed reliance on agency-employment exemptions.

Regulator
Board of Social Work Examiners

Psychologist · Psychological Assistant · PSYPACT Authority to Practice · Psychologist Interstate Telehealth Registration

Psychologists

Delaware licenses psychologists, registers supervised psychological assistants, participates in PSYPACT, and also offers an interstate telehealth registration for eligible practitioners outside an applicable compact route.

Regulator
Board of Examiners of Psychologists

School Behavior Analyst Standard Certificate · BACB or QABA certification where a setting rule requires it

Behavior analysts

Delaware does not issue a general behavior-analyst license; public-school certification and autism, Medicaid, payer, employer, and supervision requirements must be analyzed separately.

Regulator
No general Division of Professional Regulation board; Delaware Department of Education and Department of Health and Social Services regulate specified settings

Entity · workforce · privacy · payer · facility

Practice operations

Delaware launch work must separate professional licensure from entity formation and business licensing, compact practice from telehealth registration, HIPAA data from other personal data, and clinician authority from DSAMH and Medicaid provider approval.

State launch checklist

Save evidence, not just answers

Public worksheets

Seven source-linked working tools

Print a blank copy or check items locally in this browser. No worksheet information is submitted to the site.

State practice launch checklistWS-DE-PRACTICE-LAUNCH · printable

Sequence authority, credential, entity, payer, facility, privacy, and locality checks before opening.

Credential and license-maintenance checklistWS-DE-LICENSE-MAINTENANCE · printable

Track verification, renewal, continuing education, audits, inactive status, and reinstatement.

Telehealth and cross-border decision treeWS-DE-TELEHEALTH · printable

Document the client location, practitioner authority, registration or privilege, consent, emergency plan, and payer rule.

Entity and ownership checklistWS-DE-ENTITY · printable

Review entity form, ownership, naming, registration, referrals, and fee-sharing boundaries.

Hiring and supervision checklistWS-DE-HIRING-SUPERVISION · printable

Collect credential evidence and document role, supervision, setting, hours, reporting, and payer enrollment.

Records, privacy, and breach-response checklistWS-DE-PRIVACY-BREACH · printable

Map state privacy, HIPAA, retention, access, security, breach, closure, and continuity duties.

Facility and payer applicability decision treeWS-DE-FACILITY-PAYER · printable

Determine whether a private office is also a regulated program or facility and confirm payer enrollment and billing routes.

Source inspector and freshness ledger

Controlling official sources

Open any record to inspect its authority type, identifier, effective date, verification date, next review, and direct official link.

CurrentBoard of Mental Health and Chemical Dependency ProfessionalsDelaware Division of Professional Regulation
Source ID
SRC-DE-MH-BOARD
Authority type
Regulator guidance
Accessed
2026-08-11
Verified
2026-08-11
Next review
2026-09-11
Effective
See source
Open official source
CurrentProfessional Counselor of Mental Health LicensureDelaware Division of Professional Regulation
Source ID
SRC-DE-COUN
Authority type
Regulator guidance
Accessed
2026-08-11
Verified
2026-08-11
Next review
2026-09-11
Effective
See source
Open official source
CurrentProfessional Counselor Experience RequirementsDelaware Division of Professional Regulation
Source ID
SRC-DE-COUN-EXP
Authority type
Regulator guidance
Accessed
2026-08-11
Verified
2026-08-11
Next review
2026-09-11
Effective
See source
Open official source
CurrentAssociate Counselor of Mental Health LicensureDelaware Division of Professional Regulation
Source ID
SRC-DE-LACMH
Authority type
Regulator guidance
Accessed
2026-08-11
Verified
2026-08-11
Next review
2026-09-11
Effective
See source
Open official source
CurrentMarriage and Family Therapist LicensureDelaware Division of Professional Regulation
Source ID
SRC-DE-MFT
Authority type
Regulator guidance
Accessed
2026-08-11
Verified
2026-08-11
Next review
2026-09-11
Effective
See source
Open official source
CurrentBoard of Social Work ExaminersDelaware Division of Professional Regulation
Source ID
SRC-DE-SW-BOARD
Authority type
Regulator guidance
Accessed
2026-08-11
Verified
2026-08-11
Next review
2026-09-11
Effective
See source
Open official source
CurrentChapter 39 Board of Social Work ExaminersDelaware General Assembly
Source ID
SRC-DE-SW-LAW
Authority type
Statute
Accessed
2026-08-11
Verified
2026-08-11
Next review
2026-09-11
Effective
See source
Open official source
CurrentBachelors and Masters Social Worker LicensureDelaware Division of Professional Regulation
Source ID
SRC-DE-SW-APP
Authority type
Regulator guidance
Accessed
2026-08-11
Verified
2026-08-11
Next review
2026-09-11
Effective
See source
Open official source
CurrentBoard of Examiners of PsychologistsDelaware Division of Professional Regulation
Source ID
SRC-DE-PSY
Authority type
Regulator guidance
Accessed
2026-08-11
Verified
2026-08-11
Next review
2026-09-11
Effective
See source
Open official source
CurrentPsychologist Licensure by ExaminationDelaware Division of Professional Regulation
Source ID
SRC-DE-PSY-APP
Authority type
Regulator guidance
Accessed
2026-08-11
Verified
2026-08-11
Next review
2026-09-11
Effective
See source
Open official source
CurrentPsychological Assistant RegistrationDelaware Division of Professional Regulation
Source ID
SRC-DE-PSY-ASST
Authority type
Regulator guidance
Accessed
2026-08-11
Verified
2026-08-11
Next review
2026-09-11
Effective
See source
Open official source
CurrentSchool Behavior Analyst Standard CertificateDelaware Department of Education
Source ID
SRC-DE-BA-SCHOOL
Authority type
Regulation
Accessed
2026-08-11
Verified
2026-08-11
Next review
2026-09-11
Effective
See source
Open official source
CurrentAutism Services Provider StandardsDelaware Department of Health and Social Services
Source ID
SRC-DE-BA-AUTISM
Authority type
Regulation
Accessed
2026-08-11
Verified
2026-08-11
Next review
2026-09-11
Effective
See source
Open official source
CurrentChapter 60 Telehealth and TelemedicineDelaware General Assembly
Source ID
SRC-DE-TELE-LAW
Authority type
Statute
Accessed
2026-08-11
Verified
2026-08-11
Next review
2026-09-11
Effective
See source
Open official source
CurrentPsychologist Interstate Telehealth RegistrationDelaware Division of Professional Regulation
Source ID
SRC-DE-PSY-TELE
Authority type
Application
Accessed
2026-08-11
Verified
2026-08-11
Next review
2026-09-11
Effective
See source
Open official source
CurrentProfessional Counseling Licensure CompactDelaware General Assembly
Source ID
SRC-DE-COUN-COMPACT
Authority type
Statute
Accessed
2026-08-11
Verified
2026-08-11
Next review
2026-09-11
Effective
See source
Open official source
CurrentSocial Work Licensure CompactDelaware General Assembly
Source ID
SRC-DE-SW-COMPACT
Authority type
Statute
Accessed
2026-08-11
Verified
2026-08-11
Next review
2026-09-11
Effective
See source
Open official source
CurrentProfessional Service Corporation ActDelaware General Assembly
Source ID
SRC-DE-ENTITY
Authority type
Statute
Accessed
2026-08-11
Verified
2026-08-11
Next review
2026-09-11
Effective
See source
Open official source
CurrentBusiness First StepsState of Delaware
Source ID
SRC-DE-BUSINESS
Authority type
Regulator guidance
Accessed
2026-08-11
Verified
2026-08-11
Next review
2026-09-11
Effective
See source
Open official source
CurrentDelaware Personal Data Privacy ActDelaware General Assembly
Source ID
SRC-DE-PRIVACY
Authority type
Statute
Accessed
2026-08-11
Verified
2026-08-11
Next review
2026-09-11
Effective
2025-01-01
Open official source
CurrentComputer Security BreachesDelaware General Assembly
Source ID
SRC-DE-BREACH
Authority type
Statute
Accessed
2026-08-11
Verified
2026-08-11
Next review
2026-09-11
Effective
See source
Open official source
CurrentDelaware Paid LeaveDelaware Department of Labor
Source ID
SRC-DE-PAID-LEAVE
Authority type
Regulator guidance
Accessed
2026-08-11
Verified
2026-08-11
Next review
2026-09-11
Effective
2026-01-01
Open official source
CurrentEmployer Frequently Asked QuestionsDelaware Department of Labor
Source ID
SRC-DE-WORKER
Authority type
Regulator guidance
Accessed
2026-08-11
Verified
2026-08-11
Next review
2026-09-11
Effective
See source
Open official source
CurrentBehavioral Health Provider Policies and ResourcesDelaware Department of Health and Social Services
Source ID
SRC-DE-DSAMH
Authority type
Regulator guidance
Accessed
2026-08-11
Verified
2026-08-11
Next review
2026-09-11
Effective
See source
Open official source
CurrentDelaware Medicaid Provider EnrollmentDelaware Department of Health and Social Services
Source ID
SRC-DE-MEDICAID
Authority type
Payer guidance
Accessed
2026-08-11
Verified
2026-08-11
Next review
2026-09-11
Effective
See source
Open official source

Recent changes

Change log

  • — The mental-health board’s alternative professional supervisor form requirement became effective.
  • — Delaware Paid Leave became fully operational and employees could begin filing claims.

Unresolved

Open questions

  • When will the counseling and social-work compact pathways become operational?
  • Which entity form and ownership structure is authorized for the exact mix of services?
  • Does the service model trigger DSAMH licensure, certification, or Medicaid program requirements?

Monitoring

Review cadence

  • Weekly during active legislation, rulemaking, compact launches, and implementation transitions.
  • Monthly for board, application, fee, payer, facility, and compact sources.
  • Quarterly for entity, privacy, breach, employment, and locality sources.
  • Immediate recheck after a legal or agency change; annual end-to-end audit.

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