To file a complaint against a counselor, submit a written account of the misconduct to your state’s licensing board for professional counselors. Filing is free, the complaint has to be in writing, and most boards provide a form on their website. Investigations commonly take six months to over a year, and the board’s power is limited to the counselor’s license: discipline, not damages.
Where to File
The right destination depends on what happened and who the counselor is, but for almost every complainant the state licensing board is the primary place to file. It is the only body with the authority to suspend or revoke a counselor’s license to practice. Every state has at least one board responsible for licensing counselors and enforcing professional standards, and in some states a single board oversees counselors alongside clinical social workers and marriage and family therapists.
Two parallel routes exist and can be pursued at the same time as a board complaint:
- If your counselor belongs to the American Counseling Association, you can file a separate ethics complaint with ACA. If they hold the National Board Certified Counselor credential, NBCC runs its own ethics review. Both associations can issue reprimands, require training, or revoke membership or certification, but neither can take away a state license. For serious conduct, file with the board as well.
- If the conduct is criminal — sexual contact with a client is a crime in many states, and billing for services never provided can constitute theft or insurance fraud — report it to local law enforcement. A criminal case and a board complaint run independently; one does not substitute for the other.
Finding Your State Board
The National Board for Certified Counselors maintains a State Board Directory that lists the licensing authority, contact information, and available licenses for every state.1National Board for Certified Counselors. State Board Directory You can also search your state government site for “board of professional counselors” or “behavioral health licensing board.”
Before filing, confirm the counselor actually holds a license with that board. Most state boards offer an online license-lookup tool where you can search by name. This step also gives you the counselor’s exact legal name and license number, both of which the complaint form will ask for.
What to Gather Before You File
A well-prepared complaint gives the investigator what they need to open a real review. Pull these together before you start the form:
- The counselor’s full legal name, license number, and the address of the practice where you were seen.
- A timeline of events with specific dates, or your best approximation. “Early March 2025” is more useful than “a few months ago.”
- A factual narrative of what happened. Stick to what the counselor said and did, not what you believe they were thinking.
- Supporting documents: emails, text messages, billing statements, appointment records, anything that corroborates your account.
- Names and contact details of any witnesses with direct knowledge.
If the misconduct involved several incidents, describe them in chronological order. The investigator will be starting from scratch, so include the context you’d expect a stranger to need.
Submitting the Complaint
Nearly every state licensing board provides a complaint form on its website, either as a downloadable PDF or through an online portal. Some boards accept complaints written in your own format as long as the required information is there. Either way, the complaint must be in writing. A phone call can help you understand the process but does not substitute for a filing.
Submission methods vary. Some boards accept email, others require mail, and many now use online portals. A few states still require the form to be signed and notarized. Read your board’s instructions carefully before sending anything. Filing costs nothing.
Can You File Anonymously?
Usually not, or not effectively. Most licensing boards do not accept anonymous complaints, and those that do rarely investigate them without documented evidence attached. The ACA ethics process explicitly requires complainants to authorize the release of their identity to the counselor being investigated.2American Counseling Association. ACA Policies and Procedures for Processing Complaints of Ethical Violations State boards generally work the same way: the counselor will learn who filed as part of the investigation. Due process requires it.
What the Board Will and Won’t Investigate
Boards look at conduct that violates the state’s practice act or professional ethics rules. The American Counseling Association’s Code of Ethics, which most state standards draw from, covers areas like confidentiality, sexual and exploitative relationships with clients, practicing outside one’s training, practicing without a license, and billing for sessions that never occurred.3American Counseling Association. 2014 ACA Code of Ethics
Complaints that fall outside the board’s authority — a purely financial billing dispute with no fraud element, or dissatisfaction with the outcome of treatment rather than the counselor’s conduct — may be dismissed at intake. If you aren’t sure whether what happened qualifies, file anyway. Making that determination is the board’s job, not yours.
What Happens After You File
The board sends an acknowledgment confirming receipt. From there the process runs in stages, with details varying by state.
An initial review checks whether the complaint falls within the board’s jurisdiction and whether the allegations, if true, would amount to a violation. If it moves forward, the board opens a formal investigation: the counselor is notified of the allegations and asked for a written response, documents are reviewed, and investigators may interview you, the counselor, and any witnesses. Boards sometimes bring in independent experts to assess whether the counselor’s actions met professional standards.
Expect a long quiet stretch. You may hear very little during the investigation, and the board may be legally restricted from sharing details about an active case. Six months is common; over a year is not unusual for complex matters. Silence is not the same as inaction.
Possible Outcomes
When the investigation concludes, the board decides what action, if any, is warranted. The range runs roughly from lightest to heaviest:
- Dismissal, if the evidence is insufficient or the conduct does not violate the practice act.
- A letter of concern, which is non-disciplinary but flags areas needing improvement.
- Remedial requirements such as mandatory continuing education, added supervision, or specific training.
- Probation, letting the counselor keep the license under restrictions for a set period.
- Fines.
- License suspension, a temporary loss of the right to practice.
- License revocation, reserved for the most serious violations.
One point worth being clear about: licensing boards address a counselor’s fitness to practice. They do not award damages or order the counselor to pay you compensation. If you were financially or emotionally harmed and want money, that requires a separate civil lawsuit, which can run alongside the board case.
Complaints filed through NBCC can result in a private or public reprimand, probation with conditions, suspension of certification, or permanent revocation of the NCC credential.4National Board for Certified Counselors. NBCC Code of Ethics Case Procedures ACA sanctions run a similar range through membership revocation.2American Counseling Association. ACA Policies and Procedures for Processing Complaints of Ethical Violations
If the Issue Is Health Information Privacy
When the misconduct involves your protected health information — records shared with unauthorized people, unsecured electronic files, or a refusal to give you access to your own records — you can also file with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights. This federal complaint runs separately from any state board complaint, and you can pursue both.
HIPAA complaints must be filed within 180 days of when you became aware of the violation, though OCR may extend that deadline for good cause. Submit through the OCR Complaint Portal at ocrportal.hhs.gov, by email to OCRComplaint@hhs.gov, or by mail. The complaint must be in writing, name the entity you believe violated your rights, and describe what happened. Anonymous complaints are not investigated. HIPAA’s anti-retaliation provision protects you from being punished by the covered entity for filing.5U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. How to File a Health Information Privacy or Security Complaint