Yes, in many cases you can. An agreement called PSYPACT lets a psychologist who is licensed in Illinois and holds authority under the compact work with you by video, without holding a separate license in your state.
Two things follow, and both matter. A state has to participate in PSYPACT, and your psychologist has to hold the compact’s authorization to practice into it. Those are separate, so the list of participating jurisdictions is not automatically the list of places any one practice can serve.
The situations this helps are ordinary ones. A student who starts therapy at home and then leaves for college out of state. A family that moves. Someone whose work keeps them on the road.
Here is what PSYPACT actually covers, what it does not, and how to find out in about two minutes whether it applies to you.
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What is PSYPACT?
PSYPACT is the Psychology Interjurisdictional Compact, an agreement between states that lets a licensed psychologist practice across state lines. The compact describes itself as existing “to facilitate the practice of telepsychology and the temporary in-person, face-to-face practice of psychology across state boundaries” (PSYPACT Commission, About Us, retrieved 19 August 2026).
Ordinarily, a psychologist must be licensed in the state where the client is sitting. The psychologist’s own location matters too, and under PSYPACT it matters a great deal. Both ends of the video call carry legal weight. That rule about the client’s state is why moving used to mean losing your therapist.
PSYPACT changes that for participating states. A psychologist licensed in a member state applies to the PSYPACT Commission for an Authority to Practice Interjurisdictional Telepsychology, shortened to APIT. Once granted, that authority covers telehealth into every other participating state.
There is a second, separate authorization called a TAP, a Temporary Authorization to Practice, which covers temporary in-person work rather than video sessions. Most people reading this only need to know about the first one.
This is a real regulatory credential, not a workaround. The PSYPACT Commission is the governing body, and it is what the compact calls “a body politic, an instrumentality of the state governments that have enacted the legislation.”
Which states are included?
As of 19 August 2026, the compact’s own Final PSYPACT Legislation page lists 43 participating jurisdictions. That page is the only source worth trusting on this, because the list changes. South Carolina is listed there with a “pending changes” note against it.
The 43 participating jurisdictions are:
Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
Two more are on the way. The compact announced that Alaska passed PSYPACT legislation on 25 June 2026 and Iowa passed it on 1 July 2026. Neither appears on the compact’s final legislation list yet, which is the list above.
Passing a law and appearing on that list are not the same thing. State legislation often carries its own effective date, so a law can pass well before it starts operating. If you are in Alaska or Iowa, treat your status as unsettled until the compact says otherwise.
This list has an expiry date. It was accurate on 19 August 2026. If you are reading this much later, check the current list at psypact.gov before making plans around it.
Our online therapy page lists the states Dr. Menon works in. Confirm it with us when you book, since both the compact’s list and ours change over time.
Who does this actually help?
Four situations come up again and again in our practice.
The college student. A student who started therapy at home now lives in another state for most of the year. Without PSYPACT, that means either stopping, or finding someone new near campus and rebuilding from scratch. With it, the work continues through the school year and the summer without interruption.
The person who moved. A job, a partner, a family situation. Moving is already one of the more destabilizing things a person can do, and it has a way of arriving at the same time as everything else. Losing your psychologist in the same month is a poor trade.
The person who travels for work. Consultants, contractors, medical travelers, anyone on a rotation. Sessions can follow you, as long as you are physically in a participating state when the session happens.
Families split across state lines. Divorced parents in different states, a young adult at school while parents are at home, a grandparent providing care from elsewhere. Family work becomes possible when everyone does not have to be in the same state.
There is a common thread. In each case, PSYPACT is not what brings someone to therapy. It is what keeps them from losing it.
Most of this work sits within our therapy for young adults and adults. For adults who cannot hold a weekly appointment around travel or a demanding schedule, our ADHD intensives concentrate the work into fewer, longer blocks, which suits out-of-state clients particularly well.
What PSYPACT does not cover
This is the part you actually need, and it is easy to find pages that leave it out. Four real limits.
Your psychologist has to be in their home state. Not just licensed there. Physically located there during your session. The compact is blunt about this: “There are no exceptions, exemptions, or temporary allowances under PSYPACT to practice telepsychology while physically located outside your declared home state.” If your psychologist is on holiday, your session does not travel with them.
You have to be in a participating state. Your location during the session is what counts, not your mailing address. If you drive to a non-participating state for a week, sessions pause for that week.
It stops at the border. The compact addresses this directly. While practicing under an APIT, the client “can be in any PSYPACT state or jurisdiction. Unfortunately, they can’t be in a non-PSYPACT state/jurisdiction or outside the US.” A semester abroad is not covered.
It applies to psychologists only. PSYPACT covers licensed psychologists and nobody else. Other professions are in different positions, and it is worth knowing which. Licensed professional counselors have their own compact, though it is still early in rolling out. Social work has a compact that is not yet issuing multistate licenses. Marriage and family therapists have no compact at all, which the Counseling Compact states directly. So if your provider is an LCPC, an LCSW or an LMFT, PSYPACT is not the mechanism that helps you, and what is available to them differs by profession.
One more thing worth knowing, because it saves people an unpleasant surprise. PSYPACT authorization is a licensing matter, not a billing one. The compact states plainly that “PSYPACT authorization does not guarantee insurance reimbursement” and recommends verifying coverage before starting. Whether your plan pays for an out-of-state provider is a question for your insurer.
Does PSYPACT apply to psychological testing?
This one deserves a careful answer, because the honest answer is more useful than a confident one.
PSYPACT itself does not restrict which services can be delivered. Asked directly whether it allows psychologists to conduct assessments and evaluations with patients in participating states, the compact’s answer is that “PSYPACT does not specify the type of services that can be provided using telepsychology,” and directs psychologists to “reference the regulations which govern the state you wish to practice in.”
So the compact opens the door. Whether a particular evaluation can be done well and lawfully by video depends on two things: the rules of the state you are sitting in, and whether the specific tests involved are validated for remote administration. Some are. Some are not. A number of measures require in-person administration to produce a defensible result, and a psychologist who tells you otherwise is doing you no favors.
Pearson, one of the major test publishers, puts it plainly. It has “a growing number of products that may be appropriately used for telepractice under certain conditions”, while noting that “there are circumstances where assessment via telepractice is not feasible and/or is contraindicated” (Pearson).
In practice this often means therapy can happen across state lines while a full evaluation may need an in-person visit, or may need to happen with a provider closer to you. The constraint there is the instrument, not the state line.
If you are trying to work out whether you need an evaluation at all, our psychological testing page explains what the process involves.
How to start if you live out of state
Four steps, and the first one takes about thirty seconds.
1. Check your state against the list. Find your state in the list above, or on our online therapy page. If it is not there, PSYPACT is not the route, and we will say so rather than waste your time.
2. Book a free consultation. This is a short conversation, not an intake. The goal is to work out whether what you need is something we can actually provide from Illinois, and whether the fit is right. You can book an appointment directly.
3. Ask about your insurance before you start. Because PSYPACT does not guarantee reimbursement, this is worth doing early rather than after the first bill. Our insurance checker is the fastest way to see where you stand.
4. Sort out the practical details. A private space, a reliable connection, and an agreement about what happens if you travel. We also ask for a local emergency contact, and where possible the details of a provider near you. Planning for emergencies is standard in telehealth generally; the specifics of what we ask are our own procedure, and they exist for your safety rather than as paperwork.
If you want to know who you would be working with before any of that, you can read more about Dr. Menon.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is PSYPACT the same as a license in my state?
No. It is an authority granted by the PSYPACT Commission that lets a psychologist licensed in one participating state practice telepsychology into the others. Their license stays with their home state, which regulates it. The state you are sitting in still has a say too: it can take complaints and can limit or withdraw a psychologist’s authority to practice there.
What if I move to a state that is not in PSYPACT?
PSYPACT-based sessions would generally have to pause, unless your psychologist has some other lawful basis to practice there, such as a separate license in that state. We would help you find a local provider before that point. Nine states currently sit outside the compact, with Alaska and Iowa having passed legislation but not yet operational. Check before a move rather than after.
Can I have sessions while traveling?
Only if you are physically inside a participating state during the session. Not from a non-participating state, and not from outside the United States. Tell your psychologist about travel plans in advance so sessions can be scheduled around them.
Does my insurance cover an out-of-state psychologist?
Sometimes, and it depends entirely on your plan. PSYPACT authorization does not guarantee reimbursement, and the compact says so directly. Check your out-of-network benefits before your first session rather than after.
How do I verify a psychologist really holds PSYPACT authority?
Authorizations are publicly verifiable through the PSYPACT Commission’s verification directory at verifypsypact.org. You are entitled to ask, and any psychologist practicing under the compact should be glad to tell you.
If you are out of state and stuck
The most common version of this conversation starts with someone assuming the answer is no. They moved, or their child went to school out of state, and they took it as given that the work had to end there.
Often it does not have to.
If you are in one of the participating states, online therapy with an Illinois psychologist is a straightforward option, not an exception. If you are not, tell us where you are and we will point you toward someone who can help.
The fastest way to find out which one applies to you is to book a free consultation and ask.
This article is general educational information. Which jurisdictions apply to you, what your state’s rules require, and whether your insurance will reimburse are all things to confirm for your own situation.
References
All retrieved 19 August 2026, directly from the publisher.
- PSYPACT Commission. About Us. psypact.gov
- PSYPACT Commission. Final PSYPACT Legislation. psypact.gov
- PSYPACT Commission. Practice Related FAQs. psypact.gov
- PSYPACT Commission. Frequently Asked Questions. psypact.gov
- PSYPACT Commission. PSYPACT Map / News. psypact.gov
- Counseling Compact. Frequently Asked Questions. “Marriage and Family Therapists do not have a compact.” Confirmed 20 August 2026. counselingcompact.gov
- PSYPACT. Model Legislation. Article VII(B): “A Receiving State may take adverse action on a psychologist’s Authority to Practice Interjurisdictional Telepsychology within that Receiving State.” cdn.ymaws.com
- Social Work Licensure Compact. The compact states that “multistate licenses are not yet being issued” while implementation continues. Confirmed 20 August 2026. swcompact.org
- Pearson. Telepractice. On remote administration of assessments. Confirmed 20 August 2026. www.pearsonassessments.com
