The final step in your journey toward becoming a Certified Mental Health + Aging Specialist.
Please see below for more information on the Certification Track program and links to the application.
Join our most exclusive group of Mental Health + Aging therapists. The final step in the Mental Health + Aging training program, the Certification results in your designation as a CMHA Certified Mental Health + Aging Specialist — setting you apart as a recognized leader in aging-informed therapy.
To be eligible for certification, the applicant must have earned a minimum of a master's degree in the profession AND hold a state or national license as listed below:
Applicants must attest that they have completed a minimum of 100 contact hours of clinical work with older adults (age 65+) over the course of their professional career.
This experience may include individual therapy, group therapy, assessment, consultation, or other direct clinical services.
Applicants must complete the Level 1 Certificate Course, an 18-hour continuing education program covering core competency areas in geriatric mental health:
A distinctive component of this certification is participation in small group clinical case consultation facilitated by experienced geriatric mental health specialists. This bridges didactic knowledge and clinical application through peer learning, supervision, and real-world case conceptualization.
To obtain your initial 2-year Mental Health + Aging Certification, please complete the following steps:
The Center for Mental Health + Aging will review your completed application within 2–3 weeks. Upon approval, you will receive:
To maintain your Mental Health + Aging Certification, you must complete recertification every 2 years.
Complete a minimum of 8 CE hours specifically related to mental health and aging. Acceptable topics include:
Maintain current, unrestricted professional licensure in good standing. Submit an updated copy of your license with your recertification application.
While not required, certificants are strongly encouraged to maintain ongoing clinical contact with older adults to preserve and enhance clinical skills.
The Center for Mental Health + Aging offers:
The clinicians who will define aging-informed care over the next decade are specializing now and Certification is how they are doing it.
This is not simply more training. It is the credential, the community, and the clinical distinction that moves you from competent practitioner to recognized specialist. Here is what that means for your career.
Your CMHA Certification signals what referral sources are actively looking for: a clinician who has met a rigorous, defined standard in mental health and aging. In a field where specialized training is rare, that distinction is immediately visible — and professionally valuable.
Physicians, discharge planners, elder law attorneys, and care managers want clinicians they can trust with complex older adult clients. Your CMHA Certification gives you a meaningful competitive advantage — in private practice, healthcare systems, and senior care settings alike.
Professional isolation is one of the most common frustrations among clinicians who specialize in aging. The CMHA Certification consultation group changes that — a small, closed cohort of seasoned specialists who consult at the level your work deserves.
There's a difference between knowing evidence-based practice and having applied it under rigorous consultation. By the time you earn your CMHA Certification, you'll have stress-tested your skills through real cases — and that confidence shows up in the room with every client.
CMHA Certification opens doors beyond the therapy room — speaking engagements, leadership roles, published writing, and media visibility as a trusted voice in mental health and aging. This field needs credible, trained spokespeople. Your credential signals you are one of them.
Older adults are the most underserved mental health population in the country. By earning your CMHA Certification, you join a small, distinguished group of specialists actively changing what aging-informed care looks like. That is a legacy worth building.
Dr. Regina Koepp is a Stanford-trained, board certified clinical psychologist, geropsychologist, and founder and CEO of the Center for Mental Health & Aging.
Dr. Koepp is a sought-after speaker and educator, and provides continuing education courses to professionals on topics surrounding mental health and aging as well as sexual health and aging. She has trained thousands of licensed mental health providers and consulted with hundreds of professionals in private practice, health care systems, community mental health, and long term care communities.
She was formerly a lead psychologist at University of Vermont Medical Center, Assistant Professor at Emory University Department of Psychiatry, and psychologist at the Atlanta VA Health Care System, where she provided direct patient care and consultation on the Geropsychiatry Outpatient Mental Health team for more than a decade and served on the VA Central Office’s Geriatric Mental Health Field Advisory Committee.
She is formerly Vice Chair of the Georgia Psychological Association Ethics Committee and served on the Atlanta VA Medical Center’s Ethics Committee, the Clinical Advisory Workgroup, and as chair of the Psychology Professional Standards Board for several years.
Dr. Koepp has been featured in the New York Times, NPR, Chicago Tribune, Next Avenue, AARP, and other national media outlets.
Dr. Koepp earned her doctorate in Clinical Psychology at the PGSP-Stanford PsyD Consortium and completed her post-doctoral fellowship at Emory School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences/Grady Health System, where she won the Richard W. Morrell Community Commitment Award.
The CMHA Certification Program was independently reviewed and endorsed by distinguished leaders in clinical geropsychology — ensuring the curriculum meets the highest standards of evidence-based practice and professional rigor
Dr. Dotson is Chief of Neuropsychology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Research Professor of Psychology and Gerontology at Georgia State University, and Founder and President of CerebroFit Integrated Brain Health. She completed her doctoral training in clinical psychology at the University of Florida with a specialization in neuropsychology and a certificate in gerontology. She completed her postdoctoral training at the National Institute on Aging Intramural Research Program.
Dr. Dotson’s research and clinical activities focus on positive and negative modifiers of brain health, including the intersection of depression with cognitive and brain aging and the impact of health disparities on brain health.
Dr. Jennifer Smith is a Geropsychologist and Geriatrics Psychology Program Manager. She is also an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University School of Medicine. She trains mental health professionals in the use of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and trains Psychology Interns and Postdoctoral Fellows in the use of Psychological Assessment.
Dr. Smith is a graduate of the American Psychological Association Leadership Institute for Women in Psychology. Dr. Smith is a former President of the Georgia Psychological Association and a former Georgia Representative for the American Psychological Association Council of Representatives. She believes being a psychologist is the best job in the world.
Answers to common questions about the Mental Health + Aging Certification process.