What qualifications are needed for psychological counseling?

At present, domestic psychological counseling has not yet set up a nationally unified compulsory practice access qualification. The generally recognized qualifications in the industry can never be proved by a single certificate. The essence is a combination of "professional background + systematic training + practical supervision + ethics certification" requirements.

Among the relevant certificates available to everyone now, the most valuable one is the professional title of psychotherapist issued by the National Health Commission. It is a professional and technical qualification in the medical system. It is also the only official qualification directly linked to mental health medical services. The holder of the certificate can not only practice in the psychiatry department and psychology department of the hospital, but also accept ordinary cases from the society. In addition, the most recognized in the industry are the registered psychologist and registered supervisor certifications of the Chinese Psychological Society registration system. Although it is a private certification initiated by the industry association, the admission standards are extremely strict. You must have a professional background related to psychology, medicine, and education, and have completed at least 120 hours of basic system training, more than 100 hours of case experience, and 80 hours of one-to-one supervision. You must be recommended by two senior registered supervisors before you can apply. Many organizations recruit full-time consultants. When they see the certification of the registration system, they will go directly to the interview. As for the professional skill level certificates for psychological counselors produced by local human resources and social security departments and issued by third-party organizations in recent years, they are level evaluation certificates. They can only show that the certificate holder has undergone basic introductory training and cannot be used as a certificate of practice alone. It must be combined with subsequent long-term training, case accumulation and supervision to meet the threshold for accepting cases.

I have been operating a local psychological institution for three years and have seen two very typical examples. One is a young girl who graduated from clinical psychology. She took the Level 3 Psychological Counselor Certificate issued by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security right after graduation. After that, she studied for a master's degree in applied psychology. She spent half a day every week for three consecutive years to participate in systematic training in cognitive behavioral therapy. Every case she took on had to be reviewed regularly by a supervisor. Now that she has been in the industry for 5 years, she still actively refers complex trauma cases to more senior counselors. There was also a man who came to our agency to apply for a job. He took out a so-called "ACI International Registered Psychological Counselor" certificate that he bought for several thousand yuan. He said that he had obtained the certificate after only one month of training, and he was about to take 800 juvenile cases an hour. We rejected him on the spot. That so-called international certificate was just waste paper sold by pheasant institutions, and no one in the industry recognized it.

Having said this, some people may ask, are the second- and third-level psychological counselor certificates from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security taken before 2017 useless? In fact, it is not the case. That type of certificate was a proficiency evaluation certificate at that time. It can still be used as evidence of professional experience, but it cannot be used as a professional qualification alone. In fact, there are always different opinions on the qualification requirements in the industry. Many people think that professional background must be restricted. Those who are not majored in psychology, medicine, or education are not allowed to enter the industry. Otherwise, it is easy for unprofessional operations to occur, which will cause secondary harm to visitors. ； Some people think that it is not just based on background. I know a eldest sister who used to be a middle school teacher. She is particularly sensitive to the psychological state of teenagers. She has spent five or six years systematically studying psychoanalysis. The length of case studies and supervision hours is enough. She has also been registered in a formal institution to receive ethical supervision. The feedback she receives from teenagers' cases is better than that of many counselors who have just graduated from a major. It is indeed unreasonable to directly block out such practitioners with practical ability.

In fact, to put it bluntly, the qualifications for psychological counseling are like the threshold for opening a private restaurant. It does not mean that you can open a restaurant by hanging the brand of "Internet celebrity restaurant". You must have a health certificate and a sanitation license. The chef must be really trained and have cooked hundreds of dishes. He must also pay attention to the freshness of the ingredients and not fool the guests. The certificate is just a stepping stone to get started. The real qualifications are actually engraved in the records of each case, each review with the supervisor, and each compliance with ethical boundaries. If ordinary visitors are looking for a counselor, they don’t actually need to stare at the pile of colorful certificates posted by the counselor. Asking a few more questions about the training background, length of the case, whether there is a regular supervisor, and whether it is registered in a formal institution or registration system is more reliable than anything else.