If you would like to register with the Counsellors’ Staffroom to join our Membership or to book our Events, you must meet the following criteria.
You must be:
- A qualified counsellor or psychotherapist at Level 4 or above, or;
- A student of counselling or psychotherapy on a course that is Level 4 or above.
If you are registering with us as a student, your qualification course (or the course you are currently studying) must meet the following criteria:
- Core practitioner training in counselling and/or psychotherapy.
- At least 1 year full-time or 2 years part-time at Level 4 or above (or equivalent).
- A minimum of 70% face-to-face training with allowance for some online teaching (max 30%). If your course is/was affected by national restrictions impacting face-to-face learning, please provide evidence of this from your college. Please note online or distance learning courses are not suitable courses to qualify for membership.
- Encompass at least 100 hours’ formally contracted, regularly supervised placement working with genuine clients (who are not known to you previously).
- Externally assessed or examined (in whole or in part).
Qualified or student Art Therapists and Counselling Psychologists, whose HCPC-approved courses meet our Membership & Events Registration Criteria, are able to register with the Counsellors’ Staffroom to join our Membership or to book our Events. Please note, we do not accept core practitioner training in psychology, coaching, hypnotherapy or other related mental health field.
We encourage our prospective registrants to state if they are a member of a relevant professional membership body and provide their membership identifier for verification when applying for registration and verification. This allows for a speedier verification process. This does not mean that you cannot register with the Counsellors’ Staffroom if you are not a member of a relevant professional membership body. If this applies to you, you will need to provide evidence of qualification, as above.
If you register with the Counsellors’ Staffroom as a student, you will be required to provide evidence that you are currently studying a qualification that meets our Membership & Events Registration Criteria. We may require students registering with us to provide current evidence to show they are still registered students on their relevant course on an annual basis, or from time to time, in order to ensure they still meet our Membership and Events Registration Criteria.
We recognise that some appliants registering with us to join our Memberships or to book our Events may have qualified before current training standards applied. We encourage such applicants to contact us to discuss their qualifications and experience so we can ensure that all Members and Event attendees meet our standards for ethical, safe and competent practice.