Introduction

There are three reasons why counsellor accreditation is a reliable benchmark and a safeguard to the public and to counsellors themselves, in all counselling settings and not just in healthcare. The counsellor accreditation scheme must be carefully designed to meet the requirements of employers and of Government, in anticipation of forthcoming statutory regulation of the profession. These three fundamental reasons are:

1.1.1 The standards implicit in accreditation
1.1.2 The way applicants are required to meet those standards
1.1.3 The assessment process.

The Standards

Every accredited counsellor must demonstrate safe, accountable, ethical practice and give evidence of how their knowledge is used in practice. He/she must demonstrate a substantial record of practice that has been supervised, and account for his/her personal and professional development over a period of time.

How are standards demonstrated and met?

An accredited member must demonstrate that they meet these standards by presenting evidence of their knowledge of:

2.1 Counselling theories
2.2 Ethical practice
2.3 Assessment
2.4 Contracting skills
2.5 Reflective practice
2.6 Analysis of client work


What this means is the accredited counsellor:

3.1 Knows what he/ she is doing in the counselling relationship 3.2 Why they are doing it 3.3 Seeks constantly to evaluate and improve their professional practice.

The Assessment Process

A counsellor accreditation scheme will rely heavily on qualitative assessment of counsellor competence.

Accreditation - A Reliable Benchmark for Quality

There are a number of assessment schemes for counsellor competence but these are quantitative and rely on adding up hours, especially those spent on training. There is no proven link between length of training and practitioner competence. Thus, while it is essential for a counsellor to know and to have an intellectual model of counselling process, this knowledge alone does not produce good practitioners.

An accredited counsellor can be assured that the hard work that has gone into obtaining accreditation is worth the effort both personally and professionally. An accreditation has to have credibility, not only with the profession but also with employers and Government.