• The fact is that neither the term “Counsellor” or “Psychotherapist” are what are known as “Protected Titles”. This means that anyone can advertise themselves as offering counselling and psychotherapy without any training.
• Choosing a Qualified Counsellor or Psychotherapist ensures that the professional you will be working with has a deep theoretical understanding, and experience of, the therapy they are offering.

In my case this involved 3 years of classroom study followed by the writing of a dissertation and successful completion of an oral examination with a panel of three assessors.

• In addition members of a Professional body such as the British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy (BACP) have to meet a recognised standard which is assessed by completion of a Certificate of Proficiency examination and we agree to be bound by the BACP Ethical Framework (http://www.bacp.co.uk/ethical_framework/new_ef.php) which lays out what is expected of us as Professionals.
• Once we are registered our details can be checked by looking at the BACP register http://www.bacpregister.org.uk/check_register/
• As members of the BACP we are required to hold Professional Indemnity Insurance, have a minimum of 1.5 hours of Clinical Supervision every month and to undertake a minimum of 30 hours training each year to keep our skills and knowledge up to date.