About the ACC Accredited Register

ACC’s register has been accredited by the Professional Standards Authority under its Accredited Registers programme. This means that by selecting counsellors and psychotherapists who are on ACC’s Accredited Register, you can have confidence in them. It means that our counsellors and psychotherapists are properly trained, work ethically under professional supervision, and are committed to good practice.

You can tell that a counsellor or psychotherapist belongs to the ACC, because they will be able to display the PSA the quality mark.

Importantly, the quality mark distinguishes trained and accountable counsellors and psychotherapists, when anyone can set themselves up and advertise as a counsellor or psychotherapist with little or no training and no accountability.

Accreditation by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) means that ACC continues to be assessed against standards to ensure that we have a well-run and managed membership organisation.

Accreditation also means that the PSA have recognised that counselling and psychotherapy conducted by professionally trained and ethical therapists is of benefit to people. Research supports the value to clients of having therapists who understand the importance of religion and spirituality in their lives.

ACC have in addition adopted a national framework which sets out the skills and capabilities that counsellors will have developed through their training and experience. This framework is called the SCoPEd Framework and can be accessed here. All ACC registered counsellors sit within this framework – and this provides further reassure as to the standards of practice and training of our members.

ACC counsellors work with people of all faiths and none and won’t impose their own beliefs on anyone. However, many will be skilled in having conversations about faith and spirituality and incorporating the client’s religious worldview into the psychotherapeutic work they do with clients when this is relevant.

For further information about the accredited registers programme please visit here.

What makes an ACC registrant someone you can have confidence in?

To be on ACC’s Register, a counsellor will need to have:

• Undergone an extensive training course and been assessed by their training organisation as someone who can safely and competently work as a counsellor and psychotherapist
• Abide by the terms and conditions of membership which sets out standards by which a counsellor or psychotherapist must adhere to
• Follow our code of ethics
• Be a Christian
• Be committed to embrace working with all people without discrimination in line with the 2010 Equalities Act
• Be committed to continuing professional development in terms of post qualification learning and training, including opportunities and practices that encourage the counsellor/psychotherapist to grow in self-awareness in service of their clients