When you're searching for a psychotherapist or counsellor, there are systems in place to help you to gauge someone's training, experience, and accrediting body.
But..... this only helps if you know what to look for and what it all means!
I'm going to go through a few of the most common letters that you might see, and then talk a little about mine.
Many counsellors will have the designation MBACP, MNCPS Acc, or MNCIP after their name - this shows that they are registered with a professional body, and are a member of either British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) , The National Counselling & Psychotherapy Society (NCPS), or The National Council of Integrative Psychotherapists.
More experienced counsellors can become accredited, or senior accredited over time. These counsellors might have designations such as
BACP:
MBACP Accred
MBACP Snr Accred
NCPS:
PNCPS Acc.
SNCPS Acc.
NCIP:
MNCIP Accred
MNCIP Snr Accred
Psychotherapists can be member of UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) and use the letters UCKP or MUKCP after their name - both mean the same thing, as psychotherapists tend not to use accredited or senior accredited levels in the same way as counsellors.
Now for some information about about the letters that I use in my descriptions:
MA - Masters degree
In the UK, all creative arts psychotherapists have to complete training at post-graduate level - an MA degree, MSc, or PgDip. This is known as a level 7 qualification.
If you are searching for a Dance Movement Psychotherapist, Music Therapist, Dramatherapist or Art Psychotherapist, you should be looking out for a post-graduate qualification.
RDMP - Registered Dance Movement Psychotherapist
My professional body is ADMP UK - the Association for Dance Movement Psychotherapy UK, where I am a registered member.
I am on the Register of Private Practitioners, meaning that I've gained several years of experience and I've provided evidence of the standard of my practice.
MNCIP (Accred) - Accredited Member of NCIP
I'm an accredited member with NCIP which means I've provided evidence of more than 3 years of practice & more than 450 sessions with clients. As an accredited member I've provided evidence of my work and shown how I meet the criteria.
FNCIP - Fellow of NCIP Being made a Fellow of an organisation is the highest level that an organisation can confer on someone, and usually relates to a significant contribution to the profession or the organisation. In my case I was awarded Fellow status due to my role working with the management and operations teams of NCIP, supporting the aims of the organisation, and so it doesn't have a direct correlation to the standard of my therapeutic work.
ACTO Professional Member - Level 2
ACTO is the Association for Counselling and Therapy Online, a voluntary register for counsellors and psychotherapists who specialise in online therapy.
Being a professional member at Level 2 means that in addition to my original therapy training, I've completed extra training of at least 100 hours in the speciality of online therapy.
In my case, this means that I completed a one-year training course of 120 hours of study with Rory Lees-Oakes and Ken Kelly at Counselling Tutor.
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