Counselling and psychotherapy: a regulatory model under review
Counsellors and psychotherapists remain self-regulated with unprotected titles. National standards were published in 2025 and a consultancy is recommending a model.
Profession
Counselling & psychotherapy
Counselling remains self-regulated in Australia and New Zealand and in about half of Canada's provinces (Ontario, Quebec and three Atlantic provinces regulate it), and sits on voluntary registers in the UK. British Columbia will license "psychotherapist" as a protected title from 29 November 2027.
Reforms
British Columbia: regulators merged and an independent Superintendent
Following Harry Cayton's inquiry, BC cut its health regulators from 20 to 6 and created an independent oversight office. The new Act came into force on 1 April 2026.
"Psychologist" remains an unprotected title
Only qualified titles such as "clinical psychologist" or "registered psychologist" are protected in the UK. Much of the wider psychological workforce is assured through voluntary registers rather than a statutory regulator.
No reforms tracked for this country yet.