Psychological counseling application requirements

College degree or above, no major required； Hold junior professional titles or above in psychology, medicine, or education ； Students who have been in school one year before graduating from junior college/undergraduate degree can apply with proof of school attendance.

Some people may be confused when they see this. Isn’t that right? I saw a short video advertisement before and it said, “There is no restriction on academic qualifications, including getting a certificate. After passing the exam, you can get a job with an annual salary of hundreds of thousands”? Hey, those are just marketing gimmicks of the organization. In 2017, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security has removed psychological counselors from the professional qualification catalog. Now all the "psychological counselor examinations" are essentially the completion assessment of training programs. What is obtained is a training certificate, not a qualification certificate that can directly practice. Let’s make this point clear first, and don’t get caught up in marketing rhetoric.

Of course, not all relevant certificates have the same application requirements. There are at least dozens of institutions and industry associations that provide this type of training, and the standards are quite different. For example, some local small associations offer trainings. In order to attract students, they will lower the application threshold to a high school/technical secondary school degree. As long as you take dozens of additional prerequisite courses required by them, you can apply. There are even institutions that dare to say, "You can also apply with a primary school degree, and we will pack the materials for you." In this case, you can just turn around and leave. Not to mention that there is no platform or institution to recognize the certificate. If it is found that the information is falsified, it will leave a stain on any subsequent attempts to take the formal route.

Oh yes, there is another industry certification that many people are easily confused about - the assessment of registered psychologists and registered supervisors in the registration system of the Chinese Psychological Society. This is currently the most recognized professional qualification in the domestic industry. The application requirements are not at the same level as the entry-level training certificate: you must have a master's degree or above in a psychology-related major, and have completed at least 120 hours of professional ethics training, 100 hours of individual supervision experience, more than 200 hours of case consultation experience, and joint recommendation from two senior registered supervisors are required to be eligible to submit an application. Many consultants who have been in the industry for five or six years are still stuck on the application requirements, which are completely different from the entrance exam that everyone often asks about.

An intern kid I took care of last year is a very typical example. He majored in computer science for his undergraduate degree. In his junior year, he came into contact with psychology because he had anxiety. It just met the application requirements for current students, so he took the basic training certificate of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. After finishing the exam, he worked as a public welfare psychological consultant with our agency for half a year, and accumulated dozens of hours of practical experience. Now he is taking on low-cost cases worth tens of dollars to practice. He said that he originally just wanted to learn to regulate his emotions, but he accidentally developed it into a side job.

There is now a lot of controversy over entry-level training certificates in the industry: one group thinks that this kind of certificate is useless at all. After all, the two or three months of training are only superficial. Many people who have obtained the certificate cannot even do basic empathy well. It is better to save money and sign up for long-term training in the system.； The other group thinks that this is a stepping stone to get started. Now, whether you are joining a mainstream psychological counseling platform or applying for an assistant counselor in an offline institution, the first step is to ask if you have this basic training certificate. You don’t even have this, and you can’t even get a chance to show your ability. I have been a consultant for almost 5 years, and to be honest, I prefer the latter. If you really plan to enter the industry, you will not lose money if you take this certificate. You can spend a few thousand yuan to go through the basic contents of general psychology and consulting ethics. It is safer than spending tens of thousands of yuan to sign up for a long-term course if you don’t understand anything.

Finally, I would like to remind everyone, don’t believe the nonsense about “registering on behalf of others” and “guaranteeing”. A visitor complained to me before, saying that she wanted to enter the industry with a high school degree, but was deceived by an institution into paying more than 10,000 yuan, saying that she would be packaged to apply for the exam of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. However, before the exam, the organizer found that the information was falsified, and the exam qualification was immediately cancelled. The institution also acted rogue and refused to refund the money. The savings she had saved for more than half a year were in vain. It was really not a mistake.

In fact, to put it bluntly, the application requirements are really not a barrier to entry into the industry. Most people who want to do this can meet the requirements. What is really difficult is the road after passing the certification: you have to keep taking professional courses, doing personal experience, finding supervisors, and taking on cases. If you can steadily take on cases within three to five years, you will be considered fast. If you just want to learn to have fun, learn some psychological knowledge to regulate emotions, and deal with intimate relationships, then there is no need to take the exam. Just buy two books and read them yourself. Don't be fooled into spending money randomly by the agency's anxious marketing.