Please note that our Register is only for the practice of Counselling & Psychotherapy. Some Registrants listed may also offer other types of therapy, however we do not recognise or accredited these. Sometimes these are known as adjunctive therapies, and can include reiki, hypnotherapy, accupuncture, massage, reflexology, aromatherapy, homeopathy, yoga etc. This is not an exhaustive list. They may belong to other Registers for this work - you can ask your therapist for more information.
Find a Therapist
Search our Counsellor Directory to find a qualified therapist near you.
If you have decided to reach out and talk about what is on your mind to a professional, it is important to make sure you choose the right therapist for you.
Members of the public are encouraged to choose a practitioner who belongs to an Accredited Register. The Accredited Register programme was set up by the Department of Health and Social Care and administered by the Professional Standards Authority to ensure that the public are able to choose safe, ethical and competent professionals for their health and social care needs.
Our Accredited Register
A member of the Society may be a Registrant or a non-registrant member.
A Society Registrant is listed publicly on our website and is recorded as a Registrant on our Accredited Register. The Society allows Registrants to progress through different levels of membership depending upon qualifications and experience, but all Registrants have met the Society’s standards for practice.
There are five kinds of National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society (NCPS) Registrants.
- Accredited Registrant (MNCPS Acc.)
A counsellor who has met the standard for registration. - Accredited Professional Registrant (PNCPS Accr)
A counsellor who has met the standard for registration and demonstrated substantial post-training professional development. - Senior Accredited Registrant (SNCPS Acc.)
A counsellor who has met the standards for Accredited Professional Registrant membership, and has also gained significant further professional development.
Our Specialist Accredited Registers
In order to join our specialist registers, you must have a current NCPS Registrant membership in one of the above categories.
- Children and Young People's Therapist (CYPT)
A qualified practitioner who has met the standards for our Accredited Register AND who has demonstrated the competencies to work with Children and Young People - Relationship Therapist (RT)
A qualified practitioner who has met the standards for our Accredited Register AND has demonstrated the competencies to work as a Relationship Therapist.
Please note that non-registrants of the Society are not listed here. The Society does not consider our members who are non-registrants as qualified counsellors, although they may be on the way to becoming qualified, e.g. student members.
How to Choose a Therapist?
The wide variety of ‘integrative’ and other approaches on offer can be confusing for prospective clients, however, there is increasing evidence that the therapeutic relationship of counselling and psychotherapy is more important for a good outcome than the particular theories the therapist favours.
Unless you have a firm preference for one of the therapy types, it is best to have an initial session and focus on how comfortable you feel with a potential therapist before making up your mind. Trying to find private counselling services? There are certain very important guidelines:
- Make sure the counsellor is qualified and safe to practice
- You can do this by checking that they’re on an Accredited Register. This means that their training has met recognised standards, and there’s a proper complaints process you can go through if anything were to go wrong.
- Ask about the Code of Ethics or Ethical Framework they have agreed to follow
- Ask how many sessions are available, how often, what days and times
- Ask about how you will decide when it’s time to end your therapy
- Ask about their payment and cancellation policies
- Therapists cannot ‘cure’ you, and shouldn’t claim to. Counselling can to be hard work and challenging at times.
- It is important to work with a therapist with whom you feel comfortable with.
For more information please contact us.
Specialist Practices
Certain areas of counselling require therapists to have undergone additional training. You can use our filtering tool to select a specialist therapist
