How to obtain the psychological counselor certificate

First of all, I have to pour some real cold water on all those who want to take the certificate - as early as 2017, the country has canceled the unified examination for the professional qualifications of psychological counselors. Now all the "psychological counselor certificates" you can apply for on the market are essentially training certificates. None of them are nationally certified professional qualification certificates, and there is no saying that "with a certificate, you can work as a consultant."

If you often join relevant communities in the psychology industry, you will find that there are never-ending disputes about this type of certificate. Some people think it is an IQ tax for cutting leeks, while some people think it is the best way to get started with zero foundation. In fact, both opinions have basis. The core depends on the purpose of your certification.

An internship assistant I took last year was previously an HR in an Internet company. He wanted to switch to the direction of enterprise EAP. After comparing the certification providers for less than half a month, he finally chose the training program of the Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. After all, it is the top scientific research unit in the domestic psychology field, and the certification issued by it is relatively more recognized in the industry. Currently, this type of training does not allow individuals to sign up directly. Instead, you have to submit information to an officially authorized partner institution. You must first take more than 160 hours of core courses. You must complete basic content such as general psychology, developmental psychology, and counseling ethics. The institution must issue a certificate of course hours before you can take the online unified exam. She passed the exam with a score of 60 out of 100. She scored 72 points at the time and got the certificate more than two months after the exam.

On the day she got the certificate, she complained to me, saying that a classmate in the same class complained to the institution directly after taking the exam. It turned out that when he signed up for the class, the institution told him that "if he takes the exam, he can take on cases, and the consulting fee is three to four hundred per hour." However, he took the certificate to the psychological counseling platform to apply for admission, and they didn't recognize it at all. It also depends on the subsequent long-term training experience, supervision hours, and case internship hours. Even the threshold for entry is not enough. This is also the core reason why many people do not recognize this type of certificate: if you come with the purpose of "getting a certificate and then becoming a full-time counselor," you will most likely be disappointed. After all, psychological counseling is a profession that relies on professional accumulation and experience. You can get started in just a few dozen hours of training, which is also irresponsible to the clients themselves.

But you can’t kill this kind of certificate at once. I met a mother when I was doing charity work in the community a while ago. I signed up for the class purely to deal with the rebellious adolescent son at home. I learned the basic content of developmental psychology and family therapy in the class, and I first smoothed out the problems of my own parent-child relationship. After taking the certificate, she now works as a psychological service volunteer in the community and opens a small salon every week for parents who have the same problem. For her, the process of taking the certificate has become a starting point for systematic learning of psychology. It is much more solid than the fragmentary content she learned through short videos. The certificate has become an additional gain.

If you really plan to take the certification now, I advise you to think clearly about your needs first: If you are rushing to become a full-time consultant, this certification is at best a stepping stone to get started. The time and money you have to invest later are at least ten times the cost of the certification. Don’t believe the “annual salary of hundreds of thousands” and “you can be affiliated after taking the exam” advertised by the organization. They are all tricks to harvest novices.； If you just want to empower yourself in your own job, such as education, HR, community services, or want to learn psychology to adjust your emotions and family relationships, choose a formal institution with a reliable certification authority and study it systematically. The price/performance ratio is actually pretty good.