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Counselling and Psychiatry

Asked by Victoria CollinsLiberal DemocratDepartment of Health and Social CareTabled Answered 26 February 2025UIN 32259

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of (a) psychotherapy and (b) counselling professionals operating without a protected title on patients.

Answered by Karin Smyth

Psychotherapists and counsellors are not statutorily regulated. Where a health profession is regulated by law, this normally allows for a professional’s title to be protected in law, making it a criminal offence for someone to practise or use a protected title without being registered with the relevant regulator. The Government has no current plans to extend statutory regulation to psychotherapists and or counsellors.

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