What NCPS Accreditation Means to Me

I've recently achieved NCPS Accredited Professional status — and I wanted to take a moment to explain what that actually means, without getting too deep into therapy politics.

When you qualify as a counsellor, you're able to practise and continue working without accreditation. Accreditation is the point at which you've been reviewed and found to meet the standards set by your professional membership body. To achieve it, you have to demonstrate:

• A minimum of 450 client hours

• At least 35 hours of Continued Professional Development (CPD) per year

• Regular clinical supervision — a minimum of 1.5 hours per month, working ethically throughout

• Reflective writing that shows you can consider your clients' needs, differences, and work within the parameters of your training

• Evidenced logs, all verified

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This is a significant amount of work that often goes unnoticed. Getting everything together — the logs, the essays, the reflections — can be genuinely stressful.

But it matters. Accreditation shows you're a professional who works hard and ethically to meet the needs of your clients. It's a chance to reflect on your practice, consolidate what works and why. Practically, it also means moving to NCPS Category B status — a recognised level for counsellors working in private practice.

To me, it says something simpler: I can be trusted with your problems.

It shows I care about my work and my practice to a level that can be evidenced. The people I work with matter — and this is one way of demonstrating that I take my work seriously. That includes everything that happens when you're not in the room: the supervision, the thinking and reflecting, the training to better understand and keep learning. All of it builds toward the relationship and rapport I have with my clients.

I care both in and out of the room. To me, that's what an accredited counsellor is.