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What qualifies someone to be a psychotherapist?

Until the government develops legislation to regulate counselling and psychotherapy (see UKCP page) anyone can set themselves up as a psychotherapist without having any appropriate training or having undergone any long term personal therapy. So until that legislation comes into being I would advise anyone to really check out the credentials of the therapist they choose to see and check to see if they are members of a regulating body such as UKCP or BACP.
Most professional psychotherapy training will take from four years onwards and will be a post graduate qualification. In addition to the taught components the course will require the student to have regular professional supervision for client work and long term personal therapy. It’s also a good idea to check if the therapist is having ongoing supervision for client work.

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