Psychological counselor application time and conditions

You must complete 192 hours of required courses through an officially authorized training institution. Direct registration from individuals is not accepted.

Maybe you’ve already muttered after seeing this: Didn’t you say before that the psychological counselor’s certificate has been canceled a long time ago? Why do I still have to take the exam? To be honest, this has been a controversial point discussed in the industry for several years - in 2017, the country did cancel the second- and third-level professional qualification examinations for psychological counselors organized by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, which means that there is no longer a saying that "you can practice as a psychological counselor with a certificate." All certificates available on the market are essentially certificates of skills training and have no professional validity.

Regarding the value of such certificates, industry opinions are actually quite polarized. Some colleagues who have been doing clinical consulting for more than ten years think that the value of this type of training certificate is too low. Even if you are not from a professional background, you will not be able to take on regular cases. If you really want to get this job, you still have to follow the orthodox path of "clinical/consulting psychology master's degree + resident physician training + thousands of hours of case accumulation". There is nothing wrong with this. If your goal is to enter the psychology department of a tertiary hospital or become a full-time psychological counselor in a university, this kind of certificate will indeed not even touch the resume threshold. However, many industry practitioners believe that this training is the most cost-effective option for newcomers who want to get started across majors, community workers, school teachers who need psychological knowledge empowerment, or ordinary people who just want to systematically learn some psychological knowledge to deal with family relationships. It is much more reliable to learn fragmented "psychological skills" online and sign up for some spiritual courses that cost tens of thousands of dollars. I have met many primary school teachers myself. They took this certificate without any intention of changing careers. They just want to be able to better deal with the emotional problems of the children in the class. For them, the value of this certificate is already great enough.

Let’s talk about the details of the exam time. The exams are held twice a year from 9:00 am to 11:30 am. They are online closed-book exams. They are all multiple-choice questions. If you pass with 60 points, you will get the certificate. The registration channel is generally open about one month before the exam and closes two weeks before the exam. All registration materials are submitted to the training institution you apply for, so you don't have to go to the official website to grab a spot. I accompanied two interns in the studio to register last year. They signed up for the course 3 months in advance, just in time to complete the study hours before the deadline, and passed the exam smoothly. If you cram and find an institution only one week before the exam, you will either miss the exam or spend hundreds of extra "expedited study hours". It is completely unnecessary.

Let’s talk about the application requirements that everyone asks the most. In fact, they are really not strict. First of all, academic qualifications are not required to be full-time. Educational qualifications from self-study examinations, adult education examinations, and the Open University of China will be accepted as long as they can be found on Xuexin.com. I had a former student who was a mother who had taken care of her baby full-time for 5 years. She had studied in an adult college before and fully met the registration requirements. She is now taking public welfare parent-child consultation cases in the community. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have enough academic qualifications. For example, if you are a nurse in a community hospital and have a junior nurse certificate, or you are a primary school teacher and have a junior teacher title, you can apply. It doesn’t have to be directly related to psychology. If you are a current student, as long as it is one year before graduation, you only need to find a school to issue a certificate of enrollment. Many junior students in the psychology department will take the test. When looking for an internship, put it on your resume, which is much more convincing than a vague "interested in psychology."

Finally, I would like to give a reminder to friends who want to take the exam. Don’t believe what the institution says about “you can apply without any academic qualifications” and “part-time job can earn more than 10,000 yuan a month after passing the exam.” First of all, even if the institution gives you a backdoor application if you don’t meet the requirements, the certificate you get will most likely be printed by a small institution itself, and the industry will not recognize it at all.； Furthermore, there is no such thing as making money after passing the certification exam. The newcomers I know who have just obtained the certification have to spend at least half a year doing personal experience and practicing on public welfare cases before they can slowly take on low-priced charging cases. When they start, they want to collect hundreds of dollars an hour. Either they are cut off by the institution, or they plan to cut off the visitors.

To be honest, in the field of psychological counseling, there is no such thing as "one certificate and you will be successful all over the world". If you just want to learn to solve your own emotions and relationship problems, you don't even need to take the exam, just follow the course and learn it.； If you really plan to enter the industry, this certificate is just your first stepping stone. The time, money, and energy you will spend later will be more than ten times more than taking this certificate. It is not too late to think clearly before starting.