Is the mental health B-certificate valuable?

There is no uniform evaluation standard for the mental health B certificate. Its value is completely bound to the usage scenario, and the difference in recognition within the education system and outside the system is very large.

To be honest, if your goal is to take the exam for the psychology teacher position in primary and secondary schools, or to do moral education-related work in a public school, the value of this certificate is really high. Last year, I helped a student majoring in applied psychology who was preparing for the Tianhe campus recruitment exam in Guangzhou to inquire about the registration requirements. At that time, the school recruitment announcement in Tianhe District clearly stated that "candidates for full-time psychological positions must obtain a mental health B certificate or above before joining the job." He had not yet taken the exam at that time. He was in a hurry to get the certificate at the provincial training class during the summer vacation, and then he registered at the deadline. There are also schools in many areas that evaluate moral education professional titles and apply for psychology school-related projects. B certificates can be counted as advanced bonus points. Many head teachers take the time to take this test just to have more chips when evaluating professional titles. After all, this certificate is issued by the official training and assessment organization of the education system, and its recognition within the system is real.

But if you want to use this certificate to practice in a social psychological counseling institution or accept market-based paid consultation cases, then it has basically no value. I have a friend who runs a personal psychological counseling studio. He received a resume before, and the applicant put the B-certificate of mental health at the top of the qualification column. He laughed straight away after reading it, saying that at best, this certificate can only prove that the applicant has attended basic psychological training organized by the education system, and is far from the professional level to handle cases. After all, most of the B-certificate training only lasts for a few dozen hours. In many areas, you can still pass online courses and objective exams. Compared with the professional skill level certificates of registered psychologists and psychological counselors, which require hundreds of hours of systematic study and hundreds of hours of case supervision, the training depth and assessment threshold are not at the same level. Market-oriented service scenarios are naturally not recognized.

In fact, this certificate is originally positioned as an entry-level supporting qualification for school psychological education. It is like a campus card. It can be used to buy food, enter the library, and check access control in school, but it is basically useless after leaving the school. In the past, many places conducted training for all class teachers, and almost all class teachers could obtain the C certificate. The application threshold for the B certificate was also loose. There were many people holding the certificate at that time, so it was naturally not valuable. In the past two years, many places have tightened the application requirements. They must be psychology-related majors or full-time psychology teachers before they can sign up. Scarcity has increased, and their importance in the local education system has also increased a lot.