NCPS | About Us

Meet the National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society

Supporting Counsellors, Psychotherapists, the public and our profession

We are the professional home for talking therapists, representing and supporting counsellors, psychotherapists, the public and our profession. Join us in protecting and promoting the heart of counselling and psychotherapy.

We play an important role within the profession of counselling and psychotherapy in the UK and in May 2013 the Society was one of the first organisations to gain Accredited Register status with the Professional Standards Authority Accredited Register programme.

We believe that counselling and psychotherapy should be seen as a vocation and that the relationship between counsellor and client is incredibly important for the outcome of therapy.


Our Ethos


At the heart of the NCPS lies a deep-rooted belief in the importance of diversity, creativity, and autonomy. As a member-led organisation, we believe in the power of our community and our connections with each other to shape the future of counselling and psychotherapy to the betterment of all. Our members are our expertise, and we stand firmly by our guiding principles of honouring professional freedom, the client relationship, and the unique nature of what we do.
We're working to build a world where counselling and psychotherapy are fully recognised as playing a key role in mental health provision, and where our members have access to stable, well-paid, publicly funded work as part of a high- quality, preventative mental health support programme.
We're fiercely committed to campaigning for mental health equality: advocating for better access to appropriate, timely, and high-quality services for everyone, irrespective of their circumstances. Our ultimate aims are to nurture and protect the vocation of counselling and psychotherapy, support and guide our members, and provide a high level of public assurance to members those in search of a therapist.

We are Recognised

We are well recognised nationally. Universities are seeking to have their courses Accredited with us, and we have members ranging from qualified and experienced senior practitioners to newly qualified counsellors. We attract many members who have a private practice as well as those in a variety of employment settings.

We are recognised by the NHS, all of the large EAPs and Private Healthcare providers, and hundreds of other organisations across the UK.

We have equal status in the UK with all other Counselling & Psychotherapy Accredited Registers. You can be confident that, in joining the NCPS, we will support you to access the same opportunities as those on any other Counselling & Psychotherapy Register.

With fifty years of experience behind me of the different organisations related to counselling and therapy in Britain, my choice of membership of the NCPS is because I believe It recognises that counsellors and therapists should be encouraged to develop their own style and practice and to become autonomous, rather than fall in slavishly behind standardised regulations, while at the same time, of course, adhering to the sound ethical principles that the NCPS promotes.

Michael Jacobs (Fellow)
  • Find a counsellor icon

    Find a Counsellor

    If you're looking for a counsellor, you can search our register by location or name, and you can also check whether someone is on the NCPS accredited register.

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  • Train a counsellor icon

    Train as a Counsellor

    Use our Find a Course tool to find the nearest training providers who offer NCPS Accredited, Advanced Specialist, Quality Checked or CPD courses. These courses are currently run across the UK.

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