Following several very fruitful discussions with the charity Relate, NAOS Institute, and the London Diploma in Psychosexual & Relationship Therapy we launched a Relationship Therapist Register with a Sub-Register for specialist training as a Psychosexual Therapist. This is a purely voluntary Register and fees are kept to the absolute minimum to meet costs.
The new Register is only available to counsellors and psychotherapists on our main Accredited Register (AR), and at launch it is not part of the Accredited Registers programme. However, we will be applying to the Professional Standards Authority for AR status
We are launching this Register after member requests to have a Register to highlight their additional skills and training in this modality. Many of our members specialise in relationship issues and work with Relate and other organisations and have asked for additional support and recognition in their work.
Whilst all counselling training involves working with relationships, this specific Register has been developed for those that specialise in relationship/couples therapy. Relationship/couples therapy will normally involve two or more clients in the sessions. It can include sessions with individuals if the clients have come for relationship therapy. It does not include work with a relationship focus where the contract is with only one client.
We are really grateful to NAOS Institute, Relate, and LDPRT for their support and partnership in developing this new Register.
We're delighted that the National Counselling Society (NCS) is launching a new specialist Relationship Therapist Register with a Sub-Register for practitioners who have also trained as a Psychosexual Therapist. It’s great to see that the specialist work done by Relationship Therapists and Psychosexual Therapists is now being formally recognised. Providing Relationship and Psychosexual therapy requires dedicated training, not least because working with more than one person in the room is a very unique skill.
This Register will give clients confidence that the therapist they're seeing is properly trained and experienced. This means they will have completed a lengthy and comprehensive specialist qualification which combines relevant theory, skills practice and assessments, along with supervised client work. It also ensures the therapist is committed to continuing professional development after qualifying.
For more information on specialist training in Relationship Counselling and Psychosexual Therapy, please visit relate.org.uk
- Aidan Jones, Chief Executive, Relate
I am delighted at NCS's recent moves to launch a relationship therapy register, together with a sub section "psychosexual therapy". Psychosexual and relationship therapy has been marginalised for many years now within the psychotherapy discourse and I am pleased that NCS has made significant moves towards addressing this deficit
- Bernd Leygraf, Consultant Psychotherapist, CEO NAOS Institute, course director London Diploma for Psychosexual and Relationship Therapy
The training and standards for this Register and Sub-Register can be found here.
The cost to join this register, required for administration purposes, is £25 per year.