Our register

We hold a national register of psychotherapists and psychotherapeutic counsellors. The main purpose of the UKCP Register is to protect the public, and to provide public confidence in the profession we regulate. Only therapists who meet our exacting standards and training requirements can be on our register. Our register is accredited by the Professional Standards Authority.

Find your therapist

To find out if a therapist is registered with UKCP, you can search our UKCP register.

UKCP national register

If the therapist is a member of UKCP but still in training they won't appear on the register, but you can find them in our separate directory of trainee members.

However, if you are looking for therapy, you may wish to consult our Find a Therapist to search for a therapist near to you. Our Find a Therapist directory lists members on our register who are open to new clients.

If you're looking for a therapist, you might want to read more about how what psychotherapy is or how to choose a therapist.

Meeting high standards

You can be assured by the high standards of our register because it is accredited by the Professional Standards Authority. Every therapist on it is in turn accredited by one of our member organisations and agrees to adhere to:

• established standards of professional practice
• our Code of Ethics
• our requirements for continuing professional development
• our complaints and conduct process

We conduct random sample audits of our registered members to make sure our standards are being met and maintained. Our register includes psychotherapists, psychotherapeutic counsellors working with adults and those who work with children and young people, and with families.

Psychotherapists undergo a four-year, postgraduate, in-depth and experiential training in how to work with a variety of people with a wide range of emotional distress, mental health issues and difficulties. Psychotherapists are trained in one or more psychotherapy approaches.

Psychotherapeutic counsellors are counsellors who have trained to a UKCP recognised standard (normally graduate level or equivalent). In psychotherapeutic counselling, the emphasis is on the in-depth therapeutic relationship jointly created by the therapist and client.

Psychotherapists and psychotherapeutic counsellors working with children and young people, and with families have specific skills, training and experience to work with these clients because it is not the same as working with adult clients.

Some of our psychotherapists and psychotherapeutic counsellors who usually work with adults and occasionally work with children and young people may be awarded a Child and Adolescent Proficiency Marker. This shows that they have met a minimum standard of proficiency in relation to therapeutic work with children and young people.

Are all therapists on the UKCP register?

Our register is voluntary. Therapists do not have to register with UKCP or any other organisation, which means that anyone can call themselves a psychotherapist. Choosing a therapist who is UKCP-registered gives you reassurance about their training and qualifications. It means they have agreed to follow ethical codes and standards and to undertake ongoing training and development.

Some of our members may also be registered with statutory bodies such as the General Medical Council (GMC) or Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).

If a therapist is not on our register it may be because:

• they have not applied to be on our register
• they have resigned their UKCP membership
• we have removed them from our register (check our complaints hearings and decisions page for more information).

A core element of our service to the public is dealing with concerns and complaints about therapists on our register. We publish decisions arising from complaints cases and information about forthcoming hearings.

Your views are important to us. If you have any comments or suggestions about our register, please let us know.

Trainee directory

UKCP trainee members are completing a training course with a UKCP-registered organisation, or are completing practice hours in order to become a member of a UKCP accrediting organisation. They do not appear in the national UKCP register or on Find A Therapist. Instead, we have a separate listing directory of UKCP trainee members which you can browse by surname to find a specific trainee.