Full clinical membership

Are you a qualified psychotherapist or psychotherapeutic counsellor with high professional standards? Or a recent psychotherapy graduate in search of recognition for the work you’ve put into your training? You could be eligible for UKCP full clinical membership.

Why apply for UKCP full clinical membership

Holding a UKCP membership demonstrates your commitment, passion and drive to deliver high-quality psychotherapy. It indicates to clients and employers that you have fulfilled our robust training requirements, and that you honour the psychotherapeutic relationship by following our ethical and professional codes of practice.

UKCP membership shows that you are prepared to continue challenging yourself to deliver services of the highest standard through ongoing training and development.

Benefits of full clinical membership

Increase your employability and credibility

Upon joining, you will receive a UKCP certificate which opens doors to many job opportunities, including public health services and third sector organisations.

You’ll be added to our Professional Standards Authority-accredited national register, which acts as a guarantee to prospective clients and employers that you ensure public protection and inspires confidence in the work you do.

You’ll also have the opportunity to create a profile in our user-friendly Find A Therapist directory, which is viewed by over 400,000 people every year.

Keep up to date

Stay informed about developments in psychotherapy and mental health with a free subscription of the New Psychotherapist magazine, published three times a year.

Our fortnightly emails will keep you fully briefed on news affecting the profession, updates on our campaigns, and the latest developments within UKCP.

You will be the first to know about our free and exclusive webinar series, covering member-recommended topics such as remote working and marketing your practice. The video archive of previous sessions is also available for streaming in case you’re not able to attend the live event.

As a UKCP member, you'll enjoy exclusive access to The European Journal of Psychotherapy and Counselling (EJPC), a publication exclusively affiliated with UKCP. EJPC offers essential research and insights into psychotherapy and counselling across Europe, featuring the latest developments in psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, counselling psychology and more.

In addition, you'll also receive a 20% discount on Routledge publications and benefit from free global shipping. This discount and EJPC access are all conveniently available in the member’s area under member resources. Find out more about our EJPC journal and how to access these member resources.

Open doors to working abroad

Our close ties with the European Association of Psychotherapy (EAP) and the Irish Council for Psychotherapy mean you can apply for permission to work in Europe and Ireland easily and quickly.

Save money on essentials

To help you build essential CPD hours, you’ll gain access to discounted places at our events and conferences, as well as reduced prices on the UKCP book series.

We’ve also negotiated special rates on professional indemnity insurance with two leading insurance companies to help you manage the cost of your practice.

UKCP is on the list of ‘Approved learned societies and professional organisations’ for HM Revenue & Customs’ tax relief claims. We are listed under the letter ‘P’ with the name ‘Psychotherapy United Kingdom Council for’. For more information, please go to the HMRC website or speak to your tax advisor.

How we support you

We work hard to raise public awareness of the importance of qualified professionals when seeking psychotherapeutic services. We aim to influence the government, NHS and other key organisations to improve and increase access to psychotherapy for all.

Our work includes:

reaching out to parliamentarians from all major parties to discuss issues related to psychotherapy, raising specific concerns about the government’s response to the mental health crisis
attending Health Education England Workforce Group meetings to feed into workforce planning for the implementation of the NHS Long Term Plan
taking part in the Talking Therapies Taskforce looking to improve national infrastructure for talking therapies.

Membership fees

To see our membership fees for the current year, visit our Membership fees page. Our membership year runs from 1 October to 30 September. If you join part way through the year, the fee will be pro-rated – for example, if you join in November, you pay 11/12th of the annual fee.

How to join

You can apply to join us online if you have obtained UKCP accreditation through one of our organisational members. You can download our guide to joining online here. You can also learn about the pathways to full clinical membership on our website.

Once we have received your application form, we will verify your details with your UKCP organisational member.

If you trained elsewhere and are not already a member of a UKCP organisational member, you will need to have your qualifications and experience accredited through one of our accrediting organisations. They will compare your professional education and training with UK training standards and assess your skills and experience.

When your membership is reaching its renewal date, we’ll send you a message. By applying to and renewing your membership, you agree to the full clinical membership declaration/terms and conditions.

Contact our membership team