Rigorous, independent standards for counselling and therapy practice in British Columbia.

BCACT exists to make professional competence independently verifiable. Members of the public, employers, insurers, and referring practitioners need a dependable way to know whether a counsellor or therapist has met a defined standard of education, supervised practice, and ethical accountability. BCACT sets that standard and applies it consistently.

Our work is deliberately narrow. We are not a directory, a marketing service, or a promotional body for the practitioners we register. We assess credentials, we publish the register, and we respond to concerns about professional conduct.

• Defines the education, supervised practice, and competence requirements for each registration category.
• Assesses applications for registration against published criteria.
• Maintains a public register that allows independent verification of a practitioner's standing.
• Publishes and maintains a Code of Professional Ethics and accompanying practice standards.
• Receives and considers concerns about the conduct of registrants through a defined process.
• Sets continuing professional development expectations for the renewal of registration.
• Publishes recognition criteria used to evaluate counselling and therapy education.

• BCACT does not operate a practitioner search or referral service.
• BCACT does not advertise, recommend, or rank individual registrants.
• BCACT does not provide counselling or therapy to the public.
• BCACT does not provide clinical supervision or personal therapy to registrants.
• BCACT does not give legal advice to registrants or complainants.

BCACT is governed independently of the institutions that educate practitioners and the organizations that employ them. Registration decisions are made against published criteria by assessors who are not selecting on behalf of any employer, training provider, or commercial interest.

• Publish our standards in full, in plain language.
• Apply the same criteria to every applicant in a given registration category.
• Explain the reasons for registration decisions to applicants.
• Keep the public register accurate and current.
• Handle concerns about conduct fairly, with due process for all parties.
• Report on our governance and decision-making openly.