A Brief Introduction to Clinical and Counseling Psychology Registration System (CCPRS) in China

Approved by the Executive Council of the Chinese Psychological Society (hereinafter referred to as CPS), the Chinese Clinical and Counseling Psychology Registration System (here after referred to as CCPRS) was established on February 5^th, 2007. On July 29, 2014, the Executive Council of CPS appointed the Registration Working Committee for Clinical Psychology of Chinese Psychological Society (thereinafter referred to as the RWCCP-CPS Committee) to assume the leadership for the CCPRS.

In 2007, two important documents were drafted by the CCPRS in the name of the CPS, and published in the official journal of the CPS, Acta Psychologica Sinica: The Standards of Accreditation for Professional Organizations and Practitioners of Clinical and Counseling Psychology Registration System (first edition) and the Code of Ethics for Clinical and Counseling Psychology (first edition). The second edition of the two documents was published in 2018.

From its inception, the CCPRS upholds the principles of justice, democracy, science, responsibility. It is a non-profit and professional quality control system, designed to ensure the quality of mental health services as well as facilitating the development of the mental health counseling profession, mental health professionals and professional organizations.

There are registration criteria for both individual registration and institutional registration. With strict scrutiny, individuals can become members of the CCPRS and register as assistant psychologists, psychologists, and supervisors, whose registration needs to be renewed every 3 years. Institutional registration currently includes the registration for master’s programs, continuing education programs, and internship programs; the registration for doctoral programs is under development. As of May 2021, the CCPRS has nearly 4000 members in 29 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in China, many of whom are recognized as well-known experts in mainland China.

Referring to the relevant documents of the professional organizations in Europe, the United States, Hong Kong and Taiwan, the CCPRS developed the first ethical code that has been implemented in mainland China and established the Ethics Workgroup in 2007. The Ethics Workgroup has handled a large number of ethical complaints, including the first ethical complaint of inappropriate sexual relationship between a counselor and a client in the Chinese community in 2015.

Beginning in 2012, under the leadership of the CPS, the CCPRS has undertaken a sub-project of the competency enhancement project and started to build supervision programs all over China. This is a non-profit project, and supervision sites have been established in 26 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions across China. Through participating in training and supervision, participants’ professional ethical awareness competence have been greatly improved.

The CCPRS has hosted several national conferences and seminars. Members of the CCPRS have visited some European countries and the United States, and have participated in international conferences on psychotherapy and counseling. The CCPRS has a wide influence in mainland China and has gained a good international reputation.

Registered psychologists in the CCPRS were widely recognized for their professional expertise and for providing a great deal of psychological assistance to the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chinese Psychological Society: Code of Ethics for Clinical and Counseling Psychology (1^st Edition). Acta Psychologica Sinica, 2007, 39(5), 947－950

Chinese Psychological Society: Standards of Accreditation for Professional Organizations and Practitioners of Clinical and Counseling Psychology Registration System (1^st Edition). Acta Psychologica Sinica , 2007, 39(5), 942－946

Chinese Psychological Society (2018). Code of ethics for counseling and clinical practice (2nd edition). Acta Psychologica Sinica, 50(11), 1314–1322.

Chinese Psychological Society (2018). Standards of Accreditation for Professional Organizations and Practitioners of Clinical and Counseling Psychology Registration System (2nd Edition). Acta Psychologica Sinica , 50（11）,1303-1313.