How to check a practitioner
A short, practical procedure for verifying a UK therapist: which register to search, what an entry proves, the traps that make a check look reassuring when it is not, and where complaints go.
Checking a therapist is free and takes a few minutes. The difficulty is not access — it is knowing which register applies and what an entry actually proves.
The procedure
1. Ask for the register and the registered name. Not “are you qualified”. Ask: which register are you on, and under what name? People appear on registers under their legal name, which may differ from the name on a website.
2. Search that register directly. Use the register’s own search on the register’s own site — not a screenshot, not a logo on a website, not a third-party directory. Each of the main bodies publishes a public search:
| Kind of practitioner | Where to look |
|---|---|
| Counsellor or psychotherapist | BACP Register; UKCP register; NCPS register |
| CBT therapist | BABCP CBT Register |
| Practitioner psychologist (clinical, counselling, educational, forensic) | HCPC register |
| Art therapist, art psychotherapist, dramatherapist, music therapist | HCPC register |
| Psychiatrist | General Medical Council register |
| Mental health nurse | Nursing and Midwifery Council register |
| Dance movement psychotherapist | ADMP UK professional registers |
3. Check the register itself is accredited. The Professional Standards Authority publishes the list of registers it accredits, with a page for each. If a body is not on that list, its “accreditation” is self-declared.
4. Ask where a complaint would go. A registered practitioner answers this without hesitation. BACP and UKCP both publish their complaints procedures and their outcomes.
5. Ask about supervision and insurance. Registered practitioners are normally required to have both. It is a fair question and a reasonable practitioner will not mind it.
The traps
A directory listing is not a register entry. Many bodies run a directory — a place where members advertise — alongside their register. The directory is usually restricted to registered members, but they are different things, and commercial directories with no membership requirement also exist. Search the register.
A certificate is not a register. Training certificates are issued by training organisations, not regulators. A weekend course produces a certificate. Ask what the training was, how long it lasted, and whether it leads to registration with anyone.
“Accredited” is used loosely. It can mean accredited membership of a professional body, a course accredited by that body, or a register accredited by the Authority. Ask which is meant.
Absence is not proof of anything on its own — but it is a question. A person may have moved register, changed name, or lapsed. If you cannot find them, ask. BACP publishes withdrawal-of- membership notices; if the answer does not match, that matters.
Being registered does not mean trained in what you need. Registration confirms a general standard. It does not certify competence in a specific problem, a specific population, or a specific modality. Ask directly about experience with what you are bringing.
Statutory and voluntary are different things. Removal from a voluntary register does not stop somebody practising under an unprotected title — see how therapy is regulated.
If something has gone wrong
Complaints go to the body the practitioner belongs to. BACP runs a service that gives confidential guidance on what to do if you have concerns about your therapy or your therapist, and it can consider complaints against its own members. UKCP takes complaints from anyone about anyone on its register and publishes decisions. HCPC handles concerns about the professions it regulates.
If a criminal offence may have been committed, that is a matter for the police, not a professional body.