BC resource
How to verify a counsellor is who they say they are
This takes about four minutes and almost nobody does it. It is the single most useful piece of due diligence available to you.
6 min read · Reviewed August 8, 2026
Ask which designation the person holds and which body holds it, then search that body's public register yourself — BCACC for a Registered Clinical Counsellor, the College of Health and Care Professionals of BC for a psychologist, the BC College of Social Workers for a social worker. If they hold no designation with any body, there is no complaints process and no minimum standard behind the title.
Why this is necessary in BC specifically
In British Columbia today, "counsellor", "therapist", "psychotherapist" and "life coach" are not protected titles. Anyone may use them, with no required training, no supervised practice, no insurance and no complaints route. That is not a hypothetical gap — it is the current legal position.
What carries meaning is the designation: RCC, R.Psych, RSW, RCSW, CCC. Each is held by a body with entry requirements and a process for investigating complaints. The designation is what gives you somewhere to go if something goes wrong.
This is changing. Counselling therapy is being brought under the College of Health and Care Professionals of BC, which will make it a regulated health profession with a protected title. Until that transition completes, the association route is the accountability structure that actually exists — and checking it is on you.
The four-minute check
- 1. Get the exact designation and full name — From the website or by asking directly. "I am a counsellor" is not a designation. RCC, R.Psych, RSW, RCSW and CCC are.
- 2. Find the right body — RCC is held by the BC Association of Clinical Counsellors. Registered Psychologist is regulated by the College of Health and Care Professionals of BC. Registered Social Worker is regulated by the BC College of Social Workers. Canadian Certified Counsellor is held by the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association.
- 3. Search that body's public register — Each maintains a searchable directory. Go to the body's own website rather than following a link from the practitioner's site.
- 4. Check status, not just presence — A register entry shows current standing. Look for whether the registration is active, and whether the body publishes any disciplinary history.
- 5. If they are not listed, ask why — There are innocent explanations — a recent name change, registration under a different legal name, membership of a body you have not checked. There are also non-innocent ones. A registered professional will answer this question without offence.
What each designation actually requires
A Registered Clinical Counsellor (RCC) holds a master's degree in counselling or a closely related field, has completed supervised clinical hours, maintains continuing education and liability insurance, and works under the BCACC code of ethics.
A Registered Psychologist (R.Psych) typically holds a doctoral degree and is a regulated health professional — the designation qualified to conduct formal psychological assessment and diagnosis, which counsellors are not.
A Registered Social Worker (RSW) is regulated by the BC College of Social Workers; the RCSW designation denotes clinical specialisation. Many social workers in clinical practice provide counselling.
A Canadian Certified Counsellor (CCC) holds a national certification through the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association. Some BC counsellors hold both CCC and RCC.
The full comparison sets out what each can and cannot do, which matters if you need something specific like a formal assessment.
Every claim on this site is checkable, and you are encouraged to check it — then book a free 15-minute consultation.
Beyond the register: other things worth checking
- Training in a specific method — "EMDR-trained" covers a wide range. Asking what level of training someone completed, and with which training body, is a normal question a properly trained clinician will answer directly.
- Liability insurance — Required for RCC registration. Fair to ask about for anyone whose designation does not require it.
- Whether they will state their scope — A practitioner who names what they do not work with is showing you good judgement. Anyone claiming to treat everything is telling you something else.
- How fees and cancellations work, in writing — Ambiguity here rarely resolves in your favour.
- Whether the site carries testimonials — Client testimonials are prohibited under BCACC advertising standards. A practice displaying them is either not bound by those standards or not following them.
If something has gone wrong
If the practitioner is registered, complain to the body that holds the designation. BCACC administers a complaints process for RCCs that is independent of any individual counsellor, and you do not need that counsellor's knowledge or agreement to use it. The College of Health and Care Professionals of BC and the BC College of Social Workers have statutory processes for their registrants.
If the concern is specifically about privacy — how your information was collected, used, stored or disclosed — the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for BC oversees private organisations under the Personal Information Protection Act.
If the practitioner holds no designation at all, there is no professional body to complain to. Depending on what happened, the remaining routes are Consumer Protection BC, small claims, or the police. That asymmetry is the entire practical argument for checking first.
What to do if the register says something unexpected
- They are not listed at all — There are innocent explanations — registration under a legal name that differs from the working name, a recent change, or membership of a body you have not checked. Ask directly. A registered professional will answer without offence; evasion is itself an answer.
- The designation is not the one advertised — Worth clarifying. Some practitioners hold several, and some describe themselves loosely. The question is whether the specific designation you were told about is current.
- The registration is listed as inactive or lapsed — This matters. An inactive registration generally means the person is not currently entitled to practise under that designation, and it may also mean no insurance and no complaints route.
- There is a published disciplinary history — Read it rather than reacting to its existence. Bodies publish outcomes, and the substance ranges from administrative matters to serious findings. What it is matters more than that it is there.
- You cannot find the register — Go to the body's own website directly rather than following a link from the practitioner's site, and use their search rather than a general search engine.
Verifying a practice as well as a person
- Is the fee published? — A practice that will not state its rate without a call is optimising for a sales conversation. Fees, session length and cancellation terms should be findable.
- Does it publish testimonials? — Client testimonials are prohibited under BCACC advertising standards. A practice displaying them is either not bound by those standards or not following them, and both are worth knowing.
- Does it make outcome claims? — Guarantees, success rates, "proven results" and before-and-after framing are all outside what a registered counsellor may advertise.
- Does it say what it does not do? — A practice that states its scope limits is showing you the judgement you want. A list of twenty specialisms with no boundaries is showing you positioning.
- Is there a privacy statement that says anything specific? — "We value your privacy" is not information. What is collected, where it is stored, how long it is kept, and what the limits of confidentiality are — those are.
- Who wrote the content? — Health content written by an agency and published without clinical review is common. Whether a site says who is accountable for what it publishes is a reasonable thing to weigh.
Using BCACC’s find-a-counsellor register
The register at bc-counsellors.org does two jobs, and people mostly know only one. It verifies — type any counsellor’s name and confirm their registration is current, which is this page’s four-minute check. It also finds: the same search filters by community, language and area of focus, which makes it one of the few counsellor directories in BC where every single listing is, by construction, a registered and insured practitioner. A directory that cannot contain an unregistered listing is worth more than one that merely tends not to.
The register covers RCCs only; psychologists and social workers have their own colleges’ registers, linked in the sections above. And for the fuller how-to-choose process — shortlisting, free consultations, the questions worth asking — the finding a therapist guide picks up where verification ends.
Common questions
Is it rude to check?
No, and a registered professional will not be offended. Public registers exist precisely so that anyone can search them without asking permission.
What if someone is registered but has no complaints history shown?
That is the normal case. Most practitioners have no disciplinary history, and its absence is not evidence of anything either way.
Does a counsellor have to be registered in BC to see me?
A counsellor must be appropriately registered in the jurisdiction where the client is physically located during the session. This is why you are asked where in BC you are, and why it matters if you travel.
Are there good counsellors without a designation?
Possibly. The point is not that everyone unregistered is unskilled — it is that you have no way to tell, and no recourse if it goes wrong.
Sources
- BC Association of Clinical Counsellors
- College of Health and Care Professionals of BC
- BC College of Social Workers
General information, not clinical, financial, or legal advice. Coverage and service details change — verify anything decision-critical directly with the provider or insurer. If you are in crisis, call or text 9-8-8 (Canada, 24/7) or 310-6789 for BC Mental Health Support.
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