Mental Health Counselor Certificate

This certificate is neither a "stepping stone to enter the psychology industry" as reported online, nor is it a completely useless "IQ tax". It is essentially a competency training certificate for non-professional entry-level practitioners and grassroots psychological service-related practitioners. It is only used as a reference for employment and does not have the effect of professional access—— After the country canceled the professional qualification examination for psychological counselors in 2017, there is currently no officially issued psychological admission certificate in China. The value of this certificate depends entirely on the authority of the certification agency, the practicality of the training content, and the recognition of your industry.

When you browse short videos, you have most likely seen relevant advertisements: "Take the mental health counselor certificate with a low threshold, and receive cases at home for an hourly salary of 300+. Both mothers and office workers can take the test, and you will be guaranteed a job if you pass the test." When I was helping at a community psychological service station, I met a 40-year-old administrative lady. She believed the advertisement and paid 3,980 yuan to sign up for a full-time job. She memorized multiple-choice questions for two weeks and got her certificate. Then she went to apply for a job at a local psychological counseling agency. HR directly returned the certificate: When we recruit counselors, they must have a bachelor's degree or above in a psychology-related major or have more than 100 hours of case experience. This certificate does not count as an admission threshold. The eldest sister squatted at the entrance of the institution and felt uncomfortable for a long time. She felt that she had been cheated.

I later talked about this with friends in the industry and found that everyone had very different opinions on this certificate.

One group is full-time consultants who have a professional background and have been doing cases for several years. Most of them scorn this certificate. The last time I participated in an industry salon, a consultant who graduated from the Psychology Department of Beijing Normal University said directly: "Isn't this just cutting leeks? You spend a month or two memorizing a few concepts, but you don’t even know how to practice empathy or what conceptualization of a case is. How dare you say that you can do psychological counseling after getting a certificate? If you really encounter a client with suicidal tendencies and you don’t even know the crisis intervention process, who will be held responsible if something goes wrong? ”This is actually true. I have seen many people who have obtained this certificate. When they meet a visitor and say, "I'm depressed," they open their mouths and advise, "Don't think too much, go out more often." This is no different from ordinary people who have not learned anything. On the contrary, it may delay other people's opportunity to intervene.

But the other group has a completely different view. Most of them are school teachers, community social workers, and corporate HR practitioners who are originally related to psychological services. I know a third-grade primary school teacher who was tormented every day by children with emotional problems in the class: some would cry until they couldn't breathe if they failed in exams, and would refuse to come to school if they had conflicts with classmates. Before, she would only either persuade or call parents, but the effect was particularly poor. Last year, she signed up for a mental health counselor training from the Chinese Mental Health Association. She studied for more than three months, half of the class was practical, and learned child development psychology and basic emotional counseling techniques. Now when a child is upset, she squats down and listens to the child, catches the emotion first, and then solves the problem. After half a semester, the number of problematic children in the class has been reduced by half. When evaluating her professional title, this certificate also gave her additional continuing education credits. She always said that this certificate is very valuable and "more useful than me just thinking about it for several years."

In fact, both groups are right. The difference is essentially that everyone has different expectations for this certificate. If you hold on to the idea that "you can make a lot of money as a counselor by getting a certificate", then it is 100% IQ tax. If you really want to be a full-time psychological counselor, you will have to spend tens of thousands of dollars and several years to study long-term systematic training, do personal experience, take on cases, and save time for supervision. This piece of paper is not even the threshold for entry. But if you are already doing a job that requires dealing with people and dealing with emotional problems, and want to supplement your professional knowledge, finding a formal training and getting a certificate can really help you avoid a lot of detours.

Oh, by the way, some people asked if they can open a psychological counseling studio with this certificate? Don't think about it, the qualifications required for industrial and commercial registration have nothing to do with this certificate. If you really apply for it with this certificate, people will not recognize it at all.

If you really want to take the exam, you don't need to listen to the salesman's lies. Just understand two points first. Let’s first look at the issuing entities. Currently, the only training certificates issued by two authoritative industry organizations, the Chinese Psychological Society and the Chinese Mental Health Association, are relatively highly recognized on the market. The remaining certificates issued by unknown associations and education companies are not recognized by anyone after taking the exam. Next, look at the training content. Don’t choose the ones that claim to be “complete in one week” or “only test multiple-choice questions.” Think about it, how can you learn psychology by relying on memorized questions? Formal training must have at least dozens of hours of practical content. Even if it is entry-level, it must have practice sessions of simulated listening and emotional feedback. Otherwise, after learning, you will still just say "you want to be more open", then what is the use of taking this certificate? Don’t even listen to the claims about “earning tens of thousands a year through affiliation” and “packaging assigned cases”. They are all scams. Now in the psychology industry, even certified counselors have to accumulate their own cases. How can such a good thing happen to you?

I helped a friend who is a social worker choose relevant training. He usually provides psychological companionship to the elderly living alone in the community. When he met the elderly before, he would cry when talking about his deceased wife. He could only hand out tissues and didn’t know what to say. After the training, he knew how to respond to the elderly’s emotions, how to guide the elderly to relieve the pain of widowhood, and provide practical care suggestions to their families. Now he is the most popular social worker for the elderly in the community. To him, the value of this certificate has never been the piece of paper itself, but the things he has actually learned and can use.

To put it bluntly, this thing is like the training certificate you got when you took the driver's license test. It does not mean that you can hit the road and drive a taxi as a driver. It only proves that you have learned basic traffic rules and driving knowledge. If you really want to drive well, you must drive thousands of kilometers later. If you think clearly about what you want before deciding whether to take the exam, you will most likely not fall into the trap.