Why can’t I go to Level 3 and 4 with a Graduate Diploma of Counselling?

The 2nd edition of the Scope of Practice reflects the changes our industry continues to move through which at times does create some instability for members. Primarily these changes involve qualifications which in effect then impact on the criteria for ACA membership levels. It is important that members understand that these changes are influenced by the industry, they are not arbitrarily introduced by ACA. The major influencers are Private Health Funds, EAP’s, employers and government agencies. As the premier peak body in counselling and psychotherapy, ACA is charged with ensuring that industry standards are implemented and maintained. This is done through the membership process which has been designed to reflect a members qualifications and experience.

Over 85% of Australian Higher Education providers deliver counselling undergraduate and postgraduate counselling qualifications under the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF). This has been a primary mover in the industry now demanding counselling qualifications as opposed to generic degrees that contain minors or majors in counselling. This is now reflected in the 2nd Scope of Practice, membership to ACA now requires a full counselling qualification for all levels. Movement from one level to another requires members to meet the next level's criteria, this has the greatest impact on members moving from level 2 to level 3.  To be eligible to move to level 3 a member needs to meet the following criteria: completed a Bachelor or Master’s degree in Counselling plus have completed a minimum of 750 hours of client contact time and have 75 hours of documented supervision within a minimum period of 2 years since completing their qualification. Members who have completed a Diploma in Counselling can only move to level 2, to be eligible to move to level 3 they will need to complete a Bachelors or Masters of Counselling, client contact time and supervision hours can be carried over once the qualification requirement is met. The 2nd edition of the Scope of Practice will be one of our primary resources when approaching government at State/Territory and Federal levels in our ongoing battle to have counselling accepted within all forms of government decision making processes.  

The most confusion seems to be with members who have completed a Graduate Diploma. There is a misconceived belief that because a Graduate Diploma is an AQF level 8 qualification it is a higher qualification than an AQF level 7 Bachelor’s degree. This is not correct, AQF levels are designed on the premise that the prior level was completed first, in this case, a level 7 qualification (Bachelors degree), if a stand-alone Graduate Diploma was deemed higher than a bachelor’s degree and was accepted as an entry-level qualification into a profession we would not need bachelor’s degrees.

Graduate Diplomas of Counselling is one of the few graduate diplomas in allied health where there is no pre-requisite by training providers to have completed a bachelor of counselling before being able to undertake it. This is where the confusion is created, training providers do not set industry standards, they sell courses in a very competitive market and to do this they use sophisticated marketing material. ACA is not responsible for what training providers do or do not state or promise in their marketing material. No other Allied Health Profession e.g., Social Work, Psychology, Nursing, Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy etc. accept a Graduate Diploma as an entry-level qualification for clinical membership, if counsellors wish to be seen as peers lowing our academic requirements would be counterproductive.