Overview
The Birkbeck Counselling Association is accredited by the BPC (British Psychoanalytic Council) as a Member Institution (MI) along with other professional associations embodying training, research and academic thinking within psychoanalytic and psychodynamic psychotherapy .
BCA accept applications for BPC registration and .acts as ‘gatekeeper’ for individual BCA members who wish to apply for BPC registration as Psychodynamic Counsellors. Details of the application process are outlined in section 3 below.
Please note it is an essential requirement of BPC registration to be a full BCA member and to pay your subscription by STANDING ORDER or other automatic payment.
The Requirements
There are four basic conditions for individual BPC registration:
1. Membership of BCA – you must be a full member of the BCA and MUST be paying your subscription by STANDING ORDER or other regular automatic payment.
2. Training – You must have graduated either from the MSc in Psychodynamic Counselling and Psychotherapy (previously called MSc in Psychodynamic Counselling), or from the MSc in Psychodynamic Counselling and Psychotherapy with Children and Adolescents (previously called MSc in Psychodynamic Counselling with Children and Adolescents).
3. Clinical experience – You must have completed two psychodynamically/psychoanalytically supervised long-term cases (of at least one year) either during your training and/or subsequently and you must be able to provide references to support this.
4. CPD and Ethical Code – You must be willing to work according to BPC’s Ethical Code and Complaints Procedure, and must meet the annual CPD requirements. You can find information about these on the BPC website:
BPC Professional Standards and CPD
If you do not meet condition 2 but feel you have comparable training, you may be eligible for a comparability assessment. You are welcome to discuss your situation with the chair of the scrutiny committee (see below). There are also FAQs about comparable trainings and the comparability assessment process.
5. From 2025 onwards, students who have started their training course and wish to pursue registration will need to utilise therapists and supervisors who are BPC registered Psychoanalytic Psychotherapists (or Psychoanalysts). This is a more specific requirement than Birkbeck’s own requirement. Current requirements are applicable until 2025.
