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About the college

History

Counselling Therapy has a proud tradition in Nova Scotia. In order to share knowledge and to promote the growing profession among the public, in 1993 a group of dedicated counsellors sought out colleagues from across the province to form the Nova Scotia Association of Professional Counsellors. In 1995 the NSAPC became recognized under the Societies Act, and in 2006 changed their name to the Nova Scotia Association of Counselling Therapists (NSACT). In the years that followed, the NSACT leadership began to lobby government to move the association from a member-service organization to a self-regulating professional body responsible for serving and protecting the public interest. The Counselling Therapists Act was proclaimed on October 11, 2011 and the Nova Scotia College of Counselling Therapists (NSCCT) came to life. Today, more than 650 Registered Counselling Therapists (RCTs) practice throughout Nova Scotia under license of the College, providing safe, competent and ethical mental health services.

Governance Structure

Oversite of the College is provided through a statutory Board of Directors, made up of elected members and government-appointed public representatives. The Board Executive is comprised of the Chair, Vice Chair, Past Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer. The remainder of the 13-person Board includes four Members-at-Large, three Public Representatives and the Executive Director/Registrar in an ex officio non-voting capacity.

The legislated functions of the College are fulfilled by five statutory committees, and the work of the Board is supported by two additional non-statutory (ancillary) committees.

Genesis of the NSCCT Logo

The original logo was introduced in 2007, four years before the former Association became a College in 2011. The work was spearheaded by Jane Donovan, RCT, Sara Lamb, RCT and professional designer Rick Day, with research input from Jennine Wilson (RCT-retired).

Inspired by the words “reflect” “feel” and “think anew”, the spiral design was developed to represent the profession of counselling therapy, “not as a closed circle repeating the past, nor as a straight line into the future, but as a continuous process of going back in order to go forward.”

During the 2023 redesign of the NSCCT website the decision was taken to update our logo as well. Care has been taken to modernize the look with cleaner lines and a contemporary professional feel, while retaining the meaningful design elements of the original. While the new version is displayed on the website and on all NSCCT letterhead, the original is retained as a prominent feature of registration certificates.