Our Legislative Mandate
The Nova Scotia Counselling Therapists Act sets the College mandate.
The mandate is to:
- protect the public interest
- uphold the integrity of the profession
- support public confidence in the profession’s ability to self-regulate
The College is a regulator. The regulator is unlike an association or union. An association and union serves the members of the profession. The College acts in the public interest.
The College meets its legal mandate by ensuring:
- only qualified people are licensed
- registrants follow the Standards of Practice and Code of Ethics
- registrants keep their skills up to date through ongoing professional development
- a fair and objective professional conduct process
Title Protection
Title protection helps protect the public from unlicensed mental health providers. Only those who are licensed may use these titles:
Counselling Therapist,
Registered Counselling Therapist (RCT), and
Registered Counselling Therapist Candidate (RCT-C).
The Act states that only an RCT may describe their services as counselling therapy.
If you suspect someone might be using any of these titles, or advertising “counselling therapy” services, without being licensed to do so, please report it here.