Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

873. To ask the Minister for Health if there are plans to recognise the qualifications of persons with a level 8 honours degree in psychotherapy and counselling; if the HSE will offer employment to them without the need for a second allied health degree such as in social care, speech therapy, nursing or a master's degree; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8278/22]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 provides for the protection of the public by promoting high standards of professional conduct and professional education, training and competence through statutory registration of health and social care professions designated under the Act. The professions of counsellor and psychotherapist were designated for regulation by the Minister under the Act and will be regulated by CORU

Regulations to designate the two professions under the Act and to establish the Counsellors and Psychotherapists Registration Board were made in 2018. The Board was appointed in February 2019 and held its inaugural meeting in May 2019.

The work of a registration board includes consideration of the titles to be protected and the minimum qualifications to be required of existing practitioners and the qualifications that will be required for future graduates. The work of the Counsellors and Psychotherapists Registration Board is significantly more challenging than it is for registration boards for some of the more established professions owing to the different and complex pathways into these professions, the variety of titles used, and the variety and number of courses and course providers. This work is ongoing.

The eligibility criteria for Psychotherapists are not approved by the HSE National Director of HR under Section 22 of the Health Act 2004. The same is true of a number of roles in counselling.  Within the National Counselling Service, the eligibility criteria for Counselling Therapist is approved by the HSE National Director of HR. These require a QQI level 7 degree in a human science discipline. A person solely with a level 8 in psychotherapy and counselling but without a degree in a human science discipline would not meet the criteria. For counselling posts that do not have eligibility criteria formally approved, the eligibility criteria are not prescribed but job specifications would typically follow the same eligibility criteria as above.

I hope this information is of assistance to the Deputy.