Frequently Asked Questions about Certification

CCPA does offer an Expedited Evaluation Rush Service to those applying for the CCC designation. For an overview and instructions on how to apply for the Expedited Evaluation Rush Service, please see pages 5 of the Certification Guide. Please note, this service must be approved and paid for prior to a file being sent for evaluation by the Registrar; it cannot be applied to files already sent for evaluation.

This is a paid service that would require a formal letter from the Applicant’s employer sent directly to the Certification Team on their behalf. Note, emails from the employer cannot be accepted in lieu of a formal letter. If the letter from the employer is approved, an invoice for the Rush Fee of $100.00 would be generated and must be paid prior to the Applicant’s file being sent for evaluation. This service reduces the approximate evaluation timeframe from 8 to 10 business weeks to 3 to 4 business weeks for the Registrar to provide their outcome.

Please note, this service only applies to the evaluation stage of a completed CCC application file that is sent to the Registrar. It does not apply to the document collection stage completed by the Applicant. It is the Applicant’s responsibility to provide CCPA Certification with the required CCC documentation to complete their Certification Application File as quickly as possible.

Professional Membership with CCPA is available to anyone wishing to join our association with an educational background in counselling that meets the minimum eligibility criteria outlined on our apply page. In order to become a Professional or Student Member in Good Standing with CCPA, members must first apply online through our website, agree to an Ethics Pledge to abide by CCPA Code of Ethics, provide Proof of Graduation in a Counselling or Counselling-related degree (Professional Member), or Proof of Student Status in a Counselling or Counselling-related program (Student Members) and pay the annual Membership fee.

Certification with CCPA refers to the Canadian Certified Counsellor (CCC) designation which is a protected title that Professional Members can opt-in to apply for and is granted by the Registrar of CCPA. The CCC designation is an additional credential that is only available to Professional Members of CCPA who hold a Master’s or PhD degree in Counselling and whose applications align with CCPA’s Certification requirements. Each application is evaluated on a case-by-case basis by the Registrar who takes into consideration: the graduate degree and counselling coursework completed, the practicum placement within the degree program and their on-site practicum supervisor’s credentials (Pathway 1 Applicants) or the Work Experience completed within 5 years of graduating and applying for Certification (Pathway 2), 2 References ( one Supervisory and one Clinical ) and submission of a Vulnerable Sector Criminal Record check conducted by Police within 12 months of being issued.

Once a member is approved for Professional Membership, they can begin submitting the required documentation for the CCC Application. The documentation collection stage is dependant on how long it takes to complete and submit the required CCC Application documentation; this varies from applicant to applicant. We usually recommend submitting all CCC documentation or as many as possible in one package for efficiency purposes.

Once a file is sent for evaluation by the Registrar you will be notified via email. The approximate timeline to receive an outcome is 8 to 10 business weeks. Outcomes can include an Approval, a Pending Approval requiring additional criteria to be met first, or a Denial with reasoning provided, via email with details included in a PDF letter.

Graduates from a Canadian institution must complete their graduate studies from an institution that is governmentally recognized as a degree-granting institution. If you completed your graduate training in the United States, CCPA requires that the educational institution be regionally accredited.  Click here for a list of regionally accredited American educational institutions.  Please note that applicants must be a CCPA member prior to applying for certification.

Click here for more information about certification.

If you wish to obtain our Canadian Certified Counsellor (CCC) designation, we require a graduate degree in counselling or related field in which the student completed standalone coursework aligned with CCPA’s coursework requirements; these requirements are typically met in a masters program (but doctorate or graduate certificates may also align with the requirements). Because you graduated from an institution outside North America, you will need to apply for Canadian equivalency through third-party evaluation, for example, WES  or ICES. Once you have completed that, you can apply to our association for certification.

The approximate time for evaluations to be completed is 8 to 10 business weeks.

The Registrar of CCPA is a professional counsellor whose role is to manage the certification process and who has the responsibility of evaluating all applications, including credentials, and clinical references submitted for certification. The Registrar’s process includes:

• ensuring that the applicant holds a Masters or Ph.D degree in counselling or a related professional field from a Canadian institution that is governmentally recognized as a degree-granting institution at the Masters level (or from a Regionally Accredited institution in the United States).
• evaluating official university transcripts to determine that the graduate degree has the appropriate courses
• reviewing the supervised practice component to ensure that it meets the standard both for content and supervision.
• requesting any additional information from applicants before certification can be demonstrated and full adjudication achieved.
• verifying the authenticity of documents including results of the vulnerable sector police record check and official university documents.

The CCC tier checklist can be opened only on Professional Memberships in the portal. Once we receive a completed CCC Application, we can activate the CCC tier on the member profile which can be used as a Checklist. To keep track of which documents have been processed and which documents are still outstanding, please sign in to the Member portal through the CCPA website. Click on My Account -> Membership -> CCC. When you click on the acronym “CCC” on the Membership page, a pop-up box should appear with a checklist of documents and the dates they were processed.

For best use of CCPA’s forms, please open and complete the forms in Adobe as using a browser (such as Internet Explorer, Chrome, Fire Fox) or preview (on Apple products) can cause corruption to the forms.

Alternately you can print the form and complete it by hand, and send it to CCPA by scanning it and then emailing it or simply sending it by mail or fax directly.

All CCC Application Documentation (with exception of the Official Transcript and Official Course Syllabi) are only valid for a 12-month period. The Vulnerable Sector Criminal Record Check for the CCC Application must be submitted within 12 months of being issued by the Police. Certification keeps the VSC on file for 12 months after being received and then it is destroyed for security purposes.

Members who fall under one of the below eligible categories have access to comprehensive Liability Insurance coverage through BMS that meets the unique practice risk needs of Counsellors, Counselling Therapists, and Psychotherapists:

• Canadian Certified Counsellor,
• Student Members of CCPA, enrolled in a recognized masters’ counselling program and acting under the supervision of a qualified counsellor, appointed by the College or the University,
• Member of CCPA Registered with a Provincial Regulatory Body: College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario, Ordre des conseillers et conseilleres d’orientation du Quebec, Ordre des psychologues du Quebec, Ordre des sexologues du Québec, Ordre des psychoéducateurs et psychoéducatrices du Québec, Ordre des travailleurs sociaux et des thérapeutes conjugaux et familiaux du Québec, Nova Scotia College of Counselling Therapists, College of Counselling Therapists of New Brunswick.
• Member of CCPA who has applied for/in the process of applying for Certification (Canadian Certified Counsellor designation). Those who hold an active membership must also have a CCC Application submitted towards their file prior to applying for this insurance coverage.

Student Members with CCPA may submit applicable CCC documentation prior to their official conferral date from an eligible master’s program. In this case, their Membership Upgrade to Professional Member and submission of their Official Graduate Transcript can be saved as the last steps in completing their application.

• The course needs to be part of a Masters degree-level counselling program and taught by a professor with a background in counselling
• The course textbook, required readings, and course activities should be focused primarily on the development of interpersonal and communication skills that are fundamental to effective counselling practice.
• The syllabus should identify that each day of your course focused on the study and development of a specific counselling micro-skill
• The course should include activities that engage students in the live practice of counselling micro-skills.
• Graded course assignments must include the evaluation of counselling micro-skills taught in the course.

Yes, you can apply for the CCC-Q designation under Pathway 3. Pathway 3 applicants are for those who have completed all of the CCC coursework and practicum requirements as in Pathway 1, but have yet to have their degree conferral on their transcript. This will most likely apply to thesis students, but may also apply to applicants who have outstanding electives beyond CCPA’s 8 required courses. Please note that the practicum must be complete in order to apply as Pathway 3. 

No. The CCC and CCC-Qualifying designations are only available to applicants who have satisfied all of the education requirements for the CCC Application. This includes completing the required coursework for their master’s degree in counselling and having conferred the degree. An applicant’s training is not considered to be complete until they have been awarded their degree.

No. The C.C.C.-Qualifying title is only available to practitioners who have satisfied all of the education requirements for the CCC Application. This includes completing the required coursework for their master’s in counselling degree and having the degree officially conferred. If a required course is missing, the applicant must f inish their studies and complete the required coursework for Certification included in their master’s degree in counselling and confer their degree before they can qualify for Certification.

The supervisor requirement for membership in a counselling-related professional association or college ensures that supervisors are accountable for their professional conduct under a code of ethics and standards of practice. This helps to promote high quality and rigorous clinical supervision, and this in turn ensures that the Canadian public receive equally high quality and effective counselling services. It also provides supervised counselling students avenues for redress on the rare occasion that supervisor conduct falls outside of professionally acceptable limits.

Supervisors may belong to CCPA, or another association or licensing bodies in a related field with a shared scope of practice that has:

• A Code of Ethics aligned with the ethical principles of CCPA, and a formal complaints procedures accessible to the public.

Applicants or supervisors must provide information on external associations or licensing bodies to demonstrate that their membership aligns with the requirements of CCPA upon request.

A practicum course is a required course to qualify for certification regardless of an applicant’s pathway. The majority of counselling programs which align with CCPA requirements have had a counselling practicum course as a mandatory part of their program since 2002/2003. Unless the program was completed before this time, the applicant must have completed some kind of practicum course in order to be eligible for certification. If a practicum course was not a part of the program structure, the program will most likely have other issues in aligning with CCPA’s certification requirements.

Your coursework does not need to have the same title and description as the samples provided by CCPA. You should compare the course descriptions from your course catalogue or syllabus to the ones provided by CCPA, and there should be common themes in the topic, breadth and depth of study.

Additional guidelines to coursework evaluations:

• Applicants cannot combine multiple courses to satisfy one coursework area, nor can they cannot use the same course to satisfy two different course requirements.
• Evaluate the syllabus to and specifically consider whether the description, objectives, readings, weekly course topics, and assignments indicate that the course is focused on the same topic of study as described by CCPA.

The compulsory and elective coursework as referred to in the Certification Guide and on the CCC Application Form refer to courses that are compulsory for all applicants to have taken in their Masters degree in order to be eligible for the CCC designation, and the elective coursework refers to counselling coursework done as part of your Masters degree that meets CCPA requirements but that can fit our application requirements as is tailored to your degree (ex: a degree with a focus in Marriage and Family Therapy might select electives from CCPAs list in the areas of “Couple and Family Counselling” or “Group Counselling” whereas an M.Ed in Counselling might have more counselling coursework that would meet CCPA elective categories such as “Human Development and Learning” or “Psychological Education”).

The four courses that are compulsory for all applicants of the CCC designation are:

• Counselling Theories
• Counselling Skills
• Professional Ethics
• Counselling Practicum

Elective coursework would be any other counselling coursework from your Masters degree in Counselling that falls into one of the following categories (you cannot list more than 2 courses per topic category):

• Assessment Processes
• Counselling in Specialized Settings
• Counselling Intervention Strategies
• Couple and Family Counselling
• Consultation Methods
• Diversity Issues
• Gender Issues
• Group Counselling
• Human Development and Learning
• Lifestyle and Career Development
• Psychological Education
• Research and Evaluation

To assist you in selecting the proper category for your Masters of Counselling degree coursework, please see the Certification Guide for Coursework Areas and Descriptions. This coursework should be listed out with the course code, name of the course as it appears on your transcript, and the semester in which you took each course on the CCC Application Form to outline how your degree meets CCPA requirements for assessment by the Registrar.

You can provide a CCC Work Experience form with a signature of co-attestation from an arms-length professional. This individual can be an employer, supervisor, or colleague who can attest to the accuracy of the information on the CCC Work Experience form.

Yes, if your on-site supervisor is willing and able to provide both forms, they may do so. Both forms must be complete & signed as the information must be attested to.

In cases where an applicant may have gaps in their certification application, a Basic or Complex/Non-Member Eligibility Assessment application would be recommended. This enables the Registrar to outline certification eligibility and point out those gaps. It is commonly used in the cases of applicants whose application may not fully meet CCPA requirements, or if the applicant foresees a potential roadblock to a successful application.

CCPA’s Certification Committee consists of counsellor educators and others who are able to advise the CCPA Board of Directors on all matters pertaining to counsellor certification. This committee also serves in a consultative role to the Registrar on discretionary matters and on challenging certification issues which arise from time to time.

Go to the top-right corner of our website and you will find the  “Members” box. Your username is the email address which we have on file. Your password was or will be emailed to you once your membership application is processed. Once you login, click on “My Account” and then “My Profile/ Directory Listings or Specializations” to edit your information. Remember to click “Save” when you’re done!

Direct client counselling CONTACT hours are actual clock hours during which you work with clients. Examples of direct services are:

• Facilitating or co-facilitating a group, family, or couples session
• Providing real-time therapy to an individual, couple, family or group
• Conducting assessment activities, such as  clinical interviewing/therapeutic observation as process/engaging in diagnostic techniques

Indirect client services:

• Spending time outside the counselling hour focused on the client. Whether the activity is report writing, preparing process notes, or video/audiotape review, time spent contemplating the client and planning interventions is necessary for a rich learning process.
• Documenting the more quantifiable activities of report-writing, information consultation with other professionals on specific cases, video/audio tape review, and assessment scoring and write-ups.

In the event an applicant is unable to obtain one or both of the CCC Reference forms, we recommend engaging in supervision to obtain the clinical supervisor reference and in any work or volunteer experience to obtain the clinical reference from a colleague or employer. How many hours a clinical supervisor or clinical reference requires to oversee for the purposes of completing the CCC Reference form is to their discretion. For more information regarding reference qualification requirements, please see our Certification Guide.

No, practicum logs cannot be accepted in lieu of the CCC Practicum form. Please complete 1 CCC Practicum form per practicum location toward your certification file. Practicum logs can only be processed as supplemental documentation.

The practicum professor or on-site supervisor from your practicum can assist you and provide the signature of co-attestation to the CCC Practicum form.

All CCPA-issued CCC Forms (Application, Reference, Practicum and Work Experience Form) are listed on our website’s Forms page. Once you hold an active Student or Professional Membership with CCPA, you can begin submitting your documents toward certification in any order.

CCPA forms and course descriptions/syllabi can be emailed to CCPA at [email protected]. The official transcript and vulnerable sector criminal record check can be submitted by using the below methods:

• Official transcript: sent directly from the University in SEALED envelope by mail or emailed directly from the issuing university as a password‐protected unalterable PDF document to CCPA National office. Outlining the coursework mentioned in the CCC Application form that meets CCPA’s requirements (Click here and go to pages 7 & 19 for details.
• A vulnerable sectors criminal records check: original, hard-copy document issued by the police within the past 12 months, mailed to CCPA by the applicant or sent directly from the issuing police service by email as a password‐protected unalterable PDF document.

For more details on the application procedures and documents required, please see pages 18 – 22 of the Certification Guide.

If you are a Professional Member with CCPA, the CCC tier checklist is activated on your profile in the Member Portal once your CCC Application is processed by the Certification Team.

As the Registrar of CCPA evaluates applications case-by-case, we are unable to provide any confirmations that an educational background, potential coursework, supervisor qualifications, practicum placement, work experience etc., would align with CCPA requirements toward the C.C.C. designation with CCPA until the Registrar has evaluated an application.

If you are unsure if a particular educational background or a potential program would have any gaps in aligning with the certification requirements and would like to have your application assessed, you may wish to submit an Eligibility Assessment Application. A Eligibility Assessment Application is a tool to outline certification eligibility. It is commonly used in the cases of applicants whose application may have gaps in aligning with CCPA requirements, or students presenting potential programs, coursework or practicum placements for evaluation and provides applicants with an eligibility report from the Registrar of CCPA.

For an outline of CCPA requirements, please see our Certification Guide with special attention to the following pages:

• Certification Requirements: pages 6 – 12
• Eligibility Assessment Applications: pages 16 – 17
• Application Procedures: pages 18 – 22
• Coursework Requirements: pages 27 – 29

CCPA Student and Professional Members must renew their membership with CCPA prior to renewing their professional liability insurance with BMS Group. The policy period for your insurance coverage MUST align with your CCPA membership period. In order to renew your insurance coverage, please ensure that your CCPA membership has been renewed for the corresponding policy term.