Petition to CORU: Uphold Standards in Counselling & Psychotherapy

CORU has been tasked with regulating the Counselling and Psychotherapy profession in Ireland. However, it has already indicated that counsellors and psychotherapists will not be required to:

• Engage in personal counselling/psychotherapy during training.
• Participate in ongoing clinical supervision while in professional practice.

These two components are universally recognised as cornerstones of ethical and effective therapeutic training and practice. All major accrediting bodies in Ireland – representing thousands of practitioners – have stated that removing them is unacceptable and represents a serious risk to professional standards and public safety.

We, the undersigned, therefore call on CORU to require that all Counsellors and Psychotherapists in Ireland:

1. Undertake individual counselling/psychotherapy as a core component of their training and education.
2. Engage in regular clinical supervision as an essential part of their ongoing professional practice..

These measures are essential to:

• Protect public safety.
• Uphold the high standards to which counsellors and psychotherapists already adhere.
• Ensure therapy is grounded not only in academic learning but also in personal insight, reflective practice, and emotional accountability.
• Safeguard professional integrity by maintaining continuous oversight and development through clinical supervision with a qualified and experienced supervisor.

It is not appropriate for counsellors or psychotherapists to work with clients without having undertaken personal therapy or without the safeguard of ongoing clinical supervision. To do so would endanger vulnerable people and undermine the profession.

These are just two of many serious concerns that therapists across Ireland hold regarding CORU’s proposed standards.

By embedding these requirements into regulation, CORU will help protect the public and ensure that counselling and psychotherapy in Ireland remain safe, ethical, and of the highest quality. We urge CORU to listen to the profession and act decisively to enshrine in regulation the standards that counsellors and psychotherapists in Ireland already uphold.