What are the requirements for taking the mental health practitioner certificate exam?

In 2017, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security has canceled the national professional qualification certification related to mental health. Now all the certificates called "mental health practitioner certificates" on the market are essentially certificates of skills training and have no professional validity. It is impossible to directly open a studio and do clinical psychological consultation after passing the exam. Don't be fooled by the exaggerated propaganda of the institutions.

Two years ago, I met a young girl who just graduated with a psychology major. She was anxious to find a job at first. She heard from an agency that she could earn tens of thousands a year by becoming an "International Registered Mental Health Practitioner". She spent more than 4,000 to get the certificate, but when she went for the interview, HR didn't even know the certification unit. I had never heard of it and didn’t recognize it at all. Later, I honestly signed up for the formal training program of the Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. I took courses for more than half a year, got the training certificate, and more than 200 hours of internship before I joined the local community psychological service center as an assistant.

Currently, most of the training certificates that are relatively highly recognized in the industry are issued by authoritative industry entities such as the Institute of Psychology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Psychological Society. Individual registration is not accepted. You must go to their officially authorized training institutions to complete the required course hours in order to obtain the exam qualifications. There are not too strict application requirements. Generally, those with a college degree or above can apply. Those with a technical secondary school degree in education, medicine, psychology, or other related majors can also apply. Students in the third year of college or above can also take the exam. Work experience is not required, and it is quite friendly to novices across majors.

The exam is usually conducted online. It tests two papers on basic theory and practical skills. The full score is 100 points. A score of 60 is considered a pass. The content basically covers basic content such as general psychology, developmental psychology, and counseling ethics, as well as practical skills such as psychological assessment and basic communication skills. If you follow the class carefully and complete the supporting exercises, most people can pass the exam in one try and will not deliberately fail to pass the exam.

There is a lot of controversy online about this type of certificate now. Many people think it is completely an IQ tax. I agree with this - if you are planning to take the exam after listening to the agency saying that "if you take the exam, you can make over 10,000 part-time jobs a month" and "you can earn money without having to work", then I advise you to take the exam. Give up the idea early. If you really want to do psychological counseling, getting a training certificate is just the first step. It will take several years to accumulate case experience, personal experience, and receive supervision. The time and money invested are not something that can be obtained by just getting a certificate for thousands of dollars. But there are also many friends who are in the industry who think this certificate is useful. I met a primary school teacher last week and said that the school requires a part-time psychological counselor for each grade. She is interested in child psychology, so she signed up for a formal training and passed the certificate. The content she learned can be used in communicating with emotional students and holding parent-teacher conferences. The school also recognized this training experience, which is equivalent to paving an additional path for her career development.

If you really plan to take the exam, be careful before signing up. Go to the official website of the certification-issuing unit to check whether the institution you are looking for is officially authorized. Ask whether the tuition fee includes class fees, textbook fees, and examination fees. Don’t be charged any "examination fees" and "certificate production fees" before the exam. If you are just interested in psychology and want to learn more knowledge, there is no need to spend this money. Just look for two introductory science books and read it.