Step 1: Check if your training is on an ECP level

If your training fulfils the criteria stated underneath your training is on an ECP level (this is an extract of our ECP text):

4. Length and content of psychotherapy training:

4.1. The total duration of the training will not be less than 3200 hours, spread over a minimum of seven years, with the first three years being the equivalent of a university degree. The later four years of which must be in a training specific to psychotherapy. The EAP will, in collaboration with NAOs and EWAOs, determine the proportion of the training elements that need to be completed prior to the ECP being awarded.

4.2. The training meets the EAP's criteria for basic professional training, and includes the following elements:

4.2.1. Personal Psychotherapeutic Experience, or equivalent. This should be taken to include training analysis, self-experience, and other methods involving elements of self-reflection, therapy, and personal experience (not less than 250 hours). No single term is agreed by all psychotherapy methods. Any training shall include arrangements to ensure that the trainees can identify and appropriately manage their involvement in and contributions to the processes of the psychotherapies that they practice in accordance with their specific methods.

4.2.2. Theoretical Study

There will be a general part of university or professional training and a part which is specific to psychotherapy. University or professional courses leading to a first University degree or its equivalent professional qualification in subjects relevant to psychotherapy may be allowed as a part of, or the whole of, the general part of psychotherapy theory, but cannot contribute towards the 4 years of specific psychotherapy training. Theoretical study during the 4 years of training specific to psychotherapy should include the following elements:

• Theories of human development throughout the life-cycle
• An understanding of other psychotherapeutic approaches
• A theory of change
• An understanding of social and cultural issues in relation to psychotherapy
• Theories of psychopathology
• Theories of assessment and intervention

4.2.3. Practical Training

This will include sufficient practice under continuous supervision appropriate to the psychotherapeutic modality and will be at least two years in duration.

4.2.4. Placement in a mental health setting, or equivalent professional experience.

The placement must provide adequate experience of psycho-social crisis and of collaboration with other specialists in the mental health field.

4.3. Supervision, training and, where applicable, personal psychotherapy should be provided by practitioners whose training meets the criteria of the ECP. Advanced trainings for trainers and supervisors are not covered by these criteria, but will be required.


Step 2: Check if there is a NAO (National Awarding Organization) in your country

You can find this information under Info EAP - Addresses.


Step 3: Contact your NAO or the EAP headoffice.

They will inform you in detail about the process of the application.

The general procedure is as follows:

The NAO checks your application (formally and if you are legally registered as a psychotherapist in your country, …). It gets into contact with the representative of your modality within the EAP (they have to confirm that your training is levelling or above the EAP standard). If the NAO and the representative of your modality give their OK our Registrar does a final formal check on your application. If he gives his OK and the fee for the ECP has been paid the headoffice in Vienna will issue the certificate, put you into our Register of ECP holders (ECP-R databse) and forward the ECP to you (through your NAO).

ECP Official document. Version 7.0. voted AGM Vienna February 2017

• ECP Document 7.0. (165,6 KB)
  voted AGM Vienna February 2017

• ECP application - CV form grandparenting (GAP-EWAO) (30,0 KB)

• ECP Notification Form - ECP award by grandparenting (33,5 KB)

• ECP Registration form (PRF) - grandparenting (228,5 KB)
  updated version Feb 2017

European Certificate of Psychotherapy (ECP)

For receiving an ECP, a psychotherapist has to fulfil a set of criteria concerning the level of training, supervision and practice.

There are two possible ways to apply, one way is the Direct Award (DA) through European Accredited Psychotherapy Training Institutes (EAPTIs):  

Direct award (DA):
Students who completed full psychotherapy training in a European Accredited Training Institute (EAPTI) are entitled to apply directly for an ECP after graduation. All EAPTIs have been thoroughly checked by the Training Accreditation Committee (TAC) before their acceptance. They have to prove that their training program brings students up to ECP level. This is why the application procedure for graduates from EAPTIs involves less administration on the part of the EAP.

The other possible way is by grandparenting (through EWAOs or through the GAP) - please go to "ECP application forms by grandparenting".

• ECP Direct Award Procedure (104,5 KB)
  new updated version Feb 2017

• ECP Direct Award Application Form (PRF) (267,0 KB)
  new version February 2017

• ECP Direct Award Cover Sheet (33,5 KB)

• ECP Direct Award CV (31,0 KB)

Ivana SLAVKOVIC

Registrar

PO BOX 210/1
Tirana
Albania

E-mail: iv.slavkovic@gmail.com

Daniela RENNER
EAP head office
Administrative and organizational assistance to Registrar 

E-mail: eap.admin@europsyche.org

Handelskai 132, Stiege 1, B 2
1020 Vienna/Austria

Tel: +43 1 512 52 97
Fax: +43 1 5122604
Monday - Thursday: 9am - 2pm

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is required for registration for the ECP. 

You are required to complete an average of 50 hours per annum of CPD (total of 250 hours over a period of the last 5 years). This CPD can be taken in the following forms:

a) Advanced or additional professional psychotherapy courses (Please list these, include detail of the provider (institute) and a synopsis of the course, and indicate the number of hours for each course on a separate sheet.)

b) Professional supervision for psychotherapy practice/clinical/group work and peer supervision (Please indicate this on a separate sheet with name of supervisor/institute, hours of supervision, and the total of number of hours).

c) Psychotherapy conference / symposium attendance (Please list title, date and organisation for each on a separate sheet and indicate number of hours of session time attended in each. Please attach copies of all conference attendance certificates).

d) Professional activities in psychotherapy. (Being elected to a Board or a Committee and attending meetings. Please indicate organisation, dates of committee/board meetings, and number of formal hours of each meeting.)

e) Participation in extra psychotherapy training as a supervisor/researcher/teacher.

Minimum 250 hours shall consist of no more than 75 hours from any one category.
 

European Certificate of Psychotherapy (ECP)

The ECP - a European wide standard for psychotherapy education and training

The European Certificate of Psychotherapy (ECP) was established by EAP to create a comprehensive European wide standard for psychotherapy education and training. The ECP is awarded by EAP on application to psychotherapists who's psychotherapy education conforms to the ECP standard. The European Certificate of Psychotherapy is currently in general alignment with ISO/IEC 17024 (2012). In addition to the ECP standard, EAP has established and defined the core professional competencies of a European psychotherapist as a set of principles or guidelines in relation to the professional practice of psychotherapy, in all its various forms, across Europe.

There are two possible ways to apply for an ECP, one way is the Direct Award (DA) through one of the European Accredited Psychotherapy Training Institutes (EAPTIs), and the other way is to apply to an EAP National Awarding Organization (NAO):

1. through direct award (DA):

Psychotherapists who graduate from an EAP accredited psychotherapy training program with a European Accredited Training Institute (EAPTI) are entitled to apply directly for an ECP after graduation. All EAPTIs are subject to a rigorous quality assurance process by the EAP Training Accreditation Committee (TAC) and before acceptance, have to verify that their students graduate at the ECP standard from their training program. Graduation from an EAPTI psychotherapy training program is therefore accepted as a qualification for ECP applications.

2. grandparenting through NAO and EWAO:

For qualified psychotherapists who have completed a psychotherapy training(s) (or equivalent) that conforms to the ECP standard and who, after graduation, have practiced psychotherapy for a minimum of three years. ECP applications through grandparenting can only be made through a National Awarding Organisation (NAO), normally in the applicant’s country of residence. This application process is suitable for psychotherapists who are qualified in one of the modalities recognised by the EAP and represented in EAP by an European Wide Awarding Organization (EWAO). Grandparenting applications require acceptance from both the appropriate NAO and EWAO before an ECP can be awarded.

2.1. grandparenting through NAO and the EAP Grandparenting Advisory Panel (GAP):

For qualified psychotherapists who have completed a psychotherapy training(s) (or equivalent) that conforms to the ECP standard in one of the modalities recognized by the EAP for which there no EWAO is established in EAP. These applications are also administered and presented by the appropriate NAO. The GAP meets two times per year and is responsible for reviewing  applications for modalities that are not represented by EWAOs. The GAP is also responsible for reviewing applications that are subject to an appeal. 
 

For applicants: Detailed information and a checklist for applications can be found under point European Certificate of Psychotherapy.

All ECP holders are listed in the European Register of ECP holders (ECP-R). This tool published on the EAP website enables the search for qualified practitioners all over Europe.

ECP holders receive information about the development of psychotherapy in Europe by e-mail. They may attend the EAP Board meetings as observers but have no voting rights.

For the administration and maintenance of the EAP website and the ECP-R, ECP holders pay an annual registration fee. The amount varies according to the origin of