CPD certificates for counselling and psychotherapy training providers
If you run CPD workshops, webinars or recorded training for counsellors, psychotherapists or psychologists, you can issue your own CPD certificates. Membership bodies ask practitioners to keep a record of their CPD, and they do not need your course pre-approved to accept it. What helps most is a certificate that says what was learned and can be checked online.
Do counselling CPD workshops need to be accredited?
No. Course accreditation for counselling and psychotherapy usually refers to full practitioner training. Short CPD workshops, trauma-informed training, supervision days and webinars sit outside that. The practitioner chooses relevant learning and records it, and the trainer provides the certificate.
That is an opening for specialist trainers. A clear course profile, written by someone respected in the field, carries more weight with a practitioner than a generic logo ever could.
What makes a therapy CPD certificate useful at renewal?
It should name the practitioner, the trainer, the date and the hours, and set out the aims, skills and outcomes of the session. Practitioners are often asked to reflect on how learning affects their client work, and stated outcomes give them a ready starting point.
Recorded training benefits most. When someone watches a recording months after the live event, a certificate issued on completion, with its own verification link, shows the learning happened and when.
How does this fit a trainer who runs live and recorded events?
Many counselling trainers sell the same content twice: as a live workshop and later as a recording. Open CPD lets you write the course profile once and issue certificates for both, in bulk after the live day and automatically for each person who completes the recording.
How a one-day trauma workshop and its recording become CPD certificates
A trainer runs a live online workshop on working with complex trauma, then sells the recording for a year afterwards.
- 1Live teaching and demonstration
- 4 hours
- 2Small-group case discussion
- 1 hour
- 3Reflective exercise on applying the model with clients
- 1 hour
- 4Live attendees: certificates issued by one CSV upload
- Same day
- 5Recording buyers: certificate issued on completion
- Automatic
Result: one course profile, a 6-hour CPD certificate for every attendee and every later viewer, each with its own verification page.
How do certificates reach your learners?
Upload a CSV of attendees after a live event, or connect your booking or course platform through Zapier or Zoho Flow so certificates go out on completion. Each certificate carries your branding and a digital badge practitioners can add to their profile. You pay per certificate issued, with no per-course fee.
See how it works, the course platform connections and what you can say about recognition.
Questions counselling and psychotherapy trainers ask
Will BACP or UKCP accept a CPD certificate from my workshop?
BACP and UKCP ask members to choose and record CPD that is relevant to their practice. They do not keep a list of approved CPD workshops. A certificate that sets out the aims, skills, outcomes and hours of your workshop gives a member good evidence for their record.
Can I issue CPD certificates for counselling training myself?
Yes. A training provider can issue CPD certificates for its own sessions. With Open CPD they carry your name and logo, the course outcomes, the CPD hours and a unique verification ID, and you can describe them as powered by Open CPD.
Can I give CPD certificates for recorded workshops?
Yes. Recorded learning counts as CPD when the practitioner actively engages with it. Certificates can be issued automatically when a viewer completes the recording, often with a short reflective question or quiz.
How many CPD hours is a counselling workshop worth?
Count the time spent in active learning: teaching, demonstrations, discussion and reflection. A six-hour workshop with an hour of breaks is usually 5 CPD hours.
What can I say about accreditation on my website?
Say your certificates are powered by Open CPD, or that your courses are accredited through Open CPD. Open CPD does not review or endorse training content, so it should never be described as accrediting your course itself.
Related guides
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