Membership Categories and Criteria for Memberships
UPCA has a number of categories of membership, members usually join us when they first begin training on a UPCA Accredited Training Programme and become Student members. When students are approved to begin clinical practice or a placement, they upgrade to become Trainee members. Then when they complete the theoretical part of their training, they can apply to become Non-Accredited Clinical Members. Finally, when all of the supervised client hours and other practice elements have been completed and the member has fully qualified and graduated, they apply to become Accredited Clinical Members. Accredited Clinical members can also apply to be registered with UKCP at this point.
Membership Application Forms
Please download the form for the category of membership you wish to apply for.
Student Membership
Open to all non-practising current students of a UPCA accredited programme in psychotherapy or psychotherapeutic counselling.
Trainee Membership
Open to all current students from a UPCA accredited programme in psychotherapy or psychotherapeutic counselling, who have been approved by their training programme to begin clinical practice.
Non-Accredited Clinical Membership
Open to graduates from an accredited UPCA psychotherapy or psychotherapeutic counselling training programme, who have not yet met the full requirements of the programme and training, or fulfilled the necessary criteria for registration.
Accredited Clinical Membership
Open to graduates from a UPCA accredited, psychotherapy and psychotherapeutic counselling training programmes. Graduates will have completed all requirements of the programme and training, and fulfilled the necessary criteria for registration.
Non-Clinical Associate Membership
This membership category is open to any non-practising member of a university with an interest in psychotherapy or counselling. This category is also open to retired UPCA members who are no longer in clinical practice.
About Student Membership
This category of membership is open to all current non-practising students of a university-linked, UPCA accredited programme in psychotherapy or psychotherapeutic counselling. It is a requirement of UPCA programme approval, that students studying on UPCA accredited programmes, maintain UPCA student membership throughout their training by renewing annually and thereby agree to abide by the UKCP Code of Ethics and Professional Practice (2019). Student members of UPCA may additionally join UKCP as Student members. Members in this category should use the designation; Student-MUPCA.
About Trainee Membership
This membership category is open to current student members of UPCA who have been approved to begin clinical practice by their accredited UPCA psychotherapeutic counselling or psychotherapy training programme. Trainee members have not yet graduated or met the full requirements of their training programme and are working towards fulfilling the criteria for registration.
This category is available to members for the duration of their training programme to enable completion of the supervised practice element of training, and in preparation to fulfil the necessary criteria for registration as a psychotherapeutic counsellor or a psychotherapist. Members in this category are entitled to apply to UKCP for entry onto the UKCP Trainee directory. Members in this category are entitled to use the designation; Trainee-MUPCA.
About Non-Accredited Clinical Membership
Student or Trainee members of UPCA who have graduated from an accredited UPCA psychotherapeutic counselling or psychotherapy training programme, who have not yet met the full requirements of the programme and training, or fulfilled the necessary criteria for UKCP registration, and who have maintained up to date UPCA membership are required to apply for Non-accredited Clinical membership.
This is available for a maximum period of five years to enable completion of training, and preparation to fulfil necessary criteria for registration as a psychotherapeutic counsellor or a psychotherapist. Members in this category are entitled to use the designation; MUPCA, together with the relevant professional title as granted by the programme from which they have graduated.
About Accredited Clinical Membership
This membership category is open to graduates from a UPCA accredited, psychotherapeutic counselling or psychotherapy training programme/course.
Graduates will have completed all requirements of the programme/course, all aspects of training and must have fulfilled the necessary criteria for registration as either a psychotherapeutic counsellor or a psychotherapist.
Consequently, these members are entitled to apply to UKCP for entry onto the relevant sections of the UKCP register. Members in this category are entitled to use the designation; MUPCA (Accred) together with the relevant professional title as granted by the programme/course from which they have graduated.
If your UPCA membership lapses, UKCP registration will also be lapsed. It is a condition of membership that all clinical members be audited once every five years, to demonstrate they that have met the UKCP requirement for 250 hours of CPD. The audit also serves the purpose of meeting the requirements of the UKCP 5-yearly re-accreditation.
About Non-clinical Associate Membership
This membership category is open to any member of a university with an interest in psychotherapy or counselling, to any psychotherapist or counsellor with a commitment to the academic development of the subject. To a retired UPCA member who is no longer in clinical practice.
How to Pay your Membership Fees
When you complete your application for membership of UPCA you will be given details of how to pay your fees directly by BACs transfer. In very exceptional circumstances we will accept payment by cheque, please contact us at administration@upca.org.uk for more information on how to pay by cheque.
Annual Renewal of Membership Guidelines
The UPCA membership year runs broadly in accordance with the academic year and starts on the 1st September every year and expires on 31st August the following year. To help you to keep your membership up to date we will send all members a Renewal Notice by email around the end of July each year along with a link to download a renewal form. The renewal form also contains a CPD section, (CPD declarations should include activities for the previous 12 months).
You will need to complete all parts of the form and return it to us. The renewal form also contains details of how to pay your annual fee. Please contact us if you have any difficulty downloading the renewal form.