Counselling

Counselling is talking with a trained counsellor who listens and asks questions to help a person understand and cope with what is happening in their life. In Australia, counsellors work in schools, community services and private practice, and counselling also has a place in religious and spiritual care: Spiritual Care Australia counts counselling among the things that spiritual care practitioners, including chaplains and pastoral carers, provide.

Description

What counsellors do

The Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia (PACFA) describes professional counselling as a safe and confidential collaboration between a qualified counsellor and a client, in which the client takes an active part throughout. Clients may be adults, couples, families, groups, children or young people, and counselling can last a short time or a long time, and be broad or narrowly focused, depending on what the client needs. Among the things PACFA says clients may explore are their identity, spirituality, relationships, past experiences, parenting, and grief and loss.

Counsellors draw on a range of approaches, and some are trained in more than one. healthdirect says a counsellor aims to listen in a way that is non-judgemental, safe and confidential. Counsellors do not diagnose mental health conditions, and they can refer a person on for further help.

A first session

At a first appointment the counsellor usually asks about the person, what they would like help with, and whether they have had counselling before, and may explain how they work. Counselling can be one to one, with a partner or family members, or in a group, and some counselling is offered online. No referral is needed to see a counsellor. healthdirect suggests questions a person might ask at the start, such as what experience the counsellor has, what style of counselling they practise and how many sessions they expect to be needed.

Spiritual and pastoral counselling

Spiritual Care Australia describes spiritual care practitioners as supporting people through compassionate presence, through helping them reframe their situation, and through attention to how they make meaning, particularly during illness, crisis or change. Quoting the Spiritual Health Association, it says they provide assessment, counselling, support and ritual relating to a person's beliefs, traditions, values and practices. Spiritual care is offered to people of every faith and worldview, including people with no religious affiliation.

Spiritual Care Australia uses "pastoral carer" for someone whose spiritual care is informed by a particular religious tradition, or who works for a faith community or religious organisation, and "chaplain" for a trained professional who gives specialist spiritual care in a setting such as a hospital, prison, school or the defence forces. Its code of conduct describes pastoral care as centred on the person, and says it may include prayer and sacramental ministry but is never proselytising or imposing the practitioner's own beliefs or values.

Scope

What it includes

• Talking with a trained counsellor, alone, with a partner or family members, or in a group
• Counselling in person or online
• Spiritual and pastoral care, including counselling, in settings such as health care, aged care, schools, prisons, emergency services and the defence forces

What it is not

• It is not psychology. Psychologists have extended training and are regulated by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra), while counsellors and psychotherapists do not belong to a national regulating body. Only people registered with the Psychology Board of Australia may use the title "psychologist".
• It is not diagnosis. Counsellors do not diagnose mental health conditions.
• Spiritual care is not therapy, according to Spiritual Care Australia, which says any change comes about through the person's own agency. Nor is it a means of spreading the practitioner's own faith.
• Mediumship is not counselling. The Spiritualists' National Union in Britain says the purpose of mediumship is to offer proof of survival, not to predict, advise or counsel.

Traditions and lineage

Counselling is one of several helping professions. PACFA places psychotherapy within a group of disciplines that includes counselling, psychology, psychiatry, social work, mental health nursing and pastoral care, and notes that counselling and psychotherapy are provided by psychologists, social workers, occupational therapists, nurses, doctors and psychiatrists as well as by counsellors and psychotherapists.

Spiritual and pastoral care draws on older sources. Spiritual Care Australia notes that many forms of spiritual care grow out of wisdom, religious or philosophical traditions, and may include prayer, meditation, ritual, stillness or deep listening. Its code of conduct was prepared with reference to the code of the United Kingdom Board of Healthcare Chaplaincy and to a common code of ethics for chaplains, pastoral counsellors, pastoral educators and students drawn up by the Spiritual Care Collaborative in the United States.

Context

Within Spiritualism

Spiritualist bodies draw a clear line between mediumship and counselling. The Spiritualists' National Union says mediumship is for proof of survival and not for advice or counselling, and the National Spiritualist Association of Churches (NSAC) in the United States tells its spiritual healers not to give psychological counselling unless they hold a licence to do so.

Pastoral counselling by ministers is a different matter. The NSAC code of ethics, which covers its ministers, mediums and healers, has a section on pastoral relationships and counselling. Among other things, it asks them not to neglect church members, to arrange help from another professional when they can't assist, to make only realistic statements about what pastoral counselling, healing or mediumship can achieve, to continue counselling only while it is clearly of benefit, and not to exploit people's trust or dependence. It also asks them to keep pastoral records locked away and to keep confidences except where the law requires otherwise. In London, the Spiritualist Association of Great Britain lists bereavement, spiritual and relational counselling among the sessions offered by practitioners at its premises.

In Australian Spiritualism

The Canberra Spiritualist Association lists among its objectives providing spiritual counselling, guidance, healing and upliftment to those who need and ask for them. In Western Australia, one of the accredited healing mediums profiled by the Spiritualists National Union of WA lists "Spiritual Counsellor" among her own qualifications. That is a personal qualification, not a service the Union says it offers.

A Spiritualist perspective

Anyone who serves in a Spiritualist church will meet people carrying grief or trouble, and a Spiritualist would want to be clear about which kind of help is being given. A message from the platform is offered as evidence that life goes on; it is not counselling, and a medium who starts advising a grieving person on how to live has stepped outside the work. Pastoral care from a minister or a trusted member of the church is different again, and it carries real responsibility.

From a Spiritualist point of view, personal responsibility applies to the helper as much as to the person seeking help. Know the limits of your training, listen more than you speak, keep confidences, never trade on someone's grief or dependence, and be quick to suggest a qualified counsellor, a registered health practitioner or a crisis line when what a person carries is more than you can safely hold.

Counselling in Australia

A self-regulated profession

Counselling and psychotherapy are self-regulated in Australia. No national law or regulator sets requirements for them; instead, counsellors and psychotherapists can register with industry membership associations, subject to those associations' requirements. The Australian Counselling Association (ACA) notes that "counsellor", "psychotherapist" and "therapist" are not protected titles, and that counsellors choose whether to join a voluntary professional association.

PACFA and the ACA are the two peak bodies, and together they set up the Australian Register of Counsellors and Psychotherapists (ARCAP). healthdirect suggests checking that a counsellor belongs to a professional body such as the ACA, ARCAP or PACFA. PACFA says its registered counsellors hold an undergraduate or postgraduate counselling qualification and are expected to keep up professional development and supervision.

By contrast, registration with the Psychology Board of Australia is compulsory for anyone who practises as a psychologist or uses that title.

Training

The national CHC51015 Diploma of Counselling describes counsellors as working with clients on personal and psychological issues using established counselling approaches. At diploma level, it says, the counsellor works in defined and supported roles within established agencies rather than in independent practice. No licensing or certification requirements apply to the qualification.

National standards

The Australian Government made a commitment in May 2023 to develop national standards for the two professions. This followed a 2021 parliamentary committee inquiry that had reservations about self-regulation and noted the lack of agreement among membership associations on the study and experience needed for registration. The National Standards for Counsellors and Psychotherapists were released on 13 October 2025. They cover education and training, professional practice, ethics, competency, diversity and inclusion, and quality assurance, and consultation on how to put them into effect was to begin in late 2025. The standards describe three career stages. The first is linked to qualifications at Australian Qualifications Framework levels 5 and 6, such as a diploma or advanced diploma; the second and third to levels 7 to 9, from a bachelor degree to a master's degree, with the third stage for counsellors who have more than 750 hours of client contact.

Codes of conduct

PACFA notes that self-regulating health professions are also covered by a national code of conduct being put in place by the states and territories, which sets minimum standards and allows action, including prohibition orders, against a practitioner who puts the public at risk. In Tasmania, for example, the Code of Conduct for Unregistered Health Care Workers began on 24 June 2026, and the Health Complaints Commissioner names counsellors among the workers it covers.

Spiritual care

Spiritual Care Australia describes itself as the national peak body for spiritual care, including chaplaincy and pastoral care, with members in health and aged care, the defence forces, education, emergency services, corrections and other sectors. It credentials spiritual care practitioners by looking at five things: grounding in a religious, philosophical, wisdom or cultural tradition; supervised reflective practice and ongoing professional supervision; spiritual care training and capabilities; workplace experience; and how these come together in the person's practice. Applicants are asked to explain how spiritual care may differ from religious care and from therapies such as counselling, social work or psychology.

Safety and good practice

• In a crisis. Anyone in immediate danger, including from thoughts of suicide, should call triple zero (000); Lifeline can be reached on 13 11 14.
• Choosing a counsellor. Check that the counsellor belongs to a professional body, and ask about their experience and approach. If you don't feel you are making progress, or the counsellor isn't right for you, raise it openly with them or change counsellors.
• Working within scope and referring on. The national standards expect counsellors to work only within their training, experience and competence, to watch for risks such as suicidal thoughts, self-harm and signs of trauma, and to seek help or refer the client to another professional when needed. healthdirect notes that some situations are better supported by a psychologist or doctor. Spiritual Care Australia's code likewise asks practitioners to work within their limits and refer on where necessary.
• Medical care. Tasmania's code says unregistered health care workers must not discourage anyone from seeking or continuing medical treatment, and must not make false claims about curing serious illness.
• Consent and confidentiality. Under the national standards, the client is told the purpose, risks, limits and costs of counselling at or before the first meeting, gives written consent, and may stop at any time; the counsellor explains the limits of confidentiality. healthdirect notes that confidentiality has exceptions, such as when someone is thought to be at risk of harm.
• Boundaries. The standards ask counsellors to avoid dual relationships where they can and to manage them carefully where they can't, such as in small rural communities; not to practise when affected by alcohol or drugs; and not to have a sexual relationship with a former client, or anyone closely related to one, for at least five years. Spiritual Care Australia stresses the imbalance of power in spiritual care and forbids exploiting people, imposing beliefs, sexualised behaviour and misusing a person's money.
• Touch in ritual. Spiritual Care Australia's code says touch must be used with sensitivity, ritual touch should be explained and permission obtained, and contact must stop at once if the person shows discomfort or asks.
• Children and young people. The national standards say counsellors should respect a young person's confidentiality unless there is a risk of significant harm or a legal requirement, and share information with parents, carers or teachers only with the young person's full agreement. Spiritual Care Australia asks for special care with children and other vulnerable people. Under the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations, organisations that work with children screen staff and volunteers for suitability and meet the child safe requirements of their state or territory.
• Looking after the practitioner. The national standards build in regular supervision, which attends to the counsellor's own self-care as well as the client's outcomes, along with yearly professional development. Spiritual Care Australia's code also reminds practitioners that touch can pass on infection.

Common questions

Is a counsellor the same as a psychologist?

No. A psychologist must be registered with the Psychology Board of Australia to use that title, and healthdirect notes that psychologists have extended training and are regulated through Ahpra, which counsellors are not.

Do I need a referral to see a counsellor?

You can contact a counsellor directly and book an appointment without a referral, though a doctor can suggest counsellors.

Are counsellors regulated in Australia?

Not by law: the profession regulates itself through membership associations such as PACFA and the ACA, and "counsellor" is not a protected title. National standards for the profession were released in October 2025.

What is pastoral or spiritual care?

Spiritual Care Australia describes it as care for people's beliefs, values and search for meaning, offered by practitioners such as chaplains and pastoral carers to people of any faith or none. It says spiritual care is not therapy.

Is what I say kept confidential?

healthdirect says a counsellor must keep what you tell them private and should talk about confidentiality at the first session, but there are exceptions, such as when someone may be at risk of harm.

Related modalities

• Spiritual healing
• Art therapy
• Psychosomatic therapy
• Neuro-linguistic programming
• Meditation
• Mediumship
• Coaching

Further reading

• Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. National standards for counsellors and psychotherapists: Summary report. Australian Government, 2025.
• healthdirect. "Counsellors and counselling". Healthdirect Australia, 2025.
• Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia. "Counselling and Psychotherapy Definitions". PACFA.
• Spiritual Care Australia. Code of Conduct for Spiritual Care Practitioners. 2025.
• Spiritual Care Australia. "What do Spiritual Care Practitioners do?".