To apply for First Time Accreditation, an applicant must:

1. Be covered by professional indemnity insurance.
2. Have current IACP Garda Vetting in place. Please apply for the Garda Vetting at the time of submitting your documentation for First Time Accreditation, or contact 01 230 35 36 to check if your existing IACP Garda Vetting is current and valid. 
3. Qualified for at least one year but no later than five from an IACP Accredited Counselling/Psychotherapy Course or equivalent. The criteria for non-IACP Accredited courses are listed below. Please include a cover letter with your application if you are applying outside of the accepted timeframes.
4. Have completed 450 hours of client contact work with an Accredited Supervisor (IACP, BACP* or IAHIP) post 100 trainee hours required on the course (post 120 trainee hours if the course began September 2020 or later). The ratio of supervision will be dependent on your membership category. Please see Supervision Requirements for more details.
   
5. Have worked with the same Supervisor for at least 12 months post qualifying - this Supervisor will sign off on your application as a whole. IACP, BACP* or IAHIP** Accredited supervisors only.

*BACP Accredited status plus supervisor qualification. These requirements are due to the BACP reconfiguring membership categories (16/10/2023) – if contracting with a BACP Accredited Supervisor, please ensure that the above criteria are met. If you have any queries regarding a pre-existing contract, please contact the IACP.

**IACP shall authorise IAHIP accredited supervisors who are accredited supervisors [operating under European Association of Psychotherapy (EAP) guidelines]

What you will need to complete the application for First Time Accreditation 

1. IACP Membership Number if applicable
2. Name of your Insurance Company, your Professional Liability Insurance policy number and expiry date
3. Photocopy of your core course certificate signed by your supervisor
4. If your core course is non-IACP Accredited course then you will need documentation from the course provider as indicated above
5. The number of client contact hours done over a period of time, the place of practice and the nature of that client work
6. The number of supervision hours done over the same period of time, the name of the supervisor and whether supervision was a group or individual supervision
7. Your Philosophy of Counselling - an essay style question between 400 and 500 words. This should describe your personal and theoretical Counselling/Psychotherapy philosophy and show it is congruent with your current Counselling / Psychotherapy practice.
8. Name, address and qualification(s) of current Supervisor. (Your current Supervisor is the supervisor you have at the time you apply for accreditation)
9. Commitment to Professional Development. The applicant needs to submit a minimum of 10 hours CPD activities completed 12 months prior applicaiton, as per IACP CPD Policy (3 hours could be Supervision received).
10.  A Supervisors Report Form for each Supervisor listed on your application. This form can be downloaded from the box on the left.

Accreditation application processing fee is €155.00 (once off non-refundable payment). 

IACP membership runs from January 1st to December 31st each year.  The cost of IACP Accredited membership is €309 per annum.

If you apply for membership during the year, a reduced pro rata fee will apply and will cover membership only until December 31st. The full membership fee will apply for the following year. 

IACP Payment Terms

• The application form for first-time accreditation can be acessed using the 'Apply Now' button on this page.
• The form will be emailed as an attachment to the email address entered.
• Payment of the application processing fee is required prior to receiving the application form.
• The application processing fee is not refundable.
• Once an application request is received an email receipt is sent to the Applicant. Please make sure that the email address is correct on your application and it is an address that you check regularly.
• Fully completed applications are assessed by the Accreditation Department and the Accreditation Committee, if necessary.
• When approved, a confirmation email and a printable PDF version of your Certificate of Accreditation will be sent to you. 
• Only fully completed applications will be processed. Incomplete applications will be rejected.
• Any inaccurate or false information or omission of information on an application form shall render that application invalid.
  
  Application Processing Times
• If there are no queries on the application this process will take approximately 3 months.
• If there is a query on the application, you will be notified by email and the application will be reviewed by the Accreditation Committee. If this happens then it may take longer than 3 months to process.
• If an application is not complete or additional information is required then the processing time may be longer.
• At certain times of the year or if the volume of applications is high it may take longer for your application to be processed.

Accredited Members are required to:

1. Abide by the IACP Code of Ethics and Practice and are subject to the IACP Complaints Procedure
2. Meet IACP requirements for supervision for Accredited Members. 
3. Maintain a CPD log annually
4. IACP Accreditation is for a period of 1 year and is dependent on the annual membership fee being paid on time and obtaining the IACP Garda Vetting
5. After 1 year the IACP Accredited Member is required to make a formal application to renew their Accredited Membership

See the Renewal of Accreditation page for full details on the requirements for IACP Accredited Members.