For referrers
For an employer, a school, an NGO, an employee assistance programme or a general practitioner deciding whether to refer someone to a member of HICS, or to engage one.
Check the directory first
HICS publishes a directory of its members. A listing shows the designation, the entry qualification with its discipline and NQF level, the recorded fields of practice, any advanced practice, supervision status and standing. If a person is not listed as current, they are not a current member.
No member has yet been admitted, so nobody is listed, and any claim to HICS membership made today is false.
A designation is valid only while the listing shows the member in good standing. Its use must cease immediately on lapse, suspension, downgrade or revocation.
What a designation tells you
Admission as a HICS Accredited Counsellor requires all six: a qualification, recognised counselling training, 200 supervised practical hours, five personal counselling sessions, a fit-to-practise declaration and a pass in the written board examination. The evidence each one needs is on the application page.
HICS Accredited Counsellor is the entry designation, HICS Accredited Senior Counsellor recognises five years in good standing and a contribution to the profession, and HICS Accredited Supervisor is the authorisation to supervise other members, held by a Senior Counsellor; experienced supervisors HICS accredits directly are listed on the Approved Supervisor Directory without holding the designation. Every member is a practising counsellor, so the designation always signifies the same thing.
If your need is specific, look for the field of practice on the listing: trauma, children and adolescents, couples, or substance use. The scope of practice sets out the four fields and the areas of advanced practice that carry a title, and what keeps a member in good standing each year is on its own page.
Before you write the role, or the request
Ten absolute limitations hold for every member, regardless of qualification, experience or employer instruction. A member instructed to cross one is required to refuse, and the duty to refer applies. The ten are published in full.
This is worth knowing at the point a job description or a service agreement is drafted rather than at the point it is declined. If the work needs a diagnosis, psychotherapy or psychometric testing, it needs a practitioner registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA).
Referral is the competence
A member who tells you the work is beyond them is not failing at it. Referral is a condition of membership and a competence in its own right.
What to require in your own engagement
A role must not leave the member unsupervised. Supervision is a continuing condition of membership: at least 3 hours every quarter, plus ad hoc supervision for difficult or high-risk cases, confirmed by the supervisor at every renewal, or at the senior designation by a peer declaration. Work with clients under 18 carries its own conditions.
Cover is strongly recommended and is the member’s own choice and cost: HICS does not fund it and cannot require it. If your organisation needs a member to be covered, require it in your own contract.
Keep the answers you are given. They are the record of what you were told, and they are what a complaint would rest on.
Where responsibility sits
Responsibility for a client rests with the member at all times. Supervision informs the member’s judgement; it does not transfer responsibility. A supervisor’s confirmation at renewal confirms that supervision took place and is not a warranty of the member’s competence or conduct.
The mandated disclaimer and the non-statutory statement apply to every designation. Both are in the footer of this page.
If you have a concern about a member
Anyone may raise a concern, an employer or a supervisor included, about an alleged breach of the Code of Professional Conduct, the Membership Rules, the Scope of Practice or the conditions of membership. HICS keeps jurisdiction over conduct that occurred while a person was a member, whether or not they remain one.
The Complaints and Disciplinary Procedure has not been adopted, and HICS is not yet receiving complaints. The process it provides for is described on its own page.