What no member may do

Ten absolute limitations.

These hold at every tier, for every member, with no exceptions, regardless of qualification, experience or employer instruction.

  1. 01Diagnose any mental, psychological or psychiatric condition, or use diagnostic language to characterise a client’s difficulty.
  2. 02Provide psychotherapy or any psychotherapeutic intervention.
  3. 03Administer, score or interpret psychometric tests of any kind.
  4. 04Advise on, prescribe, adjust or comment on medication.
  5. 05Use the title “Psychologist” or “Registered Counsellor”, or any other title regulated by the Health Professions Act 56 of 1974, or hold themselves out as registered with the HPCSA.
  6. 06Prepare forensic, medico-legal or court reports, or offer expert opinion in legal proceedings on a client’s psychological state.
  7. 07Conduct capacity assessments under the Mental Health Care Act.
  8. 08Provide medical detoxification or manage withdrawal.
  9. 09Practise independently in an inpatient setting.
  10. 10Practise without current supervision. A member whose supervision lapses is not entitled to see clients under a HICS designation until it is restored.

When the work reaches a limitation

Referral is the competence, not the failure.

A limitation is not a gap in a member's ability. It is the edge of what any member may do under this designation. Recognising the edge and referring across it is itself a required competence, and members hold a curated referral directory of HPCSA-registered professionals for exactly this.

Employer instruction

An employer's instruction cannot override any limitation, and cannot override a mandatory reporting duty. A member instructed to cross one of these lines is required to refuse.

For the public

If a member has done any of the ten things on this page, that is a matter for the complaints process, and HICS retains jurisdiction over conduct during membership even if membership has since ended.

Raise a concern