Why psychologists are not welcoming of new RCI guidelines 

“The B.Sc. Clinical Psychology (Hons.) of RCI (4 year duration) prepares graduates provide a comprehensive counselling service to individuals and families with acute and/or chronic mental health issues. Graduates from this programme function as registered professionals (with CRR) under the category ‘Counselling Psychologist (Mental Health)’,” the regulations read.

The entry requirement for the programme is students who have completed class 12 with a science stream or equivalent. The course will tentatively commence from August this year with a maximum intake of 30 students per RCI institute.

What are the concerns?

What happens to current counselling psychologists?

Till now there has been no licensing for counselling psychologists in India. Currently, in its Central Rehabilitation Register, the RCI only registers clinical psychologists and rehabilitation psychologists, rehabilitation counsellors or administrators, among 16 other professional categories like audiologists and speech therapists, prosthetists and orthotists, etc.

Paras, who has a decade of experience in counselling services and is Doctoral Scholar in Tata Institute of Social Sciences, says, “India doesn’t have a licensing procedure. It has a body called RCI, which registers clinical psychologists who do Mphil from an RCI approved programme. You get a registration number which makes you eligible to say you are a clinical psychologist. But there has been no such procedure for counselling psychologists. There is no Mphil nor registration body for counselling psychologists in India. Even clinical psychologists who are not from RCI registered programmes do not have any registration.”

So with this new course which formalises counselling psychology and provides registration for practice, the question is what happens to the existing practitioners.

Eligibility requires science background 

As the guidelines mention a requirement of a background in Class 12 science, psychologists point that it is an unfair ask. They are also of the opinion that counselling psychologists should come with an understanding of socio-economic issues which comes with a background in humanities.

“It doesn’t make sense as currently most counselling psychology practitioners are pass outs from the Arts stream. This field is usually taken up by those who have an interest in human affairs. This is the biggest problem with the guidelines,” said Rishabh Anjankar, a counselling psychologist, who has studied at Fergusson, Pune and TISS, Mumbai.

“How is it logical that the course will be open only for individuals who are studying science in 11th and 12th. Science students study chemistry, biology, physics, etc. I am a pure humanities student and I studied psychology in junior college. So why should students like me be denied admissions? If you want to give the status of science to psychology, then introduce it in 11th and 12th,” said Rupsa Karmakar, a Phd scholar at TISS.

Fear of the rise in substandard and unethical practitioners 

Experts are of the opinion that a B.sc. degree is not enough of a qualification to allow an individual to practise as a counselling psychologist. Rupsa Karmakar, who did an Mphil from TISS, is pursuing Phd and teaching Psychology, said, “Counselling is a step by step procedure through which an individual realises their potential. If the children themselves are young, how will they counsel adults?”

She also shares that during Master’s a lot of important aspects are taught like conducting tests and assessments, fieldwork, group counselling, etc. “We need to go through more education so we don’t assess individuals in the wrong way. If anybody gets a licence, it becomes a threat”, said Karmakar.

The need for Specialisation 

Gargee Kanhere is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and says the nomenclature of the programme evokes concerns. “There are many branches of psychology with meaningful distinctions in their roles and skill base, and that’s fruitful because we can cater to a variety of population in a specialised way (eg. Clinical, counselling, sports, HR, etc.). This needs to be respected so that each professional has more clarity in the population and issues it caters to and the approach it takes”.

She explains, “The terminologies are distinct in their expertise and are not interchangeable. The more specialised titles of Clinical Psychologist or Counseling Psychologist or Child Psychologist, must be given after further training in one of the distinct branches. At the Graduate level, one can be called a Psychologist to begin with. We can understand this similar to how a Doctor becomes a Paediatrician only after they do a further specialised course in Pediatrics after their graduate training”.

“As per notification, this graduation degree will enable the students to do counselling (General), but they will  do the specialisation (Clinical and Rehabilitation Psychologist) with this basic degree, but cannot work as Clinical and Rehabilitation Psychologist without doing the higher diplomas in concerned areas. If M. A. Psychology degree with said specialisation affiliated/approved by RCI, then students will be counsellors in said areas.”, said Dr. Rajendra Mhaske, HOD, Psychology department, SPPU.