Licensing and Registration

Professional

• Professionals-Foreign trained PhD. /Psych.D or Masters in Psychology/Counselling about to do internship
• Provisional members-
• Interns-Masters in Psychology/Counselling about to do internship

Paraprofessional

Lay Practitioner

Psychologist Assistant

For the pathway to registration flow chat, click the button below.

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According to Subsection 125 (1) The registration shall be renewed by the practitioner on or before the 31st December for the following calendar year. It is renewable every year. All practitioners need to accrue CPD (Continuing Professional Development) points to enable them renew their license.

Full Renewal

For full membership renewal forms, click the button below.

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Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is the process by which members of profession maintain and improve their knowledge and skills to remain competent in their chosen profession for the benefit of themselves, their clients or patients and the wider profession.

Click the button below for more information on CPD.

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Members who have been licensed by the Council are considered to be in good standing when they have successfully renewed their membership by paying the renewal fee and submitting a renewal form with all the required information. The names of these members are published in the Gazette as Members in good standing with the Council.

1. Benefits to you as an individual
2. Benefits to Employers
3. Benefits to Profession
4. Benefit to the public and Country

Benefits to You as an Individual




Along with the sense of professional accomplishment, there are many benefits to achieving Registration: Along with the sense of professional accomplishment, there are many benefits to achieving Registration:

• Registration is an indicator of your professional status. It demonstrates your commitment to best practice and to the development of competence within the industry.


• Registration establishes that your knowledge, understanding and competence within the field of applied psychological services have fulfilled local and international standards.


• As a registered member you will have an advantage over your unregistered peers throughout your career progression.


• Members of the public will now have greater confidence in your profession. They will know that your professional standing and qualifications have been independently verified.


• You will be able to remain updated in your knowledge, keep up with development in your field and enhance your  ‘fitness to practice’; and enhance professional satisfaction.


• You will be supported in your work through a code of professional conduct and ethics which is developed in consultation with the professionals.


• It also protects the reputation of the professions by having a formal disciplinary procedure for dealing with professionals who do not meet the standards expected of them.


• As a member of GPC you get advice, support, and opportunities for training and development.


• Peer Recognition: By registering you receive recognition from the GPC that you meet the minimum requirements expected of a professional person. This recognition extends to colleagues, as well as all other practitioners in the profession.


• Public Confidence: The professional recognition you receive by becoming a member of the GPC instils a sense of confidence in the mind of the public, since they can be assured that your competence has been assessed by the only regulatory body in Ghana – Ghana Psychology Council.


• Membership of Corporate Body: It facilitates your membership of a corporate body. This is because you are required to register as a professional, paraprofessional or lay practitioner before you can be granted corporate membership.


• International Recognition: As a member of GPC you are also part of internationally recognized Professionals, Paraprofessionals or Lay Practitioners that provide psychological services. This not only confirms your attainment of academic qualification, but also enhances your marketability.


• Marketability: More and more employers are requiring registration with the GPC as a prerequisite for appointment to certain positions. If you do not register, you will find it increasingly difficult to find employment in responsible health sector positions.


• Exclusive Use of Reserved Names: If you are registered with GPC you can legally use the title of your profession. When you register, Act 857 entitles you to use the title psychologist or counsellor or lay practitioner to describe your particular type of registration. Using any of these reserved names if you are not registered with the GPC is a criminal offense.


• Statutory Empowerment: The Health Profession Act, 2013, (Act 857 of 2013) as well as other Acts such as the Domestic Violence Act, 2007 and Mental Health Act 2012 provide for the reservation of work of psychologists and provision of psychological services for the exclusive performance by registered persons

Benefits to Employers



• Confidence
  • Ensures that you have attained and maintained a certain level of acceptable standard of knowledge, skills and experience. Since not all employers necessarily have psychology background, registration is widely regarded as an additional and objective indication of competence.
  • Verification of your credentials and evidence that you have satisfied full assessment of your competence
  • Ensuring that practitioners that are employed are the best available and will offer the best care
  • Promotion can depend more consistently on evidence of professional development.
  • Assurance that you adhere to a professional code of conduct.
  • Assurance of professionalism.


• Recourse
  • In the event of improper conduct by an employee registered with the GPC, employers can lodge a complaint with the GPC. “Improper conduct” is defined as ranging from incompetence to gross negligence. The GPC will then investigate the complaint on its own merits and take appropriate action. An employer’s benefit lies in the fact that a finding of “guilty” by the GPC may provide grounds for dismissal.


• Marketability
  • The public – potential clients – respond well to the fact that an organisation employs professional people as a matter of principle.


• Compliance
  • Act 857 of 2013 and its regulations, holds employers responsible for employing qualified personnel. By appointing an appropriately registered person, the employer not only takes appropriate action aimed at safeguarding the public, but is also complying with statutory requirements

Benefits to Profession

• Professional Status
  • Systems of professional registration are common in Ghana and across the world, and are generally recognised as conferring professional status onto those registered under said system.
  • The GPC provides the recognised registration system for psychologists, paraprofessionals and lay practitioners in Ghana


• Public Recognition
  • The informed public recognises the value of professional registration, as it affords them an additional measure of protection and assurance.

Benefit to the Public and Country



• Public Safety
  • Guarantees them the assurance of quality of care and safety in practice by practitioners.
  • The GPC sees itself in partnership with the State as, apart from precautionary measures taken by the country in its own right, registration serves as an additional safeguard against unsafe practices. This is the practitioners’ contribution towards promoting public safety, health and interests.


• Professional Standards
  • Ever-increasing globalisation, and Ghana’s participation in it, has made it critical for this country to become competitive at an international level. Registration with an organisation contributes substantially to this process, and the GPC’s continued recognition is a very important part of the maintenance of high standards.


• Request for attestation


• Complaints