Is my Psychologist really a Psychologist?

Did you know that in the UK, the term ‘psychologist’ is not a legally protected title? This technically means that anyone can call themselves a psychologist, whether they are suitably trained or not. We have found that there are indeed many people online calling themselves a psychologist, without the training and expertise you would expect (many have simply done a psychology course, and some have done some short courses in an area of mental health). Unfortunately due to the title not being protected, many people end up believing they are working with a fully trained psychologist, but they are not. This is of course unethical and can lead to substandard treatment, but unfortunately is not illegal. A further issue is that many of those who call themselves but who actually have little training may not have indemnity insurance, and they will often not have a regulatory body, meaning that they will not need to continue their training and developing their expertise.  

The HCPC (Health Care & Professions Council) regulate practitioner psychologists, and they protect particular psychologist titles. These include Clinical Psychologists and Counselling Psychologists. This means that if someone is calling themselves a Clinical Psychologist for example, they have to be HCPC registered and they will need to have completed both an undergraduate degree plus extensive post graduate training and clinical experience (usually to doctoral level) and continue to engage in continual learning and training throughout their career. 

Dr Theresa Comer is a HCPC registered clinical psychologist and therefore you can be assured that she has the necessary training and clinical experience.