The requirements for membership of and accreditation by APPI and ICP significantly exceed those which are likely to be required when State regulation of Counselling and Psychotherapy eventually comes into force.
All applicants for Full Membership of APPI are required to have completed a recognised post-graduate clinical and academic training programme of four years duration commensurate with the requirements of ICP and EAP. All Full Members of APPI are also members of ICP. The category of Full Membership means that the holder is a Fully Trained and Accredited Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist.
Full members of APPI have an option to go forward for Registered Practitioner status. This is an 'in-house' category of membership whereby APPI recognises a higher level of clinical experience, psychoanalytic insight and understanding. This involves the presentation of clinical work to a panel and a defence of the interpretations and interventions made. Registered Practitioner status is a testimony to the applicant's unique relationship to psychoanalysis as their practice and involvement deepens. Generally, the applicant will have already been on the Conditional Register for at least two years. Thus, the requirements for Registered Practitioner status are even higher than those required for full accreditation by both APPI and the ICP.
The category of Conditional Registered Member refers to a candidate, already a Full Member of APPI and ICP, who has indicated an intention to go forward for the Register of Practitioner Members and is preparing for this for a number of years. The conditional register is only open to Full Members and so they are also already Fully Trained and Accredited Psychoanalytic Practitioners.
No full Member is obliged to undergo this process towards Registered Practitioner status, and the category of Full Membership already implies that the holder is a Fully Trained and Accredited Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist.
Student Members are non-accredited members of APPI. They are undergoing training under supervision.
Associate members are non-accredited members of APPI. They are members out of interest in the association and its projects. In other words, they are affiliates. While they may in fact be fully trained professionals and accredited elsewhere, they do not look to APPI for any accreditation.
All the above membership applications are subject to approval by the Executive Committee and must be accompanied by a signed commitment to the Primary Object and Code of Ethics.