Provisional Membership - Pre-Approval Pathway for Students

Are you a counselling student in your final semester of study?

With our pre-approval pathway, you can now submit your NZCCA Provisional Membership application during your final semester of study. With the pre-approval pathway, you can submit your application (apart from final qualification documents) and have it processed and reviewed prior to the end of study. This means:

  • Faster application turnaround time
  • Ability to inform potential employers of Provisional Membership pending completion of study
  • Smoother transition from study to employment

This pathway is only for current students who are about to complete their Bachelor of Counselling studies at an NZ-based training institution.

The pre-approval application pathway

The appropriate application for you to complete is our Provisional Membership Application.

At the time of application submission, you will need to:

  • Meet the eligibility criteria for Provisional Membership, including:
    • Have completed at least 200 practicum hours
    • Have been seeing your NZCCA-approved external supervisor for at least six months prior to applying, at a ratio of at least 1 supervision session per 20 client hours, or monthly (whichever comes first)
  • Be in your final semester of study
  • Have your Supervisor’s Form attached to your application, which must be no more than one month old at the time of application submission (it should be the final addition prior to submission).
  • Have completed the Provisional Membership application in its entirety, except for the ‘Qualifications’ section:
    • You do not yet need to attach uploads of your academic transcript, qualification certificate, and letter from training institution verifying practicum hours (three documents) at this stage
    • You do need to fill out the questions outlining your qualification(s)

The Membership Coordinator will be in contact with you should the Membership Committee require additional information, any clarification, or the resubmission of any questions. Application pre-approval cannot be granted until these have been resolved.

Having your application pre-approved does not make you an NZCCA Provisional Member until the above qualification documentation is received and confirmed. You may not advertise yourself as an NZCCA Provisional Member until you receive final confirmation. You may only inform potential employers that you “have received pre-approval of NZCCA Provisional Membership pending final acceptance”.

Gaining final acceptance of Provisional Membership

After the completion of study and in order to confirm Membership approval, you will need to email the Membership Coordinator (Hannah Acheson, hacheson@nzcca.org.nz) the following:

  • Uploads of your academic transcript, evidence of study completion and pending graduation, and letter from your training institution verifying practicum hours (three documents)
  • Total practicum hours (if changed)

Upon receipt of this information and its review, your Membership will be fully approved and you will receive final confirmation. The Membership Committee reserves the right to revoke pre-approval if this documentation does not meet the qualification requirements. Additional information will be requested from applicants with unfamiliar qualifications in an attempt to prevent this.

You must maintain supervision between the pre-approval and gaining final acceptance (and onwards into Provisional Membership) at a ratio of 1 supervision session per 20 client hours, or monthly (whichever comes first). We may contact your supervisor to confirm this continuity.

For more information about our ongoing Supervision requirements, please see our Supervision Requirements webpage.

Further Help

The above information all presumes an approved application. On rare occasions, some applications are declined. These are usually due to the eligibility requirements or reviewing standards not being met. If this happens, we will communicate the reasons and remedies (if any) to the applicant.

If you have any questions about the pre-approval pathway, please email the Membership Coordinator (Hannah Acheson, hacheson@nzcca.org.nz).

Some helpful webpages: