Debated in Parliament on 7 May 2026.
Dr Charlene Chen asked the Coordinating Minister for Social Policies and Minister for Health with the impending mandatory registration for psychologists, including the subdiscipline of counselling, what measures will be taken to prevent unregistered individuals and companies that hire them from offering counselling and therapy services which remain unregulated.
My reply will also address written Question Nos 9 and 10 raised by the Member in today's Order Paper. [Please refer to "Defining High-Risk Psychological Services and Mandating Unregistered Practitioner Disclosure Under the Psychology Registration Framework", Official Report, 7 May 2026, Vol 96, Issue 31, Written Answers to Questions section.]
The five psychological subdisciplines were selected through structured risk assessments conducted by expert panels of psychologists. These considered the magnitude and probability of harm to clients and patients arising from psychological services provided by clinical, clinical neuropsychology, counselling, educational and forensic psychologists.
Once implemented, the Allied Health Professions Act (AHPA) will protect registered job titles pertaining to the five sub-disciplines and reserve their use for registered psychologists. Unregistered practitioners will not be permitted to use these titles in any context, including in advertisements and service agreements. The Ministry of Health and partner Ministries will also work with the Singapore Psychological Society to raise public awareness of the registered psychological sub-disciplines and their scopes of practice. A register of psychologists will be made publicly available. With this, other unregistered mental health practitioners do not need to explicitly state their status in their advertisements and service agreements.
The Allied Health Professions Council (AHPC) will oversee and enforce psychological practice under the AHPA and AHPC's Code of Professional Conduct. Enforcement action will be taken against errant practitioners or those falsely claiming to be registered psychologists.
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