European Certificate of Psychotherapy (ECP): A commitment to high quality standards
The European Certificate of Psychotherapy (ECP) serves as the high-standard European benchmark for training in psychotherapy. A total of 128 national professional psychotherapy organizations from 41 European countries—represented within the European Association for Psychotherapy (EAP)—incorporate their respective national or specialty-specific standards while committing to a shared, high level of quality, continuous professional development, and ethical practice.
Furthermore, the ECP is a professional qualification certificate awarded directly by the EAP to psychotherapists who meet the established education and training requirements, thereby recognizing the quality of their professional qualifications in accordance with the European standard.
The value of the ECP is particularly significant, given that the legal and policy frameworks governing psychotherapy—and its various approaches—can vary from one European country to another.
Specifically, the ECP can offer:
Quality assurance when psychotherapists provide services outside their country of residence, whether in person or online.
Facilitation of professional mobility between European countries—whether due to migration or because an individual’s training took place in a different country.
Documentation of professional qualifications and quality assurance in instances where certain psychotherapeutic approaches are marginalized—for example, due to arbitrary and restrictive national legislative regulations.
A declaration of adherence to the values of psychotherapy—potentially in contrast to distorted or skewed national narratives—as well as a commitment to the EAP’s high-standard European reference framework and the Strasbourg Declaration on Psychotherapy.
Since 2015, the Pancyprian Association for Psychotherapists (PAP) has served as the designated National Awarding Organization (NAO), overseeing the awarding of the ECP to psychotherapists in Cyprus.
Mag. Photini Demetriou Ipsmiller
Sociologist, Person-Centered Psychotherapist - Supervisor
Founding Member and Former President of PAP
