Which is better, Level 2 or Level 3 psychological counseling?

If we only look at the initial level setting of the National Professional Qualification Certificate for Psychological Counselors of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, which was canceled in 2017, the second level is indeed higher in positioning and has stricter assessment requirements than the third level. It is in line with the rules at the time that the second level of the certificate is "more powerful", but if it really corresponds to the actual ability of practitioners, this conclusion may not necessarily hold true.

When this set of certificates was first introduced, Level 3 was a clear entry level. The application threshold was not high. Those with a bachelor's degree in psychology, education, or medicine could directly apply. The exams were all about basic theories and basic skills. After obtaining the certificate, they could only work as consultant assistants and were not qualified to handle cases independently.； The application requirements for Level 2 are much more stringent. You must either have a master's degree in a related major or hold a Level 3 certificate and have 3 years of work experience. In addition to the written examination, you must submit a complete case report and on-site defense. Only after passing it can you get the qualification to practice independently. At that time, the industry also defaulted that Level 2 was a higher entry threshold than Level 3. I just joined the industry in Shenzhen in 2016. When I was working as an administrator at the counseling center, the first post of the recruitment notice for independent consultants clearly required "holding a second-level psychological counselor certificate." Applicants with a third-level certificate could only apply for assistant positions. This was the general consensus at the time, and there was originally a first-level qualification at that time, but a national unified examination had never been organized. The second-level certificate was actually the highest level in the certificate system.

However, this statement that "level two is more powerful than level three" is no longer so absolute in actual consultation scenarios. Think about it, this certificate was stopped in 2017. It has been almost 7 years now. Many practitioners who passed the Level 3 exam have continued to receive training in the years since. They have attended workshops, worked on cases with supervisors, and completed personal experiences. They have accumulated thousands of hours of cases, and their abilities have far exceeded the Level 2 assessment standards back then. ； On the contrary, some people who rushed to take the second-level certificate early did not enter the industry at all after getting the certificate, or they changed careers not long after they started working. They are not even clear about the latest ethical standards. If they really start consulting, they may not be as good as newcomers who have just entered the industry. I had a visitor last year. I had found a counselor with a second-level certificate before. I had two relationships with him without avoiding suspicion of dual relationships. He also wanted to attract people to my WeChat business group. Later, he was referred to our center. The person who took the case was a counselor who had passed the level 3 exam in his early years and had participated in systematic family therapy training for five consecutive years. In less than 3 months, most of the parent-child relationship problems of the visitor were relieved.

To put it bluntly, this old certificate is more like the initial level certificate when taking the driver's license test. Of course it makes a difference whether you took the B certificate or the C certificate. But if you haven't touched the steering wheel for ten years after getting the B certificate, your skills will definitely be inferior to that of an experienced driver who took the C certificate and runs on the road every day. Nowadays, the industry has long gone beyond Level 2 and Level 3 certificates. If you really want to judge whether a consultant can help you, don’t just focus on the certificate level. Ask more about the consultant’s training background, length of case studies, and whether they have regular supervision. On the contrary, it is much more reliable than worrying about Level 2 or Level 3.