Increased oversight of Hong Kong counsellors advised in light of misbehavior incident
In the wake of recent concerns, experts suggest it's high time Hong Kong sets up a legal registration system for counselors and grants legal exemptions to professional organizations to publicly reveal wrongdoings. After a body held back from revealing a member expelled for misconduct, Professor Chui Yat-hung warned of the potential risks.
Chui, president of the Hong Kong Professional Counselling Association, emphasized the urgency of statutory regulations. "It's a dangerous game we're playing when anyone can call themselves a counselor without facing legal consequences," he said. Unqualified individuals posing as counselors could pose a potential threat to public safety.
Currently, the lack of a registration system leaves professional bodies powerless to act beyond resignation or expulsion when counselors engage in misconduct. As a result, even in cases leading to expulsion, organizations find themselves unable to warn the public about the individual involved.
Chui argued for a registration system to create a publicly accessible official list of certified practitioners. This would not only enable residents to find appropriate services but also protect them from unqualified practitioners.
While Hong Kong is currently enhancing its counselor regulation system, the specifics of the current registration process and regulations are not widely published. However, it's known that professional organizations like the Hong Kong Professional Counselling Association (HKPCA) have members who adhere to certain ethical standards.
Professional organizations such as the Hong Kong Association of Educational Psychologists (HKAEP) and Hong Kong Institute of Clinical Psychologists (HKICP) also play significant roles. They administer registers for educational and clinical psychologists and handle complaints, ensuring continuous improvement in professional competency. These organizations are re-accredited every four years, maintaining standards set by their respective accreditation schemes.
In cases where misconduct appears, addressing the issue might rely on internal disciplinary procedures within the professional organization, rather than legal restrictions. However, specific legal exemptions or detailed mechanisms for addressing professional misconduct are not explicitly stated in available information.
Strengthening counselor regulations in Hong Kong and building public trust is a pressing concern. While professional organizations play a key role in maintaining ethical standards and handling complaints, a clear legal framework for these processes is yet to be defined.
- Society may be misled when unqualified individuals falsely represent themselves as counsellors, a risk that emphasizes the need for a legal registration system in Hong Kong, according to Chui Yat-hung.
- Chui, the president of the Hong Kong Professional Counselling Association, suggests that a registration system would create an official list of certified practitioners, allowing residents to find appropriate health-and-wellness, mental-health, therapies-and-treatments services and protect them from unqualified practitioners.
- Current regulations in Hong Kong do not widely publish specifics of the registration process or legal exemptions for professional organizations to publicly reveal wrongdoings, making it challenging for organizations to warn the public about expelled or misconduct counselors.
- To protect the public interest, it is crucial to publish and define the legal framework for counselor registration, misconduct complaints, and related legal exemptions, as emphasized by Chui.
- The Hong Kong Professional Counselling Association, Hong Kong Association of Educational Psychologists, and Hong Kong Institute of Clinical Psychologists are key professional bodies in Hong Kong dedicated to maintaining ethical standards, administering registers for specific professions, handling complaints, and improving professional competency, albeit not always with detailed legal procedures for addressing misconduct.
