Concern over offers of counselling services online by unqualified people

A former psychology undergraduate and a self-professed "ordinary teenager" are among unqualified individuals drawing upon their life experiences to offer counselling services on online marketplace Carousell.

- Lee Li Ying Correspondent

Some of them offer their services for free; others charge between $1 and $70.

These offers of counselling services by the unqualified alarm mental health professionals, who say such individuals may cause more harm than good in people seeking help for their mental well-being.

In addition to concerns over the ethics and risks of improper treatment, the issue is complicated by the fact that the counselling sector is currently unregulated.

While there is a wide range of mental health professionals in Singapore, only psychiatrists, who are medically trained doctors, are regulated by the Singapore Medical Council currently.

Qualified practitioners said they have seen a rise in untrained individuals offering such therapy services on social media and messaging platforms.

The Straits Times referred at least 16 listings of counselling services on Carousell to the Singapore Association for Counselling (SAC), which said it was concerned about the listings.

The listings either do not give clear assurances of proper qualifications, or have misrepresented their services as adequate counselling and mental health interventions and support to potential clients, said the association.

SAC provides guidance on professional and ethical conduct for its over 2,000 members. It has reached out to Carousell to engage the platform on possible safeguards to protect consumers.

Suggestions by SAC include creating a special category for services like counselling, where there would be mandatory fields like qualifications acquired that would need to be filled in before listing.

This is important as Carousell users include "a wide demographic (of people) where awareness and information may not always be readily available to them", said SAC president Andy Lam.