About 45,000 psychologists have graduated, who are active professionally, without being supervised by a public body, as has been the case for years for professionals who offer health services to the public, such as doctors, nurses, recently dietitians, etc.
The urgent need to establish a Legal Entity under Public Law, for the regulation of the Psychologist profession in Greece, as is the case in most countries of the European Union, was aimed at highlighting the conference held at Panteion University by the Hellenic Psychological Society.
It is estimated that in Greece, since the establishment of the first university department of Psychology four decades ago and the rest of the university departments later, approximately 45,000 psychologists have graduated, who are active professionally, without being supervised by a public body, as has been the case for years for professionals who offer public health services, such as doctors, nurses, recently dieticians etc.
As it was pointed out during the conference, due to the increased demand for psychological support and treatment that has been observed in recent years and in Greece, especially after the successive social crises, it is necessary to protect the public from the risk of addressing persons inappropriately, who do not they have the formal and essential qualifications to provide psychological help and can carry out dangerous manipulations with effects on the mental health of citizens. The only solution, it was emphasized by the participants at the conference, to this problem is the regulation of the profession through a public body, in which the registration of professionals is mandatory, as is the case with the Medical Association, the Bar Association, the Technical Chamber, etc. and which will guarantee the development and credibility of the profession.
According to an announcement by the Hellenic Psychological Society, the Deputy Minister of Health D. Varzopoulos, the Head of Social Cohesion – Welfare SYRIZA K. Notopoulos and the Deputy Secretary of the PASOK Health Department M. Krokidis were present at the meeting, who agreed that the problem is perennial and the regulation of the Psychologist profession requires broad consent from the State bodies. In his greeting, the Deputy Minister of Health emphasized that the Central Health Council is already working on the matter and that the determination of the framework for the practice of the Psychologist profession through the establishment of the NPDD is among the government’s planned actions.
At the conference, as indicated in the announcement, they were presented in detail
● the significant development in Psychology studies in Greece in recent years, through the undergraduate and postgraduate programs in cutting-edge subjects operating in Greek universities,
● the main axes that a code of ethics must follow in order to keep up with those applied in the international scientific community,
● the integrated framework for practicing the profession of Psychologist which is applied in most countries of the European Union,
● the rationale for the necessity of setting up the National Association of Psychologists, in which the registration of all practicing psychologists will be mandatory, as well as a proposal for a Statute.
The Conference was videotaped and will be posted in the next few days on the Hellenic Psychological Society’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@psy_elpse
Source: Skai
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