Section Access and Quality Control in the Training of Professionals in Children's and Adolescents' Psychotherapy (AZA-KJP)

Goals and Contents

The 1998 psychotherapists' law (PsychThG) which only applies to practitioners who are not medical doctors, established two new professions: the psychological psychotherapist (PPT) and the children's and adolescents' psychotherapist (KJP). While only graduate psychologists may enter the former profession, practitioners in the social professions may enter the state-approved course of training for the latter in order to become accredited children's and adolescents' psychotherapists. Most of them hold university or applied university degrees in social work, social pedagogy, pedagogy, and therapeutic education. Furthermore, various federal states in Germany accept candidates from other social professions. The law therefore acknowledged an existing situation in which children's and adolescents' psychotherapy had been (and continues to be) decisively developed and practiced by pedagogues. While the PsychThG law clearly assumes an equal professional status of psychologists and pedagogues when it comes to accrediting practitioners, policy motivated discussions continue to raise the question of how much clinically relevant knowledge and experience with patients are required to train as a psychological psychotherapist or children's and adolescent's psychotherapist.

An initiative founded by members of the federal chamber of psychotherapists, lecturers at universities of applied sciences, and the deans' conference on social work investigated the accreditation process for social professions, especially in light of the new conditions that emerge from the academic reform in Germany (Bologna Process) and of the standards for medical and psychological trainings in psychotherapy. In 2005, the initiative developed into a constant section »Section for admitting practitioners to train in children's and adolescents' psychotherapy« (AZA-KJP). Under the auspices of delegates of the German Society for Social Work, participants included delegates of the German Professional Association for Social Work, of the professional association for therapeutic education, the chamber of psychotherapists, of the psychotherapists' professional associations, the universities of applied science, the deans' conference for social work and therapeutic education, the central office for clinical social work and several training institutes for children's and adolescents' psychotherapy.

After extensive discussions, participants recognized that the M.A. degree alone can continue to grant accreditation in the social professions. It was decided that a catalogue of specific criteria should reduce the vast heterogeneity of courses of study in consecutive and further education that intend to offer accreditation to its graduates in children's and adolescents' psychotherapy. The catalogue continued to be modified over the course of ensuing interdisciplinary and inter professional discussions, and is attached to this website. A close look at the document reveals that this catalogue does not represent a one-way street. The inclusion of psychological contents does not result in a narrow understanding of the pedagogical-social profile. Rather, it would be desirable if M.A. degrees for psychologists specializing in children's and adolescents' psychotherapy included a much greater focus on the pedagogical and social aspects of the catalogue instead of insisting on a narrow approximation of clinical psychology

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