A certificate course in psychology is not sufficient to work as a psychotherapist. To work as a psychologist, you need a university education with a consecutive Master's degree. Nevertheless, you can of course also offer psychological services with other psychological training at an institute of psychology, for example in the context of other counseling, nursing, social or medical activities, but not under the title of "psychologist".

Psychologist is a university profession that requires a degree and can also prescribe medication. Psychotherapist, on the other hand, is a further education profession. "Psychologist vs. psychotherapist" are therefore different professions. This is because this profession can be practiced after completing four to six years of in-service training. After this, you can treat people with mental disorders and illnesses by means of therapeutic counseling. The difference between "psychologist vs. psychotherapist" therefore lies in the training.

If you are already working in counseling or psychotherapy, you can continue your education, further training and become a couples therapist in this field. However, if you are looking for a basic training course that will provide you with in-depth training in family, couple and partner therapy, we recommend a longer course that will also give you recognition from the SGfB, the Swiss Association for Counseling. With training recognized by the association, you can become self-employed and start working as a counsellor.

Within these individual sub-disciplines of art therapy, there is a whole range of interesting training and further education opportunities in Switzerland, both in the form of short seminars lasting several days, intensive basic or advanced courses or full courses leading to the higher professional examination. People who are not sure whether training to become an art therapist is really the right decision can, for example, first attend an introductory course or a basic course to get an idea of whether this professional field actually corresponds to their own interests and inclinations. People who are already sure that they would like to pursue a career in the educational or social field, or would like to expand their current work in these areas, have the opportunity to train in basic training, for example as a painting therapist, in body-oriented music or in movement therapy. Such training courses are basic training courses that last around two to three years and provide participants with the knowledge they need to work as an art therapist in an institution or in their own painting studio. It is then possible to continue training in this specialist area and obtain recognition from one of the professional associations (GPK, FIAC, SVAKT, VDT, ARAET, APSAT, BTK), which enables them to be recognized by health insurance companies. This can be a corresponding further training course with professional experience, or a higher professional examination with a corresponding specialization - such as art therapy.