The Australian Counselling Association (ACA) is a non-profit

Non-profit organization

Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...

, professional organisation that is dedicated to the counselling profession. ACA represents professional counsellors in Australia.

Mission

The mission of the Australian Counselling Association is to enhance the quality of life in society by promoting the development of professional counsellors, advancing the counselling profession, and using the profession and practice of counselling to promote respect for human dignity and diversity.

Government accreditation

The counselling profession in Australia is currently not government regulated. Therefore clients are faced with the task of evaluating qualifications of various counsellors and psychotherapists. ACA is one of two industry associations (with PACFA) that is campaigning for government accreditation of counselling in Australia. As of 2010, none of the federal or state jurisdictions are actively considering regulation of the counselling profession. The Council of Australian Governments

Council of Australian Governments

The Council of Australian Governments is an organisation consisting of the federal government, the governments of the six states and two mainland territories and the Australian Local Government Association. It was established in May 1992 after agreement by the then Prime Minister, Premiers and...

(COAG) have agreed that regulation of the counselling profession would only be considered if the public were at serious risk and that those risks could only be ameliorated through a regulatory framework.