E-mail: contact@europeanbcc.eu www.europeanbcc.eu Tel: +351 6898973, ext.

375 Address: EBCC Associacao Alameda das Linhas de Torres, 179 Edificio 27, 2.o # 2 1750-142 LISBOA Portugal

Introduction
European Board for Certified Counselors (EBCC) is an European established non-profit organization, that serves as the regional hub for National Board for Certified Counselors International (NBCC International) activities in Europe. This office helps coordinate and foster counseling certification, training and professional development in the region. It exists as a clearing house for any inquires of a regional nature related to certification, education, training and professional standards in counseling. EBCC encourages the national offices in Europe to work together for creating valuable educational programs in areas of specialization such as Career Counseling, School Counseling, Mental Health Counseling and others that are most useful to countries specific needs. The office also support the national offices to work together in European and international projects, to create relationships with public and private institutions (ministries, universities, counseling associations, businesses and any other institution interested in developing counseling programs and services). Currently, the countries that have a NBCC national office are (in order of the creation): Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, and Romania. The EBCC headquarters are in Lisbon, Portugal. Besides those offices, EBCC has formal agreements with other countries that have not created a NBCC office yet, still try to promote the counseling activities through other means: educational events and programs, networking at the national and international level. Cyprus, Macedonia, Portugal, Turkey are among such countries. The ultimate goal of EBCC is to support the European countries in their efforts to create a strong counseling profession from the creation of the standards of practice and procedures to the creation of a national credentialing scheme, mentor the national leaders and advocate for the profession. NBCC-I and the European Board for Certified Counselors (EBCC) collaborate in a number of ways with leaders in diverse countries and are consistently open to proposals that expand the profession. The majority of collaborations tend to center on three distinct credentials: the National Certified Counselor Country, the Global Career Development Facilitator (GCDF), the Mental Health Facilitator (MHF), and forming NBCC national offices. For developing GCDF programs, CCE works closely with NBCC-I and EBCC and interested universities and organizations worldwide to partner in adapting the curriculum and administrating the certification. The GCDF program has assisted in introducing the concept of career guidance and counseling in a number of countries, and current leaders in this area,

especially in Europe and Asia, count the GCDF as a credential. Currently, partnerships exist in Bulgaria, Canada, China, Cyprus, Germany, Greece, Japan, Korea, Macedonia, New Zealand, Portugal, Romania, Taiwan, and Turkey.

Mission
European Board for Certified Counselors (EBCC) is a division of the National Board for Certified Counselors International (NBCC-I) EBCC promotes: The value of counseling Professionalism in counseling Quality assurance in counseling practice Public awareness of quality counseling practice The value of culturally sensitive counseling Leadership in credentialing

Services and Products The Global Career Development Facilitator (GCDF)

The Global Career Development Facilitator (GCDF) is a certification program developed by the Center for Credentialing & Education (CCE) to offer country-specific standardization and recognition to career development professionals worldwide. GCDF is founded on the Career Development Facilitator project, a collaborative effort initiated in 1997 by the Center for Credentialing & Education (CCE), the National Career Development Association (NCDA) and the National Occupational Information Coordinating Committee (NOICC). Since then, the GCDF program has grown and matured, now offering customization for different nations characteristics, according to country-specific needs. Currently, the GCDF program exists in14 countries: Bulgaria, Canada, China, Cyprus, Germany, Greece, Japan, Korea, Macedonia, New Zealand, Romania, Taiwan, Turkey, and United States. The program is presently under development in Portugal. Global Career Development Facilitators (GCDFs) facilitate clients access to existing professional opportunities in the labor market and assist them in the process of personal and

professional development. GCDFs work in government employment agencies, schools, universities, corporate human resources departments, private consultancy firms, and many other settings. In Europe, the GCDF program has developed in a slightly different direction: GCDF career consultants have the necessary competencies to perform a variety of career interventions within a career counseling like process, work under supervision and are involved in continuous education activities. This phenomenon occurred in response to both the lack of, and need for complex career services in the European countries. In the European and global labor market, the GCDF certification mechanisms help governments, professional associations, and consumers feel assured that they have access to well trained and experienced career development experts.

Supervision
Supervision holds a central role for the training and the continuous development of counselors and other helping professionals. Standards established by accrediting bodies for the training of counselors emphasize that the preparation of students in this domain should occur under intensive supervision (CACREP, 2009). Supervision is a very common task that most practitioners are likely to perform at some point in their career (Bernard & Goodyear, 2009). Professional codes of ethics address this issue by recommending supervisors to continuously improve their abilities in this domain. In line with its mission to promote professionalism and quality assurance in counseling, EBCC developed in collaboration with CCE a certification program that aims to equip supervisors with the basic knowledge, skills and techniques of supervision. This program can equally benefit practitioners from all helping professions with no supervision experience, and supervisors who have not previously had training in this field. It is designed to introduce counselors, as well as other professionals and paraprofessionals to the domain of supervision. The certification program includes participation to the training Basics of Supervision in Helping Professions, a thorough evaluation process and pre-requisites. A successful completion of all requirements leads to a recognition as a Certified Supervision Professional. More than 450 million people globally live with unmet mental health care needs. Existing service resources are overwhelmed and in many areas, there are no services at all. The only possible solution to respond to these needs is to expand service capacity.

The Mental Health Facilitator (MHF)

The Mental Health Facilitator (MHF) program is designed to improve access to mental health care within a given community by educating and training professionals, paraprofessionals and lay people in the basics of mental health. The intent is not to create a new mental health profession, but rather to provide individuals with the tools and skills necessary to identify

mental health needs, make referrals, and work with and support those in need of mental health care. The MHF program was developed by NBCC International and is only introduced at the request of local mental health experts. NBCC-I provides a 30-hour core curriculum, which includes a basic structure for teaching helping skills, working with integrity, diversity awareness, suicide prevention, trauma response, and referral and consultation techniques. To ensure cultural appropriateness, the training program is evaluated and modified as needed to fit cultural norms prior to being presented and has also been translated to other languages as needed.