How does CPD certification work in the library?

Created by Colette Kelly, Modified on Tue, 25 Aug at 2:37 PM by Colette Kelly

At a Glance

Lectures carry between 1 and 1.5 CPD hours, depending on the lecture. After watching, you submit a self-certification declaration and your certificate is generated instantly. All your certificates are collated in one place — ready when your professional body asks for evidence.

How it works

Watch the lecture — at your pace, in whichever format suits you.

Submit a self-certification declaration — confirming you've completed the lecture and reflected on it.

Download your certificate — generated instantly, professionally designed, and bearing the lecturer's signature, the topic, and the date.

Find it later in your Certificates section — every certificate you have ever earned is collated there.

CPD hours per lecture

Lectures are between 1 and 1.5 CPD hours, depending on the length of the individual lecture. Your certificate states the hours for that lecture, and your running total is visible in your Certificates section.

CPD hours and client practice hours are different things

This catches people out, so it is worth being clear about.

CPD hours are the learning you undertake, and that is what the certificates in the library evidence.

Client practice hours are the hours you spend working with clients. If you are working towards accreditation with a body such as BACP, the required number of practice hours is counted separately.

CPD hours do not contribute towards your client practice hours, and practice hours do not count as CPD. Accreditation applications generally ask for evidence of both, so the library helps with the CPD side while your client work builds the practice hours.

Please note: your own professional body sets its requirements and is the only authority on what it will accept. If you are preparing an accreditation application, check the current criteria with them directly.

Audit-ready evidence

When your professional body requests evidence of your CPD — as they periodically do — you have everything in one place. A complete record of:

What you studied — topic, lecturer, learning outcomes

When you completed it — dated certificate

How many hours — with running totals visible

No scrambling through email folders, no reconstructing from memory, no guessing.

Start here for an overview — What is the Counsellor CPD Library?

Want to know more?

You can see everything that's included — and current membership options — at the Counsellor CPD Library page.

If you have a specific question we haven't answered here, email us at support@counsellingtutor.com — a real person will reply within 24 hours.