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The Psychology Board of Australia sets the standards for safe and effective practice as a psychologist in Australia. Professional practice standards define the practice and behaviour of psychologists and include:
The Professional competencies for psychologists describe the threshold competencies for initial and continuing registration as a psychologist in Australia. The professional competencies articulate the minimum knowledge, skills, abilities, behaviours, values, and other attributes required to allow an individual to practise safely and effectively as a psychologist.
The Board has adopted the Australian Psychological Society Code of Ethics for the profession.
Until the code of conduct for psychologists comes into effect on 1 December 2025, compliance with the APS Code of Ethics is a requirement of registration as a psychologist in Australia.
The Psychology Board of Australia (the Board) invites you to join us for an online workshop about the new Code of conduct and the updated Professional competencies for psychologists, which both come into effect on 1 December 2025.
These professional standards will set the expectation of what is considered safe and effective professional practice in the psychology profession from December 2025 onwards. Psychologists will need to familiarise themselves with and adopt the code and competencies by the time they come into effect.
The workshop will include a panel of experts who will discuss case studies in the context of the Code of Conduct, with opportunities to ask questions. It will not address specific practice-related issues. You may wish to explore these matters further with your professional association, employer, peers, or a legal practitioner.
We hosted workshops on 22 July and 29 July. A third workshop date will be announced shortly.
We highly recommend reviewing the following resources before you attend, as this will give you the context you will need to fully engage with the workshop:
A comprehensive pre-recorded webinar (18min) where Board Chair Rachel Phillips provides information about transitioning to the Code and Professional competencies.
Download the webinar PDF slides (510 KB, PDF)
Download these case studies for discussion during the live workshop (148 KB, PDF)
Psychology Board of Australia Chair Rachel Phillips will be joined by ethics, legal and psychology specialist Emeritus Professor Alfred Allan, along with members from the Psychology Board of Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Strategy Group for Psychology and the Australian Indigenous Psychologists Association, clinical psychologists Belle Selkirk and Sueanne Gola.
