Taiwan

Taiwan has a long history of counselling. Counselling in Taiwan began in the middle of the 20th century as a response to the needs for support of Taiwanese or Chinese students who were living abroad to pursue their education (Chang, 2006; Chen, 1999). In the 1950s, Taiwan’s Ministry of Education began implementing guidance practices in their public school systems as a result of Western influences. Back then, school guidance programs were still considered as part of the disciplinary program until The Ministry of Education began implementing a new policy that kept school guidance as an independent and functional entity (Chang, 2006; Chen, 1999). Many changes happened in the 1970s, where the establishment of guidance centers in colleges began in 1972 and further extended their service to high school in 1974 (Chen, 1999). In 1979, The Citizen’s Education Law was implemented where school guidance became mandatory in elementary schools. In the 1980s, the guidance centers began to open in public universities, and high schools began to employ guidance teachers solely to provide guidance services for their students (Chen, 1999). 

Mental health counselling in Taiwan began to receive more recognition when a new revision of Psychiatric Law was being implemented (Department of Health, 2007). In this new revision, professional counselling was then recognized as a treatment option for mental disorders.  The counselling profession also began to grow rapidly after the completion of a licensure legislation known as the Psychologist Law in 2001 (Laws and Regulations Database of the Republic of China, 2001). This law affected professional counselling both in the mental health and school field. Professional counsellors are now licensed under the title of counselling psychologist with a master’s degree in counselling, a 1-year postgraduate internship, and a passing score on the National Counselling Psychologist Exam (Laws and Regulations Database of the Republic of China, 2001). Through this law, licensed mental health counsellors are now being recognized as a distinct profession in Taiwan.