- PhD, PsyD (Psychologist)Licensed clinician
Licensed clinical psychologist
A doctorate, thousands of supervised hours, a state examination, and a licensing board that can discipline them. Can diagnose and treat mental health conditions, work with trauma, and — distinctively — carry out psychological testing. License status is public and searchable in every US state.
- LMFTLicensed clinician
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
A master’s degree, thousands of supervised hours, a state examination, a disciplining board. Trained in a systemic tradition — the person understood in the context of their relationships. Sees individuals as much as couples despite the name. Publicly verifiable.
- LCSWLicensed clinician
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
A master’s in social work plus supervised hours, examination and licensure. Trained with attention to systems and to the practical circumstances of a life. Frequently the strongest at navigating benefits, medical systems and institutions. Publicly verifiable.
- LPCC, LPC, LMHCLicensed clinician
Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor and equivalents
A master’s-level clinical license from a counselling tradition. The exact letters vary by state — LPCC in California, LPC or LMHC elsewhere — and the substance is comparable. Publicly verifiable.
- AMFT, ASW, APCCSupervised trainee
Pre-licensed associate, registered and supervised
Completed the same graduate degree, accumulating supervised hours toward licensure. Registered with a state board, working under a named supervisor who is legally responsible for the care. Typically half the fee. The trade-off is experience; the compensation is that their work is being closely reviewed weekly, which a solo licensed clinician’s may not be. Ask who supervises them.
- AASECT CSTLicensed clinician + specialty
AASECT Certified Sex Therapist
The strongest credential in this field, and the important part is what sits underneath: you must ALREADY hold a clinical licence. On top of that AASECT requires at least 60 hours of sex therapy training, 300 hours of clinical work with clients presenting sexual concerns, and 50 hours of supervision with an AASECT-certified supervisor — at least 25 one-to-one — over a minimum of 18 months. Genuinely difficult to obtain and searchable in the AASECT directory, so if someone claims it you can check. Worth knowing that AASECT’s ethics committee is consultative rather than adjudicative; the state licence underneath is what carries real accountability.
- AASECT CSE, Certified Sexuality CounselorReal, and narrower
AASECT Certified Sexuality Educator or Counselor
Real AASECT credentials, and narrower than the therapist certification — education and short-term counselling respectively, not psychotherapy. Frequently used loosely on profiles, so it is worth checking which one someone actually holds.
- SEPSubstantial training, not a license
Somatic Experiencing Practitioner
A three-year training in a well-established body-based approach. Substantial. Note carefully: an SEP who is not otherwise licensed is not a clinician, cannot treat a mental health condition, and should not be doing trauma work as primary care. Many SEPs are also licensed — check whether this one is.
- Hakomi (CHP, CHT)Substantial training, not a license
Hakomi Certified Practitioner or Therapist
Multi-year training with supervision in mindfulness-based somatic psychotherapy. The therapist designation generally indicates an existing clinical license alongside; the practitioner designation may not. Worth asking which.
- Sensorimotor PsychotherapySubstantial training, not a license
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute training, delivered in levels
Delivered in levels — Level 1 covers trauma, later levels developmental material. Ask which level they completed. As with SE, it is a training rather than a license, and the question of whether they are also licensed is separate.
- ICF (ACC, PCC, MCC)Trained coach
International Coaching Federation credential
The most established general coaching standard, and genuinely tiered on hours rather than attendance. ACC: 60 hours of training, 100 client hours, 10 hours of mentor coaching. PCC: 125+ hours training, 500+ client hours. MCC: PCC first, then 200+ hours training and 2,500+ client hours. It tells you the person is a trained coach. It tells you nothing about sexuality, trauma, or clinical competence — and a coach cannot treat trauma, sexual dysfunction, or any mental health condition. Searchable in the ICF directory.
- SomaticaTraining certificate
Certified Somatica Coach (Somatica Institute)
Around 90 hours of interactive training as eight three-day weekends across roughly 12 to 14 months, ending with an hour-long recorded client exam — so there is an assessed practical component, which not every training here has. No licence or degree required to enrol. Graduates receive several titles at once including Sex Coach, Relationship Coach and Sexologist; that last one is an unprotected word and does not indicate clinical training.
- VITATraining certificate
VITA Sex, Love & Relationship Coach
Issued as a 600-hour certificate of training, with up to two years to complete. Requires a completed workbook, a personal-practice logbook, and a coaching logbook with audio recordings of practicum and client hours — so client hours are logged and reviewed rather than self-asserted. The tradition is tantric rather than clinical, which is a difference in what the training is about rather than a criticism.
- Sex Coach UTraining certificate
Certified Sex Coach (Sex Coach U)
Roughly a 12-month programme with submitted workbooks and an assessed practicum, and it requires a SAR — a Sexual Attitude Reassessment — which is a recognised part of serious sexuality training and a point in its favour. Their own site is explicit that it is open to people from all backgrounds with no prior training in sexology or coaching. The certificate describes a course completed, not a profession entered.
- Certified — no issuing body namedMeans very little
A certification you cannot trace to an organisation
If you cannot find out what a certification required, that is the answer. Watch particularly for: a weekend workshop described as a certification, a certification issued by the organisation founded by the person who trained them, and impressive-sounding modalities that return nothing when you search for a governing body.
- Master, Expert, Guide, HealerNot a credential
Self-conferred titles with no issuing body
These are descriptions rather than qualifications. Anyone can use any of them tomorrow. That does not automatically mean the person is unskilled — it means the title is carrying no information, and you will have to establish competence some other way.
- Surrogate partnerNot offered here
Surrogate partner therapy
A distinct practice involving physical and sexual contact, working in a triadic model alongside a therapist. It is not what any practitioner listed on this site does. Nobody here offers touch, surrogacy, or sexual services of any kind — and anyone using the vocabulary on this site to offer you those is doing something else.
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The four markers
A credential means something in proportion to what it required. Supervised hours, an examination, a governing body that can revoke it, and a continuing education requirement. Certifications with none of those are marketing.
How to verify, in three minutes
Search your state licensing board for any clinical license — it’s public, it shows disciplinary history, and almost nobody does it. Search the AASECT directory for a CST claim. Search the ICF directory for a coaching credential. And search any training programme’s name alongside “training requirements”.
What the letters don’t tell you
Whether they’re good at the thing you need. A license establishes a floor rather than a ceiling, and outcome research consistently finds that specific training in the relevant approach — plus the working relationship itself — predicts results considerably better than the qualification does.
So use this to rule out, then ask about the specific work. What to ask in a first conversation, and what should end it.
Sources
Every number here was read off the issuing body’s own page on 9 September 2026, not from a summary. Requirements change — if one of these is now out of date, telling us is worth more than a compliment.
- AASECT — requirements for sex therapist certification — The 60 training hours, 300 supervised clinical hours, and 50 supervision hours over at least 18 months.
- AASECT — ethics and code of conduct — The complaints route, and the Ethics Advisory Committee’s consultative rather than adjudicative role.
- International Coaching Federation — credentials overview — ACC, PCC and MCC training, client-hour and mentor-coaching requirements.
- Somatica Institute — certification path — Programme length and structure, and the recorded client exam.
- VITA — coaching certification — The 600-hour certificate, completion window, logbook and practicum requirements.
- Sex Coach U — certified sex coach training — Timeline, the SAR requirement, and their statement that no prior training is needed.