TempoLife › Features › Mental health support: who to see and what it costs › checking-a-licence
Checking that someone is who they say they are
Seven countries, seven registers, and a one-minute check that most people never do before handing over their worst week.
This is a map of how the systems work, not a diagnosis and not a treatment plan. It names no practice and no private price, because neither can be kept accurate here. It cannot tell you what is wrong or which treatment you need — that is a clinician's job, and it starts with an appointment. Never stop or change a prescribed medicine on the strength of a web page. If someone's life is in danger right now, call the emergency number: 112 anywhere in the EU and EEA.
Why the check is worth a minute
Mental-health work is unusually easy to fake and unusually damaging to fake badly. The room is private, the client is by definition not at their strongest, there is no equipment and no laboratory result to be wrong, and in several of these countries at least one of the professional titles is not legally protected at all. Every register named on this page is public, free and searchable by name, and using one takes about as long as reading a menu. It is the single highest-value minute in the whole process.
What each register actually proves
They do not all prove the same thing, and conflating them is the usual mistake. A health-care licence or authorisation — Sweden’s and Finland’s licensed professions, Norway’s health personnel register, Denmark’s authorisation, Estonia’s and Latvia’s registers of medical practitioners — proves that the state has recognised a qualification and that the person is subject to professional supervision, including the power to restrict them. A professional certificate, such as Estonia’s psychologist certificate in the national qualifications register, proves an assessed standard in a named specialisation. Association membership proves that the person has joined an organisation with entry requirements and an ethics code. All three are useful; only the first two involve the state.
A restriction is not the same as an absence
A register entry that exists but carries a restriction, a condition or a suspension is telling you something specific, and it is worth reading the entry rather than only checking that a name appears. Equally, a name that does not appear is not automatically a scandal: people practise under a maiden name, foreign qualifications may be recognised under a different heading, and someone whose base profession is registered may hold a psychotherapy qualification that the register does not record at all because the country does not register it. The correct response to a missing entry is to ask, not to accuse.
Ask the questions the register cannot answer
Three things matter that no register shows. Whether the person is in regular clinical supervision now — a professional standard rather than a sign of inexperience, and a question a qualified therapist answers without hesitation. Whether they carry professional liability insurance. And what happens to your record: where the notes live, how long they are kept, and who can see them. Those three, plus a register check, cover almost everything that can be checked before a first appointment. The confidentiality page explains what the answers should sound like.
Warning signs that are actually diagnostic
A few things are unambiguous rather than a matter of taste, and they cut across every method and every country. A therapist who will not name their qualification or training institute. Guarantees of a cure, or of a result in a number of sessions. Advice to stop a prescribed medicine, which no non-prescriber should ever give. Pressure to buy long packages up front, or to recruit others. Contact that migrates outside the therapy — social, financial or romantic, all of which are prohibited by every professional ethics code in the region. Discouraging you from consulting a doctor, or from telling anyone about the treatment. Any one of these is enough to stop, and it is always allowed to stop.
| Country | Register or authority | What it proves |
|---|---|---|
| Estonia | Terviseamet registers; Kutseregister for psychologists | Registration to practise in health care; the psychologist’s professional certificate and its level |
| Finland | JulkiTerhikki, under the Licensing and Supervision Agency | Licensed doctors and psychologists, and the protected psychotherapist title |
| Latvia | Veselības inspekcija; the statutory Register of Psychologists | Registration of medical practitioners; certification of psychologists and the field it covers |
| Lithuania | State Health Care Accreditation Agency; the psychologists’ practice arrangements | Licensing of health-care professionals and institutions; the statutory basis for psychologists |
| Sweden | Socialstyrelsen’s register of licensed health-care staff | Licensed psychologists and licensed psychotherapists, both verifiable by name |
| Norway | Health personnel register, Helsedirektoratet | Authorisation as a psychologist, and specialist status where held |
| Denmark | Styrelsen for Patientsikkerhed; Psykolognævnet for psychologists | Authorisation of health professionals; the authorisation behind "autoriseret psykolog" |
The registers themselves
| Country | Register | Kept by | What it proves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Estonia | Health-care professionals register | Terviseamet (Health Board) | That a doctor, psychiatrist or nurse is registered to practise in Estonia |
| Estonia | Health-care providers register | Terviseamet | That the clinic itself holds an activity licence |
| Estonia | Kutseregister | Kutsekoda (Estonian Qualifications Authority) | That a psychologist holds the professional certificate, and at what level |
| Estonia | Contracted-partner list | Tervisekassa | That the clinic has a contract, so the state pays and the visit fee cap applies |
| Finland | JulkiTerhikki | Licensing and Supervision Agency (Lupa- ja valvontavirasto) | That a doctor or psychologist is licensed, and that a psychotherapist holds the protected title |
| Finland | Supervisory authority | Lupa- ja valvontavirasto, which took over Valvira’s duties from 2026 | Licensing, supervision and restrictions on practice |
| Finland | Kela service-provider search | Kela | That the therapist is approved for the rehabilitative psychotherapy scheme |
| Finland | Psychologists’ union directory | Suomen Psykologiliitto | Membership and specialisation — a supplement, not proof of licence |
| Latvia | Register of medical practitioners | Veselības inspekcija (Health Inspectorate) | That a doctor or psychiatrist is registered to practise |
| Latvia | Register of Psychologists | Maintained under the Ministry of Welfare | That a psychologist is certified under the Psychologists Law and in which field |
| Latvia | State-paid services and providers | Nacionālais veselības dienests | Which clinics the state pays and what the patient contribution is |
| Lithuania | Health-care licences | State Health Care Accreditation Agency (VASPVT) | That a doctor or institution is licensed to provide health care |
| Lithuania | Psychologists’ practice list | Introduced by the psychologists’ practice law | That a psychologist meets the statutory requirements to practise |
| Lithuania | Public health information | Ministry of Health and the Institute of Hygiene | Which services exist and where they are provided |
| Sweden | Register of licensed health-care staff (HoSP) | Socialstyrelsen (National Board of Health and Welfare) | That a psychologist, psychotherapist or doctor holds a Swedish licence |
| Sweden | Supervisory authority | IVO (Health and Social Care Inspectorate) | Complaints, inspections and restrictions on practice |
| Sweden | Care finder and advice | 1177 | Which clinics exist, what they treat and how to book |
| Sweden | Psychologists’ association | Sveriges Psykologförbund | Membership and specialisation — a supplement, not proof of licence |
| Norway | Health personnel register (HPR) | Helsedirektoratet (Directorate of Health) | That a psychologist, specialist or doctor holds a Norwegian authorisation |
| Norway | Health service guide | Helsenorge | How the schemes work, what they cost and how to change your GP |
| Norway | Psychologists’ association | Norsk psykologforening | Membership and specialist status — a supplement, not proof of authorisation |
| Norway | Patient and user ombudsman | Pasient- og brukerombudet | Free help with rights, complaints and being heard |
| Denmark | Authorisation register | Styrelsen for Patientsikkerhed (Patient Safety Authority) | That a doctor or health professional is authorised, and whether the authorisation is restricted |
| Denmark | Psychologist authorisation | Psykolognævnet (Psychology Board) | That a psychologist is authorised, which is what "autoriseret psykolog" means |
| Denmark | Health service portal | Sundhed.dk | Your own records, your GP, and how the schemes work |
| Denmark | Complaints authority | Styrelsen for Patientklager (Patient Complaints Authority) | Where a formal complaint about treatment goes |
Sources: JulkiTerhikki (Finland) · Socialstyrelsen (Sweden) · Helsedirektoratet (Norway) · Styrelsen for Patientsikkerhed (Denmark) · Kutseregister (Estonia) · Veselības inspekcija (Latvia) · Rules, entitlements and helpline numbers change: check the operator's own page before you rely on one. Checked 2026-09-08.
Frequently asked questions
How do I check that a therapist is qualified?
Search the public register in the country they practise in — the licence or authorisation register for doctors, psychologists and, in Finland and Sweden, psychotherapists, and the professional certificate or certification register where the country uses one. Every register named on this page is public and free.
The person is not in the register. Is that a problem?
Possibly, but ask first. People practise under other names, foreign qualifications appear under different headings, and some countries do not register psychotherapy qualifications at all. Ask which register they appear in and under what name; a straight answer is normal, evasion is not.
What does association membership prove?
That the person joined an organisation with entry requirements and an ethics code, and that there is a body to complain to. It is a real signal, particularly in countries where the title is not protected — but it is not a state licence and should not be described as one.
What are the clear warning signs?
Refusing to name a qualification, guaranteeing a cure, telling you to stop a prescribed medicine, pressure to pay for long packages up front, any social, financial or romantic contact outside the therapy, and discouraging you from seeing a doctor or telling anyone.
Getting in
How referrals actually work
What a referral is, which countries require one for mental-health care, what makes a good one, and what to do when it does not happen.
Waiting lists, guarantees and what to do meanwhile
The published access rules in each country, how to read a queue, and a realistic plan for the months in between.
Free and low-cost routes
Every route in this region that costs nothing or very little — with the eligibility rule that goes with each, because most of them have one.
Online and remote therapy
What remote sessions change, which country’s rules apply when the therapist is over a border, and where video is the wrong format.
Therapy in your own language
Why the working language is clinical rather than cosmetic, what interpreting you are entitled to, and how to search for Russian, English, Ukrainian or Estonian-speaking help.
All countries and guides
The hub: the five professions compared, seven country systems, every public register and every crisis line.
How this works where you live
Every rule on this page is filtered through one country's system before it reaches you. The country pages carry the doors, the registers and the numbers.
Estonia · Finland · Latvia · Lithuania · Sweden · Norway · Denmark
Keep the record the appointment will ask for
Sleep, mood, activity and medicines, dated and in one place. It makes an assessment better, it makes a review honest, and it is the difference between "worse lately" and two weeks of evidence.