Ordinary CPD under a new code
Your plan needs goals that reflect the Board's code and the competencies revised alongside it, and you want learning that actually serves those goals.
Psychologists · Psychology Board of Australia
Ethics and Professionalism Courses for Psychologists in Australia
A new regulatory code arrived for psychologists at the end of 2025, written by their own Board for the first time. These self-paced courses help you work with it, whether you are mapping it onto this year's 30 CPD hours, supervising others through the change or answering a complaint, and every course ends with a certificate of completion you can file in your portfolio.
- Built on the Code of conduct for psychologists in force from 1 December 2025
- Certificate of completion stating the estimated learning time
- Online and self-paced on any device
Where you are now
Which of these describes your year?
A complaint has been made
Someone has lodged a concern about you, with Ahpra in most states, with the NSW council for psychology, or with the Health Ombudsman in Queensland.
Education on a set topic
A Board outcome names a topic you must study, and you will need evidence of the learning and of changed practice afterwards.
You supervise or lead others
You oversee provisional psychologists or a team and want everyone working from the same understanding of boundaries and records.
Watch
Your code
The change that took effect on 1 December 2025
From the start of the National Scheme the Board borrowed an existing document as its regulatory code: the APS Code of Ethics. For about fifteen years that worked. Then, at the start of December 2025, the Code of conduct for psychologists written by the Board itself came into force. The APS text is still worth reading as guidance on good practice. It is simply not the yardstick any more.
Psychology now joins medicine and nursing and midwifery as one of three professions with a stand-alone code, while twelve Boards share a common one. According to the Board, its code follows the shared code wherever it sensibly can, departs from it where psychological work demands, and is informed by the International Declaration of Ethical Principles for Psychologists. Psychologists trained on the APS document will recognise the values. What has changed is the language and layout, and in a hearing it is the Board's language that gets quoted.
Competencies revised at the same time
December 2025 also brought the first update since 2010 to the professional competencies for general registration. Three additions were highlighted by the Board: looking after yourself, reflecting on your practice, and practising safely with digital tools. Cultural safety for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples is now written into both the code and the competencies, and revised internship (5+1) and national exam guidelines started that day too.
From reading the code to a usable plan
Work through the whole code once. Next, list the parts of your own work that carry the most exposure, perhaps reports for third parties, practice in a small town, telehealth or work with separated families, and turn each into a goal. Courses then supply the knowledge, and peer consultation lets you check it against real cases.
CPD registration standard
What the Psychology Board asks for each CPD year
The Board's CPD registration standard has been in place since 1 December 2015. Read the standard itself before you make your renewal declaration.
| Element | The requirement | How a self-paced course fits |
|---|---|---|
| Hours | 30 or more in each CPD year, running 1 December to 30 November | Can form part of the 20 non-peer hours when it suits your practice and plan |
| Peer consultation | 10 or more of the 30 | Solo study does not qualify. Discuss what you learned with a supervisor or peers and record that conversation as its own entry |
| Learning plan | Grounded in an objective review of your own practice | Pick courses that serve a goal in the plan, rather than writing the plan around courses |
| Portfolio | The plan, a log of activities and a written reflection on each | File the certificate of completion next to your reflection on what changed |
| Audit | Portfolio to Ahpra within 28 days of selection | Keep everything filed as you go so nothing has to be reconstructed |
| Part of a year | 2.5 hours per full month of general registration, a third of it peer consultation | Handy for new general registrants with a short first year |
Based on the Psychology Board's CPD page as reviewed in July 2026. An area of practice endorsement brings its own CPD expectations on top of these.
The data
Concerns about psychologists in 2024/25
The Board's 2024/25 annual summary counts notifications across Australia, including those dealt with in NSW and Queensland. These categories came up most often.
- notifications involving 1,148 psychologists nationally, or 2.3% of the profession
- 1,549
- Psychology Board annual summary 2024/25
- of the 802 notifications finalised closed with no further regulatory action
- 68.7%
- Psychology Board annual summary 2024/25
Among those 802 finalised notifications, 7.9% resulted in conditions or an undertaking.
What stands out for psychologists
Documentation sits almost level with communication, a pattern seen in few other professions. In psychology, a record is often more than session notes. It may be a report written for a tribunal, a workplace, an education department or a claims assessor, and whoever reads that report could be the next complainant. Trouble follows when a report steps outside the agreed role, gives opinions about people the psychologist has not assessed, or says things the clinical notes do not support.
Notice too that 895 notifications were lodged directly with Ahpra, far fewer than the national total; the remainder went through the co-regulatory bodies in NSW and Queensland. The most frequent outcome remains no further action, often because the psychologist had already fixed the issue, and that is the best argument for early reflection and learning.
Scenarios
Four situations psychologists raise with us
Composites written for teaching; none is a real case. Each shows where the risk lies and what learning helps.
A letter that reached too far
A psychologist sees a child together with one parent and then writes to that parent's solicitor, venturing views on the absent parent's mental state. That parent, never seen by the psychologist, complains. Scope is the heart of it. A psychologist may only offer views grounded in their own assessment and the role they took on.
- Documentation and report-writing
- Communicating with third parties
A past client on the club committee
In a country town, a former client joins the same sporting committee as the psychologist and begins sending social messages. Nothing improper has occurred, yet the overlap has never been recorded or raised in supervision.
- Multiple relationships
- Messaging and social media
Overheard through an open door
Midway through a video session, a client realises the psychologist's partner can hear from the next room and later complains about confidentiality. Digital health practice now appears in the competencies, and the physical environment is part of it.
- Privacy and health records
- Open disclosure and apology
When the client is a nurse
A client who works as a nurse tells their psychologist about heavy drinking before shifts. Treating practitioners face a higher national threshold for mandatory notification, with a different position in Western Australia, so the psychologist must think it through carefully and document the reasoning.
- Mandatory notification thresholds
- Recording a decision
Written for psychologists
The two core psychology courses and the profession course
Begin with the two courses written around the Code of conduct for psychologists. The third is a longer course covering ethics and professionalism across psychological practice.
Core · ethics
Ethics and Ethical Standards for Psychologists
Ethical principles under the new code: consent, confidentiality and its limits, competence and fairness.
Core · professionalism
Professionalism and Professional Standards for Psychologists
Professional standards for psychologists: reports, records, supervision, self-care and conduct outside sessions.
Psychologists · in depth
Ethics and Professionalism for Psychologists in Australia
A three-hour course on ethics and professionalism across clinical, organisational and forensic settings.
Professional Boundaries and Multiple Relationships for Psychologists
Multiple relationships, former clients, gifts and self-disclosure, and the gradual drift that precedes most complaints.
Professionalism in Documentation and Record-Keeping
Notes and reports that hold up: observation kept apart from opinion, and reports kept within scope.
Privacy, Health Records and My Health Record in Australian Practice
Privacy law, requests from courts and insurers, and keeping telehealth private.
Professionalism and Boundaries on Social Media
Clients who find you online and how to protect the therapeutic frame.
Informed Consent and Financial Consent in Australian Practice
Explaining fees, assessment limits and the purpose of a report at the outset.
Reflective Practice and Writing a Reflective Statement
Structured reflection for your portfolio, reusable if a reflective statement is ever needed.
Programs
Programs that line up with those situations
Each program brings together several courses on one theme. The price is the total of the course prices, shown on each program page.
Professional Boundaries & Conduct
Multiple relationships, small towns and online contact
Where the therapeutic frame ends, chaperones and online conduct.
Program total A$1,185
Clinical Competence & Patient Safety
Assessments, reports and repeat errors
For concerns about how you assessed, recorded or reported.
Program total A$1,065
Communication, Consent & Open Disclosure
Consent, privacy and apology
After a complaint about what was explained or shared.
Program total A$876
Ahpra Notification Response
A notification is open
The process, then insight, remediation and rebuilding trust.
Program total A$1,323
Insight, Reflection & Remediation
Writing the reflective statement
Four courses on cause, impact and change.
Program total A$756
Ethics & Professionalism Complete
A full refresh for the new code
Ten courses from ethics to records and safety.
Program total A$1,890
Where you practise
NSW, Queensland and the other states
In six of the eight states and territories, notifications about psychologists go to Ahpra and are decided by the Psychology Board. NSW and Queensland are the exceptions.
- NSW moved to co-regulation in 2010. Complaints there are handled jointly by the Health Care Complaints Commission and the Psychology Council of NSW, which is supported by the Health Professional Councils Authority.
- Queensland followed on 1 July 2014. Every complaint starts with the Office of the Health Ombudsman, which consults Ahpra before referring it to the Board or keeping it; serious cases stay with the Ombudsman and may be taken to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
The learning itself is the same everywhere. The letters, deadlines and decision-makers are what differ.
Renewal
Checks to make before you renew
- Your CPD year is completeIt ends on 30 November. Confirm 30 hours or more, at least 10 of them peer consultation, logged against your plan.
- Every activity has a reflectionA short written reflection for each entry. Certificates alone will not satisfy the standard.
- Recency of practiceThe Board's recency standard dates from 1 December 2016. After a break, read it before you declare.
- Endorsement requirementsWith an area of practice endorsement, check its CPD expectations as well as the general rule.
- Accurate declarationsAnswer every renewal question truthfully, including those on health, criminal history and insurance.
- Keep an eye on the reviewPsychology is one of 14 Boards reviewing these standards, and submissions closed on 17 July 2026. Until any replacement commences, today's standard is the one you meet.
Turning a course into peer consultation time
Many psychologists finish a course and then bring one of its scenarios, or a similar case of their own, to supervision or a peer group. The course goes in your log as individual learning and the discussion goes in as peer consultation. The reflective practice course gives a structure for the written reflection on each.
Reflective practice courseFurther reading
Course outlines for psychologists
- Ethics and Ethical Standards for PsychologistsCore course outline
- Professionalism and Professional Standards for PsychologistsCore course outline
- Ethics and Professionalism for Psychologists in AustraliaThree-hour profession course
- Boundaries and multiple relationshipsThe therapeutic frame and former clients
- Responding to a notificationThe process and your reply
- Panels and tribunal hearingsIf a matter goes further
How we work
Who writes the courses and what you receive
Our editorial team builds each course from primary documents. For psychologists that means the Code of conduct for psychologists and the Psychology Board's CPD standard above all, alongside the wider Board codes and standards. When a document changes, as the code did in December 2025, the lessons that rely on it are reviewed.
- Self-paced: you can start the moment enrolment is confirmed and take as long as you need.
- Certificate of completion: it states the estimated learning time; record the time you actually spend, since the standard counts hours.
- Probity Courses is an education provider. No course changes a Board's decision. Decision-makers do, however, consistently say they look for targeted learning backed by genuine reflection.
The Psychology Board of Australia registers and regulates psychologists, supported by Ahpra.
Psychologists' questions about ethics CPD
Does the APS Code of Ethics still govern my registration?
No. The Board's Code of conduct for psychologists became the regulatory code on 1 December 2025. Keep using the APS document as a reference if it helps, but any notification is now judged against the Board's code.
Do psychologists share a code with physiotherapists and OTs?
No. The shared code covers twelve Boards. Psychology has a separate code, as do medicine and nursing and midwifery, though the Board kept it close to the shared code where that made sense.
How many CPD hours do psychologists need?
At least 30 hours in each CPD year; the year closes on 30 November. Ten of those hours must be peer consultation. Everything should follow from a learning plan and be logged with reflections. If you hold general registration for only part of the year, the requirement is 2.5 hours per full month, with one third as peer consultation.
Can an online course be logged as peer consultation?
No. Peer consultation means discussing your practice with colleagues, which a self-paced course does not involve. Courses can count among the other 20 hours where they serve your plan, and the discussion that follows a course in supervision can be logged as peer consultation.
Will the Board accept your certificate?
The Board does not publish a list of recognised providers; deciding whether an activity fits your plan and the standard is your responsibility. Your certificate of completion states the estimated learning time; record the time you actually spend and write your reflection.
I have a notification. Should I study before I respond?
Speak to your insurer or a lawyer before anything else, and never let a course hold up a reply that has a deadline. Once the response is under way, relevant learning can support it as evidence of insight and action.
Which program fits a boundaries concern?
Professional Boundaries & Conduct deals with multiple relationships, social media and the drift that usually precedes a complaint. Add the psychology boundaries course for profession-specific detail, and the documentation course if notes or reports are also in question.
I work in NSW. Will a course help with the Psychology Council?
The learning is identical wherever you work. In NSW the Health Care Complaints Commission and the Psychology Council of NSW handle complaints instead of Ahpra, so follow their letters and deadlines and present your learning within your response to them.
Can provisional psychologists use the courses?
Yes. Provisional psychologists can use them for general ethics and professionalism learning. Your internship, supervision and the national exam are governed separately by the Board's provisional registration standard and its internship guidelines, so ask your supervisor how a course fits your program.
When you are ready
Pick the program built for your situation
Unsure which one? The course advisor will suggest a starting point.
Sources
Official sources used on this page
- psychologyboard.gov.au · Standards and Guidelines / Professional practice standards / Code of conduct
- psychologyboard.gov.au · registration / continuing professional development
- psychologyboard.gov.au · Standards and Guidelines / Registration Standards
- psychologyboard.gov.au · About / Annual report.aspx
- psychologyboard.gov.au · News / 2025 12 01 Psychologists Code of conduct.aspx