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Counsellor insurance protects counsellors, psychotherapists and therapists who see clients privately, in person or by telehealth. It answers a client’s claim that your advice or care caused harm, an injury at your rooms and a breach of the notes you keep. Your membership body sets minimum limits, and a clinic renting you a room will ask for proof. Fortis Risk Solutions arranges this cover from offices in Box Hill and Hawthorn and matches the limits to the rules you work under.
What Counsellor Insurance Covers
Counsellor insurance covers professional indemnity, public liability and cyber risks for counsellors, psychotherapists and therapists in private practice. The main exposure is a client who says your advice or care harmed them. That complaint can become a legal claim years after the last session, and the policy that responds is usually the one in force when the claim is made.
Membership bodies set their own rules. The Australian Counselling Association requires Registered Counsellors in self-employed private practice to hold indemnity and public liability cover and to show evidence at each renewal. PACFA asks its registrants for at least $2 million per claim in indemnity and $20 million in public liability, a minimum in place since 1 July 2025. Our professional indemnity insurance page explains how these policies respond.
Indemnity is only part of the picture. If you lease a consulting room, a business insurance pack can cover the furniture, laptop and glass against fire, theft and storm. Business interruption insurance can then pay ongoing costs while the room is unusable and sessions are cancelled. Psychotherapy insurance follows the same pattern for therapists who share a clinic with other practitioners.
Fortis Risk Solutions arranges counsellor insurance from offices in Box Hill and Hawthorn, and our team can explain it in Mandarin. We start with how you practise: face to face, telehealth, couples and group work, or supervision of other counsellors. Counselling insurance sits in our business insurance range with the other covers a small practice needs. If you are a psychologist, see our psychologist insurance page.
Who this covers
Practitioners in this group include:
- Counsellors in private practice, full time or part time
- Psychotherapists, family therapists and couples therapists
- Art, music and play therapists
- Counsellors who see clients by telehealth
- Clinical supervisors and group program facilitators
- Counsellors renting a room by the session in a shared clinic
If your practice is not listed, ask us. The sections below are the starting point for any practitioner in the group.
Counsellor Insurance: Cover Sections and Benefits
Counsellor Insurance FAQs
In practice, yes. The Australian Counselling Association makes it a condition for Registered Counsellors in self-employed private practice, and PACFA requires it of its registrants in every setting where they practise. Clinics that rent you a room usually ask for a certificate of currency before your first session. Without cover, you would pay a lawyer to answer a complaint yourself.
It can cover legal defence costs and compensation if a client alleges your advice, treatment or failure to refer caused them harm, depending on the policy wording. Most policies are written on a claims made basis. The policy in force when the claim arrives is the one that responds, which is why run-off cover matters when you retire, move overseas or stop practising.
Many policies do, but the wording has to say so. Tell the insurer you see clients by video or phone, and check the territorial limits if any clients live overseas. Telehealth also moves your notes onto software and devices that can be hacked or stolen. Cyber insurance can pay for the forensic work, client notifications and claims that follow a breach.
Your exposure is lower but rarely zero. If you run workshops, visit clients or rent a room even one day a week, a slip on the premises can lead to a claim. Room agreements often require public liability insurance, and PACFA sets a minimum of $20 million per claim for its registrants. It is usually written in the same policy as your indemnity cover.
Only if you declare them. Clinical supervision, couples counselling, group programs and paid workshops are separate activities to an insurer, and each one changes the risk. An activity left off the proposal can leave a gap at claim time. List everything you do, with a rough share of your income from each, and the insurer can rate it properly.
Counselling wordings differ on telehealth, supervision, run-off and what counts as a professional service. FRS helps you disclose your activities accurately, set limits that meet your membership body and any room agreement, compare specialist insurers and act as your advocate at claim time. Insurance for therapists works best when indemnity, cyber and practice covers renew together, so nothing lapses.
Talk to a broker about Counsellor Insurance
Call 03 7046 3766 on weekdays between 9:30am and 6pm, email admin@fortisrisksolutions.com.au, or send an enquiry and a broker from our Box Hill or Hawthorn office will come back to you about counsellor insurance. Tell us what the business does and what the lease or contract asks for, and we take it from there.