History of SAC
Founded in 1982 by the late Mr Anthony Yeo, hailed as Singapore’s Father of Counselling.
SAC was founded in 1982 by the late Mr Anthony Yeo, hailed as Singapore’s “Father of Counselling” for his pioneering role in the development of the profession in Singapore.
In 1982, three staff from the Counselling and Care Centre attended a conference-workshop in Salatiga, Indonesia and made a bid for the subsequent conference-workshop to be held in Singapore. Though unsuccessful, it provided the impetus for the then Deputy Director of the Centre, Ms Ginny Heng, with a plan to set up a local association that would be affiliated with the Association of Psychological and Educational Counsellors of Asia-Pacific (APECA).
Together with Mr Yeo, the then Director of the Centre, and other staff therapists, the seeds for the registration of SAC were sown, with the constitution of APECA used as a basis for formulating the first constitution for the registration of SAC.
Given that there were only a small number of counselling professionals in Singapore then, the original intention of SAC’s founding members was to keep membership inclusive. This meant that social workers, pastors and educators who may have had little to no formal counselling qualifications, but who had counselling experience, were accepted as members.
In 1981, the Counselling and Care Centre initiated the first formal counsellor-training programme, which formed the basis for membership qualification.
Given its affiliation with APECA, a milestone was achieved in 1986, with SAC sponsoring and organising the first APECA conference-workshop in Singapore.
From an inclusive beginning to a national standard
The Register of Counsellors followed in 2003, and the Register of Clinical Supervisors in 2017.