EAC is an umbrella organisation for counselling across Europe. It is made up of National Association, Organisational Members and individual members from across Europe. The Nationalities represented are the following: Germany (in the process of joining) Greece Ireland Italy Malta Netherlands UK (UKCP) Serbia Spain (in the process of joining) Russia Apart from the National Associations we have other types of memberships such as Training Organisations, Organisations offering counselling. The EAC pursues the following objectives: • Promoting the development of counselling as a distinct profession • Guaranteeing a professional ethical framework for the professional practice of counselling • Defining, setting, and maintaining standards for training in counselling and for the practice of high quality ethical counselling • Establishing and administering schemes for recognising professional competence in individual counsellors and in counselling organisations • Encouraging research in counselling • Supporting the establishment of national representative organisations for counselling • Representing counsellors and counselling at European level, and providing liaison between national and Europe Wide organisations • Forming partnerships on policy development in counselling at national, international and European Union levels • Collaborating with other bodies, notably the Commission of the European Union, to convey to them the views of professionals in the field of counselling, and to provide them with the means to consult experts on specific activities or specific matters relating to counselling • Providing and promoting access to and disseminating information about counselling for both members and the public • Publishing a newsletter for members about the activities of the EAC, providing a forum for communication between members