ACC Finland is a cooperation association for Christian counsellors and therapists and organisations working on the field of Christian counselling and therapy. ACC Finland was established in 2005. Association affirms authority of Bible and Apostolic creed in all areas of belief, ethics and practice.

History of ACC Finland

In recent years some Finnish Christian counsellors have had contacts to ACC Europe. This led to establishment of the ACC Finland in August 2005. ACC Finland is a part of ACC Europe. Founder members of ACC Finland were RE-Christian Counsellors, Christian Healing Center, Soteria, Elijah House Finland, Aslan Ministries, RE-Christian Counselling Training and couple of independent Christian counsellors and therapists.

In October 2005 a national conference concerning interaction between Christian faith and psychology was held in Tampere. Guest speakers were Werner May from Germany and Anna Ostaszevska from Poland. The event had 200 participants and it also introduced ACC for wider audience for first time in Finland.

The board of ACC Finland was elected in 2006 for three years. The board has seven members, three of them representing Christian counselling organisations. During 2006 ACC Finland organized two training weekends (in Vivamo and in Ryttylä) and the ACC Europe meeting.

In the end of the year 2007 ACC Finland introduced code of ethics (ethical principles).

In January 2008 ACC Finland organized their second national conference concerning interaction between Christian faith and psychology. Before the actual weekend conference there was two day training event concerning treatment and recovery of trauma drawing on the insights of sensorimotor psychotherapy by Mike Fisher. The covering theme of the conference was about guild and grace and the main speaker in the conference was Wolfram Soldan from Germany. Training event had 90 and conference 150 participants.

The criteria for Pastoral Care (50 hours) was introduced in 2008. The criteria for Christian Counselling (sielunhoitoterapia, 300/150/40 hours) was introduced in 2009.

In January 2010 ACC Finland organized the third national conference in Jyväskylä.

The Forth National Conference was held in Tampere 27.-29.1.2012. The keynote speaker was Nicolene Joubert from South-Africa. She is a professor of psychology and the Head of the Institute of Christian Psychology. The weekend Conference had ca. 200 participants. Professor Joubert led also the two-days training event (26.-27.1.2012) with 100 participants. The theme of the training event was “Christian Faith & Trauma”.

ACC Finland, together with EMCAPP (European Movement of Christian Anthropology, Psychology and Psychotherapy), organized a conference at Tampere Teopolis on 22-24.3.2019, under the theme of: The Meaning of Relationship in Christian Anthropology, Psychology and Psychotherapy and Counseling. The keynote speakers were Werner May, President of EMCAPP, Psychologist, Germany and Vibeke Moeller, Dr. of Medicine, Trauma Therapist, Denmark. This EMCAPP conference had over 100 participants. 

The Board of the ACC Finland 2020-2022

14.01.2015
The board of ACC Finland consists of seven members. President, three members elected by affiliated organizations and three representatives elected by members. Term of the board is two years. The members of the board:

ACC-member organisations in Finland


Soteria: http://www.soteria.fi
Christian Counsellors of Finland: ssht.fi
Living Waters: http://www.elavatvedet.fi
Elijah House Finland: http://www.elijah.fi
Perheniemi Evangelical Folk High School: http://www.perheniemi.com
Iso Kirja Christian education and conference centre: https://www.ikopisto.fi/english/
RE koulutus ry:  http://www.rekoulutus.com