The Professional Association of Canadian Christian Counsellors (PACCC) came into being through some pioneering work by Christian counselors in Manitoba and Saskatchewan in the early 1990’s. In 1993 a group of about 15 Christian counselors met in Winnipeg to explore the possibility of establishing an association. This would be a forum for supporting and building one another up, facilitating continuing education opportunities and providing ethical oversight for members. This lead to the birth of a small provincial association that addressed these goals and soon added to its mandate facilitating access to professional liability insurance for its members. The Canadian Psychological Association generously helped in providing a guiding template for an ethical code and practice guidelines. Christian counselors in Saskatchewan and later those in Alberta followed suit in creating their provincial associations. These provincial bodies were successful at providing a local identity for the profession, but more was envisioned.

  It was identified that Canada needed a national body to represent the interests of, and establish a profile for Christian counseling across the country and in late October of 1997 a group of interested individuals met at Providence College and Seminary to consider the next steps. Following this strategic meeting, the Manitoba and Saskatchewan provinial associations examined at length the needs and structure of the proposed association. On November 21, 2001, The Professional Association of Canadian Christian Counsellors came into existence as a federally incorporated body. Very shortly after, members from the Alberta provincial association were welcomed into the fold. To date, PACCC has grown to some 180 members represented across nearly all Canadian provinces and territories.

Throughout this process, key people have made enormous contributions to build the professional identity of Christian counseling in Canada. Many of these people are Christian counselors who have caught a vision and volunteered sacrificially providing leadership as board members or volunteer administrators. Of particular note are the founding presidents of the provincial associations. They were: in Manitoba, Dr. Rod Buxton; in Saskatchewan, Dr. Terrance Goudy; and in Alberta, Mr. Norm Quantz. Don Russell, PACCC’s founding President, Oral Kiffiack, Mary Ann Roy, Tony Schnare and Terry Goudy served during the transition and initial formative years as PACCC’s founding Board of Directors.

Of particular note is Lorie Rohloff who served as the Manitoba association’s administrative director and subsequently as the first PACCC administrative director.  Doug and Ingrid Wildman served as PACCC's administrators from May 2005 through October 2009.  Teresa Johnson of Morris, Manitoba is now PACCC's current administrator and can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

PACCC’s vision has been and continues to be to profile the existence and availability to the Canadian public of high quality counseling and psychotherapy services from a distinctly Christian worldview. A healthy society hosts a diversity of worldviews and hosts them with respect and fairness. We are proud to live and practice in such a society in Canada.

As an Association, it is our desire to offer confidential, caring and professional counselling services from a holistic approach. With that anticipation comes the intentionality of working toward an association whose members are committed to excellence in professionalism, in ethical integrity, and who are committed to excellence in their ongoing educational journey.

It is our desire that our member counsellors would be committed to excellence in client respect that has its foundation in creation design, and whose members are committed to excellence in the way their faith perspective brings the reality of the Gospel to bear on the lives of those they counsel. We are unique in our testimony “that Christ makes a difference in counselling” and it is our desire to professionally live this out within the Canadian mental health community.