Building Bridges - Counselling as a Career

1. Building Bridges - Counselling as a Career Careers Talk 11/2/2010

2. Job prospects A limited (but growing) number of jobs in the counselling field, in these settings: • National Health Service, • Education (Colleges of Further Education and VIth form Colls, Universities/ Colleges of Higher Ed. and a growing number of state and “public” schools) • Staff Counselling in large public or private companies • Youth Counselling agencies

3. Income streams • Sessional work in one of the above settings (Health, Education, workplace) • Private work (on an individual, fee-paying basis) • Teaching/Training work in the counselling field or a field in which the counsellor has previously been trained or worked. • Supervision of other counsellors (for the more experienced Practitioner) • Writing • Possibly some voluntary work too

4. Training A “BACP Accredited Course”must include these 8 Basic elements : (this is quoted from the BACP Training directory) • Admission, • staff development, • client work, • supervision, • skills training, • theory, • professional development, • assessment.

5. Training A “BACP Accredited Course” must have: • A grounding in a core theoretical model (e.g. “Client-Centred” or “Psychodynamic”) • Create a balance between theory, skills components & personal development, consistent with the core model. • Assessment process should include regular ongoing constructive feedback. • Should help students develop as reflective practitioners, who should also be required to monitor & evaluate their own work and personal development (e.g. through Journal or essays) Appropriately staffed with not less than 2 core teaching staff on any course.

6. Individual Counsellor Accreditation Individual Counsellor Accreditation should NOT to be confused with completing an Accredited course! • Individual personal accreditation is a recognition of the skills, training and experience of an individual counsellor • four routes to Individual Accreditation:

7. Individual Counsellor Accreditation - Route1 • completed a BACP Accredited Counsellor Training Course and has: • had at least 450 hours of counselling practice supervised over not less than three and not more than five years.

8. Individual Counsellor Accreditation - Route2 • Has undertaken a total of 450 hours of successfully completed counselling training comprising two elements: • a) 200 hours of skills development • b) 250 hours of theory • and has had at least 450 hours of counselling practice supervised over not less than three and not more than five years.

9. Individual Counsellor Accreditation - Route3 Can provide evidence of a combination of: • (a) some formal counselling training and • (b) several years of practice (of 150 hours minimum per year, under formal supervision). • This includes a requirement for at least 450 hours of counselling practice supervised over three years.

10. Impact of Regulation of Counselling & Psychotherapy Regulation is due to come in soon – possibly 20011-12 • As a result of e.g. Allitt and Shipman and other abuses by professionals • Self-regulation by the professional bodies themselves (e.g. BMA, RCN) are seen to have failed to protect the public • Regulation means that the titles “Counsellor” and “Psychotherapist” are protected - not just anyone can use them • Getting onto the register will entail doing an approved course (similar to BPS registration) • Regulatory body likely to be HPC (Health Care Professionals)

11. Grand-parenting • Means the bringing onto the new register of those that are currently accredited and/or practising as Counsellors or Psychotherapists

12. Professional Bodies • BACP (Counsellors and Psychotherapists) • UKCP (Psychotherapists) • BPS (Counselling Psychologists) • Loads of other smaller catering for particular related trainings e.g. as Analysts, (Freudian, Jungian) and Psychotherapists (Gestalt, Integrative etc.)

13. Counselling Psychology • Open to those with a Psychology degree • See www.prospects .ac.uk • And BPS website

14. Counselling Psychology Entry & Training Entry Requirements to training for Counselling Psychology: Most common training route for a chartered counselling psychologist is first to gain Graduate Basis for Registration (GBR) by: • completing an accredited degree in psychology (one to four years). • OR by sitting the qualifying examination of the British Psychological Society (BPS), • OR by obtaining an appropriate society-accredited postgraduate qualification, • OR by taking an appropriate society-accredited conversion course See the BPS website: www.bps.org.uk/careers and the Prospects website: www.prospects.ac.uk

15. Counselling Psychology Entry & Training 2 Then: • Must complete a BPS-accredited postgraduate training course in counselling psychology: • OR: an MSc, Doctorate or the BPS qualification in counselling, confering eligibility to register as a chartered counselling psychologist. (Details of accredited courses are given on the BPS website.) • OR have completed the BPS qualification in counselling psychology (three years full time or equivalent period part time); this is known as the 'independent route'.

16. Counselling Psychology Entry & Training 2 This qualification provides a yardstick against which the experience and qualifications of potential counselling psychologists can be assessed. • Those following the independent route are expected to: • Compile a training plan with the help of a training co-ordinator; • keep a competence logbook; • attend a course in a core model of counselling or psychotherapy; • present a portfolio to the society; and • attend a viva examination. • Both qualification routes confer eligibility for chartered counselling psychologist status and lead to the acquisition of equivalent competence.