IACP clarification on client practice supervision for client practice for counselling/psychotherapy students

The IACP has issued the following clarification or students regarding supervision of client practice hours. It appears in its newsletter of 3rd May 2017:

"In answer to a number of queries from students and potential students about supervision of client practice hours while completing an IACP Accredited Training Course, please note the following:

Information is available on the IACP website under Education /Training Course Information/Course Accreditation Criteria

See Downloads Course Accreditation Criteria 2015

Supervision is covered in Section 7

7.5 A mix of group and individual supervision is required.

7.6 In-house group supervision is required. This must take place at least monthly with an accredited supervisor. Groups should consist of not more than 4 students and must adhere to current IACP Group Supervision criteria.

7.7 For counsellors /psychotherapists in training, External one-to-one supervision must not be less than 1 hour’s presenting time to 5 hours client work, subject to an overall minimum of 1.5 hours of presenting time per month per student

7.8 The student’s external supervisor must not be a member of the course staff.

It is important to note that the in-house (i.e. part of the course) group supervision may be supervised by a member of the course staff. Timetabling and choice of group supervisor is at the discretion of the course.

The student’s external supervisor must be approved by the course BUT MUST NOT be a member of the Course staff or associated with the running of the course.

The EXTERNAL supervisor is answerable to the Course and will furnish at least 2 supervision reports at intervals during the course.

The Accreditation officers hope this helps with the questions being raised and are available to answer any further questions you may have."

IACP: 30 hours' CPD must include 10 hours of supervision CPD

lACP has clarified that the 10 hours of annual CPD required of supervisors is included in the 30 hours' required of accredited members. Here's the announcement in a newsletter sent of 8th July 2016:

"The annual CPD log (consisting of 30 hours of CPD and where the applicant is a supervisor a minimum of 10 hours of the 30 hours must be related to supervision) should be completed with the reflection piece and signed off by the supervisor at the time of application for renewal of accreditation.

"Please do not send the Log with your Annual Re-Accreditation form and only provide the details of CPD activities on page 2 of the application form. The CPD Log should be kept by the supervisee in case of an annual audit.

"The full CPD log is available as a download on the IACP website."

IACP to commence annual re-accreditation from 2016

The IACP will move from 5-yearly to annual re-accreditation from 1st January 2016. Here are extracts from the announcement in its latest newsletter to members:

"At some point in over the course of 2016, you will be contacted via email by a member of the IACP Accreditation Department with detailed instructions on how to renew your IACP accreditation for your therapeutic and supervision work.

"Members will be invited to renew their therapeutic accreditation (including Supervisor Accreditation at the same time, if applicable) in one simple application form.

"Your new accreditation date may be on, or after, the date of your current accreditation (according to the month).

"The new accreditation date will calculated by giving you a later date in the year, to ensure you benefit and not lose any months of accreditation.

"Please visit the IACP website for more details and to view a sample of the new re-accreditation application form.

www.iacp.ie/renewal-of-accreditation

"The processing fee for the renewal of IACP accreditation will be €20 per year.

"Any processing fee that has already been paid in recent years will be credited to future processing fees as appropriate.


"If you are an Accredited Supervisor:

"There is only one form to be completed for both categories of membership (Accredited Member and Accredited Supervisor).

"From 2016, your accreditation as an Accredited Member and an Accredited Supervisor will be renewed at the same time.

"The processing fee for the renewal of IACP Supervisor accreditation (including therapeutic accreditation) will be €30 per year in total.

"Any processing fee that has already been paid in recent years will be credited to future processing fees as appropriate."

APA warns against untrained and unknowledgeable supervisors

Too many clinical supervisors in psychology are untrained and unknowledgeable, according to the American Psychological Association. Many supervisors believe no special training is required to enable them to do the job well and that they will pick up the necessary skills "by osmosis," according to an article in the APA's Monitor on Psychology. The APA has issued guidelines in an attempt to improve matters.

Although clinical supervision of psychologists may differ somewhat from the supervision of counsellors and psychotherapists, the APA view may ring a bell with those who feel supervision they received was less than good.

A link to the APA guidelines is at the end of the Monitor article.

Link to this resource

Academic references on supervision

Published in 1990, "References on supervision in clinical and counseling psychology", has references to more sources on, or relevant to, supervision than you are likely to consult in a lifetime. The article is from Professional Psychology: Research and Practice. It is published by the American Psychological Association.The authors are William N Robiner  and William Schofield of the University of Minnesota Medical School. The link is to a PDF file.

Link to this resource

Supervision resources from Stephen Power

A page of links to supervision resources by Limerick-based psychotherapist Stephen Power whose experience in therapy and mental health both in Ireland and in the UK, in academic settings and in practice, is broad and deep.

Link to this resource

What's your agenda? Questions supervisors ask

In this brief post on her Health Psychology Consultancy blog, Dr Nicola Davies lists ten questions supervisors ask supervisees. Here they are:

What will be in the best interest of the client?

Is that decision in keeping with what is best for the client?

What benefit will that be to the client?

What is your agenda?

What is your rationale for that?

What are the possible options?

How did that make you feel?

How does this client make you feel?

What advice would you give someone in your position?

Are you being non-directive?

Link to this resource