Fitness to Practise regime does not include counsellors and psychotherapists

Despite some media reports, the new fitness to practise regime announced by the Minister for Primary and Social Care, Kathleen Lynch TD, on 21st of January 2015, does not apply to counsellors and psychotherapists.

It applies only to those professions that are being regulated by Coru. Counsellors and psychotherapists are not even on the list for future regulation. How long it will take to get on the list and be regulated is anybody's guess - five years minimum, in my opinion, if it happens at all.

Coru - another body, like Tusla, with a meaningless name - is the state agency for regulating health and social care professionals.

Link to Minister's announcement
Link to CORU

Online CPD courses from the American Psychological Association worth exploring

The American Psychological Association has put a wide range of CPD courses online at reasonable rates. They cover many aspects of psychology and psychotherapy, including supervision. Prices I saw ranged from $20 to $120. You can do online courses, buy recordings of workshops or do mini-courses based on tests in the APA Monitor on Psychology which is free online and well worth checking out.  They give credits rather than specifying a number of hours but I would imagine that a reasonable statement of hours would be accepted by accrediting bodies such as the Irish Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy.

I'm planning to try out a little course they have on complicated grief at $20 to see how their system works. But I have a book to finish writing by the end of November so must defer until then. I will write more about this when I've checked it out. Meanwhile, if you're up against a CPD deadline you could do a lot worse than explore what they have to offer.

Link to this resource

10 opening questions therapists ask

The always useful PsychCentral blog has an article by US-based therapists Dennis O'Grady listing 10 introductory questions therapists ask. Here are the short versions (for the longer versions use the link below):

1. What brings you here?
2. Have you ever seen a counsellor before?
3. What is the problem from your viewpoint?
4. How does this problem typically make you feel?
5. What makes the problem better?
6. If you could wave a magic wand, what changes would you make happen in your life?
7. Overall, how would you describe your mood?
9. What would it take to make you feel more content, happier and more satisfied?
10. Do you consider yourself to have a low, average or high interpersonal IQ?

Link to this resource

Strike when the iron is cold - Irvin Yalom's advice to counsellors

Strike when the iron is cold - give feedback to clients about a behaviour when they are behaving differently.

That's one of fifty pieces of advice for counsellors from Irvin Yalom, compiled by Renee Baker for her blog.

Another: Use your own feelings as precious and valuable information.  If a client bores you for example, then they may likely bore others as well.  Use that.  Say to the client, “I notice I have been feeling disconnected from you, somewhat distanced…is your feeling similar?…let’s try and understand what is happening.”

I think supervisors will find the list of great help in working with supervisees (especially students and beginners) and, indeed, in their own counselling work.

Link to this resource.

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

Philosophy of Clinical Supervision

"From this history of clinical supervision, our belief is that a large source of failure in clinical supervision stems from the lack of clarity about the supervisor's philosophy of clinical supervision."

So write Francis A Martin and William "Cris" Cannon in their article "The necessity of a philosophy of clinical supervision".  Both are practising counsellors and are involved also in counselor education.

The article has many suggestions on how to refine one's own philosophy regarding supervision both as a supervisor and supervisee.

The paper is part of a project sponsored by the American Counselling Association. This is a link to a PDF file.

Link to this resource