Therapy Today October 2014
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| I don’t have the answers but it feels important to raise the question.
I am very much looking forward to the BACP summit on social justice in November. This area of work has become ever more important to me during my time as Chair, so it feels fitting that I hand over at this event, which coincides with our Annual General Meeting. You’ll have seen the publicity for the summit and the interview with the keynote speaker Jeffrey Kottler in the September issue of Therapy Today. I have seen Jeffrey speak on a number of occasions and he is fantastic. His work on using counselling skills outside the therapy room for social justice and change is truly inspirational. Alongside Jeffrey, there will be four themed workshops to encourage deeper debate, all looking at areas of social justice that currently concern BACP: the links between a counselling perspective and a social justice/social change perspective; the role of counselling in community-based alternatives to custody for female offenders; parity of esteem between physical and mental health, and counselling as a vehicle for increasing social inclusion among marginalised groups. I’m going to find it hard to choose which workshop to attend. I hope that you will join us at The Lowry in Salford on 21 November. You can find out more and book your place on the BACP website at www.bacp.co.uk/events/. Jeffrey is also running a half-day workshop the next day, which is an equally tempting prospect. So it’s time to say goodbye to everyone who reads this column. Thank you so much for your letters of support and the kind words that you have shared when I have met you personally. I was especially touched by those of you who wrote to me after my mother’s diagnosis with Alzheimer’s and dementia. Writing the column was a daunting prospect when I became Chair; all I could do both in this space and in the Chair’s role was offer myself… warts and all. I have found writing the column hugely helpful at times in processing my month-by-month experiences as Chair and trying to work out their relevance to you, the members. It has been a bit like clinical supervision in that respect – the place that has brought me back to why this work is so important and, conversely, what of it is not. +++
BACP Public Affairs BACP urges review of Welsh policy BACP has called on the Welsh Government to review its current policy preventing counsellors and psychotherapists from conducting mental health assessments. The Mental Health Measure was introduced in 2010 to improve the uptake and regulate therapy provision in Wales. But, says BACP, the Measure has had an unintended effect and highly qualified and experienced counsellors and therapists are being prevented from conducting mental health assessments. Currently professions including specialist mental health nurses, registered occupational therapists and social workers, but not counsellors and psychotherapists, are considered eligible to conduct assessments. BACP’s response to the Welsh Government’s consultation on the Measure notes that it has done much to improve referrals to therapy. But the ban on counsellors doing mental health assessments is reducing employment opportunities and the employability of counsellors and psychotherapists and so damaging therapy services. Well-qualified and experienced therapists are leaving their posts and being replaced by other professions who may not have their mental health experience and specialist training, BACP says. BACP at the Labour Party Conference BACP co-hosted a fringe meeting with the British Psychological Society (BPS) at the Labour Party’s Annual Conference. The event, on 23 September, heard from an expert panel, followed by a lively question-and-answer session from the audience. The panel included Labour MPs Chris Ruane and Kevan Jones, BACP Vice-President Professor Dame Sue Bailey, BPS President-Elect Professor Jamie Hacker Hughes, Chair of the Board of Science at the British Medical Association Professor Baroness Hollins, and Ian Hulatt, Mental Health Adviser at the Royal College of Nursing. Kevan Jones offered a simple message to the audience: ‘Talk about mental illness and keep talking about it as if it was any other condition.’ Professor Hollins recommended that we ask party campaigners in next year’s general election about their party’s policies on mental health, and Professor Hacker Hughes called for access to psychological therapies within 28 days of referral. Chris Ruane spoke about the benefits of mindfulness in the workplace, health, education and the criminal justice system. Ian Hulatt argued that nurses should be more psychologically attuned to the people they were caring for, but that they need more training. Professor Sue Bailey spoke about children and young people and her vision of an NHS where ‘parity is a word that doesn’t need to be used again’. BACP at the Conservative Party Conference BACP was represented at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham at the end of September. BACP representatives attended the Health and Social Care Alliance fringe event where Secretary of State for Health Jeremy Hunt cited his commitment to mental health services and hinted at an impending Government announcement on parity of esteem between mental and physical health. Mind’s event on ‘Mental Health: everything you wanted to know’ heard from Nicky Morgan, Secretary of State for Education, and James Morris, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Mental Health. They both articulated the Conservative Party’s commitment to mental health services. Nicky Morgan also praised school-based counselling as a mental health service for children and young people. The growing problem of loneliness among older people was explored in Age UK’s fringe meeting on ‘Ideas and Opportunities for an Ageing Britain’. The British Psychological Society’s event focused on ‘Reducing Crime: how do we know what really works?’. Speakers highlighted the need for research into effective psychological interventions in the criminal justice system. Guidance on Parkinson’s BACP has urged NICE to recognise that people with Parkinson’s disease and depression need specialist psychological therapy. NICE is currently consulting on an update to its clinical practice guideline on Parkinson’s disease. BACP has welcomed NICE’s recognition that depression can be a symptom of Parkinson’s disease but is concerned that the guidance will not make recommendations on interventions and management of comorbid conditions unless the treatment differs from that offered to people without Parkinson’s. BACP says the guidance should include information on effective psychological therapies for people with Parkinson’s and depression. It says there is good research evidence that they benefit from a specialist approach because therapies may need to be modified to accommodate the possible effects of the disease on cognition. +++
BACP News Shared commitments to ethical practice Tim Bond outlines the key changes in the draft revised BACP Ethical Framework, which will shortly be sent to all members for their views BACP members will have each received by email a consultation copy of the first full draft of the revised Ethical Framework. In this article I want to tell you about how your contributions to the three webinars held earlier this year have influenced the revision of our Ethical Framework. Be prepared for some surprises. I hope they are welcome ones as I have attempted to reflect your responses to the webinars. We have never had so many people (1,868 in total) taking part in a consultation on our professional ethics. Even more importantly, the quality and thoughtfulness of the responses has been particularly helpful. As in previous versions of the Ethical Framework, I have followed two principles in writing this draft. First, I have taken into account the range of views and the reasons you offered for your views to try to find common ground between them, rather than choose one view over another. I have been greatly helped by the BACP Policy team, who produced several analyses of all the webinar responses. Second, I have tried to respect examples of practice that significant groups of practitioners of counselling, coaching or psychotherapy considered to be good and ethical. Like any profession, we have legitimate differences of view, often related to our different therapeutic approaches or the needs of different clients and settings. We find it easier to agree on core ethical principles than on the detail of specific ways of delivering our services. I have tried to reflect this in how I have written the draft revisions. Why make changes? The current version of our Ethical Framework has lasted over 12 years. During that time there have been many changes that have implications for our practice. The governance and regulatory basis of all health and social care provision have changed substantially, often in response to serious scandals. Even though we have not been directly implicated in these scandals, we need to adapt to this new professional environment if we are to play our part in ensuring the highest standards of practice in the health and social care arena. We also have to recognise that we, as a profession, are not immune from difficulties and poor practice and that we can benefit from the learning of other professions. The 2010 and 2013 Francis Inquiry reports on Stafford Hospital1,2 are the most recent and influential in a long series of investigations and recommendations on preventing poor standards of health and social care. These too I have taken into account. BACP is also among the early adopters of a new type of professional registration: the Accredited Voluntary Register run by the Professional Standards Authority. The Authority is also responsible for overseeing the UK’s nine health and care professional regulatory bodies, which include the General Medical Council (GMC), the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC). I have therefore also taken account of the latest developments in their ethical frameworks, which guide our most closely related professions, such as psychologists, social workers, doctors and nurses. The draft Ethical Framework sent to you for consultation has key passages highlighted to draw them to your attention to make it easier to complete the accompanying online questionnaire seeking your views. I am going to cover here the most significant changes. Finding our ethical voice One of the consequences of so many scandals in health and social care is that regulatory voices have become increasingly strident and authoritative in how they express ethical standards. Both the GMC and the HCPC include a summary of core duties in their respective standards and ethics guidance. These are expressed in terms of strict obligation: ‘You must …’ The idea of adopting a similar list produced a very mixed response among respondents to our first webinar. Very few people wanted to return to a rules-based system but they could see the potential benefits of expressing our ethics as simply and directly as possible. After trying several different approaches I decided to adopt one of the suggestions made at the webinar. Our ethics grow out of our collective sense of commitment and responsibility; they are not something imposed upon us; expressing our core ethics as ‘commitments’ would be consistent with our values. To capture this spirit, which ran through most of the responses, I have used ‘We will …’ where other codes use ‘You must …’ and ‘We will normally…’ where others state ‘You should …’ This has made a significant difference to the ethical voice. For example, the HCPC Standards of Conduct, Ethics and Performance3 requires, ‘You must keep accurate records’ (Duties section 10). Our proposed Ethical Framework sets out a similar responsibility but in a different voice: we will work to professional standards by ‘keeping accurate and appropriate records’ (Commitment 3d). The draft uses only one ‘must’ – ‘We must be competent to deliver the services being offered’ (Good Practice 8). Everywhere else our responsibilities and obligations are written as commitments that, as members of our professional association, we share and that we each take responsibility for implementing. Title and structure The proposed title is the Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions. I decided against listing counselling, coaching and psychotherapy separately. Other roles may be recognised within BACP over the likely lifespan of this revised framework. It seems better to have a title that can encompass a number of possibilities so we don’t need to keep changing it. What we have in common are the therapeutic theories underpinning counselling that we apply in our different professional roles. The revised framework is structured in three parts. It starts with ‘Commitment’, which provides an overview of our core ethics and is written in a style that clients could read and understand, should they find this helpful. The next section is ‘Good Practice’, which sets out in more detail what the commitments mean for us as practitioners. Part 3, ‘Ethics’, sets out the values, principles and professional, moral qualities that underpin our ethical standards. This is the section that BACP members often find useful when considering how to respond to ethical dilemmas. I am going to explore here the key features of each of these sections that have been influenced by the discussions arising from the webinars. Commitment – candour Most of the content of ‘Commitment’ is consistent with the current Ethical Framework but expressed more directly and simply. Even the explicit commitment to ‘Put our clients first’ by making them ‘our most important concern during our work together’ is an expression of the values and principles that underpin current practice. The duty of candour recommended by the 2013 Francis report2 is also substantially present in the current framework but is made more explicit in the revised draft as a commitment to promptly inform a client if anything ‘occurs that may cause you harm and quickly limiting or repairing that harm as far as possible’ (section 6b). Good practice – supervision In the second webinar I provoked the biggest range of responses by arguing that supervision should make a bigger contribution to professional accountability by being more closely co-ordinated with line management (where relevant). I also proposed that clients might be able to contact their practitioner’s supervisor if they had any difficulties with them. Both these suggestions are possible under the current Ethical Framework, but are not explicitly required. The feedback to the webinar included some very persuasive arguments for some aspects of supervision being independent of line management but not necessarily wholly detached from the employing agency’s strategy and operational issues. I have attempted to capture this in the draft by committing us to finding a balance between our obligations to our employing agency’s strategy and the independence of supervision (section 46), supported by an annual review of agreed divisions of managerial and supervisory responsibilities. The draft Ethical Framework does not require that clients know the identity of their practitioner’s supervisor or that clients can approach a supervisor directly in specified circumstances. Views on these were too divided to find common ground. Instead it reads: ‘We will clarify who holds specific responsibilities for our clients between practitioner, supervisor and any line managers and review how well these responsibilities are working in practice’ (section 49). It also commits us to review our application of the Ethical Framework at least annually in supervision (section 48). All supervisors are also expected to know their legal responsibilities to their supervisees’ clients (section 52). (Further guidance will be provided on these legal responsibilities in due course.) My aim here is to encourage supervisors to carefully consider how they relate to their supervisees’ employing agencies and their responsibilities to their supervisees’ clients, without restricting us to particular ways of fulfilling these principles and responsibilities. There is a growing recognition of the additional risks to standards where practitioners work in isolation, without access to any constructive and informed scrutiny of colleagues and managers. Private practitioners working alone are likely to practise in considerable professional isolation; so too are practitioners who are the sole person providing their particular type of service within an agency. The draft framework therefore makes provision for supervision to include ‘addressing the issues around the effectiveness and safety of services provided that would normally be available in a well-functioning team’ (section 47). Ethics – diversity and problem-solving The feedback from the webinars suggests that the ethics section of the current framework is valued by many members and used as a point of reference in supervision or to consider ethical problems or dilemmas. I have therefore kept much of it but have updated it to reflect the challenges of social diversity. In the values section I have extended ‘facilitating a sense of self’ to include ‘sense of self in relationship’, to encompass relational and communitarian views of self. This might seem a technical change but it opens up the interpretation of our principles – especially autonomy – to those cultures and races that have a relational or collective understanding of self. ‘Promoting social justice’ has also been added to the values. ‘Care’ has been added to the section on ‘Professional moral qualities’ and is defined as being ‘actively and compassionately supportive of the wellbeing and capabilities of other people’. An awareness of the significance of ‘self in relationship’ and ‘care’ are well-established features of feminist ethics that apply equally well across the genders. Next steps A full copy of the draft Ethical Framework, with a weblink to the online questionnaire for your comments, has been emailed to every member. Please do respond. We want your feedback in order to write the final draft, which will be completed during spring 2015. The final, agreed version will come into effect for all BACP members and registrants from January 2016. Feedback received to date has been significant in many more ways than there is space to mention here. The more feedback we receive, the more confident we can be that what we adopt in 2016 will be truly a joint commitment. The draft Ethical Framework will also be available online at www.bacp.co.uk/efc. For queries about the consultation and questionnaire, please contact enquiries@bacp.co.uk, putting Ethical Framework in the subject line, or call 01455 883300. Professor Tim Bond is consultant to the BACP Ethical Framework. References 1. The Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Inquiry. Robert Francis Inquiry report into Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust. London: Department of Health; 2010 2. The Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Inquiry. Report of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry. London: the Stationery Office; 2013. 3. HCPC. Standards of conduct, performance and ethics. London: HCPC; 2012. New commissioning guidance BACP has published new guidance on Preparing your Service for Commissioning, as part of its series of NHS commissioning resources. The guidance is written by Louise Robinson, BACP Healthcare Development Manager, and builds on the 2009 BACP guidance on NHS Commissioning: a toolkit for psychological therapy providers. The aim is to provide members with a simple, comprehensive and accessible guide to the key issues they need to know about if they are to successfully tender for contracts to provide psychological therapies through the NHS. The contents of the new guidance cover the national policy context for local commissioning of psychological therapy services, service provision and commissioning, business planning, and securing contracts long term. The national policy context section includes information on the main mental health policy papers and frameworks that set out the Government’s overarching goals and standards for psychological therapy services, including summaries of relevant NICE guidelines and government white papers. The service provision and commissioning section looks in detail at the different service models for providing psychological therapies and the different tendering processes being adopted by Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), with practical advice on how to present your service to meet your commissioner’s needs, and information on legal issues and contracts. ‘Business Planning’ offers practical information on establishing and growing your psychological therapy business, with explanations of key elements such as Payment by Results, costing your service, governance and management, outcome measures and technology. In her foreword, Zubeida Ali, Chair of BACP Healthcare, says: ‘This comprehensive resource will help us, as therapists and service providers, to understand and engage with the changing policy and commissioning context, and inform and support the business planning required to improve quality and influence local commissioning.’ A suite of training resources and other information on NHS commissioning are available free to BACP members at www.bacp.co.uk/commissioning BACP registrants pass half-way mark Some 683 BACP members joined the BACP Register in August, taking the total to over 20,000 – more than half the membership. A booklet with information on becoming registered is being posted this month to every eligible MBACP and Individual Member who has not yet completed the registration process. The booklet is intended to help members achieve registration and continue their BACP membership, and gives details of Certificate of Proficiency (CoP) assessments up until August 2015. The CoP is the route for MBACP and Individual Members to join the register. Many members have given feedback on the assessment, which is computer-based and uses case studies and multiple choice questions to assess counselling knowledge, skills and abilities. The current pass rate is very high, at 93 per cent. Members who have taken it say the process is much less terrifying than they feared. BACP registered member Lindsey Mason wrote: ‘I just wanted to feed back to you that you were correct and the CoP computer system was easy to use, the two invigilators were very helpful and I found out today that I passed.’ Hannah Bridge fed back: ‘All the preparatory information and sample case study were really helpful. Telephone/email support has been terrific… the two people managing the day were just the ticket and it was lovely to meet other therapists. I particularly appreciated the lack of frills; I feel that is a good way to spend my membership fees.’ If you are an MBACP or Individual Member and have not yet registered, visit www.bacpregister.co.uk for dates of available CoP assessments and for more information on becoming registered, or call Customer Services on 01455 883300. BACP Summit workshops Details have been confirmed of the workshop topics for the BACP Summit on social justice on 21 November. The Summit takes place at The Lowry in Salford, followed by the BACP 2014 Annual General Meeting. Professor Jeffrey Kottler will open the event with his presentation on ‘Changing people’s lives while changing your own’. Delegates will then choose between two workshops: Mick Cooper, Professor of Counselling Psychology at Roehampton University, on developing the links between a counselling perspective and a social justice/social change perspective, and Sarah Swindley, Chief Executive Officer at Lancashire Women’s Centres and Chair of Women’s Breakout, on ‘Wrap-around community care as an alternative to custody for female offenders’. Directory: docs -> doc doc -> Ap english Language and Composition doc -> 2 Pre Columbian-1775 Land bridge- american Revolution doc -> Achievements (2013-14) 2013-14 Another year of coveted credentials at dps vindhyanagar doc -> International Journal of Enhanced Research Publications, issn: 2319-7471 doc -> Review on Wireless Sensor Network Techniques for Security in Railways doc -> Service provider access in mobile networks doc -> Design and Implementation of Home Energy Management System Based on gsm network doc -> Annual Meeting Press Policy asa’s 105th Annual Meeting: Toward a Sociology of Citizenship doc -> Explanatory memorandum introduction Download 465.67 Kb. Share with your friends:
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