...with a nod in the direction of the recent Glastonbury Festival, just along the road.
Client: ‘I keep getting these odd dreams. Sometimes I dream I’m a tepee. Sometimes I dream I’m a wigwam. What’s wrong with me?’
Therapist: ‘It’s quite simple. You’re two tents.’
Client: ‘I’m so scared of my wife! I don’t feel as if she has any respect for me.’
Counsellor: ‘Let’s think about why you might be so scared. Maybe we need to work on your self-esteem’.
Client (one week later): ‘Well, last night, in the bedroom, my wife came to me on her hands and knees!’
Counsellor: ‘That’s amazing! And what did she say to you?’
Client: ‘she said, “come out from under that bed and fight like a man ...”’
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Welcome to this, our second issue of CPCAB’s ‘Update’ newsletter, written especially for our registered students. We hope you find it interesting - remember we’d love to hear your thoughts and do feel free to send your contributions to: update@cpcab.co.uk
The Open University and CPCAB joint foundation degree
In recognition of the integrity and coherence of CPCAB qualifications the Open University has worked in partnership with CPCAB to provide the Foundation Degree in Counselling.
Entry requirements
Although candidates can progress on to the CPCAB's PC-L5 from any Level 4 counselling diploma that meets the entry requirement for Level 5, if the Level 4 diploma was awarded by another awarding body or was started prior to September 2002 they will not be eligible for the Open University Foundation Degree.
Candidates who apply to study the CPCAB Level 5 Diploma in Psychotherapeutic Counselling (PC-L5) or the CPCAB Level 5 Certificate in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT-L5) with the specific intention of accessing the Open University Foundation Degree must have completed the CPCAB Level 4 Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling and not any other L4 diploma. Detailed information about the credit transfer arrangements can be found at the following link: www3.open.ac.uk/credit-transfer/pdf/G14.pdf
Website
The Open University now has a special website for the Foundation Degree in counselling. This can be accessed by the following link: www.open.ac.uk/socialsciences/courses-and-qualifications/foundation-degree-in-counselling/counselling.php
HPC - where are we now?
The PLG has now finished its first series of meetings. The recommendations made by the PLG regarding regulation of counselling/psychotherapy will now go out to consultation between July and October. The consultation documents will be on their website from 13th July.
The next part of the timetable, therefore, is as follows:
- consultation on the HPC’s recommendations to the Secretary of State for Health and Ministers in the devolved administrations, July to October 2009;
- reconvened meeting of the Professional Liaison Group to discuss standards of proficiency /threshold level for entry responses, November 2009;
- HPC Council considers responses to the consultation and finalises recommendations to the Secretary of State for Health and Ministers in the devolved administrations, 10 December 2009;
- process begins to seek information from voluntary registers in order to make recommendations about register transfers, January 2010.
The final decision about the regulation of psychotherapists and counsellors is one for the Government, and ultimately, a matter for the UK and Scottish parliaments. We will continue to keep you up to date with further developments as the situation becomes clearer - see the ‘Regulation’ section on the CPCAB website for the latest information.
Further information is regularly added to the HPC website too - see www.hpc-uk.org/aboutus/professionalliaisongroups/psychotherapistscounsellors
CPCAB and the environment
You may be interested to know that here at CPCAB we have a keen interest in environmental issues and are in the process of developing a ‘green policy’ to support our work.
Some of our ideas are in place already, such as water-limiting devices, minimum energy settings on office computers and keeping paper use to a minimum; we also recycle glass, paper and tins. Still under investigation are recycled paper (if anyone knows of a good brand that doesn’t clog up printer rollers we’d like to hear from you), car sharing and ‘green’ electricity supply. Small steps ... but in the right direction.
Find-a-centre
If you’ve looked at our CPCAB website recently - www.cpcab.co.uk - you may have spotted a fairly new feature on the front page. Find your nearest centre does exactly that - our approved centres are grouped according to geographic areas, with contact details.
You should, however, remember that although a centre is listed as being approved, it’s not necessarily true that they’re running the course at the moment. (This is for the simple reason that we don’t always know what courses are running until the students are actually registered with us - and this can be several weeks into the course). Nevertheless, courses are provided to meet demand so if you need training in your area ask, ask and ask again... you may find they are happy to oblige!
Black and minority ethnic groups - talking therapies
You may be interested to read the following article, produced by the ‘Connecting Communities Plus’ programme as part of their work with Support 4 Progress in Manchester (with thanks to Support for Progress for permission to publish);
‘BME individuals are less likely than white people to be offered talking therapies at an early stage of common mental ill health, and far more likely to be admitted as an inpatient when seriously unwell. Thus developing a counselling service delivered by qualified counsellors was a preventative measure to decrease the risk of later admittance to hospital. Support 4 Progress used its CC+ grant to develop its own training courses that are culturally appropriate and sensitive to the needs of the trainee.
Approved as a centre by the Counselling and Psychotherapy Central Awarding Body (CPCAB), it now offers a range of certificates and diplomas up to the CPCAB level 4 Diploma. The outcomes include BME individuals accessing one-to-one and group counselling services as well as trainees gaining their qualifications. Support 4 Progress feels that a significant achievement has been to provide a space for people with mental health issues to undertake training which, in the words of the project manager, not only allowed them “to gain an inner strength to go back into their world grounded with deeper understanding and solutions to problems, but most of all feeling valued by themselves and others,” but also to gain qualifications to use in furthering their careers.’