UpdateJan 2013 No. 41

CPCAB's Level 3 Certificate in Life Coaching Studies (LCS-L3)

Belated new year wishes to our centres and we hope you're coping with the startling range of weather conditions we seem to be experiencing! We hope, too, that you've had a healthy and restful festive season and are ready to face the challenges of 2013.

Here's a snow scene to cheer you up … the girls are the identical twin great-nieces of one of our CPCAB staff members. It was their first opportunity to build a snowman and they decided instead to build a model of their much-loved great-grandmother! Great-grandmother was highly honoured!

CPCAB celebrates 20 years at the forefront of counselling training (5.5 to 14 CPD hours)

Dear Colleague

As you may know, this spring CPCAB will be hosting a two day conference to celebrate our first 20 years of providing research-informed counselling qualifications. This exciting event will update you on new developments in the field as well as providing a focused and creative approach to teaching and practising counselling – and it will also help you to look after yourself!

The conference is, primarily, a celebration of counselling – a mature, rich, creative and pluralistic profession that, in recent years, has demonstrated just how effective it can be. It is also an opportunity for both presenters and delegates to consider what may lie ahead for the profession. Contributors are drawn from leading UK and international organisations such as Relate, Kids Company, Therapy Works, the Place2Be, the Open University and the Lateef Project.

Our two keynote speakers Camila Batmanghelidjh and Professor Mick Cooper exemplify how counselling has developed in recent years. For example, Camila Batmanghelidjh – a former Businesswoman of the Year – is the founder of Kids Company whose holistic, personalised, multi-disciplinary service provides a street level model of sustained loving care. In addition to her work with children and families she is an acknowledged expert on the use of arts-based counselling in therapy. Mick Cooper is the UK's leading authority on the effectiveness of counselling in schools and on research into the factors which determine the effectiveness of therapy. He is particularly interested in a pluralistic approach to counselling and psychotherapy.

All counselling professionals will gain from attending this event including counsellors, counselling trainers, supervisors of counselling trainees, managers involved in supporting counselling trainees in their agency work, counsellors conducting research as well as (a limited number) of CPCAB students.

Held at the Alveston Manor Hotel in Stratford-upon-Avon on the 26th & 27th April 2013 - to coincide with Shakespeare's 450th birthday - this is a truly unmissable event for anyone interested in the future development of counselling.

To find out more and view the full conference and workshop programme.

Alternatively, please call Clare Bewley to book direct on 01458 852052 or email conferences@cpcab.co.uk.

We very much look forward to warmly welcoming you to CPCAB's 20th Anniversary Conference.

Kind regards

Yours sincerely

Dr Anthony Crouch

Chief Executive

As a taster for this year's conference, here's some footage from CPCAB's last conference, to whet your appetite for more!

New fees from September 2013

Our new fee structure – which is effective from 1st September 2013 – is set out below:

Qualification Initial qualification
approval fee
Candidate
registration fee
Re-sit fee Appeals1
ELSK-L2 £99 £48 N/A N/A
LSK-L2 £99 £48 N/A N/A
USM-L2 £99 £48 N/A N/A
ICSK-L2 £129 £48 N/A N/A
CSK-L2 £164 £139 £87 £139
CST-L3 £164 £139 £87 £139
LCS-L3 £164 £139 £87 £139
TC-L4 £259 Year 1: £259
Year 2: £259
£197 £259
PC-L5 £259 £259 £197 £259
CBT-L5 £259 £259 £197 £259
TCSU-L6 £259 £259 £197 £259

There are no additional group, external assessment and verification, certification or external assessment feedback fees. Candidate registration fees above apply to the UK only. For overseas charges please contact CPCAB.

Additional fees will be charged for the following:

  • Late registration fee - £50 per group.
  • Missed feedback appointments (applicable after second missed appointment) - £25.
  • Non-attendance at standardisation training - £50.
  • Qualification descriptor - £150. This is in addition to the qualification approval fee.
  • Additional consultancy or on-site support visits requested by centres – £300 plus expenses.
  • Replacement certificates - £35.
  • Unit certification fees - £15. There is an additional charge for TC-L4 candidates who require certification for individual units where the whole qualification has not been achieved.
  • For tailor-made qualification fees please apply to CPCAB.

Victor Rigby

Head of Business & Development

Level 3 Certificate in Life Coaching Studies - good news

We have previously informed tutors that our new life coaching qualification had been successfully accredited into the Qualification & Curriculum Framework (QCF). Following on from this, we're now pleased to announce that it has been confirmed for funding – as you can see by looking in the government's Learning Aim Reference Application (LARA) database.

You may be interested to know that filming took place recently for two DVDs that will be used in the external assessment of the life coaching students. Each DVD involves a potential life coaching client talking about the challenges and difficulties in their life. The external assessment requires candidates to assume the role of life coach and answer questions on how they would work with the client concerned. We have already produced a similar DVD for use in mock assessment.

The life coaching qualification draws on the CPCAB's unique life coaching model to provide high quality, research based training.

Funding guidance for centres

Please note that our Funding Guide for Centres has been revised and extended several times since we first made it available back in May of last year.

It includes an important sub-section that we've extracted into a shorter document for your convenience and concerns two separate (but partly over-lapping) processes: (i) centre eligibility for public funding; and (ii) centre access to the government's Unique Learner Number (ULN)/Personal Learning Record (PLR) system.

It also includes an important sub-section concerning the at-a-glance funding eligibility of CPCAB qualifications across various LARA funding streams. For your convenience, we've extracted this into a table.

Funding guidance for students (and centres)

We've also revised and extended our Funding Guide for Students. This document includes detailed information (amongst other things) about the new student loans system at FE level that will soon be in place for students aged 24 and older.

Video: counselling skills qualification

For the benefit of prospective students we've produced a 12 minute video giving basic information about our Level 2 Certificate in Counselling Skills.

The video explains what's meant by ‘counselling skills’ and what they're used for, and provides an example demonstration of one of the skills involved (paraphrasing). It explains how the qualification is safe, based on a well-researched model and fit-for-purpose. And it describes those who would benefit acquiring the qualification.

The video also sets out what students might be doing during a typical course session, touches on the work required outside of the course and explains how students are assessed.

Each centre is free to download and distribute the video to their prospective students and to use it more generally as part of their course marketing/recruitment process.

Candidate name changes - guidance on certification

It's sometimes the case that candidates change their name during their course of training, for marriage or other reasons. If this happens in one of your groups please remember:

  • In order to be valid, certificates should be issued in the name of the candidate as it was at the end of the course.
  • Name changes between the end of the course and the issue of the certificate can't be taken into account.
  • Replacement certificates can't be issued in a new name at a later date - the certificate is only valid in the original name.

If one of your candidates changes name before the end of the course, please contact Trudy or Marina at CPCAB for advice, without delay. If a certificate has already been issued in the original name because we weren't aware of the change the normal replacement fee of £35 will be charged.

Thank you.

ICSK-L2 archiving policy

From time to time centres contact us for advice on archiving student work, particularly for ICSK-L2 where external assessment by CPCAB is no longer part of the qualification. Each centre needs to archive a robust sample of work for a minimum of three years; a suggested sample is 20% of the group or a minimum of three portfolios.

Lead providers, subcontracting & the Skills Funding Agency: guidance for centres in England

We have produced a two-page guide that defines “subcontracting” in terms of the Skills Funding Agency (SFA). It explains the £100,000 per annum threshold and makes clear why some centres, if they wish to become eligible to indirectly or directly receive public funding from the SFA, will need to become lead providers and why some others will need to become subcontractors.

It also sets out the steps that centres must take, depending on whether they are a subcontractor or a lead provider and gives details of SFA's “Subcontracting Register”.

Book review - “Changeology”

Counselling and life coaching tutors, trainees and practitioners may be interested in the recently published (December 2012) self-help book “Changeology: 5 Steps to Realizing Your Goals and Resolutions” by John Norcross. John is a leading international researcher and this self-help book is based on research into the stages of change.

Part one explores “the science of change” which describes a five-step model of change together with research-informed guidance on “change catalysts”, “matching your efforts to your step” (which is seen as key) and self efficacy to change. Part two examines each of five identified stages of change in turn. In essence these stages concern identifying goals, then making and maintaining changes. However, the book also provides detailed, research-informed guidance on, for example, raising awareness of “causes, consequences and cures”, “arousing emotions” to motivate change, rewarding oneself for actions, “resisting the urge” (to follow old behaviour patterns), developing a “slip plan” and “boosting your self efficacy” to change. In conclusion, unlike so many self-help books, this isnrt a collection of anecdotes from a self-help guru but rather a carefully thought out, research-informed book on the theory and practice of self-initiated change.

The book also includes excellent appendices on (i) recommended self-help resources and (ii) a guide to choosing a therapist. Additional self-help resources including self-assessments and exercises can also be found at www.changeologybook.com.

Anthony Crouch (January 2013)

Please note that CPCAB has no link with the author or the publishers.

Product details

Hardcover: 258 pages
Publisher: Andrews McMeel
ISBN-10: 1451657617
ISBN-13: 978-1451657616

Humour

We're going for some visual humour this time - with thanks to CPCAB's facebook friends!