Sept 2009 No. 28

In this Update

Humour

Client: ‘my wife treats me like a dog!’

Counsellor: ‘come and sit down, and tell me about it ...’

Client: ‘I can’t! I’m not allowed on the furniture!’

Counsellor: “I’ve no idea what your problem is. I think it must be drink-related ...”

Client: “OK - I’ll come back when you’re sober.”

Mailing list

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Welcome to another new year

Greetings to our friends, old and new and our best wishes for a happy and healthy year ahead.

As we find ourselves starting out the new academic year, we all know we are facing unusual challenges from the proposed regulation of counselling by the Health Professions Council, as well as changes in funding, restructuring of qualifications for the QCF and more. As always, please be assured that we are working hard to keep abreast of developments and to offer the very best provision to our registered centres and your students.

The decision of the HPC’s Professional Liaison Group will be announced by the end of the year and our plans for migrating to the QCF are well under way. We hope, therefore, that by this time next year the outlook for counselling training will be much more clear.

Our thanks and best wishes go to you all for your support during what have been difficult and unsettled times.

Statutory Regulation of Counselling and Psychotherapy - update

The PLG will meet for the last time in November to consider the responses to the HPC consultation on the recommendations for the statutory regulation of counselling and psychotherapy which we reported on the Update extra on September 9th.

The final date for responding to the HPC consultation is October 16th. It is not too late to register your own views on protected titles, entry level, and the draft Standards of Proficiency. We urge you to review our response to the consultation and add your own voice to this process particularly the importance of HPC designating awarding body qualifications as ‘UK approved courses’ in the future regulated landscape. This is very important for all present and past CPCAB students.

Click here to review this edition

Open University module D171 - Introduction to Counselling

From time to time we receive enquiries from students interested in the joint CPCAB/Open University foundation degree and either in possession of or interested in working towards the OU module D171, ‘Introduction to Counselling’.

To repeat our earlier guidance to centres, module D171 may be used in the place of CPCAB’s Level 3 Certificate in Counselling Studies when accepting students on to the Level 4 Diploma in Therapeutic Counselling. As always, selection of students is a decision for you at our registered centres; but we would advise that if all other elements are in place it is in order to accept D171 as a substitute for CST-L3. Do please feel free to ring CPCAB if you would like further reassurance.

Websites

Our CPCAB website is due for a few updates over the next few weeks, particularly in terms of the updates we are continuing to offer in terms of regulation and other uncertainties. Do please let us know if you spot any anomalies in the website so that we can put them right with a minimum of delay (admin@cpcab.co.uk).

Can we also ask that you check your own centre’s website regularly and in particular make sure that you are advertising your current range of CPCAB qualifications. From time to time we are made aware of centre websites showing out of date or inaccurate information and we know all too well how easily this can happen! Many thanks.

CPCAB standardisation training for 2009/10

A reminder that if you haven’t booked your place for standardisation yet you shouldn’t leave it too late! Our Sheffield session took place last weekend (26th September) and was well received by all who took part. Note: the first London session on Friday, 9th October is already full - at the time of writing there are still limited places on the next day’s session at the same venue.

All tutors teaching ICSK-L2 and above must be standardised during the academic year in which they are assessing. Tutor/ trainers teaching only ELSK-L2 & LSK-L2 do not need to attend. Certificates of attendance will be awarded to tutors attending a full CPCAB standardisation day and will be awarded 5 CPD points. Failure to meet standardisation requirements may result in your internal assessments being declared invalid.

More details, including booking forms, will be sent out to you soon.

Standardisation dates for 2009-2010

Location Venue Date
London School of Oriental and African Studies - Brunei Gallery - Russell Square campus Friday 9th October 2009
London School of Oriental and African Studies - Brunei Gallery - Russell Square campus Saturday 10th October 2009
Birmingham BVSC Saturday 7th November 2009
Northern Ireland Northern Regional College - Café Lamont Friday 13th November 2009
Bristol BAWA Saturday 6th February 2010

Click on any of the venue names above to visit their website.

Please phone CPCAB on 01458 850350 on ext 2 or email Jackie Collier (stand@cpcab.co.uk) to book your place. Please remember to let her know which qualifications you teach and if you have any special dietary needs.

A reminder that, because of the cost of providing adequate places on the CPCAB standardisation days a fee of £50 will be made to a centre for the non-attendance of a tutor who has booked a place and has not cancelled (a week before the training) or failed to attend on the day.

Taking external assessment outside the published assessment ‘window’

With the threat of a further wave of swine flu, much more severe than that earlier this year, we would like to remind tutors again that you must keep within published assessment dates. It is also essential that assessment material is kept secure and treated with absolute confidentiality.

In our last newsletter we assured you that CPCAB has ways of offering support to centres in extreme circumstances. If you think it is possible that you will not be able to use the dates given, please contact CPCAB for further advice (mrichards@cpcab.co.uk) and don’t simply make your own arrangements.

Remember - if the integrity of the assessment is in question it may be necessary to void the results for your group.

Open University centre franchise offer

(please read urgently - closing date for training seminar is 2nd October)

Deliver a Foundation Degree in Counselling with The Open University and CPCAB - and gain valuable benefits
If your centre currently provides counselling qualifications from CPCAB, the Open University offers you an attractive franchising arrangement which will enable you to deliver modules from our Foundation Degree in Counselling with minimal development costs and a high level of local flexibility.

Key benefits for franchised centres and tutors

How does the franchise work?
Your centre provides:

The Open University provides:

Please note:
All franchise arrangements are subject to approval by the OU and are based on a contract proforma.

Your next step…
The Open University is running a seminar later this year where detailed information about franchising this programme will be presented. To register your interest please email Heather Barrett at strategy-partnerships@open.ac.uk or call her on 01908 655261 by 2nd October 2009 and she’ll let you know more about this proposed event.

New Horizons - consultation by the Dept of Health

The Department of Health is currently engaged in a "New Horizons" mental health consultation. We recommend both tutors and trainees read the consultation document and complete the associated questionnaire.

Closing date: 15 October 2009

Where to find it on the web: www.dh.gov.uk/en/Healthcare/Mentalhealth/NewHorizons/

The DoH vision for 2020
By 2020, we hope that:



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