We hope the new year finds you in good health and spirits and ready to face the challenges ahead of us. The festive season already feels a long way behind us and we are in the darkest time of the year but there are hopeful signs all around; the cyclamen and snowdrops are growing again in the CPCAB garden and we are almost heading for home in daylight at the end of the day! We send you all best wishes and thanks, as always, for your continued support.

Funding

The situation regarding funding continues to be unclear and in flux but the bottom line is that there will be less funding for fewer people and the main emphasis is on apprenticeships and individual entitlement. Many of those currently in receipt of benefits will no longer be entitled to fee remission from 2011/12. This means that even where a qualification is listed as fundable on the LAD very few individuals will be entitled to that funding. Guidance may be accessed on the Skills Funding Agency website.

What does this means for CPCAB qualifications?

The good news is:

• Funding for ICSK-L2, CSK-L2 and CST-L3 has been extended for new starts until 31 March 2011 (see http://providers.lsc.gov.uk/LAD/). Funding for the higher levels remains as it was. Although CPCAB will continue to lobby for fundable status for our qualifications in the months ahead, in reality very few individuals will be entitled to funding even if the qualifications continue to be on the fundable list.
• FE colleges will have the freedom to decide the mix and balance of provision needed in their own communities and can use the single Adult Skills Budget¹ however they choose from 2011/12. We hope this means that centres will continue to choose CPCAB qualifications.
• From 2013 adult learners will be entitled to loans for studying qualifications of Level 3 and above ... along the lines of the current HE model. This will make Level 3 Counselling Studies and the Level 4 and Level 5 diplomas more accessible.
• Re 14-19 funding: the following qualifications have been approved by JACQA and are eligible for funding for learners aged between 14 – 19 years.
• L2 Award in Effective Listening Skills (ELSK-L2)
• L2 Award in Listening Support Skills (LSK-L2)
• L2 Award in Introduction to Counselling Skills (ICSK-L2) and
• L2 Certificate in Counselling Skills (CSK-L2)

It is likely, however, that this will also change; the Skills Funding Agency will issue further guidance on funding for 14-19 provision after the Wolf report has been published.

So why choose CPCAB?

As very few learners will be entitled to funding under the new arrangements we believe that centres should choose to stay with CPCAB qualifications because:

• CPCAB is at the cutting edge of developments in the counselling sector and has good links with all the professional bodies.
• Our qualifications are based on a coherent and unique model which is research-informed and supports evidence-based practice
• We are the only awarding body offering personalised support from practitioners and trainers in the field.
• Our qualifications fit with the expected HPC (Health Professions Council) structure and Standards of Proficiency (SOPs) for counsellors.
• We offer a unique and coherent progression route which includes pathways into HE eg. via the Open University Foundation Degree.
• We care passionately about counselling and are spear-heading a vision for counselling which challenges the medicalisation of human distress.
• And, uniquely among awarding bodies CPCAB can help you recruit more students via our national marketing compaigns which focus specifically on counselling qualifications. For example last year our website had around 132,000 visitors and nearly 600,000 page views. That's around 1,000 very interested visitors per centre - a pretty substantial number given that we can assume that they're all interested in counselling training. To find out more about how CPCAB can help you recruit more students please call Clare Bewley on 01458 850350.

Finally, we will, of course, keep you posted on any future developments.

¹This is a merger of the current Adult Learner Responsive, Train to Gain and Apprenticeships funding stream. A centre must be on the ACTOR (Approved College and Training Organisation Register) to be considered for funding and their budget must be above the minimum contract level of £500,000 to get an Adult Skills Budget allocation.

New fees from September 2011

Our new fee structure – which is effective from 1st September 2011 – is set out below:

Qualification	Initial qualification approval fee	Candidate registration fee	Re-sit fee	Appeals
ELSK-L2	£99	£44	N/A	N/A
LSK-L2	£99	£44	N/A	N/A
USM-L2	£99	£44	N/A	N/A
ICSK-L2	£129	£44	N/A	N/A
CSK-L2	£159	£129	£79	£129
CST-L3	£159	£129	£79	£129
TC-L4	£249	Year 1: £229 Year 2: £229	£179	£229
PC-L5	£249	£229	£179	£229
CBT-L5	£249	£229	£179	£229
TCSU-L6	£249	£229	£179	£229

Prices for late registrations, missed feedback appointments, non-attendance at standardisation training, qualification descriptors, additional consultancy visits and unit certification fees will remain unchanged in 2011-12.

Victor Rigby
Business Manager
January 2011

The Health Professions Council - regulation of counselling

The government published a new Health Bill last week which includes changes in the regulatory framework for health professions.  This will have an impact on the proposed HPC and regulation of counselling and psychotherapy ... although nothing in the bill specifically relates to the current plans for the statutory regulation of counselling and psychotherapy by HPC. We can offer the following information:

• The Health Bill will not go through until April 2012 at the earliest – and most of the stated changes relate to the regulation of social workers.
• The bill introduces the possibility of voluntary registers being ‘held’  by health regulators rather than direct mandatory registration with the regulator.
• Both the HPC and the CHRE (the ‘top’ regulator) will be renamed.
• HPC will become the Health and Care Professions Council.
• CHRE will become the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (when social workers are included).
• There can also be voluntary registers of students/trainees - which is not possible at the moment.
• Secondary legislation is not required for these changes.

More information will come out in the next few weeks and will probably make the situation re the HPC’s regulation of counselling and psychotherapy clearer. You can read the current press release on the HPC website.

In summary ... we do not know what all this means yet and HPC is continuing with the published work plan towards statutory regulation. However, the professional bodies have always preferred the notion of voluntary registers and as this may now be possible under the new arrangements there is a strong possibility that things will change.

CPCAB will continue to post updates as they become available.

Candidate Guides: open access for 2011-12

We are pleased to announce that for the 2011-12 teaching year and onwards all of our Candidate Guides (for all qualifications) will be freely available for download from our website. There will therefore be no more need for CDs containing these Candidate Guides.

We will be switching to this website means of distribution for several reasons, including:

• The fact that an increasing number of portable computing devices (e.g. some notebooks and tablets) don’t have CD drives nowadays.
• We can quickly update the website copy of the guides, thus ensuring that candidates and centres always have easy access to the most up-to-date version.
• The guides will be accessible from wherever candidates have internet access, e.g. at most colleges, or at home, or in WiFi hotspots etc.
• A survey of candidates and tutors has indicated that this change would be welcomed.

Please note that CPCAB will continue to issue Tutor CDs, partly because these CDs also contain confidential information (e.g. mock External Assessment papers).

CPD days - Understanding Substance Misuse

Feedback from other workshops ...
“A fantastic experience”
“Interesting, informative, fun and loads of new learning – great stuff”
“An excellent informative weekend”

You don’t have to be a counsellor to deliver this qualification – by attending this workshop you will have the underpinning knowledge to deliver ‘Understanding Substance Misuse’.  Diploma students may also find this training helpful to them as part of their practice.

Two new CPD workshops are available in early 2011 ... each will cost just £140.00 for a two day workshop, from 9.30am to 5pm each day.  Lunch will be provided together with tea and coffee (although you should note that your accommodation is not included in the fee. 

The first workshop will be held in Somerset at CPCAB's head office on Saturday and Sunday, 19th & 20th March. The second will be in London, (venue to be confirmed) on Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd April 2011.

To book your place or for further information, please give Clare a call on 01458 852 052 or email cbewley@cpcab.co.uk. We look forward to hearing from you.

Contact details - important. Please read!

A reminder to all of our hard-working tutors to find time to keep us up-to-date with your contact details. From time to time we discover that our information is missing or out of date and you may miss out on important information regarding CPD workshops, regulation news and criteria changes etc.  We know that in some cases the Centre Co-ordinator is helpful in passing on messages but as we all know, things can ‘slip through the net’.

It is very important that centres should annually check the admin contacts form (CR4) and send it to us with all tutor email and telephone contact details together with other department information such as exams and finance.  If you haven’t already sent in your CR4 for 2010-11, please find time to do it as soon as possible. The form can be downloaded from the downloads section of the website.

Taking the First Step how CPCAB began

We are pleased to announce the availability of “Taking the First Step … how CPCAB began”, our latest 15 minute film on counselling subjects.

Shot on location on the Greek islands of Ios, Santorini and Folegandros, the film features Dr Anthony Crouch recounting events that shaped his life – including one experience in particular – that led him to become a counselling trainer and later form an awarding body (CPCAB) dedicated to counselling and psychotherapy.

You can watch the film directly below. Or if you prefer, you can order a much higher-resolution DVD (for just £3.95 including P&P) from our online shop.

The following is some feedback we've received about the film so far:

"I just wanted to give you some feedback on watching the video. I thought it was wonderful and I have sent it on to my trainees, my tutors and a couple of clients who are going through much of what Anthony was talking about.
A very moving story. Thank you Anthony."

"Just wanted to say what a wonderful, inspirational video that was. I'm priviledged to be part of the CPCAB and making a difference to people's lives"

"Thank you for the link to 'taking the first step' I really enjoyed it, so lovely and refreshing to hear a grounded and unpretentious view on therapy and training.

One thing that excited me was hearing Dr Crouch describe the therapeutic value of the time he spent in nature. This is an area of therapy which fascinates me and aspects of which I include in my own practice."

Research matters

Research on working with the Therapy Personalisation Form (TPF)

A message follows from Maria Bowens, who is currently working with Professor Mick Cooper of the University of Strathclyde.

‘Hi, my name is Maria Bowens.

Over the past few years, as part of my doctorate in counselling psychology, I have been working with Professor Mick Cooper to explore ways of helping therapists tailor their work more effectively to meet the needs and wants of their clients.

We have been working on developing a client feedback form known as the Therapy Personalisation Form (TPF). The idea is to gain specific feedback from clients about their preferences regarding various aspects of the therapy by indicating across a number of dimensions how they would like the work to be orientated. Their feedback can then provide the basis for a dialogue that may serve as one way to support and improve collaboration between therapist and client. Some therapists have used it with their clients and have reported that it did reveal information regarding their client preferences that they may have otherwise not known.

Although the early signs are promising, further research must be done to develop the TPF; we also need to find out whether therapists and clients find it to be a beneficial therapeutic tool. My doctoral research project is about piloting the form more widely and finding out what therapists and clients think about it. There is also a version (TPF-A) which has been adapted for use at the assessment stage of therapy. The forms are freely available to download for work with clients from www.strath.ac.uk/humanities/counsellingunit/pluralistic/.

They are also presented in Cooper and McLeod’s new book ‘Pluralistic Counselling and Psychotherapy’ (2011). I would be very grateful for the opportunity to connect with people who are willing to try it out or who already have used it with their clients. I am hoping to interview a number of therapists or therapists in training to discuss their experiences of using the TPF.

If you are interested, please email me on or before Friday 10th February 2011. I look forward to hearing from you and am very happy to answer any questions or to provide further information, either about this research or the development of the TPF in general. Thank you’.

An information sheet for therapists interested in using the TPF is available here.

Research project - can anyone help?

CPCAB recently received the following request from Panagiotis Parpottas, who is currently working towards his Doctorate in Counselling Psychology at the University of Surrey. If you are interested in working with Mr Parpottas, please contact him direct by emailing p.parpottas@surrey.ac.uk

Are you working in and on the therapeutic relationship? Do you believe that issues like the therapists use of self and clients internal working models are important components of the therapeutic relationship? If so you may be interested on how therapists’ and clients’ attachment dimensions influence the process and outcome of therapy.

My name is Panagiotis Parpottas and I am a trainee Counselling Psychology from University of Surrey in my final year and I hope that you might be interested in taking part in my Doctoral research: “Exploring the therapeutic care-giving/attachment relationship: How the interaction effects of therapists’ and clients’ global attachment dimensions, the client’s specific attachment to therapist and the therapist’s specific care-giving to client influence the working alliance and outcome of therapy’.

I am looking to recruit trainees and qualified therapists who are about to commence therapy with their clients and finish preferably by the end of April 2011 (or November 2011). Therapists working in the NHS and therapists working only with children, families and groups are not eligible in participating in this study. All therapists will complete three questionnaires and they will also recruit two of their clients and administer to them four questionnaires in different stages of therapy (in the first session, in a mid therapy session and in the final session). I will provide you with the appropriate information on how to recruit your clients but also how to explain to them the process of this study.

Your clients’ participation is strictly anonymous and the whole process of completing the questionnaires is simple and takes approximately 5-10 minutes in each stage. Your participation is also anonymous and in exchange of taking part, if you wish, I will give you feedback on scores on your care-giving and attachment processes and I ensure confidentiality.

This project has been given a favourable ethical opinion by the University of Surrey Ethics Committee and is supervised by Dr Riccardo Draghi-Lorenz, Director of Psych.D in Psychotherapeutic & Counselling Psychology, University of Surrey: r.draghi-lorenz@surrey.ac.uk.

If you are interested in participating, please contact me directly for further information. My email is: p.parpottas@surrey.ac.uk and pparpottas@hotmail.com.

Satisfactory endings ... BACP information sheet P10

Please note that in our criteria guidance for tutors at Level 4 we state for criteria 2.1.4 (manage breaks and endings appropriately) that the BACP’s information sheet P10 on Satisfactory Endings could be used as a resource.  However, it has now come to light via one of our tutors that the BACP have withdrawn this sheet as they felt it was out of date and not applicable to counselling today.  Many thanks.