Once again, we find ourselves at the end of a busy academic year, and we hope it's been a good one for you. It can feel as if we are still living through troubled and uncertain times, though, with uncertainty on the home front and on the global stage. At such times we value more than ever the special relationship we have with our centres, from our old friends who have been with us for so many years to the new recruits to the CPCAB family, who are still finding their way with us. Our very best wishes go to you all and we hope you enjoy your summer break. Don't forget the sun screen!

Staffing

The CPCAB family at head office continues to grow, and we are delighted to introduce to you...

Ella Taylor, who joined us in May as Operations Co-ordinator, supporting Ray van der Poel in the business side of our operations. Ella is a Somerset girl and knows this part of the world very well, although she is finding the world of counselling training very different after working in the plant and construction industry! Like most of our staff, she's a busy bee, with a motorbike-mad husband and two and a half year old daughter, but she's still found time to adopt a very special cat with only three legs. She describes her strengths as “thinking on her feet and juggling multiple priorities” and we would agree with that – and add many more to the list! Welcome, Ella... we're pleased to have you here.

More recently, Sharon Coles has joined us to support Marina, Trudy and Yvette in our endlessly busy exams department, after working for one of our long-established local employers, Clarks of Street, for many years. Sharon is also a Somerset girl, with two teenage daughters, a husband and a cat (4 legs, if you're wondering). She loves socialising with friends, visiting National Trust properties and holidaying in France, plus listening to music both at home and at live concerts. (Don't tell anyone, but she can also play an instrument... the euphonium! As far as we know, that's a first for CPCAB). As an adaptable sort of person who is always cheerful, Sharon has fitted right in with the team and we're pleased to welcome her too!

Finally, we have very recently been joined by Jill Robinson, who is working with Gill Baker in a busy office dealing with regulation, committees, risks and complaints, among other things. Jill was previously working for our local District Council and the quirky nature of this complex role is a big change for her! But she's settling in well and has already made firm friends among the team. Jill's two daughters have moved away from home now but the family remains close and are always happy to have an excuse to get together. Jill's calm, reassuring manner is just what is needed in such a busy office and the only problem is both answering at once when anyone calls “J(G)ill! Welcome, Jill-with-a-J. We're looking forward to getting to know you better.

Compliance with regulatory conditions: annual declarations for centres

As we near the end of the 2018/19 academic year, can we remind our centres please that in order to meet the requirements of its regulators, (Ofqual in England, Qualifications Wales in Wales and CCEA Regulation in Northern Ireland), to comply with UK law and to protect the interests of learners, CPCAB is obliged to obtain a declaration of compliance from each of its recognised centres every year. This declaration is intended to confirm that the information provided to CPCAB at the time of the centre's first approval remains accurate and up to date.

Please confirm your centre's compliance by completing a declaration and returning it to Rachael Hann by the end of August. It must be completed and signed by the person responsible for the quality assurance and management of CPCAB qualifications within the centre.

Without this declaration CPCAB will be unable to issue your Centre's Annual Practising Certificate (APC) for the upcoming academic year and sanctions may be applied, in a reasonable and proportionate way, in the event of non-compliance. Please see the CPCAB sanctions policy.

Our thanks go to those of you who have sent back their annual declarations already and we were delighted to see that a number of them came in very quickly.

If you haven't sent yours back to us yet, we would be grateful for it to be a priority – remember that the deadline for return is the end of August. We hope you have enjoyed teaching the CPCAB qualifications this year and we look forward to working with you during 2019/20.

Annual documentation updates

We're pleased to confirm that there have been no major or significant changes to our core documents this year; we do try to keep them to a minimum, for everyone's sake! Do make a point of using the most up-to-date versions though (downloadable from the CPCAB website) as in some cases we've provided extra guidance that we hope you'll find useful.

Feedback

A reminder that we are grateful for your feedback on our qualifications and service. Feedback is a vital part of our annual qualifications review every spring, but we are happy to receive it, both from tutors and from candidates at any time of year.

This link will take you to a simple online form; it should only take a few minutes to complete. Many thanks.

Standardisation training for tutors for the 2018/19 academic year

Dates for the 2019-20 standardisation training days are available on our website now; if you haven't reserved your place yet please do so via the online booking form.

This year, for the first time, we have included a counter to show how many places are still available, which we hope you'll find helpful. The London training sessions are booking up quickly with only 2 places left on the Friday and 31 on the Saturday so don't leave it too late if that's your choice!

Standardisation training is a requirement for tutors teaching ICSK-L2 and above; please see our .

New fees

A reminder that our new fee structure is available on the CPCAB website and will come into force from September 2019. (Please scroll down the page to view fees for 2019-20.)

A New Vision for Mental Health

“Have you ever wondered what mental healthcare would look like if, knowing what we know today, it was redesigned from scratch?” The New Vision for Mental Health project looks at various aspects of – and answers to – this question.

Recent posts on the project website include:

• Experiences of therapists who integrate walk and talk into their professional practice
• The Body Keeps Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
• The Anatomy of Loneliness
• Nature and Therapy: Understanding counselling and psychotherapy in outdoor spaces
• Unified Psychotherapy Project
• Depression and Me

Extensions for internal assessment– levels 2 and 3

From time to time we are made aware that candidates at levels 2 and 3 are failing to complete their internal assessment (course work) within the teaching time of the course, with centre extensions being routinely offered. Our guidance has always been that up to 3 months beyond the end of the course is acceptable but that at these levels further extensions should not be offered (higher level qualifications, which include client work and personal therapy, have their own arrangements, of course).

However, we do recognise that there may be circumstances where you, as centre staff, feel that there is justification for a longer extension and we would ask you to contact CPCAB for approval before offering it to your candidate. We are keen to support candidates, particularly those with specific learning needs, whilst retaining the necessary control over the delivery of the qualifications. Our Tutor Guides will be updated to reflect this enhanced guidance with effect from September 2019. If you would like to discuss an individual situation or to request an extension of more than three months, please contact Marina Richards, EA Service Manager.

Guidance to centres on e-portfolios

You may be interested to know that a guidance document for centres is being developed by CPCAB staff; it states that we are prepared to accommodate e-portfolios, where centres choose that option, if evidence is available for EV visits. It won't be necessary to provide print-outs if the portfolios are readily accessible.

The proviso is that the process must be handled robustly by the centre and it must work with our CPCAB processes. Please do keep in mind that we aren't experts in this technical field, but we are keen to work with our centres as closely as we can and it's becoming increasingly apparent that there is an appetite for this sort of method of gathering portfolio evidence.

Tutor CVs and the role of the awarding organisation

From time to time we receive enquiries regarding the role of CPCAB in approving tutor CVs, particularly since our tutor requirements for new tutors were updated in September 2018. Our role as the awarding organisation is to make a judgement on what level each tutor is able to teach proficiently, based on the information presented to us regarding an individual's qualifications and previous experience.

Do bear in mind, though, that our role is not that of an employer. We are not able to make employment decisions; that is the role of the centre, who are responsible for checking that the information on the CV which is submitted to CPCAB is accurate and up to date. We do ask that centres check that a tutor meets the CPCAB requirements prior to committing to them delivering a course. We hope this is helpful to you but do please get in touch if you have any queries.

New training video - Transforming Emotional Pain: An Illustration of Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT)

The Counselling Channel has just released a new training video titled "Transforming Emotional Pain: An Illustration of Emotion-Focused Therapy", featuring the work of Dr. Ladislav Timulak. It includes an Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT) session, reflections from the client and the therapist, commentary about the session and a discussion focusing on EFT and research developments.

EFT seeks to go beyond the symptomatic distress that clients present with - such as depression and anxiety - to focus on the chronic painful emotions - such as sadness, loneliness, shame or fear - that lie at the core of client difficulties.

In an engaging EFT session, Ladislav helps client, Claire, to explore the emotional impact of a very traumatic experience associated with the birth of her daughter. Together they examine the links between the trauma and the core painful emotions that Claire is experiencing. They also identify and articulate Claire's unmet emotional needs and work to evoke compassionate emotional responses to these needs.

Ladislav Timulak PhD is the Course Director in Counselling Psychology at Trinity College, Dublin. He is involved with training counselling psychologists and various psychotherapy trainings globally. He also maintains a part-time private practice.

Seeking a client for a training video about Emotion-Focused Therapy

In August and September 2019 CPCAB will be filming a training video about Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT) and anxiety in our studio near Glastonbury, Somerset. We are looking for a client who is a past student or a CPCAB tutor.

We will be filming an EFT session plus pre and post outcomes and we would like to find a client who has generalised anxiety disorder and/or experiences social anxiety.

We approach all of our filming with great sensitivity and follow ethical guidelines.

If you are interested in this opportunity please contact Jacinta Powell.

Tutors interested in Deliberate Practice (DP)

If you'd like to in be involved in testing some Deliberate Practice (DP) exercises - for a new book on DP in Emotion-Focused Therapy - with your trainees, please contact Ray van der Poel, Head of Business and Development.

Disclaimer

We are occasionally asked to include articles or promotions for related material within our Update newsletters, on our website or social media accounts, and this is something we are happy to consider; please contact email us for details. Please note that inclusion in any edition of Update does not imply CPCAB approval of the product or promotion.

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