Hi All. This post is to give you all a bit more information about my background and my current role in the CTUK Admin group.
I am here to help stop membership body discrimination and promote equality of the membership bodies. Also, to support our right as registered counsellors to work as trained including in private practice.
I would like to update you on some of the things that I’m currently working on for CTUK. Having been a member of the group for over two years, one of my interests is to help those of you who aren’t members of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).
My own story is that I have worked almost solely in private practice since I qualified in 2005. I trained on a BACP Accredited HND course and I was a BACP member for approx 14yrs. I became a registered BACP Senior Accredited member in that time.
In 2017 I decided to move to the National Counselling Society (NCS). It was an easy transfer and I was granted the equivalent status of MNCS (Snr Accred).
Being on the outside of BACP has really allowed me to see how the other membership bodies are being deliberately excluded and undermined.
Many colleges, placements and employers are telling counsellors that they have policies in place stating that all counsellors connected with them must belong to BACP and that they are only allowed to use BACP accredited counsellors and supervisors registered with that membership body.
No one that I know of has been shown such a policy so I am still waiting to see one.
I contacted CPCAB and BACP as these were both being used by one of my local colleges. I was told by both that they have no such requirements therefore it was nothing to do with them.
My membership body (NCS) offered to contact a college to speak to them about whether they would use counsellors from my membership body.
They tried over a period of 3 or 4 months and so far nobody has even responded.
So currently they are taking legal advice on how to deal with this widespread problem.
I will continue to push ahead with this on behalf of all of us.
I have also questioned why GP’s don’t give patients information about how to find a private counsellor. Apparently the information doesn’t reach them.
I want to find a way to let all GPs know that if, for example, they tell patients to look on ‘Counselling Directory’ or ‘Psychology Today’ they will have a choice of counsellors from all the Professional Standards registered membership bodies.
I have also asked the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) if they can ask membership bodies to stop using misleading wordings and stop making exagerated claims about themselves in their promotional materials. PSA have said they don’t have much power here.
I am currently talking to my membership body (NCS) about putting pressure on PSA to stop Membership Bodjes from misleading the public.
I have also been looking at IAPT services and the way they have been bullying people to become BACP Accredited in a very short time. No explanation given. One of the answers here is to have them accepting counsellors from all of the membership bodies.
My membership body is already challenging this in the same way that they did with asking to be in included in the new 2017 guidelines for use of accredited membership bodies. We need to get all our membership bodies acting on our behalf with these things.
So things are changing and we all need to keep challenging discrimination. Please can you get your membership bodies involved if you are having a problem. Joining the Psychotherapy and Counselling Union is a really good idea if you are serious about making changes.
People are listening to us and we are having a big influence on current thinking and policies. So don’t give up. I’m here to help you.
Glenna 😊
