by Amanda Williamson
[update March 2019 - I have now attained Senior Accreditation]
When I was in training and looking at different career paths it became clear that BACP accredited status was the goal in respect of being able to get paid work being employed as a counsellor or to receive referrals via Employee Assistance Programs.[update March 2019 - I have now attained Senior Accreditation]
I trained for an Advanced Diploma in Integrative Counselling at the Iron Mill Institute in Exeter, a BACP accredited course. Rather naively I believed that completing a BACP accredited course would result in my having BACP accredited status. It doesn't. What it means is that the Iron Mill's Advanced Diploma in Integrative Counselling meets the BACP high standards of training. So quite soon into the training I realised that in order to achieve accredited status I would first of all need to qualify which involved:
- Attending the 2 yr course and completing all the written assessments
- Attaining 150 counselling hours as a volunteer counsellor
- Attending monthly supervision whilst practising
- Attending personal therapy of 40+ hours
and then to achieve accredited status I needed to have:
- Been in practice for at least 3 years
- Attained at least 450 counselling hours under supervision
The application for accreditation is a project in itself involving four written pieces and a whole lot of logging (client work, supervision). You also need a supervisor's report and to find a suitable sponsor who will submit their sponsorship form separately. It's a lot more complex and time consuming than I can possibly say in a short paragraph.
Setbacks
I was ready to apply in May 2013 having enough years experience and around 1000 client hours. However, I had to delay the whole process for around a year due to the professional difficulties I had encountered when I reported an agency for unethical practice. The agency, which subsequently had BACP membership removed twice (there were other complainants) went on the attack and sent threatening correspondence and lodged professional complaints against anybody who had raised grievances with them who also happened to be BACP member. This whole process involved a police investigation and took around 2 years. None of the complaints raised by the agency proceeded to a hearing as the BACP could not find any evidence of unethical practice in any of those who were complained about.
Finally, this year, with the hearing against the agency and that whole traumatic business out of the way I decided to work on my accreditation application. I found it very time consuming and tedious. The written pieces were actually more tricky than I thought to write - harder than the essays during training. We have to demonstrate within a word limit exactly how we are working and demonstrate our awareness throughout of the BACP Ethical Framework for Good Practice in Counselling and Psychotherapy. We have to describe professional development we have engaged in and demonstrate how this has informed our practice. A lot of it is about reflective practice, our use of supervision and our self-awareness. This is quite difficult to convey in an essay! I found myself tweaking each piece in turn, spending many hours honing them, so that they, as a collective, provide a coherent and authentic representation of myself as practitioner.
The largest written piece is the case study where we demonstrate our use of theory, self-awareness, the Ethical Framework and supervision. These days the BACP ask that your supervisor reads the case study too and recognises it as being a reflection of the work done. So no making stuff up, exaggerating or bending the truth.
Doubts
I had second thoughts about applying. Was it necessary? Was it worth the expense? With the new Accredited Voluntary Registers won't accreditation become superfluous? Do clients know the difference between members and accredited members? Was I doing it because I was on some sort of subconscious conveyor belt and it was an automatic step rather than a well thought out, considered manoeuvre?
Authenticity
I decided to be very honest in my written work about the challenges I had faced and how I had carefully negotiated any impact of the dreadful business involving the agency on my practice. I capped my client load, had extra supervision and saw a therapist weekly during the height of the process. I also explored the learning that I had gained from the experience and how the adversity opened up the pathway to revisiting old wounds and being able to process them more effectively than ever before. I was advised by a colleague to keep that stuff out of my accreditation application but it seemed incongruent not to include it.
I submitted it in May 2014. The waiting time for processing is around 4 months so I sent it all off and…
Failing at the first hurdle...
Due to how long it had been since downloading the original application and actually submitting it the fee had gone up so first of all I had to pay the short fall. Then in August I was told that I had not labelled my essay clearly enough in terms of referencing the Ethical Framework and had managed to miss out a few lines on the client log. After remedying those I was told it would be submitted to a moderator at the next available opportunity.
A difficult week
On 23rd September I had a difficult day because somebody had requested a meeting to describe my experiences at the Palace Gate Counselling Service. I am unable to disclose who but I agreed as a matter of ethical duty/public protection. However, it was incredibly difficult having to describe exactly what happened to somebody I had never met before. I had been in a good place of putting the whole thing behind me but this seemed like a set back. I felt emotionally battered afterwards.
And then on 24th September a firm envelope plopped through my letterbox. I was a bit nervous at first; unexpected large envelopes have often meant rather horrible communication via the aforementioned agency over the last couple of years. Picking it up, and seeing that is was sent from the BACP I quickly opened it and there it was.
"Accreditation offers kite-mark status for individual practitioners, professional training courses and therapeutic service provision, who are able to demonstrate that they are meeting a wide range of criteria, set to recognise high standards of knowledge, experience and development."
I had told myself that achieving accredited status would not really mean anything to me.
But
That night………..I took a look at those written pieces that I had submitted four months before. I read my very honest descriptions of the professional struggles with the unethical agency, my authentic reflection on client work, the ongoing learning and self-reflective practice and…
...I cried.
Had I not been so honest in my written pieces then perhaps my reaction would not have been quite so huge. But it was that I had been so utterly genuine about my ups and downs since practising, and that the BACP moderator had accepted and understood how I worked.
After a baptism of fire into the industry and the horrendous 2 years that had blighted my career until very recently, this was a HUGE relief and an extremely positive step forwards for me.
It meant more to me than my original qualification.
Practicalities wise this does not really make much difference to me on a day to day basis
However, the BACP accreditation process is a very well thought out initiation into the higher echelons of counselling and psychotherapeutic practice.
I highly recommend it as a process to fellow practitioners for fundamental personal and professional self-development.
NB Individual BACP Accreditation should not be confused with the Accredited Registers (ARs). The AR scheme means that the Professional Standards Authority has bestowed accredited status to the register, not the practitioners registered on it.*
Likewise, The National Counselling Society offers accredited status but as far as I can see, this is equivalent to the BACP Registered Membership with a much less stringent criteria than the BACP Accredited Membership status.
*this paragraph has been updated as the PSA Registers were originally called Accredited Voluntary Registers.
32 comments:
Can you help
Please would you expand on that?
Very interesting, thank you. And congratulations for sticking it out. Dealing with such an aggressive unethical organisation must have been nightmarish. I have many years of bureaucracy ahead of me!
Hi Amanda, that does seem like a nightmare and such a long process for you to go through, though I'm sure your learning has been beneficial in all sorts of ways in your practice.
I have been putting off applying for my own accreditation because of the long process and after a couple of false starts I am about to start again. It has to be done.
The beginning of your post interests me greatly: many prospective counselling students enter the education journey not realising the investment, time, emotionally and cost, when they start. it is something courses could do with having as the starting point in the information pack. No other course I know of has this amount of additional investment.
And I wanted to say congratulations, after 13 years of practising, I hope to finally set time by and make a concerted effort to get my accreditation.
Interesting to find your blog and inspiring , thanks.
I did a two year diploma at Plymouth university in 2012, and they pulled out of their accredited status. Which meant on completing the course, I had start at the beginning again re accreditation process. Now three years later and having practiced for 14 years within the Nhs, I still feel daunted about completing this all alone and yet I must.
I need to set a time table and get on with it, and perhaps find some support regarding getting my essays read etc.
thanks for your blog
K Hamer
Thank you for your comment James. Wishing you well for your many years of bureaucracy and beyond :)
Hi Karin
Thank you for reading and for your kind words. Good luck with applying. I hope you get round to it. I'm so glad I did it although it's easy to say that from the other side! Please keep me posted.
Hello Kaye
What a blow re the course pulling out. Yes it does seem very daunting when you look at the info for applying for accreditation. I think many people (me included) just took it a step at a time and crafted it over a series of months. Bite size chunks each week definitely help it seem more manageable. Mind you, I'm so late responding to your comment you may be well into the process!
Good luck with it all!
Thank you so much for writing this, I have been dragging my heels since April, feeling completely daunted by the prospect of writing a case study and trying to select a client that proves im a "good counsellor". I want to experience that feeling of validation, this has really spurred me on!!
Dear Anonymous, many thanks for your comment. I am so glad that you feel spurred on. Please let me know how you get on. Best of luck.
Amanda
Thanks
Thanks Amanda for your honest experience in your post. I have been delaying to tackle the application form because of several reasons. The application fee and the fear of failing and having to pay more money. Also the sections that require more writing about the client I believe its section 7 to 9.
It's rather discouraging. Do you have any tips or pointers to help?
I was really unsure what to expect having begun to read your article... but as I am about to plunge into the depths of accreditation I was perhaps looking for a sign! After reading continual, almost daily gripes, from members of the bacp following proposed changes, I admit I was ready to stand down and forget about accreditation; I now remember why I am doing this extra work at a huge cost and I thank you for sharing :)
Hello Anna
I'm really glad that my post has helped you gain some perspective on why it might be worthwhile to apply for accreditation. I have been aware of some rumblings and grumblings from some BACP members about potential changes in membership. To be honest I'm not altogether sure why so many people are against the BACP tightening up their auditing procedures. I wish we did live in a world where we can just trust that professionals do what they say they will do. I do not feel defensive or scared of any tightening up and think that it is needed. It is my understanding the the UKCP expect their members to go through all their CPD with their supervisor annually who signs it off. If we sign a statement saying that we will behave a certain way why is it so scary to have to demonstrate that we have done the necessary CPD and supervision?
Anyway that's my grumble over with!
Best wishes with your accreditation journey. If it helps, I am consistently busy and I know that some of my clients did look specifically for a BACP Accredited therapist.
Dear Anonymous
I would advise you to book a session and discuss this with a Supervisor who has been through the BACP accreditation process. I found this really helpful at the time.
Best wishes with it all.
Amanda
Hello Amanda.
I'm currently doing my Level four with NCS which is probably one of the best. Will I be able to register with BACP after this?
Hello Shirley
I'm not entirely sure. It depends on whether the training meets the BACP minimum criteria for membership. They have loads of info on their website or you might enquire by telephone. You might have to do a Certificate of Proficiency to attain membership but I know lots of people who have done it and it is not difficult.
BACP Accreditation is different to basic registration and involves written pieces, supervisor reports and minimum hours of/years in practice.
Good luck
Well done Amanda for sticking with it an for achieving the accreditation . This has given me a insentive to start it as you stated chunk sizes at a time . Which I intend to do . Thanku for sharing . All the best with your career.
Thank you Teresa. Actually just this week I have started writing for my Senior Accreditation. It is a similar process to accreditation and I hope to submit my application in the New Year. Good luck with your application. It will feel so good once you've done it!
Amanda
Hi Amanda,
I’ve had my accreditation deferred - apparently a lot of people do these days and mine was on the ethics portion too. I’m really struggling with it and have no idea what to write. All other sections (6,7,8) were passed but essay 9 was mainly deferred on most subcategories.
Do you have any advice or tips on how to get this essay up to scratch? It’s so confidence battering. I know I’m an ethical therapist but reading the rejection makes me doubt myself!
Hi Natalie
I think the Accreditation criteria has changed a little since I applied 4 years ago. I did find the case study essay the most tricky and it took me ages to write in a way to demonstrate each aspect of the criterion. I was honest about where I might have got it wrong with my client and how I dealt with that in supervision.
The way I approached it was pretty much the same as how I approached my Senior Accreditation which I submitted a couple of weeks ago. I wrote the other essays first then tackled the trickier one. Then kept going back to all the essays and tweaking them so that they all sat together well. I used margins down the sides of the page to reference all the different sub-criteria and Ethical Framework.
I anticipate the likelihood of deferral this time. It’s tough! Good luck with your resubmission.
Hi Amanda,
I found your article very welcoming reading. I have just submitted my accreditation last week after pondering and working on it for months and months! I hope like you they will see the honesty in the work I have done, and yes, I will likely cry if I get it too!
It’s so nice to hear someone be positive about the process... I seem to hear a lot of folks saying what’s the point etc... to me it was a very personal thing to achieve. Finger’s crossed!
Georgina Landick - www.georginalandick.com
Good luck and well done Georgina. I submitted my Senior Accreditation a few weeks ago. Again, I enjoyed the process and saw it as much about personal and professional development rather than ticking a box. I also found it daunting and frustrating at times and it took me ages to complete it, 6 months from starting it to submitting it.
Fingers crossed we both get accepted without deferral. If deferral happens try not to take it too hard. I think it’s quite common. It would be interesting to know the statistics.
Hi after receiving accreditation do you still need ongoing supervision??
Yes, as an accredited member of the BACP we must undertake regular supervision to reflect upon our client work and discuss any arising ethical dilemmas.
well done for standing strong throughout that ordeal and achieving your accreditation. You give me hope and optimism.
Wow... I'm just about to start Level 4 Diploma in a couple of weeks and this scares me. Sorry, I love that you overcame so much and I'm really not trying to put a downer on things... I mean, WOW! You have done AMAZING! I just can't ever see me getting that far... 😔
So glad I fell upon your post as I'm sitting trying to motivate myself to rewrite 8.3 which I was deferred on. Was devestating after waiting for 6 months but has to be done. I totally resonate with your points on how the reflections needed to write the work were hard hitting and emotional at times. I'm glad it's just not me and hopefully this time around I will get a letter through my door also lol.
Thank you for these kind comments, Unknown x 2 and Laura.
Unknown who is about to commence the Advanced Diploma; I remember being in your shoes. It's an amazing journey and every step, no matter how daunting and/or tedious all adds up to learning and growing as a person and a therapist. I hope you enjoy your journey as much as I have.
Laura, stick with it. I was deferred on my Senior Accredited as had to rework my submission to give clarity around telephone and video sessions. I booked an appointment with their Accreditation "Telesurgery" which I found very helpful and supportive so might be worth doing that if you haven't done so already. Good luck and please keep me posted.
Hello Amanda,
I am currently on the process of becoming registered member, currently I am an Individual Member at the Bacp. I am scheduled for Certificate of Proficiency Assessment but don't know how to get ready before the test. I know there are case examples and questions are generic counselling scenarios, and Bacp will send me a sample test before the actual test date to become familiar with the testing process. However, I don't feel comfortable just waiting for the test day to come without reviewing some cases and studying for the accurate responses to take as a counsellor, although I am confident with my decision making for general procedures of the therapeutic cases based on my clinical experience with diverse clients. I would appreciate if you could provide me any suggestions based on your own or your friends' experience with the test and the preparation process before taking the test.
Thank you in advance! :)
Seyma
Hello Seyma
I did a BACP Accredited course and therefore did not need to sit the Certificate of Proficiency in order to become a Registeted member. I suggest you check the BACP website for guidance and avail yourself of the support of a BACP Registered supervisor for guidance.
Good luck :)
Well done Amanda and thank you for sharing your journey towards accreditation - much appreciated
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