UPGRADING THERAPIST TRAINING:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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People\ndepend on all sorts of professionals; doctors, solicitors, architects, nurses,\nteachers, dentists, accountants, and so on. The essential core of the public\u2019s relationship\nwith any type of professional advisor has to be trust. People need to be sure\nthat these specialists know what they are doing. They certainly don\u2019t expect them\nto be incompetent or to cause harm. This means that the underlying assumption,\nno matter what the area of expertise, is that professionals are properly trained\nand qualified. Usually this means that professional-level service providers\nhave undergone a recognised program of higher education. High-level\nprofessionals normally have graduate and postgraduate level qualifications in\ntheir chosen fields. Even many of the intermediate-level professions, such as\nparamedics, police officers, journalists, etc. are rapidly moving towards becoming\ngraduate-level occupations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In all\nof the professions that I have mentioned so far, and in the many, many, others that\nI could have included, professional training is usually a two-stage process.\nVery often, but not always, these two stages are undertaken in parallel. One\nstage requires the trainees to study for an appropriate academic degree. The\nother stage involves these novice professionals in completing a program of\nsupervised, \u2018on the job\u2019, practical training. Finally, when a trainee has met\nthe relevant regulatory body\u2019s requirements, then some sort of entry-level professional\nstatus is conferred. However, this is not the end of the training process. These\ndays, training is often a life-long process. Many practitioners are required to\nkeep themselves up to date by engaging in professional development training\nthroughout their careers. Any practitioners who fail to keep themselves up to date\nrisk being sanctioned or even disbarred. In addition, those who wish to advance\ntheir professional status will take further formal training, usually at\npostgraduate level or beyond. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If\nthese standards apply to all the other professions, why should professional\ncounsellors and psychotherapists be any different. Shouldn\u2019t they too be\nqualified to the same high standards? After all, allowing someone to play\naround with your psyche, to tinker with your very sense of \u2018being\u2019, is pretty\nheavy stuff. These psychological \u2018mind mechanics\u2019 really had better know what\nthey are doing. Sadly, expectation that the public have that counsellors and\npsychotherapists are trained to the same standards and educational levels as\nthe other professions is far from being met. All too many therapists have\nlittle more than an A-level equivalent Professional Diploma, and a significant\nnumber do not even have that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I say\nthat it’s time that the counselling and psychotherapy profession upped its\ngame. It\u2019s what the public deserve; it\u2019s what our profession needs if it wants the\nrespect of the other high-level callings. In order to achieve this, it is\nessential that our current training programs are revised and significantly\nupgraded to ensure that all counsellors and psychotherapists have reached a\nproper professional level. The improved training programs should include a\ncomprehensive overview of the theory and the practice of counselling and\npsychotherapy. In addition, trainees should be required to demonstrate an ability\nto engage in reflective and critical thinking, to show that they have an\nunderstanding of research and research methodology, and to exhibit a sound\ngrasp of ethics. They also need to acquire the consulting room skills that will\nenable them to be effective with their clients. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
How\ncould all this be achieved? The essential first step is to do away with what I\ncall \u2018Schoolism\u2019. I use this phrase to describe the various single models or\n\u2018Schools\u2019 of therapy offered by many of today\u2019s practitioners. The Schoolists mostly\nbelieve that their chosen type of therapy is the answer to everything, a sort\nof universal \u2018cure-all\u2019. What rubbish! Would you go to a doctor who only ever\nprescribed one type of medicine no matter what was wrong with you? Of course\nnot! Therefore, I would argue that trainee counsellors and psychotherapists\nshould be taught about all the main models, (Schools), of therapy and shown how\nto integrate and deliver them, in part or in whole, according to the needs of\neach individual patient. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nnext essential step is to require all therapists to obtain an honours\ndegree, (or its equivalent), as an essential entry-level qualification. If\ngaining such a degree were an obligatory first professional step, then it would\nbe reasonable to expect that a newly qualified practitioner\u2019s eventual entry\ninto any therapy\u2019s Specialisms or Advanced Practice areas would require\npostgraduate education. Of course, in parallel with any of these taught\nelements in their professional education, trainees would also have to undergo\npractical, hands-on, training in related client work under the supervision of\nsuitably qualified and experienced practice teachers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The third and final essential step will be setting up\nmandatory post-qualification professional development programs. For the newly\nqualified this would entail working under the supervision of a professional\nmentor for a certain period of time. For the more experienced this would\ninvolve keeping up to date by attending approved further training programs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Obviously, by arguing for such a fundamental upgrading of\ntherapist training I will probably be accused of wanting a radical, root and\nbranch, shake-up of the counselling and psychotherapy profession, its\npractitioners, its trainers, and its therapist education policies. Well of\ncourse I do. I want today\u2019s counsellors and psychotherapists to be trained to\ndo their jobs properly \u2013 doesn\u2019t everybody? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UPGRADING THERAPIST TRAINING: People depend on all sorts of professionals; doctors, solicitors, architects, nurses, teachers, dentists, accountants, and so on. The essential core of the public\u2019s relationship with any type of professional advisor has to be trust. People need to be sure that these specialists know what they are doing. They certainly don\u2019t expect them […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wpm_timeformat":"","_wpm_styles":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"yoast_head":"\n