BAPPS Newsletter

February  2002

Report from the BAPPS Executive  

Meetings are bursting with items, and there are a number of very live issues going on at present.

Criteria for future membership is one of them, raised by Ted’s letter, circulated to all members, which derived from his concern that we should be pro-active within UKCP as a group of people who have developed specific supervision skills. We feel that this is important if we are to be seen as a serious organisation within UKCP, and our status within UKCP is another of our concerns at present. Some replies to Ted’s letter have been received, and were discussed on 2 February. The subject is ongoing, but a possible two-tier criteria procedure for entry came up for consideration: a professional route via training courses, and a portfolio route for more experienced practitioners.

UKCP is central to our meetings. Ruth Barnett has worked very hard on our behalf in the past. It was a great relief when Wendy English agreed to be our second representative but she has had to withdraw - so Ruth needs a helper. She will attend the PPP Section AGM on 2 February, and the UKCP AGM on 15-17 March. The present issues include the UKCP’s move towards a more cohesive Complaints and Appeals Procedure, coming up again in the March AGM, and how this fits with our own Code of Ethics. Rosemary Dixon-Nuttall has done a lot of work on this, and now she has stepped down from the Executive, she has agreed to stand as our Ethics person in case of complaints until the next AGM, when we will hope to set up an Ethics Committee to work alongside her. We feel this is a real need within BAPPS, and an idea that has come up is to find a solicitor willing to stand as consultant. We have looked at our Constitution again, and the Complaints Procedure, and some changes are still under discussion. These things are important, in the light of the UKCP five year review, which looks at training and membership criteria, the code of ethics,and whether we are constituted along UKCP rules and guidelines.

CPD has been on the agenda, as it is everywhere, but as we all belong also to our individual organisations, we feel that it does not concern BAPPS as such. We are sending a statement to UKCP to the effect that each member is individually responsible to their own organisations for CPD and that BAPPS need only monitor that this is so.

BAPPS North are an active part of our meetings in the persons of Sue Kaberry and Sandra Thomas.

At present they are finding it hard work expanding Bapps in the north, but are working on it. The Leeds training is going well.

Other concerns are our relation to the Data Protection Act, exploring what joining BACP might mean, and considering the status of BAPPS in terms of charitable status or limited company, or neither.

It is all hard work, but also enjoyable – think of coming to join us at the AGM

Isobel Clark
Chair

FROM
our UKCP Representative

Ruth reports

The Governing Board is liasing with other organisations regarding statutory registration and a working party is considering taking counsellors into UKCP.  Another is exploring “Recognition of Supervisors” and a draft will go to an EGM in 2002 - any views please let Judith Lask c/o UKCP knowCore curriculum of trainings in the section to be settled by 2003Ethics and CPD subcommittees still proceeding - nothing definite yet.

UKCP AGM is in March - please let Ruth have any concerns to take there or to the section meeting which will take place during the AGM. The program includes “Counselling - a Place Alongside Psychotherapy”. 

Who calls whom what (psychoanalyst, counsellor or whatever) still a live issue!

Book Reviews

Chris Driver

This is a brief resume of some recent books on supervision that have been published in the last two years.  It is by no means a comprehensive survey, and I can’t say that I’ve read them all cover to cover, but I will try to give you some idea of what is on the market and what they contain.  

The Supervisory Relationship - A Contemporary Psychodynamic Approach.

Mary Gail Frawley-O’Dea, and Joan E. Sarnat, 

2001,  New York,  The Guildford Press

This book starts with a valuable historical look at the development of supervision and moves into considering a number of important issues. The authors move on consider models of supervision and have some interesting chapters on the Teach/Treat Issue, Regression and  Mutuality, Asymmetry and Negotiation.   They base their approach on a relational model and an understanding of unconscious processes and analytic theory.  This makes it a very useful book for supervisors working psychoanalytically and psychodynamicaly.   It does have a slightly ‘American Flavour’ but it is a very useful and insightful book on supervision.

Supervising Counsellors - issues of responsibility

Edited by Sue Wheeler and David King,  2001,  London Sage

 This looks a useful book in relation to ‘clinical-legal-ethical’ issues for supervisors.  Written by a number of authors it covers such areas as, ‘Supervisory Responsibility and the Law, the Supervisor and the BACP code of Ethics, issues of responsibility relating to context eg., primary care, and wider issues in relation to supervising groups, working with difference, and supervision for supervisors.  They end with a thought provoking chapter on ‘Expecting the Impossible? What Responsibility do Counsellors Expect their Supervisors to Take’.  This is a useful and practical book covering issues of ethics and responsibility in relation to ‘supervising practitioners and trainees’.

 Systemic Supervision

Gill Gorell Barnes, Gwynneth Down and Damian McCann,   2000,   London,

Jessica Kingsley Publishers Ltd.

 This book provides a practical insight into the supervision of family therapy.   It gives practical suggestions as to how to enable supervisees to consider and feel at ease with issues of power, gender, ethnicity and sexuality within a family therapy setting and suggests ways to deal with these issues.  It considers the setting in relation to supervision, the training of family therapists and also the aspect of the ‘live supervision’ of family therapy.

As the title of the book indicates it is written from a systemic perspective and considers supervision in relation to this.  It is a valuable read if you are working with families or are supervising systemic work.

Integrative Approaches to Supervision

Michael Carroll and Margaret Tholstrup,  

2001,  London,  Jessica Kingsley Publishers Ltd.

This book is based on the ‘models and framework of Integrative Supervision’ and the early chapters in this book explore issues such as, Narrative Approaches to Supervision, Supervision in and for Organisations and The Cyclical Model of Supervision: A Container for Creativity and Chaos from this perspective.  What looks interesting however is the specific issues that some of the chapters focus on.  For example:- Supervision in Primary Care, The Spirituality of Supervision, Supervision - Researching Therapeutic Practice, Which Sub-personality is Supervising Today.

I haven’t read this book but just flicking through the pages indicates that it has some interesting and useful input into thinking about supervision.

  Feel free to send in your own book reviews to Christine Driver chris@driver4.prestel.co.uk

Brief or longer reviews on books that are on or around supervision or short comments on ANY OTHER book that you think might appeal to members.