On Board - three new members of the Board set out their priorities for the BABCP
THREE new members have been elected unopposed onto the BABCP Board.
Marie Chellingsworth, Dr Paul Farrand and Stephanie Fitzgerald were approved at the Annual General Meeting in Edinburgh.
Marie, a registered mental health nurse, is the low intensity IAPT programme leader for the East Midlands and has been a member of the BABCP since 2001.
She believes the BABCP must be ready to welcome new members from all disciplines as the IAPT programme develops.
Marie says there has been a lack of co-ordination nationally between separate IAPT programmes because of the deadlines involved. She is also keen to ensure that quality standards are maintained.
She said: "We are hopefully going to soon have a massive influx of new members through IAPT and it is important that we respond properly to their needs.
"The BABCP has never been a clique-ish organisation and we must avoid that happening in the future. We need to be open and inclusive and continue to welcome people from every level of CBT as well as maintaining the loyalty of our existing members.
"That's why the BABCP needs to stay very heavily involved in the IAPT programme, keep focussed and be flexible enough to change as things develop."
Paul Farrand shares Marie's interest in the development of the IAPT programme, from a slightly different perspective as a Senior Lecturer in Health Psychology at the University of Plymouth.
He too wants the BABCP to recognise, identify and embrace the Low Intensity IAPT workforce.
"At present, they seem to be largely outside of the organisation, however IAPT is so heavily dependent upon their involvement that it seems of fundamental importance that this workforce becomes recognised and supported within the IAPT in recognition of the important evidence based role they have."
Paul, Chair of the South West Branch, said that one of his priorities for the future will be to help ensure high quality delivery of CBT and the highest quality standards in CBT training and supervision.
"A further priority is to ensure that the BABCP continues to play a significant role in the future development of CBT in the UK, and that with IAPT the balance does not shift too heavily towards other organisations."
He is particularly keen to ensure the Board "continues with a firm commitment to 'evidence based practice' and avoids at all costs the drift in psychological therapies that sometimes occurs towards 'religion' status, which can lead to non-evidence based practice being preached to an unquestioning 'converted'.
"CBT is only where it is, and now reaping the benefits by its strong adherence to the evidence base - this needs to be maintained."
The third new member of the Board, clinical psychology trainee Stephanie Fitzgerald, believes there is still work for the Board to do in making CBT a household term.
Stephanie, former chair of the award-winning Central Branch, said: "It's about getting CBT and the BABCP more widely recognised so that many more people know what a valuable and effective therapy CBT is.
"The IAPT programme will clearly help a huge amount over the next three years, but we also need to ensure that the BABCP and its members are properly positioned to take full advantage as IAPT develops.
"That means we need to be more forward thinking - whether that's using the new web site and its members-only Forum to exchange information, resources and advice or in being more accountable and responsive to the needs of individual members and what they want.
"It's important that our members get proper and satisfactory answers to their questions and the right kind of support - rather than getting lost in red tape."
She added: "If there is one single priority for the Board it is ensuring that BABCP members are satisfied customers."