Qualifications
I am a professionally trained and Senior Accredited member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, the BACP, which is the principal professional body for counselling and psychotherapy in the UK and a UKRCP Registered Independent practitioner. This ensures that all accredited members are appropriately qualified and provides a strict code of ethics and complaints procedure meaning that the highest standards of professional practice and confidentiality are maintained. The BACP is also working in close collaboration with the government (the Department of Health) to help set up and maintain a single legislatively controlled professional body (within the exisiting Health Professions Council) to ensure regulation similar to how Medicine, Law, Finance and Insurance are currently regulated. It is hoped that this will come into force by 2011.My path to qualifying as a professionally trained MBACP Senior Accredited Counsellor is similar to that taken by many other professions: a degree or equivalent, further study towards a post graduate professional qualification, a minimum level of post qualification experience and, finally, application for full accredited professional membership of a regulatory body, permitting independent practice whilst binding me to their code of ethics and practice.
BSc (hons)- A university degree followed by many years in a commercial career to afford life experience.
Postgraduate Diploma in Advanced Psychodynamic Counselling & Psychotherapy - A part time 1 year course followed by a 3 year full time training on a BACP Accredited and UKCP Registered course at the Westminster Foundation for Psychotherapy and Counselling awarded by the University of Surrey, Roehampton. During this time I was in 3 times weekly personal psychoanalytic psychotherapy.
MBACP Accredited Counsellor / Psychotherapist - To gain full professional membership requires the completion of a minimum amount of closely supervised post qualification experience and submission of a succesful application to the BACP accreditation committee.
Continuous professional development - To maintain this standard of accreditation requires that I submit and demonstrate adherence to BACP's continuous professional development criteria every year.
United Kingdon Register of Counsellors and Psychotherapists - The UKRCP is a BACP audited register of counsellors and psychotherapists who are accredited and qualified to practise as independent practitioners in private practice.
I have experience of working in private, NHS, charity, employee assisted programmes and insurance funded settings. I previously worked in central London in a corporate capacity and have good, sympathetic experience of City life and understand the balance required between a successful career and personal ambition.