‘Social justice and activism are core tenets of counselling psychology’

How did you become a counselling psychologist? 

Psychology is my third career. I started out in manufacturing engineering after an Engineering and Management degree. Many of the young people I employed had poor literacy and numeracy skills, and this impacted on the business. Speaking with them, I felt they hadn't been well served by the education system, and this led to me re-training as a teacher with the Open University.

I taught Design and Technology, but my interest in the lives of my students, and the barriers to their learning, led to a shift into Special Educational Needs. Much of my work was with children and young people, mainly boys, who were classed, at that time, as having SEBD – Social Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties. It was my desire to better understand them and tackle the barriers, which led to me studying psychology. 

At the back of my mind was the idea that I would become an educational psychologist. But I soon realised that what I was really interested in was those young people's lives, their stories, their backgrounds, and challenges. So I signed up for a doctorate in counselling psychology at Teesside University. Since qualifying, I've continued to work, with children, young people, and families, initially through a social enterprise I set up when I qualified. A lot of my work is with separated families and people going through family breakdown. I undertake some work for the family court, offer therapeutic intervention, supervision, training and consultation with Local Authorities, schools, and other organisations. 

How long have you been involved with DCoP?

As I mentioned I came to psychology fairly late in life – I completed my training in 2014 – and I became involved with the Division quite early on in my training. Although this is my third career, counselling psychology immediately felt like 'this is home, this is it!' That was a fantastic feeling and I wanted everything that came with that so I became involved quite early on. I volunteered with a project to digitise Counselling Psychology Review, became the e-letter editor, and started presenting at conferences, all while I was a trainee. I became comms lead, then chair of the Division in Wales. However, I was diagnosed with cancer shortly after taking up the post. I stepped down and took a break from the Division, though I continued to volunteer for the BPS where I felt able – on the Training Committee in Counselling Psychology and the Expert Witness Advisory Group.   

Last year I became involved with the committee again and put myself forward to be chair. 

What changes have you seen in the Division and in counselling psychology over the last ten years?

I think what is really noticeable, having had that break and coming back in, is how much change is happening in counselling psychology. A lot of our colleagues are now well embedded within the National Health Service. We don't have definite numbers on who is working where but we know many of our colleagues have portfolio careers where they might be in the NHS a couple of days a week and they might also have a private practice. The NHS doesn't have accurate data either! The recent NHS workforce census does not include an accurate representation of the number of counselling psychologists; many members report that they are 'mis-coded' – categorised under other job areas such as clinical psychology. Without accurate data, there is a risk that decisions around commissioning, funding, and training lack legitimacy and disadvantage our members and colleagues.

Another thing that surprised me is the high number of senior and consultant counselling psychologists we have throughout the NHS; we need to champion our colleagues who are in those positions a lot more. Our training programmes do include leadership skills as a key area. Making our consultant counselling psychologist and service leads more visible will inspire our newly qualified colleagues to aim high. 

Of course, many colleagues choose not to work in the NHS. As well as independent practice, our members work in charity and third sector organisations, in community psychology, often with marginalised communities with complex needs. Social justice and activism are core tenets of counselling psychology – and our work in this area has certainly become more visible over the last 10 years.

While there is much to celebrate, including the parity we have achieved in some areas, there are still some issues we need to address – not least funding for our training and trainees. Many of our trainees are doing unpaid placements two days per week for the benefit of the NHS and they receive no financial recompense for that; they are unpaid. And of course, we still have to fund our own training. 

What changes would you like to see in the future of the profession and the Division?

Fair and just treatment of our members remains important. Although there have been huge improvements, in some areas, particularly some geographical areas and certain employers, the competence and skills we bring are not always recognised on a par with those of other applied psychologist colleagues. We are often called to intervene, to put the record straight and challenge misconceptions and poor understanding. That wish for fair and just treatment extends to funding for our training and recompense for the important clinical work we do as an integral part of our training. There are some excellent pockets of practice where trainees are being funded at Band 6, the same as clinical psychologists, and preceptorships being offered, but those are small pockets. There is a drastic shortage of clinicians in NHS mental health services, yet there still seems to be a reluctance to consider how appropriate funding of counselling psychology training could help to fill this gap. This is something which really needs to be looked at.

In terms of the Division itself I would like to be more responsive to our members. When a member brings an issue to us, we usually deal with that effectively and quickly. But I don't think we communicate with and report to our members enough, or in a timely manner. I am committed to being open, transparent, and responsive and I'd like to try and address this going forward.

Can you tell me about DCoP's 30th anniversary conference?

We have an exceptional conference committee – full of enthusiasm and expertise. They have been working extremely hard to ensure a fantastic conference. Our theme this year is Dancing between the forest of life and the digital jungle, which is about change over the last 30 years. We're looking to celebrate the progress of counselling psychology, but also to grapple with the challenges moving forward. How do we integrate more traditional ways of working with new technological tools and solutions such as AI, avatars, and digital platforms? We want to look at how we marry technology with our face-to-face, relational, and embodied ways of working, think about what challenges that might bring for ourselves and our clients, and consider emerging forms of distress – for example tech anxiety and eco anxiety. Those existential issues have always been a core part of counselling psychology. 

We're bringing back our public lecture session this year and we are delighted to have Dr Sian Williams, the broadcaster and counselling psychologist, talking about the power of the story. Sexologist Dr Arun Mansukhani will also be giving a keynote on trauma-based therapies and systemic eco-therapist Roger Duncan will talk about engaging with an ecosystemic approach.

We also have some exciting new initiatives. We are delighted to stage an awards ceremony to celebrate the achievements of our colleagues who have recently qualified through the independent Qualification in Counselling Psychology. We are also launching our innovative project on the creative dissemination of research. We believe research findings should be universally accessible to all. We have a duty to those who generously shared and entrusted their stories to us. We hope to offer a taster this year with static, creative works of art, poetry, or image-based work. 

DCoP's conference is being held at Glasgow Caledonian University on Friday 5 July and Saturday 6 July. Find out more and register now.

See also our Counselling Psychology collection.