Dip in counselling & psychotherapy & applied positive psychology IAHM

char3112

Hi all

can anyone give me any views of this course run by the irish association of holistic medicine? it is done over 10 full weekends and 6 day seminar it is 2 yr diploma and is accredited by IACP & IACHP as far as I am aware you can gain entry to higher dip or ba hons say in the likes of PCI college or similar wit this? i would be interested in any feedback at all, the fees are very reasonable and the content seems very appropriate for what i am interested in being 35 with alot of life exp built up I have been advised professionally and personally that counselling in something I would be very good at but obviously I want to get proper training and not waste time nor money on something that isnt going to be of any benefit to me in the long run. I have good feeling about this one but am still 10% will i wont i!! any help at all much appreciated )

hotspur

Do you know the background of those running it? Because I wouldn't be a fan of doing courses with people who have been / are strongly a part of Tony Quinn's cultish activities.

Gottalovegreys

It isn't accredited by the IACP
http://www.irish-counselling.ie/index.php/recognised-training-courses

Enhtie

It may not be accredited by the IACP or IAHIP but I believe an important question to ask is "what does accreditation with an accrediting body mean?" Anyone have any thoughts on that as they would be appreciated. If you are currently working in this area and you believe the course would help expand your knowledge then go for it!!

Odysseus

Enhtie wrote: »

It may not be accredited by the IACP or IAHIP but I believe an important question to ask is "what does accreditation with an accrediting body mean?" Anyone have any thoughts on that as they would be appreciated. If you are currently working in this area and you believe the course would help expand your knowledge then go for it!!

What it means is you will not work for most employers if your not a full member of a professional body. Are you connected to this course in any way?

Enhtie

No Odysseus, I am not in anyway connected with the course but I have been both working and studying in the area of counselling for the past fifteen years.

I have come to question the whole area of accrediting bodies and the purpose they serve? Most are quite expensive to join ( except the APCP who are free) and I just wonder what benefits the membership bestow on members.

All I am saying is that the most important factor for me now is the level of interest I have in a particular course. Who accredits it is secondary. Also, if you are professional and good at what you do, you will be employed in your area of expertise , regardless of your associated membership.

I hope this answers your question.

Odysseus

Enhtie wrote: »

No Odysseus, I am not in anyway connected with the course but I have been both working and studying in the area of counselling for the past fifteen years.

I have come to question the whole area of accrediting bodies and the purpose they serve? Most are quite expensive to join ( except the APCP who are free) and I just wonder what benefits the membership bestow on members.

All I am saying is that the most important factor for me now is the level of interest I have in a particular course. Who accredits it is secondary. Also, if you are professional and good at what you do, you will be employed in your area of expertise , regardless of your associated membership.

I hope this answers your question.

Cheers, thanks for clearing that up, however, you will not be employed by bodies such as the HSE unless you are entitled to be a member of a professional body. It is stated in the job requirements and most other employers follow that guideline.

I agree they are expensive, but watch the fees increase when Stat Reg happens. They provide a baseline for people around standards of training, I'm a member of two bodies and there is a significant difference in the criteria for each body; a person will know the minimun training I have if I tell them I'm a member of X body. The also provide access to training, one of the bodies I'm a member of arranges a significant amount of training opportunities every year; they are often a mean of referral for clients, as well as acting as a common group for people who practice a specific modality of therapy.

Are the fees too high? Well that is a different question.

Enhtie

I don’t necessarily have a problem with the fees associated with membership Odysseus, it’s just that I’m not sure what service is provided in return. What support do they provide for counsellors? You did mention training but do they provide access to training or dictate which training courses are acceptable for cpd? I believe I know better than anyone which areas of training would benefit me the most. With regards to referral, in my experience, most referrals come from other clients who I’m sure are not aware of the intricacies of the professional structures within the counselling discipline.

As for statutory regulation, do you think this will ever happen? I’m not too hopeful. I believe that the accrediting bodies missed their opportunity a few years ago. But as long as we believe that it will happen and that being a member of one of these bodies will secure a position for us, the better for the accrediting body and their bank account as we queue to join!

WesternNight

For some reason I was under the impression that the accreditation and regulation had something to do with protecting prospective clients who may avail of a particular therapy. Making sure a therapist is appropriately qualified and accountable, so that members of the public aren't at the mercy of charlatans. But perhaps I was wrong

JuliusCaesar

Enhtie wrote: »

No Odysseus, I am not in anyway connected with the course ....

I have come to question the whole area of accrediting bodies and the purpose they serve? Most are quite expensive to join ( except the APCP who are free) and I just wonder what benefits the membership bestow on members.

Are you associated with the APCP?

Most accrediting organisations provide CPD for their members, ensure that the qualifications they have are gained through rigorous courses and fairly obtained, and provide through these activities some measure of protection for the general public.

Enhtie

For my part, I believe there are strong arguments against accreditation as it exists at the moment. For example, most will agree that helping clients to have a sense of self-worth is very important counselling. And yet most forms of accreditation are based on the idea that you are only as good as the accrediting organisation to which you belong! This is sometimes borne out on this very site! It just doesn't make sense to me.
It is also widely accepted that power is an important issue in counselling. If we look at the power dynamics which may exist between counsellor and client, it is not unusual that clients may initially feel relatively dependent. Therefore it is sometimes essential for a counsellor work with clients, encouraging them to reclaim their own power and take charge of their own lives. Now, if we examine the relationship between counsellor and accrediting body it could be argued that the procedures associated with these same bodies, actively require counsellors to give up some of their power and submit to someone else's judgement of their capabilities! My argument being that if you know that CPD, supervision etc. is beneficial then just do it and record it. Why the need to wait for someone else to tell you what you know already is required for best practice!
Lastly, how on earth can membership of these bodies go in any way to protecting the public from “charlatans”? Some accreditations are merely based on the completion of “an approved course”. Others have requirement for lengths of training and hours of practice. I haven’t seen any evidence that the length of training, or possibly any training, guarantees good practice. In fact, it is possible to have an alphabet after your name and still be incompetent. Some accreditation is based on written submissions, the accreditors never even meet those they are accrediting.
Lastly, I believe accreditation to be misleading as it may be seen by employers as a guarantee of fitness to practice but as I hope I’ve already pointed out no such guarantee is provided.

What I believe to be essential for a good counsellor is a good measure of self-confidence coupled by self-awareness, emotional competence and an ability to listen. Accredit that!!

JuliusCaesar

char3112 wrote: »

can anyone give me any views of this course run by the irish association of holistic medicine? it is done over 10 full weekends and 6 day seminar it is 2 yr diploma and is accredited by IACP & IACHP as far as I am aware you can gain entry to higher dip or ba hons say in the likes of PCI college or similar wit this? i would be interested in any feedback at all,

Back on topic, everyone!

The benefits or otherwise of accreditation can be discussed in a separate thread.

JC

Enhtie

JuliusCaesar wrote: »

Are you associated with the APCP?

Most accrediting organisations provide CPD for their members, ensure that the qualifications they have are gained through rigorous courses and fairly obtained, and provide through these activities some measure of protection for the general public.

I hope I didn't offend anyone. I was only replying to your post Julius!

Vivara

Enhtie wrote: »

No Odysseus, I am not in anyway connected with the course but I have been both working and studying in the area of counselling for the past fifteen years.

Working and studying in the area of counselling for the past fifteen years? I presume by now you have a PhD in counselling or clinical psychology then?

I think that these counselling courses can be beneficial for minor cases, but anyone who has done every bloody two week/six month/weekend course in the book really annoys me.

The gold standard for psychotherapy/counselling is, and always will be, a PhD in counselling or clinical psychotherapy.

I don't think there should be all these counselling/hynotherapy/psychotherapy associations.

Anyone who wants to do counselling should have to do a basic standard course which is based on proven, scientific methods if they're not either a qualified psychologist, social worker, psychiatrist or something like that... i.e. it should be regulated by law, not decided by 'professional associations' or whatever. (And please don't tell my that a 'psychotherapist' is a profession — all the above mentioned professions have been practicing psychotherapy long before these psychotherapy degrees popped up so they, too, are psychotherapists. Yes, there are some degree courses in psychotherapy that are quite good, but that's not the point.)

V.

EDIT: I just realised I'm off-topic. Sorry.

Chicke

We can all be arrogant enough to think that we do not need to be educated to a certain degree in order to provide a quality service to the public or that we are giving our power away by submitting to the regulations of an organisation that standardises,regulates but the fact is that arrogance to me is an indication of someone being of an unacceptable stds

Enhtie

Chicke wrote: »

We can all be arrogant enough to think that we do not need to be educated to a certain degree in order to provide a quality service to the public or that we are giving our power away by submitting to the regulations of an organisation that standardises,regulates but the fact is that arrogance to me is an indication of someone being of an unacceptable stds

And we can also be arrogant enough to think that we do and we must!

kitkat.3b4t

Gottalovegreys wrote: »

It isn't accredited by the IACP
http://www.irish-counselling.ie/index.php/recognised-training-courses

Hi Char
The road to becoming a qualified psychotherapist is long and expensive. If this course is not accredited by any recognized body you could be wasting your money. Also the course may not be of an appropriate standard. Usually people are required to complete a foundation in counselling and psychotherapy before being accepted on an accredited course. If you are really interested in a career in this area it might be worth your while to find what the exact requirements are for accreditation with the iacp or icp etc. You might think that you can take a short cut by doing courses which do not have many requirements, but in reality you could be wasting your time, from a career perspective.

DaWozzMan

I looked up the course and really liked the content of the prospectus.

The qualifications of the founder can be found here:
http://www.margaretforde.com/About_Margaret.html
And the prospectus here:
http://www.holisticmedicine.ie/images/stories/counselling_psych.pdf

The course has 195 hrs per year class time. It states that it meets the criteria of the IACP IAHP not that it is accredited. It requires 50 hrs of personal therapy and 100 hours of client work.

I really like the outlay of the prospectus. I am seriously considering doing this course and then doing a third and fourth year in PCI College.