The register has been developed to provide recognition for coaching psychologists and the profession of coaching psychology, allowing registrants to differentiate their services as a coaching psychologist and gain acknowledgement for their coaching psychology expertise.

Find out more about eligibility and how to join.

If you are already on the register, please note that we are due an audit of CPD, and this will be carried out shortly.

Standards for chartership (full membership) of the proposed new division have been approved, and we would expect all full members to meet these standards.

The process by which members will be asked to demonstrate this may differ depending on their current professional standing.

The details of this will be discussed and decided on by the SGCP Committee in conjunction with relevant BPS staff colleagues.

We are being guided by BPS staff on the processes and procedures for this transition.

In line with this advice, we needed to establish whether there was an appetite for a Division of Coaching Psychology and what the necessary qualifications for membership would be before we could start discussing how we might transfer membership of the existing SGCP over to the new division.

We are therefore unable to advise at this time exactly what this process will look like.

Please see above answer.

If you are not currently chartered, then there may be an accelerated route available to you, depending on your current professional standing. We are currently working on finalising these decisions.

Not in it's current form. However, our aim is to be as inclusive as possible and therefore we are considering a 'tiered' register whereby those who have GBC but who are not chartered could access the register.

It has been proposed that we approach the Professional Standards Authority to accredit our register in the absence of HCPC regulation.

We have aligned the qualifications needed to be a member of the proposed new division to other divisions within the society.

These will therefore probably not change unless there is a broader change for all.

The standards will be revised periodically.

Yes you can be a member of as many Member Networks and registers as you like.

Please contact the Membership team who look after all applications of this nature by emailing [email protected] and they will follow up on the progress of your application.

This is something that hasn't been considered, but if you would like to propose this to the SGCP Committee, then please contact the Chair at [email protected]

Please note: some members will be familiar with the term GBR. We now use the term GBC (Graduate Basis for Chartership) to refer to the same standard)

The answer to this question is yes.

We're excited to be in the process of developing a professional recognition route through which experienced practitioners can apply for chartership via a professional portfolio.

As soon as this has been to the Board of Trustees in March then we will officially publish these standards.

Please contact [email protected] for a draft copy.

The criteria for assessment is currently under development, and so this route will not be available immediately.

A Member Network Review is currently being undertaken.

The review is a root-and-branch review of our member networks, giving us the opportunity to ask the big questions about the role that networks could and should play in the life of members and the society, what we can do to support them, and how the networks’ development could be focused.

We have been cognisant of this in our work when considering membership and training routes. Under the guidance of BPS staff, we are developing the first ever professional development route whereby candidates can be assessed against a set of standards/competencies.

This represents an initial step to moving away from silos, and towards recognition of common competencies across psychological domains.

The criteria for membership of the Division was voted on and agreed at the Special General Meeting (SGM) held in January 2021.

The standards for Chartership/Full membership have been approved by the Partnership and Accreditation Team (PAC).

The criteria for transfer of membership from the SGCP to the proposed new division are currently under discussion.

We welcome member feedback on this and will engage with members in due course.

The final decision will be made by the Committee under the guidance of the BPS Quality Assurance and Standards Manager.

Please see above answer.

If you would like to be involved in the professional development work, please email [email protected]

If you are interested in being more widely involved in the Committee, please email [email protected]

We will be reaching out to members who had concerns and continuing these conversations.

We will endeavour to capture these and add them to this FAQ section.

As we are unlikely to be regulated by HCPC in the future, and as research in coaching psychology will confer full membership (rather than practice), it is anticipated that the register will continue to be relevant in terms of recognition of practitioner coaching psychologists.

As you will know, coaching is currently unregulated, and the term 'coaching psychologist' is not legally protected.

Our ambition, however, is that we will develop a tiered register which recognises different levels of competence in coaching psychology practice.

This work is still being developed, but the current proposal is that there will be three tiers representing chartered coaching psychologists, those with GBC who are underpinning their coaching with psychology, but who are not chartered, and those without GBC who are coaches, and draw on psychology within their coaching.

This has yet to be formally agreed, and standards and titles for each level have not yet been developed.

Yes.

We are currently working on assessment criteria for the portfolio of evidence for professional recognition and will share that with our members as soon as we are clear.

We anticipate that this will broadly follow the structure of supervised practice portfolios adopted by other domains of practice.

There are several routes for this depending on what qualifications/experience people have.  The transfer route for those already chartered and registered has already been announced (email sent to those members to invite them to take part), the Professional Recognition Route will launch in early summer 2022, along with an accelerated route for those with significant experience.

This means that although you might evidence some of the competences by having a qualification, you can also evidence them directly through your work experience

The professional recognition route will look at competencies rather than level of qualification This means that although you might evidence some of the competences by having a qualification, you can also evidence them directly through your work experience

I assume one of the competencies for chartership as a coaching psychologist would be around research, but would this need to be specific to coaching or will research from a counselling psychologist doctorate be applicable?

The wording of the research requirement is 'in coaching psychology or a closely related area'.  If you can contextualise your existing research to coaching, then you are invited to submit your research along with a short narrative explaining the value to coaching psychology

Members of the new division will be subject to the normal BPS code of ethics and practice, and the member conduct rules. We are investigating whether it would be of value to apply for our register to be accredited by PSA, which would add a fitness-to-practice element.

The working group that has developed the routes and the standards is made up entirely of members, and consultation with members was carried out during the development process.  We now have a group of members going through a beta testing of the route and will incorporate their feeedback before launching the route next year

What opportunities are there for members to be involved in the development and finalising of routes? E.g. a collaborative, co-produced process (instead of deductive)

The working group that has developed the routes and the standards is made up entirely of members, and consultation with members was carried out during the development process.  We now have a group of members going through a beta testing of the route and will incorporate their feeedback before launching the route next year

Anyone who wishes to pursue chartered membership needs to be a graduate member of the BPS.  The more traditional training route in coaching will involve undertaking an accredited Masters degree in coaching psychology, followed by two years of supervised practice.  The professional recognition route focuses on competencies rather than qualifications

The professional recognition route incorporates this

The professional recognition route incorporates this

Both Divisions and Special Groups are member networks within the society.

According to the Royal Charter and Statues, Divisions are concerned with the standards of professional education and knowledge of their members, whilst Special Groups are concerned with principal areas in which psychologists provide advice, tuition or services.

When the preceding Group to SGCP was formed in 2001 the vision of the founding members of that network (which includes the current Chair Jonathan Passmore) was for the network to become a Group and, as coaching psychology practice grew, to apply to become a Division.

In pursuit of continuing to develop and promote the profession of coaching psychology for the benefit of our members and the clients we serve, we believe that gaining parity with other domains of practice is essential.

Some of our members have never pursued chartered membership because they identify as coaching psychologists first and foremost and therefore haven’t trained in other domains of practice.

Once we’re able to offer chartered membership through coaching psychology, we need to also be able to offer these members professional recognition and a professional home that is equal in structure and influence to other domains of practice.

We are not wedded to the concept of ‘Divisions’, but we are seeking equality with other domains of practice.

We will engage with and continue to represent our members as the Society reviews the structure of Member Networks.

Occupational settings are one of the many contexts within which coaching psychology can be researched and applied.

Our members are drawn from all domains of practice with many coming from health, counselling and clinical psychology.

We need to continue to represent all of our members.

We have not yet discussed membership costs, but we will look towards other domains of practice in making these decisions.

Our main concern is to ensure that our membership fees are simple and fair and provide value for money.

In addition to membership fees, there will continue to be fees associated with being on the Register of Coaching Psychologists.

This is still under discussion, but it is anticipated that there will be an ‘accelerated route’ for these members.

This is still under discussion, but it is likely that there will be some form of application.

The form of the application itself is also still under discussion.

Yes.

In addition, we are discussing the possibility of a tiered register.

This would allow for the recognition of applied knowledge of psychology and evidence based practice in coaching of members who are not yet chartered.

In line with other domains of practice, and in the recognition of the need to expand the current research base in coaching psychology, it is important that we offer researchers in coaching psychology the opportunity to become chartered members.

This means that you could be a chartered member, but not a practitioner.

In order to be recognised as a practitioner, members may wish to join the Register of Coaching Psychologists.

No.

Our understanding is that the HCPC are not open to considering protecting any new titles in the foreseeable future.