News

On this page you'll find news, updates, and blog articles specifically relevant to the work and interests of the Division of Counselling Psychology.

DCoP Environmental and Climate Crisis contributions

As members of the Division will have seen in the media recently, The Grantham Institute/Imperial College recently published an important document: The impact of climate change on mental health and emotional wellbeing: Current evidence and implications for policy and practice (Grantham Institute, Briefing paper No 36).

This document helpfully collates insight into the clear and direct ways that climate change negatively affects mental health, both directly and indirectly, in the short, medium and longer term too. It helps us recognise that while this is the case for all of us, it is particularly a factor for marginalised and vulnerable groups in particular.

The Society asked the Division to comment on the document in a timely fashion and we were delighted to contribute to the response which went live on May 27th. This was just a couple of days after it made the headlines.

It is great to see that the Society can contribute to important issues in a timely way - and that counselling psychology's view is recognised.

As the report notes there is more to do, and counselling psychologists interested in this area can look forward to the climate change stream at this years DCoP Conference

The Division is also formalising its workstream related to the Environmental and Climate crisis and would be pleased to receive Statements of Interest from colleagues willing to join the workstream.

Division of Counselling Psychology Environmental and Climate Crisis (DCoP ECC) Workstream

The Division of Counselling Psychology is establishing a small working group to develop and support the development of DCoP members’ personal, professional, scientific and social justice interests in relation to counselling psychology and the environmental and climate crisis.

The working group aims to facilitate the exchange of ideas, development and sharing of knowledge about the environmental and climate crisis within the Division, when contributing to the BPS Steering Group and with other interested bodies.

Terms of Reference

We are calling for statements of interest to be submitted from counselling psychologists with professional or research interest s in the area (qualified and registered on accredited training routes in counselling psychology) who are able to offer both time, interest and expertise in the area. If you would like to contribute, please submit a statement of interest (SOI). Please do think about volunteering for this important work.

- Prof. Martin Milton, DCoP ECC Workstream Lead

Division of Counselling Psychology Domestic Violence and Abuse (DVA) Workstream

We are currently in the process of establishing the DVA Workstream within the BPS Division of Counselling Psychology. If you meet the person specification outlined below we would like to hear from you.

Purpose

The main aims of this workstream are as follows.

To provide a forum for members working within the field of DVA through which they can exchange ideas and share knowledge.
To help members further their professional and scientific interests within the area of DVA
To support the specialised scientific interests of members working within the area of DVA
To promote both practice-based research and research-based practice within the area of DVA including the intersections between gender, sexual violence, intimate partner abuse, ethnic identity, parenting, trauma, mental health and DVA.

Person Specification

Counselling Psychologists who have a special interest in DVA, and are currently working within this area (a minimum of 2 years).

Terms of Reference

Please submit your statement of interest before 5pm on Thursday 10 June 2021.

- Dr. Mou Sultana, DCoP DVA workstream Lead

Call for Statement of Interests

Division of Counselling Psychology Online and Digital (DCoP OD) Working Group.

The Division of Counselling Psychology is establishing a working group to develop and support the development of DCoP members’ personal, professional, scientific, and social justice interests in relation to online and digital working; both in the short and long term.

The working group aims to facilitate the exchange of ideas, development, research and sharing of knowledge about digital healthcare in relation to counselling psychology.

We are calling for statements of interest to be submitted from counselling psychologists with professional or research interests in the area (qualified and registered on accredited training routes in counselling psychology) who are able to offer both time, interest and expertise in the area. If you would like to contribute, please submit a statement of interest (SOI).

Please do think about volunteering for this important work.

Newsletters and Articles

Newsletters
Show content
2021
2020
A new Chair Perspective on volunteering: Work, Life and Counselling Psychology by Dr Yetunde Ade-Serrano
Show content

A new Chair's Perspective on volunteering: Work, Life and Counselling Psychology
A Perspective on Volunteering by Dr Neha Cattra
Show content

I won't lie, I always feel a little out of sorts when I go for long periods of time without volunteering in some capacity. I've volunteered in various ways for more than half my life, and I can't imagine not doing so. I started volunteering at school as a mentor and then as I accrued my training hours during my doctorate. And so many other ways in between and since.

I am not unaware of the challenges of volunteering - in many ways it is a privilege. I feel that its important that I use my privilege (such as it is, as an LGBTQ+ Asian woman) to support those that don't have the same opportunities as me, to get to those opportunities if they want them.

Less than a month after I submitted my thesis edits, I called the BPS and said I needed a new project to get involved with. Yes, I needed one - without some purpose I felt rudderless, so not all of my reasons are altruistic. But, most are. I want to further our profession, and I first did this by being part of the conference committee. I continued to work with DCoP, and now that I am the communications lead, I feel like my contribution is intrinsically about furthering Counselling Psychology.

I was not a born communicator, and of course I get things wrong all the time! Volunteering doesn't require a special skill, it asks that you are curious, passionate and diligent. You learn many skills, and make many connections - from BPS presidents to first year trainees, and bit by bit, you grow as a person, whilst developing others and furthering the profession.

The division is its members. When colleagues say 'what is the division up to?' I want to remind them that they are the division. The executive committee merely represents their views and priorities. The 'Division' is what its members are and want. It's a hungry beast with many moving parts, and whilst it pulls you in to some noble cause and takes up time, it also produces exceptional scientist practitioners with a thirst for developing CoP, leaders in their respective fields.

This is a call to arms. Never has Mental Health and Psychological wellbeing been more vitally important than in the midst and aftermath of a global existential threat to survival. Get involved in the conversations and the tasks that move our profession forward. Some examples of ways to get involved, big and small are included in this newsletter. Get in touch with questions and comments - we look forward to having you on board.

Dr Neha Cattra is a Senior Chartered Counselling Psychologist based in West Sussex, working in Adult Mental Health. A passionate volunteer, coffee addict and cat lover, she can usually be found making a racket in the kitchen.
Writing for The Psychologist by Daren Lee
Show content

Like many of us, I have spent many an hour contemplating what our professional roles will look like in the future in the aftermath of COVID-19. For people in points of life transition this is likely to be poignant: for students embarking on a new life away from home at university, for trainee psychologists who have visualised being in the full throes of (face-to-face) professional practice and for some people who had previously developed a new healthier relationship with psychological distress, the global pandemic has forced us to re-write our plans, at least for now.

Recently, I wrote an article for The Psychologist – A jolt of transformation which explores people’s evolving relationship with their anxiety and its potential impact on CBT protocols in a post-COVID-19 reality. But, I would anticipate that COVID-19’s kinship with anxiety and the resonance of public health advice during the pandemic is particularly pressing for clients experiencing obsessive compulsive disorder with cleaning rituals.

I have long felt an affinity for clients with this presentation, as the wider public sometimes belittles their distress with reference to themselves being a “a bit OCD” because they like to keep their fridge magnets in order. The reality for me, is that the experience of OCD is far more sinister. It can represent a metaphorical ransomer that issues threats and holds loved ones hostage. For clients with obsessive thoughts about loved ones being contaminated, it is a case of ‘complete the compulsion or else’. To compound this distress, the mere presence of such intrusive thoughts results in clients assuming a moral responsibility to save their loved one’s from catastrophe – to pay the ransomer in time – to complete the next compulsion or confront the consequences.

I have also found myself thinking about the past and historical clients with this presentation. Clients who were ravaged by their compulsive cleaning and obsessional fears about contaminating their loved ones with deadly infectious diseases, but through their engagement and hard work, managed to break their patterns of hypervigilance, intrusive obsessional thoughts, compulsive cleaning and magical thinking. In our current COVID-19 filled reality, I can imagine that there are far more ransomers ominously lurking for people who have experienced OCD symptoms, past and present. Furthermore, the pandemic is likely to present challenges to those CBT interventions that have historically promoted exposure to unsanitised behaviour and conditions (for example Exposure Response Prevention). I would suggest that this renders counselling psychologists’ ability to work pluralistically, collaboratively and phenomenologically more essential than ever before.

Daren Lee is in the write-up stage of a Professional Doctorate in Counselling Psychology at London Metropolitan University. The themes outlined above are the subject of a case study entitled Unveiling the Ransomer, which explores a psychodynamic reformulation of OCD.

Annual General Meetings (AGMs)

Division of Counselling Psychology AGM 2021
Show content
The Annual General Meeting of the Division of Counselling Psychology will be held on Friday 16 July 2021 at 5.00pm via Zoom.

You must be signed-in to access the following materials
- Download the Agenda and Reports (member only)
If you have any queries regarding the AGM, nominations or resolutions, please email Member Network Services
Division of Counselling Psychology Northern Ireland AGM 2021
Show content
The Annual General Meeting of the Division of Counselling Psychology – Northern Ireland will be held on Thursday 15 April 2021 at 1.00pm via Zoom.

Please note the change in AGM time.

You must be signed-in to access the following materials
- Download the Agenda and Reports (member only)
If you have any queries regarding the AGM, nominations or resolutions, please email Member Network Services
Division of Counselling Psychology North West
Show content

The Division of Counselling Psychology North West are calling for statement of interests.

The deadline for submitting an statement of interest form is now closed.

Elections will be formally ratified at the next Committee meeting for Division of Counselling Psychology North West on Thursday 11 February 2021

If you have any queries regarding submitting an statement of interest please email Member Network Services
Division of Counselling Psychology Scotland AGM 2021
Show content
The Annual General Meeting of the Division of Counselling Psychology - Scotland will be held on Wednesday 28 April 2021 at 4.00pm, via Zoom.

You must be signed-in to access the following materials
- Download the Agenda and Reports (member only)
If you have any queries regarding the AGM, nominations or resolutions, please email Member Network Services
Division of Counseling Psychology Wales AGM 2021
Show content
The Annual General Meeting of the Division of Counselling Psychology - Wales will be held on Friday 4 June 2021 at 10.00am via Zoom.

You must be signed-in to access the following materials
- Download the AGM agenda and reports (member only)
If you have any queries regarding the AGM, nominations or resolutions please email Member Network Services.

News

DCoP Environmental and Climate Crisis contributions

Division of Counselling Psychology Environmental and Climate Crisis (DCoP ECC) Workstream

Division of Counselling Psychology Domestic Violence and Abuse (DVA) Workstream

Purpose

Person Specification

Call for Statement of Interests

Newsletters and Articles

Newsletters

A new Chair Perspective on volunteering: Work, Life and Counselling Psychology by Dr Yetunde Ade-Serrano

A Perspective on Volunteering by Dr Neha Cattra

Writing for The Psychologist by Daren Lee

Annual General Meetings (AGMs)

Division of Counselling Psychology AGM 2021

Division of Counselling Psychology Northern Ireland AGM 2021

Division of Counselling Psychology North West

Division of Counselling Psychology Scotland AGM 2021

Division of Counseling Psychology Wales AGM 2021