Pauline Willis

Following on from the fantastic successes of 2005, it has been a busy and exciting start to 2006! The issue which has been raised many times is whether we can provide our members with some specific direction and guidance on professional issues for coaching psychologists including advice around which training and qualifications routes to follow. Similarly, we are also managing a number of enquiries from our affiliate members who have either limited, or no formal training in psychology but who wish to apply psychological principles appropriately within coaching practice. In particular, we have tried to guide those members in methods for doing this whilst being respectful of the professional boundary between coaching and the professional practice of psychology.

A key source of frustration for those who want to become chartered and practice as coaching psychologists, is that there is no clearly defined qualifications route within the BPS to support the development of the professional knowledge and skills that Coaching Psychologists need to be effective. The reason for this is that qualifications routes can only be offered through divisional membership and Coaching Psychology knowledge and skills are drawn broadly from across the vast domain of psychological practice rather than sitting neatly within the skills set covered by one of the existing BPS divisions.

At the moment, the way to become a professional coaching psychologist is to attain chartered status in a relevant division of the BPS and to then engage in relevant CPD activities using a pragmatic/eclectic approach to draw the additional skills needed to be effective as a coaching psychologist from across the divisions. CPD can then be done either by attending CPD events (across relevant divisions) along with supervised practice. It is also possible to attain the relevant skills set through multiple division memberships, however, this can be a more complicated option.

Feedback from members suggests that a substantial number of our GBR members could already be practicing psychology at an appropriate ‘professional level’ as a psychologist using an eclectic and integrative skills set, but one that does not ‘fit’ readily within any of the existing divisions. This would be understandably frustrating to anyone who is both committed to the profession of psychology and who is also interested in practicing as an applied psychologist when the profession comes under statutory regulation.

The SGCP Professional Practice and Research Sub-Committee (PPR) will endeavour to address all of the difficult practical questions we are being asked by our members and provide both formal and practical guidance around training and qualification options that may be appropriate for supporting professional coaching psychology practice. Through the professional practice guide, we will also offer some specific guidance in the areas of Knowledge and Skill to focus on if you want to develop your expertise in coaching psychology through supervision, and provide some clarity around existing CPD options within the BPS that may be relevant to Coaching Psychology.

Practice supervision both for Coaching Psychologists and coaches who are interested in applying psychological tools appropriately within their practice is one of the hottest topics, partly because it is through supervision that members can be supported in managing practice issues as well as navigating the confusing array of training and development options available. We are hoping that by launching a set of professional practice guidelines contextualised for practice within ‘coaching psychology’, this will answer most of your more pressing queries and also support practice supervision. In the meantime, your patience will be most welcome and will give the PPR some time and space to create a set of practical guidelines that will also work effectively alongside broader initiatives within the BPS. We are hoping to produce these guidelines mid-year which is a little later than we had hoped, however, the end result will be well worth it and should support our members who are balancing the professional demands of being a coaching psychologist along with memberships of one or more divisions that are relevant to coaching psychology.

As this will be a key piece of work for 2006, I would like to encourage anyone who is interested in sharing ideas or discussing issues that are relevant to the acquisition of appropriate qualifications for Coaching Psychology to take part in our open online discussion forum. Updates and news, including opportunities to feedback on early draft versions of the professional practice guide will also be distributed via the forum. So if you have not yet joined, or do not know how to use the forum I would encourage you to do so by contacting our Honorary Secretary, Philippa Hain, at philippa.hain@ntlworld.

Alternately, if you do not feel comfortable participating in a public online forum, I would be very happy to hear from you personally. My e-mail address is pauline.willis@lauriate.com and I will look forward to hearing from anyone who has any questions or concerns throughout the year.

Warm wishes

Pauline