Irish Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy
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Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Framework

Continuing Professional Development IACP

Introduction

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) allows Counsellors and Psychotherapists to maintain, develop and enhance their professional competency. CPD is essential for the profession to maintain and preserve the integrity of the practitioner and safeguard the client. Continuously educating oneself demonstrates a commitment to the profession's importance as a whole and fosters high standards of protection for clients. IACP requires Members to participate in CPD on an ongoing and effective basis, maintain a record of such activities, and comply with the IACP requirement to maintain Membership at every stage.

Background

The CPD Committee reviewed the CPD requirements for IACP Members and drew from the CORU Framework for Registration Boards, Continuous Development Standards and Requirements. The extract below outlines the Principles for the Development of a Revised CPD Requirement. The CPD Committee reviewed traditional methods of accruing the required CPD hours.

Recognised CPD

Required per annum from January 2018:

Pre-Accredited Members	10 Hours
Accredited Members	30 Hours
Supervisors	30 Hours (10 hours related specifically to Supervision)

CPD Activities Accepted:

Workshops (Attending/Presenting)	Attendance at IACP Events
Certificate Courses	E-learning/Webinars
Diploma Courses	Published Articles/Research undertaken by a Member (up to 5 points per publication)
Degree Courses	IACP Committee Work
Post Graduate Courses	Supervision received (up to 10 CPD points/hours per annum for Accredited Members and up to 3 CPD points per annum for Pre-accredited Members)
NOTE: CPD for Supervisors is to include 10 hours of CPD directly related to Supervision, such as the Supervisors Forums, workshops related to Supervision, further lifelong learning in the field of Supervision and Committee and Board work relevant to Supervision.

Clarification re CPD requirements and counting of supervision as CPD:

CPD – Pre-Accredited Members (10 CPD Points)

10 hours CPD activities as per IACP CPD Policy
(of which up to 3 hours CPD could be Supervision received)

CPD - Accredited Members (30 CPD Points)

10 hours CPD - Supervision received
20 CPD Hours – CPD activities as per IACP CPD Policy

CPD - Accredited Supervisors (30 CPD Points)

10 hours CPD - Supervision received
10 hours CPD – CPD activities as per IACP CPD Policy
10 hours CPD – CPD activities specifically related to Supervision (not Supervision itself)

Self-Care and Personal Development, Fitness to Practice

Paralleled with Continuous Professional Development is Fitness to Practice, Self-care and Personal Development.

All of these to ensure the integrity of professional practice. IACP sees Self Care as a separate activity and not a part of Continuous Professional Development as per 4.1.1 of the IACP Code of Ethics.

The Fitness to Practice of every Member will be assessed continuously over the period of supervision. Hours spent on Self-care and Personal Development, including Personal Therapy, will not be recorded in the CPD log.

CPD Requirements:

Pre-accredited Members will be required to complete 10 hours of CPD annually.
Accredited Members will be required to complete 30 hours of CPD annually.
Supervisors will be required to complete 30 hours of CPD annually, 10 of which is directly related to supervision.

Member’s Responsibility

Members are advised to carry out a self-directed review of their knowledge, skills, performance and professional qualities in the context of their professional role while being mindful of current and future practice. This must be carried out in consultation with their supervisor. There is space for a reflective piece within the CPD log document.

Once registered with IACP, all Pre-accredited and Accredited Members are required to engage in CPD. It is the responsibility of each Member to make decisions about the kinds of CPD relevant to their role and responsibilities and maintain relevant records. The requirements apply to all IACP Members whether they work in the public or private sector or in full-time or part-time employment.

Failure to comply with the CPD requirements will be subject to the Non-Compliance Procedure and might result in their membership/accreditation being lapsed.

Requirements:

To meet the CPD requirements as outlined, based on learning and development needs and relevant to the Member’s area of professional practice.
To reflect on the impact of selected CPD activities on their practice.
To maintain a completed and up to date CPD Portfolio.
To complete and sign the CPD portfolio on an annual basis with their Supervisor.
To plan CPD objectives for the upcoming year.
To show original supporting documentation to the supervisor.
To retain Certified Copies of Attendance.
To obtain the supervisor’s signature on the CPD Portfolio.
To retain original supporting documentation and CPD Portfolio for a period of 5 years.

Supervisors Responsibility

To ensure the CPD is relevant and appropriate – being mindful of current and future practice.
Ensure Member engages in a range of CPD activities on an ongoing basis relevant to the Supervisee’s area of professional practice.
Review of CPD objectives on an annual basis with the Supervisee for the upcoming year.
Have sight of original supporting documentation and Certified Copies ensuring satisfaction with its veracity.
Sign the CPD Portfolio.
Alert Member to retain all original supporting documents and CPD Portfolio for a period of 5 years.

Supervisors Requirements

Supervisors will be required to complete 10 hours specific to Supervisory Practice as part of their 30-hour annual CPD.

Compliance

The IACP’s approach to CPD is facilitative; however, it is important to know that as a final resort, a failure to comply with the CPD requirement may result in the removal of Pre-accreditation and Accreditation Status. Incomplete CPD Portfolio submissions will be returned to the member without review or consideration. This is in keeping with best practice to ensure that CPD requirements are met.

Audit

Random Selection
To ensure compliance with the CPD Policy, a random selection of members will be required to submit their CPD Log and certs for audit at the end of each CPD cycle, or when otherwise requested by the Accreditation Department. Members will be informed of the outcome of the Audit.

A representative percentage (approximately 5%) of Members will be selected per annum. The IACP reserves the right to undertake an audit of an individual's CPD records or to target a particular group of members at any time.

It is recognised that it may not always be possible to meet your CPD requirements due to personal circumstances. These circumstances may include maternity/adoptive leave, career breaks or, long term illness. Requests for deferral of an audit can be made and considered by IACP on a case to case basis.

The IACP will publish annually the schedule of CPD audits.

Members will normally have 30 days to respond to submit their portfolio. Only members selected for an audit will be notified of an audit. If any element of the CPD Portfolio is deemed missing or incomplete, the member will be notified and given a date for submitting those elements.

Each portfolio will be assessed by 2 assessors selected from the profession. The assessors will draw up a joint report on each portfolio.

Annual Re-Accreditation
IACP does not require the full Annual CPD Log and certs to be submitted with the Annual Re-Accreditation form. Instead, we ask for a summary of CPD (title of each activitiy and number of hours) for the previous 12 months. In cases where most CPD requirements are met but there is clarity needed regarding some of the listed activities, the Accredited Department may request the full Annual CPD Log and certs be submitted for audit by the CPD Committee.

CPD Portfolio Assessment Outcomes

Outcome 1 - CPD requirements are met

Outcome 2 - Most CPD requirements are met. More information is needed. The member will be required to resubmit the application with further information.

Outcome 3 - CPD requirements not met. The member is given additional time to acquire suitable CPD before resubmission.

Outcome 4 - CPD requirements not met in the following ways;

No submission from Member.
Failure to submit a completed CPD Portfolio to a supervisor.
Portfolio prompts Fitness to Practice concerns.
There are concerns about false declaration.

This list is not exhaustive.

Non-Compliance will result in a referral to the Professional Practice Sub-Committee of the Board. The Member will be given a right of reply; Professional Practice Sub-Committee determine the Member to be “Compliant” or “Non-Compliant”. If Non-Compliant, the Professional Practice Sub-Committee will deal with the matter on the grounds of professional misconduct.

Data Protection

All rules of Data Protection will be observed in respect of any data received:

Information will be obtained and processed fairly
Information will be kept for a specified, explicit and lawful purpose
Use of and disclosure of information obtained occurs only in ways compatible with these purposes
Information will be kept safe and secure
Information will be accurate, complete and up to date
It will be retained only while necessary for the purpose obtained

All data is kept by the IACP Accreditation Department in accordance with the Data Protection Acts and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Files relating to CPD audits will be kept for a seven-year period; following that, they will be securely destroyed.

Last reviewed: 16/06/2017

Guidelines on using this Continuing Professional Development log;

At the next anniversary of accreditation, decide (with your supervisor) on CPD needs for the coming year.
As each activity is completed, fill in the details in the relevant sections of the log. Retain certificates etc., in case you are required to produce them at a later stage (e.g. for audit).
At the end of your accreditation year, complete the reflection and have your supervisor sign off the log.
Retain signed logs as evidence of CPD in case of the audit.
Please do not send in the logs with your Annual Re-Accreditation Form.

Accreditation

Downloads

Annual CPD Log - Fillable IACP Continuing Professional Development Policy IACP GUIDELINES FOR APPROVAL OF CPD EVENTS IACP CPD Recognition Application Form IACP CPD Event Recognition Application Form - WORD DOC Annual CPD Log 2018 - WORD DOC Fillable IACP CPD Log

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