Supervision Requirements for Pre-Accredited Members and those working towards accreditation.

Who Can Supervise?

It is required by the IACP that a Counsellor / Psychotherapist or a Student Counsellor / Psychotherapist must choose a Supervisor who is one of –

a) an IACP Accredited Supervisor
b) a BACP* Accredited Supervisor or
c) an IAHIP** Accredited Supervisor

(Please note – it is the supervisee’s responsibility to check that their Supervisor is accredited with one of the above organisations).

*BACP Accredited status plus supervisor qualification. These requirements are due to the BACP reconfiguring membership categories (16/10/2023) – if contracting with a BACP Accredited Supervisor, please ensure that the above criteria are met. If you have any queries regarding a pre-existing contract, please contact the IACP).

**IAHIP Accredited Supervisor NB. must have received their IAHIP Supervisor accreditation prior to January 2025.

Pre-Accredited Members must comply with IACP supervision requirements.

In order to ensure that the supervisor can be seen to be objective and have no conflict of interest with regard to the supervisee, supervision after completion of the core course must not be undertaken with an Accredited Supervisor (IACP, BACP or IAHIP accredited) who:

• Was directly involved as a core trainer or assessor on their Course/College/Institute or Organisation
• Was their personal therapist during training
• Had any involvement in the Course/College/Institute or Organisation during the student’s training (the external individual supervisors contracted with during training are exempt).

Involvement of a supervisor with the Course/College/Institute or Organisation is deemed to extend for 2 years following the termination of their period of employment or engagement with the Course/College/Institute or Organisation.

Please note that Pre-accredited members must be supervised by the same Accredited Supervisor (IACP, BACP or IAHIP) in the 12 months preceding their application for first time accreditation. An explanation must be provided for any change in supervisor during this 12 month period, and this will be reviewed by the Accreditation Committee.

As of 26th May 2017:

Students can start counting the 450 client hours towards accreditation after full completion of the currently required minimum 100 student placement hours, even if still in training on an accredited course. Students are not required to change their Supervisor while in training and they have the option to change their Supervisor after graduation / completion of the course, or remain with the same Supervisor.

Students must have completed a minimum of 2 academic years on the course and finished the required 50 hours of personal therapy before they start counting the 450 hours. It is Course's responsibility to manage all client work while in training. IACP recognise supervision with IACP, BACP* or IAHIP** Accredited Supervisors only.

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Frequency, Ratio and Forms of Supervision

Frequency: Individual Supervision must take place for at least one hour per month when the Counsellor / Psychotherapist if actively seeing or available to see clients. 

Ratio: The required minimum ratio of supervision for Pre-Accredited members is one hour of supervision for every 10 client contact hours (1:10) continuously. There should not be more than 10 client hours in between supervision sessions.  

At the time of application, the Accreditation Department will require a yearly breakdown of client work, confirming that the 1:10 supervision ratio was followed annually prior to submitting for full Accreditation. 

 

Forms of Supervision - Online and In-Person: 

(a) One to one supervision 

• Sitting in on the counselling session followed by a review of the session.
• Viewing the Counsellor/Psychotherapist through a window or by video, followed by a review of the session. 
• Using case-notes, verbatim notes or tape-recording of the session.

During the 450 hours of post-trainee counselling/psychotherapy practice, at least 75% of supervision time must be in individual supervision.

(b) Group supervision - where the Supervisor takes responsibility for the supervision of two or more Counsellors/Psychotherapists.

In order to include group supervision as part of a Pre-Accredited member’s supervision requirements for accreditation, it is required that:

The maximum number of supervisees in the supervision group is 6 (not including the group supervisor)

and

A group of 2 meet for a minimum of 1 hour a month (this would be counted as 1 hour supervision for each member)

A group of 3 meet for a minimum of 1.5 hours a month (this would be counted as 1.5 hours supervision for each member)

A group of 4 meet for a minimum of 2 hours a month (this would be counted as 2 hours supervision for each member)

A group of 5 meet for a minimum of 2.5 hours a month (this would be counted as 2.5 hours supervision for each member)

A group of 6 meet for a minimum of 3 hours a month (this would be counted as 3 hours supervision for each member)

(c) Once qualified, up to 100% of supervision can be done online.

In the Pre-Accreditation period, a minimum of 45 hours of supervision is required to comply with the ratio of 1 hour supervision to 10 counselling hours. Within this 45 hours, 12 supervision hours can be met by group supervision, where the group meets the above requirements. When applying for Accreditation the applicant must be able to show a range of client experience. Supervisor and supervisee should discuss this in their contracting and at each review of the supervisory contract.

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For IACP Members Working Towards Accreditation Outside of 32 counties:

To fulfil the IACP Supervision requirements, Audio (tele) or Videoconferencing (VC) Supervision can be accepted for the purpose of accreditation/ reaccreditation as long as it is done with the use of a safe medium. The onus is on the IACP Member/ Supervisor to make sure that the medium is secure and all aspects of confidentiality are protected. Also, the IACP Member/ Supervisor must have an appropriate insurance cover for such working arrangement and be aware of the legal requirements of the country that they are working in.

Supervision

• Overview
• Recently Accredited Supervisors
• Code of Ethics and Practice for Supervisors
• Online Directory of Accredited Supervisors
• Supervision Requirements
• Student Member Supervision Requirements
• Pre-Accredited Member Supervision Requirements
• Accredited Member Supervision Requirements
• Accredited Supervisor Supervision Requirements
• How do I become an Accredited Supervisor
• Renewal of Supervisor Accreditation
• CPD for Accredited Supervisors
• Supervisors Report Forms
• Inactive Accredited Supervisor Membership
• Supervisor Accreditation Appeals Procedure
• Supervisor FAQ

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