Supervision Requirements for Accredited Members

Therefore it is required by the IACP that a Counsellor / Psychotherapist or a Student Counsellor / Psychotherapist must choose a Supervisor who is –

a) an IACP Accredited Supervisor

b) a BACP* Accredited Supervisor

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).

Frequency, Ratio and Forms of Supervision

Frequency: Supervision must take place at least once a month, when the Accredited Member is actively seeing or available to see clients. If not seeing clients, a minimum of 10 supervision sessions per year will be accepted, (allowing for holidays, illness, bereavements, etc..)’

You may add together hours from different supervision arrangements. When adding together supervision hours from different supervision arrangements, you will require a supervisor’s report from each of your supervisors.

Ratio: 

• Accredited members with less than five years of Accredited Membership, supervision is a minimum of one hour of supervision for every 20 client contact hours (1:20).
• Accredited members with five to ten years of Accredited Membership, supervision is a minimum of one hour of supervision for every 30 client contact hours (1:30).
• Accredited members with ten plus years of Accredited Membership, supervision is a minimum of one hour of supervision for every 40 client contact hours (1:40).

For IACP Members Working 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.

Forms of Supervision:

(a) One to one supervision

1. Sitting in on the counselling session followed by a review of the session

2. Viewing the Counsellor/Psychotherapist through a window or by video, followed by a review of the session

3. Reviewing sessions using case-notes, verbatim notes or tape-recording of the session

and/or

(b) Group Supervision is where a designated Accredited Supervisor takes responsibility for the supervision of two or more Counsellors/Psychotherapists.

The designated accredited supervisor takes overall responsibility for the work of the group, managing the work, writing up supervisors reports, signing off CPD logs, dealing with Ethical issues and adhering to the IACP Code of Ethics etc., for the group.

To include group supervision as part or all of your supervision requirements, it is necessary that:

The maximum number 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)

Where group supervision is additional to individual supervision and meets the above group number / time requirements, group supervision hours can be calculated towards your total requirements as shown above.

Please Note:
If group supervision is being included towards re-accreditation, a Supervisors' report is required. Therefore, the group cannot be described as a Peer Group.

(c) Peer Supervision only applies to Supervisors who are accredited by either IACP, IAHIP or BACP. In Peer Supervision, Accredited Supervisors take shared responsibility for supervising and being supervised. The supervisors may rotate leading the group each time the group meet. Any one supervisor can write up the supervisors report, sign off CPD log etc. for another member of the group. The groups contract will outline how they will operate as a group.

To include Peer Supervision as part or all of your supervision requirements, it is necessary that the peer group meets the time and group number requirements as above.

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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