CRITERIA FOR ACCREDITATION OF HUMANISTIC AND INTEGRATIVE PSYCHOTHERAPISTS
1. This Bye Law sets out the minimum criteria that an applicant must meet in order to be accredited as a psychotherapist and accepted as a member of the Irish Association of Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapy. These criteria have been drawn up so as to comply with standards agreed for all member organisations of the Irish Council for Psychotherapy and the European Association for Psychotherapy.
2. To be accredited as psychotherapists and accepted as members of the Irish Association of Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapy applicants must
(a) be able to demonstrate that they practise psychotherapy from a humanistic and integrative perspective and
(b) have given specific undertakings as to their behaviour if they are accredited.
2.1 The humanistic and integrative nature of an applicant’s practice is normally ascertained through
(i) evidence of satisfactory completion of a qualifying training course (details of what this must involve are given below in clauses 3 to 7 and their sub-clauses.)
(ii) a comprehensive report from the applicant's supervisor (details of the amount and kind of supervision are given below in clause 7 and its sub-clauses.)
(iii) a personal statement submitted by the applicant
(iv) occasionally, through interview.
2.2 The undertakings about their behaviour as members if they are accredited are detailed below in clause 9.
3. The overall psychotherapy training completed by an applicant must have consisted of two phases.
3.1 Phase 1 of the overall psychotherapy training must involve postgraduate level course-work in a psychotherapy training organisation. The course-work must extend over a minimum of four years, and it must have been preceded by a relevant undergraduate degree of a minimum of three years duration (or equivalent). The course-work must be of a specified length and must have included specified elements, with a specified minimum number of hours devoted to each. (The required length and nature of the course and the minimum hours devoted to its various elements are set out below in clause 4 and its sub-clauses, and in sub-clauses of clauses 5, 6 and 7.)
3.2 Phase 2 of the overall training must consist of a post-course practicum (or pre-accreditation period), which must be of at least one year's and no more than five years' duration, and must have included specified elements, with a specified minimum number of hours devoted to each. (The required elements and hours are set out below in sub-clauses of clauses 5, 6 and 7.)
3.3 During Phase 1 and Phase 2 combined there must be a total of at least 250 hours of psychotherapy undertaken as a client. (Minimum requirements apply in Phase 1 and these are detailed in Section 5 and its sub-clauses.)
3.4 Both Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the training must each involve a minimum number of hours of supervised clinical practice by the trainee and the two phases combined must involve a total of 500hours. (Details of minimum requirements in each phase of training are given below in clause 6 and its sub-clauses.)
3.5 The clinical practice of the applicant during each of the two phases of the training must have been supervised, and a minimum of 150hours of supervision must have been received during the combined phases 1 and 2. (Details of the required supervision, including the minimum ratio of supervision hours to client hours and the qualifications and experience of acceptable supervisors, are set out below in clause 7 and its sub-clauses.)
4. Psychotherapy Training Phase 1
The training course completed in Phase 1 (i.e. the course-work in a psychotherapy training organisation) must extend over a minimum of four years and must have been preceded by a relevant undergraduate degree of a minimum of three years duration (or equivalent).
4.1 The Phase 1 training course will be comprised of:
(i) Theory
(ii) Group Learning
(iii) Psychotherapeutic Experience as Client, and
(iv) Supervised Clinical Practice.
4.1.1 Theory and Group Learning shall between them take up a minimum total of 500 tutor-directed hours, with each having a minimum of 200 hours.
4.2 Theoretical Content of Phase 1 Training Course
The training course shall include a minimum of 200hours of Theory. The theoretical topics dealt with shall be drawn primarily from humanistic and integrative modalities of psychotherapy and be rooted in experiential learning. They shall also include:
- An understanding of other psychotherapeutic approaches
- Human development throughout the lifespan
- Theories of change
- Assessment and intervention
- Social issues
- Psychopathology
- Research
Professional issues[ethics, law and networking]
4.3 Group Learning during Phase 1 Training Course
The Phase 1 training course shall include a minimum of 200 hours of Group Learning. Such Group Learning shall include:
(i) Skills practice and training rooted in experiential learning and primarily informed by modalities of psychotherapy that are humanistic and integrative in nature
(ii) Personal development and exploration of one’s own process [including experiential training workshops] which may include group work within the course which engages and explores one's own process in a group setting.
4.3.1 No hours of group work used to fulfil the requirement for group learning detailed in sub-clause 4.3 may be used to fulfil the requirement for psychotherapeutic experience detailed below in sub-clause 5.2.
5. Psychotherapeutic Experience as Client
As specified in sub-clause 3.3 above, throughout the overall psychotherapy training comprising both Phase 1 and Phase 2 combined, the person applying for accreditation and membership of the Association must have undertaken a minimum of 250hours of psychotherapy, all from a humanistic and integrative perspective.
5.1 The required psychotherapeutic experience as client throughout Phase 1 and Phase 2 must include a combination of individual psychotherapy and group psychotherapy. Other forms of verifiable psychotherapeutic experience may also be submitted, such as experiential workshops and personal feedback/tutorial sessions with trainers undertaken as part of the Phase 1 training course or further individual psychotherapy or group psychotherapy undertaken during the Phase 2 post-course practicum period.
5.2 Psychotherapeutic experience during the Phase 1 psychotherapy training course must include:
(i) Individual Psychotherapy: A minimum of 120hours and
(ii) Group Psychotherapy, which engages and explores one's own process in a group: A minimum of 60 hours
5.2.1 It is the responsibility of the training organisation to ensure
(a) that all individual psychotherapy required under clause 5.2 and undertaken by students during the training course is conducted by suitably accredited psychotherapists who work from a humanistic and integrative perspective,
(b) that all group psychotherapy required under clause 5.2 and undertaken by students during the training course is conducted by suitably accredited psychotherapists who work from a humanistic and integrative perspective.
(c) that the required number of psychotherapy hours has been met.
5.2.2 Group psychotherapy undertaken outside of the psychotherapy training course during Phase 1 cannot be used to fulfil the requirements set out above in clauses 5.2 and 5.2.1 unless it was approved by the training organisation and took place while the applicant was a trainee on the training course.
5.2.3 No hours of group work used to fulfil the requirement for group learning specified above in sub-clause 4.3 may be used to fulfil the requirement for psychotherapeutic experience as client specified in sub-clauses 5.1 and 5.2.
6. Supervised Clinical Practice
As specified in sub-clause 3.4 above, during the overall psychotherapy training comprising both Phase 1 (training course work) and Phase 2 (post course practicum) combined, the person applying for accreditation and membership of the Association must have completed a minimum of 500 hours of supervised clinical practice.
Please note that supervision of clinical practice whether Phase 1 or Phase 2 must be face-to-face to be eligible to be counted towards Accreditation i.e. no Skype, Phone, Facetime or other virtual applications. Should exceptional circumstances arise with your supervisor, where face-to-face is not possible for a short period, these circumstances must be clearly documented and included in the application for consideration.
6.1 Of the total of 500 hours clinical practice required in Phases 1 and 2 combined,
- at least 200 hours must be completed within the Phase 1 training course
- at least 200 hours must be completed within Phase 2, the post-course practicum (pre-accreditation) period.
- At least 100 hours of those completed in Phase 2 must be completed within the 12 months preceding application for accreditation.
6.2 Clinical practice within the training course shall not take place in the first two years of training.
6.3 A student who successfully completes Phase 1 of psychotherapy training with at least 200 hours but less than 300 hours of supervised clinical practice completed shall not be eligible to apply for the European Certificate of Psychotherapy (ECP) until a figure of 300 completed hours of supervised clinical practice has been reached to the satisfaction of his/her current supervisor and of the training course from which he/she graduated.
7. Nature of Supervision of Clinical Practice
As specified in sub-clause 3.5 above, a minimum of 150 hours of supervision must have been received during the combined phases 1 and 2 of training.
7.1 Nature of Supervision during Psychotherapy Training Phase 1 (Course Work)During the training course a ratio of at least one hour of supervision to four hours of client work is required, with a minimum frequency of monthly supervision.
7.1.1 Training supervision may be either individual or in group or a combination of both. Where supervision is in group, the group shall not exceed four supervisees and each supervisee shall receive one hour of credit for each hour of group supervision. (Clear equivalence within a different structure will, in certain circumstances, be acceptable.)
7.1.2 Other didactic supervision during the training course (e.g. clinical seminars), additional to that provided under sub-clause 7.1.1 above, may be included as supervision of clinical practice, up to a maximum of 50hours (out of the required minimum of 150 hours referred to in clause 7).
7.2 Supervision during Psychotherapy Training Phase 2 (Post-Course Practicum, Pre-Accreditation Period) During Phase 2 (the post-course practicum, pre-accreditation period), a minimum ratio of one hour of supervision to eight hours of client work is required, with a minimum frequency of monthly supervision.
7.2.1 At least one half of the supervision in the Phase 2 post-course practicum period shall be individual supervision.
7.2.2 Where any supervision in the Phase 2 post-course practicum period is in group, the group shall not exceed four supervisees and each supervisee shall have the opportunity to make a meaningful presentation and shall receive one hour of credit for every hour of supervision.
7.3 Acceptable Supervisors
During both Phases 1 and 2 of psychotherapy training, supervisors, whether individual or group supervisors, must have certain qualifications. In the case of trainees starting client work on or after 1st September 2011, and of those beginning their post-course practicum (pre-accreditation) period on or after that date, supervisors must be either:
(a) IAHIP accredited supervisors or
(b) psychotherapists from equivalent professional organisations who are accredited or have formal recognition as supervisors by their own professional organisation and who pursue their own practice from a shared humanistic and integrative perspective or are sufficiently familiar with and sympathetic towards humanistic and integrative psychotherapy to be able to provide supervision in a way that is congruent with the supervisee’s orientation as a humanistic and integrative psychotherapist. And
(c) There must be a clear distinction between line management and Clinical Supervision. The avoidance of dual relationships provides maximum benefit for the supervisee and protects the integrity of the supervisory relationship. Supervision should not have a disciplinary function, which it is inevitably open to if the supervisor is also the line manager. Therefore, for accreditation purposes, an applicant who received supervision from a line manager cannot count this towards accreditation.
7.3.1 In the case of trainees who started supervised client work before 1st September 2011, and also in the case of those who had completed Part 1 of their training and begun their post-course practicum (pre-accreditation) period before 1st September 2011, supervisors must either be accredited or formally recognised supervisors as referred to above in clause 7.3, or supervisors who have been accredited members of the Association for at least five years and who also have a minimum of two years experience of giving supervision and have undergone, or are undergoing, qualifying training in preparation for accreditation by IAHIP as supervisors. (If however trainees or pre-accreditation therapists change to a new supervisor after 1stSeptember 2011, it must be to an accredited or formally recognised supervisor as referred to above in clause 7.3)
7.3.2 During the Phase 2 post-course practicum (pre-accreditation) period, until they have completed in aggregate 300 hours of supervised clinical practice during Phases 1 and 2 of psychotherapy training, supervisees are free, subject to sub-clause 7.3above, to be supervised by a supervisor who had been their training supervisor during Phase 1 or who had had a significant role in their Phase 1 training. Thereafter during the post-course practicum (pre-accreditation period) supervisees should not be supervised by their training supervisor or by a supervisor who had a significant role in their training. At that juncture, a period of three months shall be allowed to enable the graduate supervisee seek out a new supervisor.
8. Exceptional Circumstances
Where applicants are mature practitioners whose qualifying psychotherapy training began prior to April 2010, equivalence to the required standards may have been achieved through a combination of core training and continuing professional development. Such practitioners must specify that they wish their application to be considered with reference to this clause.
Applicants are required to demonstrate to the satisfaction of IAHIP that, between their core training and continuing professional development, they meet or exceed the following European Association for Psychotherapy requirements:
- psychotherapy training (minimum 500 hours)
- psychotherapeutic experience (minimum 250 hours)
- clinical practice experience (minimum 500 hours), and
- supervision (minimum 150 hours)
- have a level of skill equal to or greater than that expected for IAHIP accreditation;
- have maintained a psychotherapy practice for a period appropriate to justify accreditation despite the passage of time since completion of core training;
- have completed at least 100 hours of supervised clinical practice within the 12months preceding application for accreditation.
9. Undertakings
To be accredited as a psychotherapist and accepted as a member of the Irish Association of Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapy an applicant must have given specific undertakings about their behaviour as a psychotherapist if they are granted accreditation and membership of the Association. These undertakings are as follows:
(a) to abide by the Codes of Ethics and Practice of IAHIP
(b) to present themselves for re-accreditation as IAHIP requires
(c) to show commitment to ongoing professional development
(d) to be committed to maintaining appropriate ongoing supervision and support in accordance with IAHIP requirements
10. Implementation
The Accreditation Committee is the competent body to interpret and implement this Bye Law in accordance with the provisions of Bye Law1 and the decisions of the Accreditation Committee as to whether an applicant for accreditation fulfils the conditions of membership shall, subject to the right of appeal provided for under the rules of the Association, be final.
