BYE-LAW 16A

CRITERIA FOR ACCREDITATION OF HUMANISTIC AND INTEGRATIVE PSYCHOTHERAPISTS FOR GRADUATES OF IAHIP ‘RECOGNISED TRAINING COURSES’

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 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 (IAHIP) for those who have successfully graduated from an IAHIP ‘Recognised Training Course’. These criteria have been drawn up so as to align with the standards agreed with the Irish Council for Psychotherapy and the European Association for Psychotherapy.

1.2 The humanistic and integrative nature of an applicant’s practice is ascertained through:

a) evidence of completion of an IAHIP Recognised Training Course (ie parchment or formal letter of confirmation, and a completed IAHIP Course Record of Hours), and

b) a comprehensive report from the applicant's Phase 2 supervisor(s), if this Phase is required (see 2.3 below).

1.3 For the purposes of accreditation, a psychotherapy or supervision ‘hour’ is a session of 50-60 minutes duration. A combination of shorter sessions that accumulate to 50- 60 minutes does not constitute a psychotherapy or supervision session.

1.4 It is a requirement of this Bye Law, that every applicant must be a registered Student Associate of IAHIP whilst they are enrolled on a recognised training course (from January 2025 onwards).

1.5 First-time accreditation through this Bye Law is granted for two years, after which re- accreditation must be applied for through Bye Law 16B.

1.6 Any applicants who do not fulfil the criteria of this Bye Law may apply for first-time accreditation through Bye Law 16C.

2. PHASES
2.1 The overall psychotherapy training completed by an applicant consists of one or two phases as outlined here.

2.2 Phase 1 is the core training as a psychotherapist on an IAHIP Recognised Training Course. (The standards and criteria met here are outlined in Appendix 1).

2.3 Phase 2 is the post-training stage and is only required if the applicant has not met all the criteria of this Bye Law in Phase 1.

2.3.1 Phase 2 may last no longer than two years. Failure to apply for accreditation within this period will result in additional criteria being imposed by the Accreditation Committee, and it is advisable to  contact the Accreditation Committee in good time if this situation is likely.

3. PHASE 1 - TRAINING
3.1 The training course completed in Phase 1 must extend over a minimum of four years, be at least NFQ Level 9 or UK/European Level 7 (a postgraduate programme), and must have been preceded by a relevant undergraduate degree of a minimum of three years’ duration.

3.1.1 Where the applicant does not have a relevant degree, other recognised prior learning pathways must be validated by the recognised training course (as approved by IAHIP’s Training Course Recognition Committee).

3.2 Split training (where students transfer from one psychotherapy training course to another) is permitted so long as each part is at least two years in duration, and the gap between each part must not exceed two years. The training organisation accepting the student for years 3 and 4 must ensure that the student’s first part of training was for at least two years, and that the learning outcomes, standards and other criteria of years 1 and 2 have been fully met and verified.

4. PSYCHOTHERAPY AS A CLIENT
4.1 During Phase 1 (core training), there must be a total of at least 180 hours of psychotherapy undertaken as a client. It is the responsibility of the training organisation to ensure all requirements of Clause 4 are met in full.

4.1.1 All individual psychotherapy, group psychotherapy and process group must be conducted by either:
a) IAHIP accredited psychotherapists, or
b) suitably qualified psychotherapists accredited by an equivalent professional organisation, and who   pursue their own practice from a shared humanistic and integrative ethos in a way that is         congruent with the applicant’s orientation as a humanistic and integrative psychotherapist.

4.2 Phase 1 minimum requirements are:

a) Individual Psychotherapy: 120 hours, and

b) Group Psychotherapy or Process Group: 60 hours.

4.2.1 At least 75% of individual psychotherapy hours must take place face-to-face/in person; a maximum of 25% may take place remotely. Remote hours in excess of 25% will not be counted for accreditation purposes.

The Covid Adjustments, which applied to all students who commenced training in Autumn 2019 and up to and including all students who complete training in September 2025, will be honoured and accepted for the purposes of Accreditation. Students who were granted a deferral during this time will be accommodated.

4.2.2 All Group Psychotherapy and Process Group hours must take place face-to-face/in person. No  hours of Group Psychotherapy and Process Group conducted remotely will be counted for accreditation purposes.

4.2.3 Only individual psychotherapy, group psychotherapy and process group undertaken during Phase 1 can be used to fulfil the requirements of Phase 1. Hours done before or after Phase 1 cannot be  used for this purpose.

4.2.4 It is the responsibility of the training organisation to record how many of the hours in 4.2 took place face-to-face/in person and how many took place remotely, including any hours in excess of the minimum.

4.2.5 Group Psychotherapy and Process Group (if used for 4.2b above) must not be evaluated or assessed by the training course, and ethical boundaries must be ensured (ie the psychotherapist/facilitator must have no input or influence on student evaluation or assessment).

4.2.6 Process Group, if used for Group Learning as specified in Appendix 1 and duly evaluated and assessed, does not, and must not be used to, satisfy 4.2b above as it does not provide the necessary psychotherapeutic safety and boundaries.

4.2.7 Group Psychotherapy does not count towards course Group Learning hours specified in Appendix 1.

5. CLINICAL PRACTICE
5.1 A minimum total of 300 hours of clinical practice are required for accreditation.

5.1.1 All clinical practice hours must be supervised.

5.1.2 Time spent in consultation with or offering psychological support to a client’s partner, parents or family, or in consultation with another professional (social worker, doctor, etc.), does not count towards clinical practice hours for the purposes of accreditation.

5.1.3 Of these 300 hours of clinical practice, a maximum of 75 hours are permitted to take place remotely and require the approval of the supervisor(s). Remote hours in excess of this will not be counted for accreditation purposes.

5.2 During Phase 1:

5.2.1 Clinical practice must not take place in the first two years of training.

5.2.2 A minimum of 200 clinical practice hours must be completed in Phase 1 (core training).

5.2.3 It is the responsibility of the training organisation to ensure that the required minimum number of clinical hours has been met, and to record how many took place face-to-face/in person and how many took place remotely, for all clinical hours undertaken in Phase 1.

5.3 During Phase 2, if this post-training Phase is required:

5.3.1 Any additional clinical practice hours required to reach 300 hours must be completed in this Phase.

6. SUPERVISION OF CLINICAL PRACTICE
6.1 A minimum of 75 hours of supervision must have been received prior to applying for accreditation.

6.2 During Phase 1 (core training):

6.2.1 At least 75% of supervision hours must take place face-to-face/in person; a maximum of 25% may take place remotely. Remote hours in excess of 25% will not be counted for accreditation purposes.

The Covid Adjustments, which applied to all students who commenced training in Autumn 2019 and up to and including all students who complete training in September 2025, will be honoured and accepted for the purposes of Accreditation. Students who were granted a deferral during this time will be accommodated.

6.2.2 A ratio of at least one hour of supervision to four hours of clinical work is required (1:4), with a minimum frequency of monthly supervision.

6.2.3 Supervision can be conducted either individually, or in a group, or a combination of both.

6.2.4 Where supervision is in a group, the group must not exceed four supervisees. Each supervisee must have the opportunity to make a meaningful presentation and must receive one hour of credit for each hour of group supervision. Group supervision sessions must last at least 30 minutes per supervisee (eg 90 minutes for a group of three supervisees, or 120 minutes for a group of four supervisees). This does not imply that time must be strictly allocated equally to each individual.

6.2.5 It is the responsibility of the training organisation to ensure that all individual and group supervision required in Phase 1 is conducted by suitably qualified and accredited supervisors (see Clause 7).

6.2.6 It is the responsibility of the training organisation to ensure that the required number of supervision hours has been met, and to record how many took place face-to-face/in person and how many took place remotely, including any hours in excess of the minimum.

6.2.7 Didactic supervision (e.g. clinical seminars), additional to that provided above, may be included as supervision of clinical practice, up to a maximum of 25 hours of the required minimum of 75 hours. [Note: didactic supervision hours in excess of the 25 permitted here, may be counted for Bye Law 16B supervision requirements up to another 25 hours, so keep any evidence.]

6.2.8 All supervisors must terminate the supervision once the supervisee has completed their training course. A grace period of 3 months is permitted to facilitate this transition.

6.3 During Phase 2, if this post-training Phase is required:

6.3.1 While IAHIP prefers face-to-face/in person supervision, it is recognised this is not always possible. All supervision hours in Phase 2 may be conducted remotely.

6.3.2 A ratio of at least one hour of supervision to four hours of client work is still required (1:4), with a minimum frequency of monthly supervision, until 300 clinical practice hours have been reached.

6.3.3 Where supervision is in a group, the group must not exceed four supervisees. Each supervisee must have the opportunity to make a meaningful presentation and must receive one hour of credit for each hour of group supervision. Group supervision sessions must last at least 30 minutes per supervisee (eg 90 minutes for a group of three supervisees, or 120 minutes for a group of four supervisees). This does not imply that time must be strictly allocated equally to each individual.

6.3.4 A Supervisor’s Report is required for all supervision hours during Phase 2.

7. ACCEPTABLE SUPERVISORS
7.1 During both Phases 1 and 2, all supervisors, whether individual or group supervisors, must be either:

a) IAHIP accredited supervisors, or

b) supervisors accredited by other equivalent organisations acceptable to IAHIP, and who pursue their own practice from a shared humanistic and integrative ethos in a way that is congruent with the supervisee’s orientation as a humanistic and integrative psychotherapist.

7.2 If the post-training Phase 2 is required, supervisees must not be supervised by their Phase 1 (core training) supervisor(s), or by any other supervisor who had any role in their Phase 1 training.

7.3 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 supervisee’s line manager, trainer or course director. Therefore, for accreditation purposes, an applicant who received supervision from a line manager, or other person with similar authority, cannot count these clinical hours or supervision hours towards accreditation.

8. INSURANCE
8.1 All applicants for accreditation must provide evidence of current adequate professional indemnity insurance for their practice as psychotherapists.

9. UNDERTAKINGS
9.1 All applicants for accreditation as a psychotherapist and for membership of IAHIP must give the following undertakings in the event that their application is successful:

a) to abide by the Codes of Ethics and Practice of IAHIP, and

b) to present themselves for re-accreditation as IAHIP requires, and

c) to renew their membership of IAHIP annually, and

d) to demonstrate commitment to ongoing professional development, and

e) to be committed to maintaining appropriate ongoing supervision and support in accordance with IAHIP requirements, and

f) to ensure they maintain adequate and up-to-date professional indemnity insurance for their practice as psychotherapists.

10. IMPLEMENTATION
10.1 The Accreditation Committee is the competent body to implement this Bye Law in accordance with the provisions of Bye Law 1, 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 below, be final.

10.2 Applicants for accreditation, whose applications are refused by the Accreditation Committee, may appeal this decision if the Committee did not properly follow its own procedures. The appeal should be made in writing to the Governing Body, giving the basis for the appeal. The Governing Body will appoint an Ad-Hoc Appeals Board to hear and adjudicate on the appeal. The “Grounds for Certain Appeals” and “Terms of Reference for Appeals Process”, for the time being in force, shall apply.