SCoPEd: Summary of Views and Perspectives

Background

Scope of Practice and Education (SCoPEd) is a framework that sets out the core training requirements and practice standards for counsellors and psychotherapists working with adult clients. It has been developed by six professional bodies that hold registers accredited by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA):

Association of Christians in Counselling and Linked Professions(ACC)

British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy(BACP)

British Psychoanalytic Council(BPC)

Human Givens Institute(HGI)

National Counselling Society(NCS - shortly to change its name to the national Counselling & Psychotherapy Society: NCPS)

UK Council for Psychotherapy(UKCP).

The SCoPEd framework categorises practitioners into three columns - A, B and C - which are shown in the image below.

Source: https://www.bacp.co.uk/media/14435/scoped-framework-january-2022.pdf

Questions

The SCoPEd project and resulting framework have led to much debate and many questions among student and qualified counsellors and psychotherapists. Key questions posed in the Counselling Tutor Facebook group include the following:

By accepting this framework, are professional bodies saying there is a difference between counselling and psychotherapy?

Should students who are studying at Level 3 consider moving on to Level 7 if they can, rather than to Level 4?

What impact will SCoPEd have on my Level 4 qualification?

Will the Level 4 route to qualification be phased out?

How do Level 5 courses fit into the SCoPEd framework?

Will awarding bodies make it clear which column their training sits in?

Will the professional bodies tell practitioners where different client presentations fit within the columns (for example, whether a practitioner in Column A can work with depression)?

How do you move from Column A to Columns B and C?

Can a purely person-centred practitioner enter Column C? If so, how?

How will SCoPEd impact those who are accredited or senior accredited by their professional body?

Does SCoPEd imply that therapists with Level 7 qualifications should be paid more than those with Level 4 qualifications?

Will practitioners in employment with Level 4 qualifications currently working with clients in Column C lose their jobs?

We asked two professional bodies (the BACP and the NCS) and an awarding body (CPCAB) for their views on these issues. We also asked two individual practitioners - one who is in favour of SCoPEd and one who is against it - about their perspectives. We share all the results in this summary.

Answers

By accepting this framework, are professional bodies saying that there is a difference between counselling and psychotherapy?

Because the counselling and psychotherapy professions are not regulated (relying instead on voluntary registration via the PSA), practitioners are in effect free to choose their professional title.

There are some differences between training paths that are typically associated with the titles 'counsellor' and 'psychotherapist'. These differences relate to various factors, for example the length of training and the academic level - plus the requirements for research, client hours, supervision and personal therapy. Some people who have done psychotherapy training may choose to call themselves 'counsellor', and vice versa.

It may be that psychotherapy training is likely to place practitioners in Columns B and C, but people who have undergone counselling training are likely to appear in any of the three columns. While the first iteration of SCoPEd mapped the title 'psychotherapist' onto Column C, the final version does not define the difference between the two titles.

Should students who are studying at Level 3 consider moving on to Level 7 if they can rather than to Level 4?

Each student is of course be free to choose which course they feel will be right for them in t...