Nicola Barden - BACP Chair

The counselling/psychotherapy profession is in a unique period of public visibility. The Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) project, with its massive government investment, has affirmed the right of people to access psychological help in the same way that they should expect to access help for physically painful or distressing problems. The government push for statutory regulation of the psychological therapies is a formal recognition of the enormous good that can be achieved through them, as much as it recognises the potential for equal harm. BACP knows from its own studies that therapy is more acceptable and more likely to be used now than ever before, and that clients want guidance on how it can live up to their hopes and expectations.

These things, as with all good opportunities, present tremendous challenges. IAPT may fundamentally affect the way that psychological services are delivered; regulation, ultimately not in the control of the profession but of the Regulator, may impact on trainings and jobs. At the same time, Third Sector funding is undergoing policy changes that may change the way that counselling is delivered in some of the most needy and under-resourced settings. At each level BACP is deeply involved, in the influencing and shaping of regulation in all four home countries; in the IAPT programmes, and NHS Education for Scotland (NES); in Third Sector commissioning. At all levels we are working for the high standards that BACP accreditation has come to represent and that clients should be able to expect; for access to psychological therapy that is truly evidence based and honours the principle of patient choice; for service delivery that is inclusive of, and understood by, all clients.

Yet BACP is also for its members, and all of us working in the field have to learn to live with, and adapt to, this rapidly changing field. What does it all mean for the practitioner? Will there be jobs, and what sort, and where? Will different theoretical orientations all have a place in the post-regulation, post-IAPT/NES, post-commissioning world? Will it actually make any difference to what happens in the consulting room? This practitioners' conference will address precisely these questions and more. It will look externally to answer questions about the wider picture; it will look internally to address practice across sectors and modalities. Wherever you work and whatever you do in the counselling/psychotherapy field, this conference will bring together information you will want to know, and practice elements that will develop and challenge your clinical work. I do look forward to seeing and welcoming you there.