For a complete overview of the sessions please click on the link below
To access speaker biographies please click on the speakers name
Friday sessions 11:30 - 13:00Towards a regulated professionThis session will provide updated information about the regulation of the profession. In particular the following areas will be discussed: - the recommendations for the regulation of counselling and psychotherapy
- the timetable for regulation
- the process for regulation.
There will be ample opportunities to ask any questions you may have with regards to any aspect of regulation. Using Formal Outcome to Construct, Guide, and Improve TreatmentIt's not a pretty picture. Available evidence indicates that the effectiveness of psychotherapy has not improved in spite of 100 years of theorising and research. What would help? Not learning a new model of therapy or the latest so-called evidence-based treatment. And no, not attending another CEU event or sorting through that stack of research journals by your desk. A simple, valid, and reliable alternative exists for maximising the effectiveness and efficiency of treatment based on using ongoing client feedback to empirically tailor services to the individual client needs and characteristics. Research on the approach conducted at multiple sites, across a wide range of clients and presenting complaints, indicates that clinicians can cut drop-out rates in half and improve the outcomes of those cases most at risk of failure by as much as 65%. Educational Objectives: - Therapists will learn systematic ways to assess the client's perceptions of progress and satisfaction so that therapy may be empirically tailored to the individual's needs and characteristics.
- Learn simple and reliable methods for evaluating process and outcome in treatment.
- To describe three ways for therapists to use the information about session-by-session impact to enhance the services they are delivering to clients.
Mindfulness Workshop  Derived from the Buddhist meditative traditions but now finding its way increasingly into therapeutic contexts, the mindfulness-based approach to a variety of disorders has increasingly been subject to scientific research*.
Classically, it is taught in a group format in an eight week course and has been used with considerable success in the fields of stress reduction, depression relapse, eating disorders and substance abuse. It is also very helpful for clinicians personally, increasing empathy and listening skills and helping to sharpen one's focus.
This session will introduce something of the theoretical background to mindfulness as well as a taster of a few simple mindfulness exercises. * Comparative studies of over 60 empirical peer-reviewed papers on the subject have judged mindfulness to be effective in a wide range of applications. (Grossman, P., Niemann, L., Schmidt, S., Walach, H., 2004, ‘Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and Health Benefits: a Meta-Analysis'. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 57 and Baer, R.A., 2003, ‘Mindfulness Training as a Clinical Intervention: A Conceptual and Empirical Review'. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, vol. 10, no. 2) A4 Workshop: BACP Professional Standards team Accreditation Application Surgery Halfway through the accreditation process? Stuck on a particular criterion? Not sure how to present your case material? Worried by what you've heard from colleagues about the difficulties of accreditation? Then help is at hand.
The Accreditation Application Surgery will be providing information and guidance to smooth your way through the application process. Professional Standards staff will be running a surgery to answer the specific worries and concerns you have over your application. Bring along your query(ies), and your application form, and spend 15 minutes with an experienced member of the Assessor team clarifying your particular application issues.
In conjunction we will be running a ‘Myths and Tips' presentation to clear any confusion there may be and to ease your way to a successful Accreditation outcome. Making Sense of Self: Counselling People with Dementia This workshop will give participants the opportunity to discuss the benefits and the process of counselling men and women with different types of dementia.
Based on her recently published book on the topic, Danuta will share the development of her way of working; and how the person-centred approach, based on the work of Brian Thorne and Dave Mearns, has provided a framework for successful counselling relationships even within the limitations of cognitive change.
Participants will have an opportunity to reflect on the process using case studies in pairs or small groups.
Method:
Presentation, discussion, case vignettes, pairs and small group work, case study material. Borderline Personality Disorder: A helpful diagnosis? Two case studies of people given the diagnosis of BPD will be presented. The diagnostic criteria for BPD will be presented along with statistics about its use with respect to gender, followed by an opportunity for participants to discuss its usefulness with respect to understanding the difficulties of the people in the case studies. Their treatment will be presented, followed by an opportunity to discuss the potential implications of the diagnosis. Finally, we will discuss working as a counsellor with people given this diagnosis. 
Friday sessions 14:00 - 15:00An insider's view of the theory, research, practice and 'profession' of coaching: Developing a coaching practice as an additional career opportunity for counsellors and therapists This lecture will cover the following important issues: - What is coaching?
- Definitions of coaching
- Why has it become popular in the workplace?
- Does it work?
- The models of coaching that have been adapted from the therapeutic world
- The basic coaching models
- The coach-coachee relationship
- Is coaching a profession in the UK?
- How can a counsellor develop a coaching practice?
At the Coaching Psychology Unit, City University, Prof Stephen Palmer and the Unit's doctorate students have undertaken extensive coaching related research which will inform this lecture and provide insight into this growing industry or profession. Supershrinks: Learning from the field's most effective practitionersThanks to a number of recent studies, there is now solid empirical evidence for what distinguishes highly effective therapists. In this workshop, participants will learn in detail the qualities and practices that separate the great from the good. Participants will also find out about a system of feedback procedures that can be used to develop a profile of their most and least effective moments in therapy-what works and what doesn't. Not only will attendees get a far more exact idea of their clinical strengths and weaknesses and how to use the findings to improve their own practice, but they will also come away with reliable strategies that will immediately boost clinical abilities and effectiveness. In this session delegates will learn: - four specific practices employed by highly effective therapists;
- a method for determining the overall success rate of their clinical work;
- a method for identifying cases at risk of dropping out of treatment or experiencing a negative or null outcome;
- a method for identifying and improving areas of weakness in their clinical work.
The secrets of effective and low cost online and offline marketing for counsellors and therapistsIn this one-hour presentation Martin Hogg of Citizen Coaching will give you an insight into some of the secrets of growing and maintaining a successful counselling practice, even during the recession. You will learn: - The five fatal mistakes counsellors often make with their marketing and how to avoid them.
- Twelve free and low cost ways to grow and maintain your successful practice.
- How to use Social Networking online and offline to grow your practice.
B4 BACP Governors and senior staff teamWhat is BACP doing for you, its members?Please do come along and meet members of the Board of Governors and senior members of the executive team in an informal and relaxed setting. It's an opportunity for you to share your thoughts, ideas and questions; seek information and clarification on anything to do with the Association; find out more about the issues currently facing BACP, and indeed the profession, as well as its future strategy and direction. Treating veterans with PTSD and mental health illness: bio-psycho-social interventions. Veterans with chronic mental health problems commonly isolate themselves from mainstream society, have poor relationships with others and commonly suffer marital, family and economic difficulties. This session will discuss treatment rehabilitation strategies and psychological interventions for veterans with mental health problems with reference to the work of Combat Stress. Developing counselling as an empirically supported therapy: A pilot randomised controlled trial of counselling in schools With recent national development such as the revision of the NICE Depression Guidelines, the roll-out of the IAPT programme, and the development of Skills for Health Competences, it is becoming increasingly apparent that therapies need RCT (randomised controlled trial) evidence to survive. But what can counsellors, who have traditionally opted for more qualitative and participative methodologies, do? In 2008, a group of researchers and practitioners at BACP, the University of Strathclyde and the University of Newcastle came together to try and develop a randomised controlled trial of counselling in schools and, in this seminar, we will talk through our experience of setting up, and running, this study. We will also present the initial data that is emerging from our research. This workshop will be of particular interest to anyone who is keen to demonstrate the efficacy of counselling and the work that they do.
Friday sessions 15:10 - 16:10Client narratives or legal narratives? Record-keeping and the law.This session will explore the impact of data protection law on therapist record-keeping, and the development of ‘multiple narratives' within therapeutic recording, as shaped by the client, therapist and third parties, such as the legal system. The resultant tensions will be explored in terms of the processes of enforced and consensual disclosure of records and, finally, of strategies to minimise any potential harm to the therapeutic alliance. How was it for you? Psychoanalysis and the Sexual OdysseyWhat, from a psychoanalytic point of view, are the ‘facts of life'? Which are the key stories that constitute the psychological equivalents of the ‘birds and the bees'? How useful are these stories, and in what ways can they help us understand and change sexual difficulties? Drawing on his recently edited book Sex, Attachment and Couple Psychotherapy: Psychoanalytic Perspectives (London: Karnac, 2009) Christopher Clulow will explore as a pathway to understanding the dynamics of sexual desire, why we are so curious (and sometimes lack curiosity) about the sexuality of others. Understanding and working with clients that have myalgic encephalomyelitis / chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) - a guide for counsellors.In this session, Dr Tony Ward and Dr Charles Shepherd will discuss some of the issues around working with clients who have ME/CFS. Participants will initially be invited to consider their own experiences of working with this population. Dr Shepherd will then go on to consider the medical side of ME/CFS. This will cover the wide spectrum of clinical presentations that currently come under the ME/CFS umbrella - from people who have an uncomplicated post-infectious onset to those with no clear onset where there may already be a past history of psychosocial distress or psychiatric illness. The presentation will also aim to clarify some of the uncertainties and controversies surrounding the name (ME, CFS, post viral fatigue syndrome), definition (how doctors make a diagnosis), epidemiology (what the published studies tell us so far), cause (the role of predisposing, precipitating and perpetuating factors), and management (activity, alternative, and pharmacological) of ME/CFS. Finally, Dr Ward will discuss the experiences of clients with ME who have received counselling. He will briefly outline the results of a recent study which evaluated client-centred telephone working with a group of clients with ME/CFS. Recommendations for counsellors who wish to work with such clients will be given. A handout covering all the key points will be provided and copies of the ME Association's booklet for health professionals - 'ME/CFS/PVFS - An Exploration of the Key Clinical Issues - which covers research, clinical assessment and management will be available. A full list of MEA literature, covering all aspects of management, can be found on a pdf Order Form on the MEA website: www.meassociation.org.uk
A recent paper by Dr Ward and his colleagues, published in Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, will be available to delegates on the conference website. Developing self-care: small steps beyond ‘ticking boxes' The BACP Ethical Framework for Good Practice in Counselling and Psychotherapy states that attending to the practitioner's well-being is essential to sustaining good practice. While practitioners may be very skilled at helping others to take care of themselves, they sometimes are not so good at applying these skills to themselves. This workshop is intended to help counsellors and psychotherapists to reflect on their self-care and to develop a plan for enhancing it. It will be both didactic and experiential, and will employ humour to keep it fun. Self-reflection and feedback from empathetic peers will be encouraged within a confidential and supportive group setting. Personal and professional self-care issues will be considered, and participants will be guided to identify areas for improvement and develop a plan to address these areas. Special issues faced by lone workers will be discussed with suggestions given to reduce relevant risk factors. By the end of the workshop, participants can expect to have identified at least one goal to improve their self-care with a tentative action plan. The Body in Counselling and Psychotherapy. A workshop and discussion of current research about body awareness and touch This session will explore the issue of body-mind awareness in psychotherapy, focusing on the self awareness of the therapist, and the importance of mindfulness of the client in terms of their body-mind connectedness. Proximity and touch will be examined, and the presenter will introduce current findings from his research into the use of touch in a qualitative study with counsellors and psychotherapists.
The session will begin as an experiential workshop including exercises and small group work with the aim of facilitating body-mind connection. Members will be invited to contribute experiences from their own practice for discussion in small groups, and the session will conclude with a discussion of the research findings regarding touch. Therapists managing sexual feelings in therapy
This paper will explore findings drawn from our BACP commissioned study in which we have analysed qualitative interviews with a sample of counsellors and psychotherapists. The focus of the study was to understand the strategies therapists employ when managing feelings that might develop into situations that threaten to violate therapeutic and ethical limits. We will describe the study and findings, then will present the guidelines we have developed from the analysis for discussion and audience feedback.
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