An Evidence Based Introductory Module for Counselling Young People (11 18 years) Essential Elements of Counselling Young People (11-18 years) Introductory Counselling Module BACP Professional Standards
Rationale This Introductory Counselling Module for Young People (11-18 years) is designed for students who are currently undergoing counselling training courses designed to work with adults. It offers training providers a brief 5 day module to deliver to students to enable them to better understand the basic skills and knowledge required when beginning to work with young people aged 11-18 years. To be recognised by BACP as a fully competent CYP counsellor, students must continue with their training by completing the full comprehensive BACP curriculum training, or equivalent, when it becomes available in 2016. This introductory module reflects the minimum standard expected by BACP to work ethically with young people and is intended to be delivered prior to commencing a YP placement, and then only for students working with this age group who are expertly supervised and closely monitored. The session content for this module has been drawn from the evidenced-based BACP Humanistic Competences for Counselling Young People (11-18 years), the writing of which was overseen by an Expert Reference Group (ERG) and developed using the Roth & Pilling (2008) methodology. It is recommended that this module be read in conjunction with the young people counselling competencies which can be found at http://www.bacp.co.uk/research/competences, the current BACP ethical framework, which can be found at http://www.bacp.co.uk/ethical_framework/ and MindEd Learning at https://www.minded.org.uk/mod/page/view.php?id=1259. Counselling MindEd is part of the MindEd e-portal, which provides over 200 sessions on all aspects of children and young people s mental health. These sessions can be used to supplement the learning that this introductory module offers, the emphasis of which is to introduce competences required by counsellors to begin work with young people in settings that already have an established counselling service working with young people from 11-18 years of age. It is not a full young people curriculum and those who have passed it will need to be carefully and closely monitored by those experienced in working with young people. It is the responsibility of the training organisation to assess the competence for fitness to practice of the trainee counsellor before they begin working with young people. 1
Module Entry Requirements Currently training on a BACP diploma level counselling/psychotherapy qualification, or equivalent, designed for working with adults BACP Student Member or equivalent Supervision in place from a supervisor experienced in working with psychological issues with young people Close monitoring by those experienced in working with psychological issues with young people Module Delivery The module is founded on the assumption that all participants are currently undertaking an initial diploma or equivalent training in counselling or psychotherapy designed for working with adults. The module can be delivered across timescales to suit the training provider as long as all content is delivered. Trainers for this module will be practitioners who have experience of working with children and young people and are competent to deliver this module. While ethical, cross-cultural and diversity issues do have specific references within the modules, it is expected that they will also permeate the module. This training can be delivered through Higher Education (HE), Further Education (FE) and by private training providers. Throughout the course there should be emphasis on applying or adapting participants own therapeutic approach to deliver YP counselling. There is no intention within the training to favour any theoretical perspective. All sessions must be completed. Each session should include skills practice sessions that are relevant to the content of the session. There are no placement requirements during the undertaking of this module. The whole module must be successfully completed prior to undertaking a placement with young people. 2
Module Learning Outcomes 1. Ability to operate within professional and ethical guidelines. 2. To understand development of young people. 3. To understand mental health problems in young people. 4. Have a full understanding of legal frameworks relating to young people, including issues of confidentiality, consent and capacity, child protection issues, risk assessments and contracts. 5. Ability to work in the context of the setting. 6. Ability to communicate with young people of differing ages and developmental level. Module Aim This module aims to offer an introduction to working with young people to enable students currently on counselling courses designed to work with adults, to work with young people between the ages of 11-18 years. It is designed to supplement their existing course, not be included within it, nor be a substitute for it. It reflects important aspects of the core competencies of the young people evidenced based competency framework http://www.bacp.co.uk/research/competences and is the introductory minimum standard expected by the BACP to work with young people. 3
Module Outline Day 1 Introduction to the module and the assessments Operating within professional and ethical guidelines Contracting for therapeutic work Working within the context of the setting (e.g. school) Monitoring outcomes and onward referral Skills practice Day 2 Legal frameworks relating to young people Risk assessments Collaborative assessments Skills practice Day 3 Development in young people Child protection issues Skills practice Day 4 Communicating with young people of differing ages, developmental level and background Mental health problems in young people Skills practice Day 5 Skills assessment 4
Module Content Knowledge of, and ability to operate within professional and ethical guidelines. Ability to develop a contract for therapeutic work Working within the context of the setting (e.g. school or community setting) Professional and Ethical Guidelines: knowledge of ethical principles; ability to self-monitor levels of competence; ability to identify and minimise the potential for harm; ability to gain consent from service users; ability to maintain confidentiality; ability to maintain appropriate standards of conduct; ability to maintain standards of competence; ability to keep appropriate records. An ability to explicitly agree with the young person, the boundaries for therapeutic work, including: confidentiality and its limits; record and note keeping; complaints procedure; timing and number of sessions; attendance at sessions and procedures for failure to do so; payment. Draw on knowledge of: the ethos, culture and core business of the setting and how this relates to the counselling service; the governing and organisational structure; the roles and responsibilities of the staff; critical school transitions periods for a young person; setting policies and procedures; setting approach to discipline, attendance, punctuality, rewards, uniform, etc. Impact on Counselling Service: access and referral to the service; management of client confidentiality; scheduling of appointments; physical environment in which counselling takes place; level of privacy; client understanding of counselling and their autonomy. Working collaboratively: working with management; working with other agencies, including accepting referrals and processes for onward referral; ability to work with link staff; managing appointment system; ability to evaluate the service and provide reports on usage of the counselling service; ability to work with staff on procedures for missed appointments. 5
Monitoring outcomes and onward referral Knowledge of legal frameworks relating to young people. Ability to conduct a risk assessment Ability to conduct a collaborative assessment Knowledge of development in young people Knowledge of the importance of measures for monitoring outcomes and onward referrals when working with children and young people. Issues of confidentiality, consent and capacity: capacity and informed consent; parental rights and responsibilities; children and young people s rights when making welfare decisions; child protection; mental health legislation; education; data protection; equality; confidentiality and informed sharing; ability to develop a contract for therapeutic work. Risk assessment: knowledge of policies and legislation; knowledge of risks; knowledge of the risk assessment and management process; ability to seek advice and supervision; skills in risk assessment and management; assessment of risk. Assessments: knowledge of the assessment process; ability to adapt the assessment to match the abilities and capabilities of the young person; ability to engage the young person in the assessment process; ability to undertake a generic assessment; ability to assess the young person s difficulties; ability to assess the young person s current functioning, their strengths, resources and abilities; ability to integrate information from relevant others; ability to develop a collaborative understanding of the young person s life story, social and cultural context; ability to reflect on own experience of assessment process; ability to make use of appropriate tools and measurements. Knowledge of child and adolescent development: physical, social, cognitive, emotional and psychosexual. Knowledge of the care environment and its interaction with child and adolescent development: attachment, influence of parent/carer, play activities. 6
Ability to recognise and respond to concerns about child protection Ability to communicate with young people of differing ages, developmental level and background. Knowledge and understanding of mental health problems in young people and adults. Child protection: knowledge of policies and legislation; knowledge of child protection principles; ability to contribute to an holistic assessment of the young person s and family s needs; ability to draw on knowledge of the ways in which neglect and abuse presents; ability to recognise possible signs of abuse and neglect; ability to draw on knowledge of bullying; ability to recognise parental behaviours associated with abuse or neglect; ability to recognise risk factors for, and protective factors against, abuse or neglect; ability to respond where a need for child protection has been identified; ability to report concerns about child protection; ability to contribute to the development of a child protection plan; ability to contribute to the implementation of protective interventions; ability to record and report on interventions for which the counsellor is responsible; interagency working; ability to seek advice and supervision. Communication: knowledge of the impact of development on the young person s understanding of, and participation in, counselling work; ability to provide developmentally appropriate information about the sessions; ability to engage with the young person s perspective; ability to utilise developmentally appropriate activities to aid engagement; ability to help the young person express themselves verbally; ability engage the young person when the parent/carer is present. Mental health problems: neurodevelopmental conditions and how these emerge and present in young people; child development and psychopathology; social, psychological, family and biological factors associated with development and maintenance of mental health problems; knowledge of current DSM and ICD disease classification systems; prevalence of mental health presentations across 7
different cultures, ethnicities, social classes. Module Assessment Skills assessment, assessing the following learning outcomes: ability to operate within professional and ethical guidelines ability to contextualise the work within the relevant setting ability to conduct an assessment and contract within the contract, demonstrate an understanding of legal frameworks relating to young people, including issues of confidentiality, consent and capacity, and child protection issues understanding of mental health problems in YP ability to communicate with young people to include an understanding of YP development 8