Dr Mhairi Thurston: Why I support SCoPEd
BACP Board perspective

Why do you think the framework is important?

I saw an advert on Facebook the other day, it was selling a CBT Diploma course for £25. For me, this is the most compelling reason for SCoPEd, we need to become a respected profession like social work, teaching or nursing. It’s impossible for us to do this until we’ve mapped out our training pathways and identified career progression. We need to start thinking like a profession and if we don’t, we’ll be eroded by the inexorable march of the £25 diploma therapists.

Do you support the aims of the framework?

Absolutely YES!! This is a ground-breaking mapping exercise and we haven’t attempted this before. If we don’t understand our training structures, how can we understand our profession? There may well be anomalies out of our awareness.

What is your understanding of how the framework will benefit members?

To me, this is the first real step towards a counselling profession. Ultimately it will benefit us all; counsellors, clients and employers alike. Just imagine sending your kids to a school where some of the teachers had completed a £25 teaching diploma. Counsellors complete intensive, rigorous training and by mapping this out we can start to distinguish ourselves from the lesser-trained £25 therapists and well-being practitioners.

Are there any aspects of the framework you’re concerned about?

I’d like the project team to continue to be flexible throughout the stages of mapping our training and to work out any anomalies that we might find. At the moment there is a lot of strong feeling about titles but we need to keep hold of the bigger picture so that we keep moving towards a credible profession. BACP believes that counselling changes lives, so let’s grab this opportunity.