Calling all practising coach-therapists! If you are looking to grow and develop your practice as a coach-therapist, we may have the ideal opportunity for you. We are recruiting for a new member to join us on the BACP Coaching executive. It’s an expenses-only role, but we believe it offers a great return on your time invested.
The Coaching executive provides a supportive environment in which to spread your wings, step out of your comfort zone and develop new skills. And there is a myriad of ways in which you can do this, including contributing ideas for the content of our journal, Coaching Today, initiating a research project, sourcing innovative speakers for our events, hosting or speaking at networking groups, or thinking big picture and shaping our strategy. There are a host of great reasons to consider this role, but here are the top three:
1 Be part of the coach-therapy revolution
We believe that working at the boundary of coaching and counselling has something unique to offer clients. We are passionate about the possibilities that integration brings to clients when they are able to work both at therapeutic depth, and with the present and future possibilities generated. And this unique offering is increasingly valued and sort after by a range of stakeholders, in a number of markets and settings. Everything we do on the Coaching executive is in service of creating a supportive, generative and informative forum for dialogue, networking, belonging, growing, learning and the development of our profession.
One of our key objectives is developing coach-specific professional standards, a competency framework that we intend to form the foundation of a coaching register, similar to the Professional Register for counsellors that was set up by BACP in 2013. By clearly defining what a therapeutic coach can offer, the aim is to then develop professional standards for coach-therapists, helping to differentiate their unique offering in the marketplace. Nicola Forshaw, BACP’s Professional Standards Development Facilitator, is heading up this work, and is in the process of building an expert reference group. If this is an area that you are passionate about, it’s your chance to join the executive and play a key role in the process.
2 Grow your practice
We see BACP Coaching as the natural home for counsellors adding coaching to their practice, and coaches seeking to further underpin their approach with psychological depth. Though we come together around a common interest in bringing the best of both these worlds into our work with individuals and groups, we are likely to practise in different ways. Some of us hold our coaching and counselling as distinct strands, others seek to work integratively. In our division, we have members who coach young people and families, carers, older people and those struggling with mental health, who coach in organisations, and in educational settings, in private practice and in the voluntary, public and corporate worlds.
Meeting and collaborating with like-minded practitioners can expose you to new and innovative ways of working, suggest new markets for your work, or just give you inspiration and practical help in reaching more clients. Many coach-therapists work in independent practice which can at times feel isolating. All of us on the Exec appreciate the regular opportunities it brings to meet and collaborate with other coach-therapists, and to benefit from the sharing of ideas and experiences. Feeling accepted, supported and valued by the team is an added bonus!
3 Apply your skillset
We would love to hear from you if you have experience or knowledge of the following areas and would like the opportunity to share and apply your skills (as well as adding to them with new skills). A key focus for us this year is connecting with our members, getting the network groups back up and running, and organising regular top-quality CPD events. We would particularly be interested in hearing from you if you have an interest in developing network group meetings and supporting local facilitators, and/or an understanding of organising events or CPD workshops. But that’s not the only experience we’re looking for. We recently set up a research sub-committee and are at the early stages of investigating a research project into coach-therapy, so we would love to hear from coach-therapists who are interested in promoting good practice and research.
We could also benefit from your skills and enthusiasm for social media, whether that is via Twitter, blogs or Facebook, as this has become an ever-more important communication channel for reaching members. We are also keen to hear from practitioners with an awareness of working with diversity issues, experience of addressing needs across the four nations, or an interest in supporting the provision of appropriate supervision for dual-trained practitioners. But please be aware that this is very much a ‘wish list’, and we don’t expect one person to have all these skills and experience! And if you are keen to join us and have skills or experience that we have not listed but which you believe would benefit BACP Coaching members, do get in touch.
To find out more about joining the BACP Coaching Executive, or to get an idea if you have the kind of skills or interest we are looking for, email Carolyn Mumby on coaching.chair@bacp.co.uk. Carolyn or another executive member will then arrange a telephone conversation with you.
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