Our Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Professional Standards Officer Fiona Ballantine Dykes has resigned and will be leaving BACP at the end of the year.

Fiona has decided the time is right to step down after five and a half years in the job and has shared a message to you all explaining her reasons below.

I want to thank Fiona for all her hard work during her time at BACP and for her passion and dedication to the role and counselling professions.

Fiona has played a key part in the SCoPEd project and I want to thank her for being instrumental in this work. We continue to support SCoPEd and are committed to working collaboratively with our partner organisations in the interests of the credibility and future of the counselling professions. The Board of Trustees will be deciding whether to adopt the framework in the coming months.

I know Fiona’s news comes not long after other recent changes within the senior leadership team. We’re expecting to appoint an interim Chief Executive Officer within the coming weeks, and they will lead the organisation on a short-term basis for the next few months.

Although we face a change of leadership as an Association, the values, philosophy and objectives that drive our work remain the same.

We continue to champion the counselling professions in everything we do and are working hard to support all our members as you make a positive difference in people’s lives.

Next year we’ll be launching a five-year strategy, which presents new opportunities for the Association and will be an exciting step forward for us all.

I’m looking forward to sharing more news with you on that in the future.

Thank you for your continued support.

Natalie Bailey

Chair of Trustees

A message from Fiona Ballantine Dykes

I feel that this is the right time for me to leave BACP and have therefore resigned as Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Professional Standards Officer. I’ll be leaving BACP at Christmas.

I’ve had a very long relationship with BACP, starting as a student member in 1992 when I first began my training and later in various roles over time. This has included serving as a Board member for four years before joining the staff team in 2017 as Head of Professional Standards. I’ve worked with an extraordinarily group of diverse, passionate and dedicated people during my time here.

It's also been a great privilege to work for you over these past five and half years and deciding to leave was not an easy decision.  I’ve found the work both personally challenging as well as rewarding, not least because of the passion and commitment we all share as members of the counselling professions. Challenge and reward are different sides of the same coin.

BACP is on the threshold of a new phase in its history with the appointment of a new CEO and the start of a new strategy. All organisations are greater than the individuals who occupy the different roles and BACP is in a strong and hopeful place for what lies ahead. I wish everyone all the best for the future.

As the most visible face of SCoPEd at BACP it’s important that I state clearly that my leaving is not connected to SCoPEd in any way. I’m quietly proud of what we have achieved in building collaboration and trust and confident that your Board and the SCoPEd partners will continue to work together in the interests of all who offer services to clients in whatever role or context. We know that what you do changes lives.

Finally, thank you to all of you who have supported and been critical friends of BACP during a period of huge growth and consolidation. It can be tough to be in the firing line, but what unites us is greater than what divides us, and real change is only possible when everyone works together.