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UK Council for Psychotherapy seeks Lay Committee Member with interest in wellbeing and mental health

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Education, Training & Practice Committee

 

ukcp

Lay Committee Member

The UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) is recognised as the leading professional body for the education, training and accreditation of psychotherapists and psychotherapeutic counsellors.

We represent 75 training organisations and over 11,000 members – working privately and in the NHS and voluntary sector to offer a wide variety of psychotherapeutic approaches or modalities. As part of our commitment to protecting the public, we work to improve access to psychotherapy and psychotherapeutic counselling, to support and disseminate research, to improve standards and to respond effectively to complaints against our members.

We are seeking a lay person to join our Education, Training & Practice Committee (ETPC). By ‘lay’ we mean applicants who are not UKCP members or employees, nor from other psychological professions. Ideally, they will have experience of education & training work within the charity sector and have an awareness of diversity issues. This is a voluntary, unpaid position.

As part of our aim of improving equality and diversity practice within the profession, UKCP welcomes applications from under-represented groups.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

  • To attend the ETPC Committee, which meets for a minimum of 5 meetings per annum.
  • To provide an external perspective on setting, reviewing, and maintaining professional standards relating to the education, training and practice of practising UKCP members.
  • To liaise and, where necessary, work closely with UKCP’s other Regulatory Committees including the Professional Regulatory Committee for Colleges and Faculties (PRCCF), the Quality Assurance Committee (QAC), and the organisation’s Registrar.
  • To liaise and, where necessary, work closely with UKCP’s Executive Committee, the Higher Education Special Interest Group, and the Ethics Committee.
  • To assist the ETPC in assessing and approving models of education, training and practice of psychotherapists & psychotherapeutic counsellors working with adults and with children & young people. These functions are carried out within a framework informed by best practice in relation to diversity, equality, inclusion and social responsibility.
  • To ensure that the UKCP’s Diversity and Equalities Statement is upheld in the exercise of its functions.

Essential Experience

  • A positive interest in Mental Health & Wellbeing.
  • Experience in the training / education or continual development of professionals, or setting professional standards. This may include: the development of training modules and programmes; and or the enhancement of trainee experience; and or, experience in the enhancement and continual development of professionals.

Desirable Experience

  • Experience of working within charitable organisations at committee and policy level.
  • A familiarity of mental health professions, education, and health sectors.
  • A familiarity with regulatory and accreditation processes.
  • Awareness of Equality Diversity and Inclusion.
  • Awareness of safeguarding.

Why join us?

Working alongside committee members, and UKCP staff, you will have the opportunity to:

  • Get involved in the work of an important UKCP committee.
  • Gain experience of working within a well-established professional body.
  • Develop your professional networks.
  • Enhance your own professional development.
  • Make a difference to the psychotherapy profession.

How to Apply

You can find out more about the role by reading the ETPC Lay Member Role Description.

Please send your CV and a covering letter that outlines how you meet the above person specification to hr@ukcp.org.uk by 29th July2021.
Interviews will be held remotely via Zoom on either the 6th or 7th September 2021.

 

Interested in supporting the standards of psychotherapy? UKCP Membership Committee – Lay Members

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ukcp

The UKCP Membership Committee is looking for lay members (i.e. who are not psychotherapists or psychotherapeutic counsellors) to join our well-established committee on a voluntary basis.

We would love to hear from you if you:

  • Are interested in the promotion of the psychotherapy profession, improving standards and ensuring the protection of the public
  • Have a keenness to get involved with the assessment of applications received from organisations wishing to join UKCP
  • Have some experience in undertaking quality assessments

Please share this volunteering opportunity with anyone you think would be interested and encourage them to apply.

Lay members must not be practising psychotherapy or psychotherapeutic counselling.

The deadline to submit applications is 5pm on Wednesday, 12 May 2021.

Interviews will be held online on Friday, 28 May 2021.

For a list of key competencies, responsibilities and information on how to apply, please click here

For more information about UKCP, visit the website.

 

This role is promoted on behalf of UKCP by Women in the City.

Lack of confidence affects men as well as women

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confidence

A global survey of 250 employees by professional training company Roar Training has revealed that 71% of employees have turned down opportunities due to lack of confidence.

What’s more the research found that 51% of employees have turned down public speaking opportunities because they were worried about their performance and 16% of have even said no to a promotion because they didn’t feel they were ready.

In business we are repeatedly required to do things which require a certain amount of self belief. Standing on a stage in front of crowds, confidently selling services to strangers and sharing unfiltered ideas to coworkers can, for many of us, feel incredibly daunting.

Overcoming our fear of exclusion

As humans, we are innately social animals. In his book “Social, why our brains are wired to connect” neuroscientist Matthew Leiberman writes “our brains evolved to experience threats to our social connections in much the same way they experience physical pain. By activating the same neural circuitry that causes us to feel physical pain, our experience of social pain helps ensure [our] survival.” Our instincts are for inclusion; to be excluded, to be socially humiliated or outcast is to fear for our survival. Research tells us that “a fear of exclusion makes the motivation to protect oneself from social threats dominant”.

In other words, the nerves that so many of us feel when faced with public speaking, pitching, meetings or presentations are a completely normal, rational response to an objective social threat and it is within our nature to actively avoid these threats.

Men lack confidence, too

It is worth noting, that when averaged to the total number of responses, of the 71% who responded that they have turned down opportunities because of confidence, 51% were women and 49% were men. Of the 16% who have turned down a promotion because they did not feel ready, 58% were women, 42% were men. This supports that whilst there are social constructs that have, and continue, to hold women back in the workplace, a fear of exclusion, of not doing it right, or getting it wrong, is very much a human response.

Seniority doesn’t ensure confidence

Surprisingly, this does not vary hugely according to levels of seniority. It makes sense to think that early in your career new experiences, such as presenting your ideas to your boss, could be daunting, though managers, team leads and businesses owners were within the 71% of have turned down opportunities because of confidence.

Commenting on the findings Kirsty Hulse, Founder of Roar Training said

I believe, passionately, that we need to start acknowledging this silent fear that so many of us carry around to prevent us from feeling as though it is an internal failing on our part, rather than just a rational response to real world threats. If we do not start to openly discuss and address confidence issues in the workplace, we miss out on a rich tapestry of ideas that come from a plethora of voices. Our stages will miss out on over half of divergent ideas because we are failing to reassure those who turn down speaking opportunities for a fear of failure. Having worked with hundreds of people on their confidence over the past couple of years, what always surprises me is how most people are convinced that it is just them who feels that way.

Confidence can be developed

Confidence is not just a thing that some people have, it can be learnt, nurtured, developed and drawn upon at key moments. We can manage our nerves, regulate our emotions and develop new patterns of thinking. As neuroscience continues to uncover more of what we understand about the brain and how this impacts our behaviours, I would go as far as to say that the development of confidence within teams will stop being an elusive skill that we silently all wish we had more of and a practical skill that we work to actively attain.

Read more about Roar Training and upcoming Confidence Workshops

 

Workplace culture bigger barrier for women than work-life balance

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Workplace culture was shown to be a bigger issue for female progress than balancing work and family life in a recent investigation by professional training company Roar Training.  The investigation uncovered the top 10 issues that are holding women back at work in the UK.

Focusing on everything from ambition being seen as a bad thing to unhealthy company culture, Roar Training’s research shows that the reasons why UK employees aren’t getting ahead are varied, but unfortunately, not that surprising.

Top 10 Issues Holding Employees Back At Work

Roar Training analysed the issues that are holding UK employees back at work and discovered just how much needs to be addressed. Their research uncovered the 10 most common workplace issues.

Studies show that 74% of female employees feel that their workplace culture makes it more challenging to advance their career than men. In fact, the top issue holding UK employees back is unhelpful stereotypes.

  1. Unhelpful stereotypes
  2. Ambition seen as a bad thing
  3. Differing views on satisfaction between genders
  4. Unconscious bias
  5. Unequal pay structure
  6. Working hours
  7. Company culture
  8. A lack of career progression
  9. Minimal training and support
  10. Lack of role models

Stand out stats from Roar Training’s research include:

  • Almost three in four (74%) of female employees feel their workplace culture makes it more challenging for women to advance their careers than men. 42% of men agreed.
  • A survey of 4,010 young mothers aged 18-30 showed that 39% had been illegally asked in job interviews how being a mother would impact their ability to work.
  • Studies show that women are more likely to be referred to as bitchy, emotional and bossy than their male colleagues.
  • Attributes displayed by men are often viewed differently when displayed by women.
  • Unconscious gender bias affects workplace feedback and advancement. In an interview environment women tend to be judged on their experience, whereas men are more likely to be judged on their potential.
  • Nearly eight in 10 firms, 78%, have a pay gap in favour of men, while 8% of companies reported no pay gap at all.
  • British employees work some of the longest hours in Europe. A high percentage of UK workers work more than 10 hours over their contracted hours on a regular basis.
  • Women are more likely to be promoted by other women than men. This has been put down to issues such as inherent bias.
  • A year-long study by Cambridge University of 5,814 UK employees (54% men and 47% women) found that workplace culture was creating a barrier to career advancement for women. In fact it was shown to be a bigger issue than balancing work and family life.

Commenting on the findings Kirsty Hulse, Founder of Roar Training said

Our findings are just the highlights reel of the large mass of issues UK employees are experiencing every single day.

We seriously need to invest time and effort into listening to our employees and putting steps in place to address these concerns. Fail to do so and your employees will make their thoughts known through absence or taking their skills elsewhere.

Hulse continued

Men becoming better allies will also be key to changing organizational culture and making women feel more comfortable at work and allow them to thrive.

We cannot wait until 2090 for gender balance on executive committees

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Another wasted year

Despite the Government setting a target of 33% women in leadership roles at FTSE 350 companies by 2020, and despite a flow of formal reviews, The fourth consecutive report, Women Count, produced by Pipeline shows there has been little to no progress. This independent report of the FTSE 350 has found that:

  • Only 3.7% of companies have female CEOs – and this is down from 4.6% two years ago
  • More than 85% of companies have no women executives on their main boards#
  • Only 9% of executive directors on main boards are women, unchanged since 2017
  • A mere 17.1% of executive committee members are women, a tiny increase of just 0.8% since 2018
  • One in five companies have no female members of their executive committees at all
  • At the current rate of progress, it will be almost 2090 before executive committees achieve gender balance#
  • Just 5% of executive committee positions are held by women in roles with profit and loss2 (P&L) responsibility
  • More than half of FTSE 350 companies have no women on their executive committees in a P&L role at all
  • This situation is replicated on the main indices of major economies across the world, with India and Germany having no women CEOs at all, while China, Hong Kong, the USA, Spain and France have only one each

The fact is that many FTSE 350 companies are failing to offer talented women access to key executive positions as such opportunities continue to be given automatically to men.

Why does this matter?

Evidence shows that the failure to draw on a wider pool of ability actually damages the companies themselves. Those FTSE 350 companies with 25% or more women on their executive committees last year achieved an average 16% net profit margin3 while those with no women achieved just 6%. P&L roles are the pipeline for future CEOs and if women are blocked at that stage then they will not get the chance to run companies and companies will not get the chance to benefit from their broader talent pool.

Why don’t companies address the problems of gender imbalance?

Where there are already women at the top of companies, the evidence shows they are much better at progressing other female talent. Research reveals that women CEOs have twice the average number of women in executive positions than their male counterparts, and FTSE 350 companies led by women have an average of seven times more female executives on their main board than those led by men.

It is hard not to conclude that where men are in charge, they tend not to want to let go of their grip and allow women a share of the action.

6 Key Facts

1: Business performance is maximised when they promote women

2: Women on executive committees

3: It’s not just about numbers, the type of role matters

4: Female leaders succeed at progressing all talent, where male CEOs fail

5: Company boards remain a male executive preserve

6: Across the globe, it’s still a man’s world

4 Recommendations

  • MAKE IT THE CEO’s RESPONSIBILITY
  • ESTABLISH HARD TARGETS
  • TRANSPARENCY IS KEY
  • GOVERNANCE

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