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mental health

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

By

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.

 

Workplace stress that is deemed as excessive, affects the mental health of 89% of UK employees

By

workplace stress image

One in every eight company employees in the UK has taken time off work for stress in the last year.

Conducted by the Dolan Contractor Group, experts in contractor payroll and accountancy, the Stress in the Workplace study gathered responses from employees of 140 companies across the UK. Respondents were asked about the causes of what was deemed ‘excessive workplace stress’, how they combat stress to maintain good mental health and what their employers do to support them through stress.

Long hours culture

The greatest cause of this stress in the UK workplace was found to be long working hours, with 41% of respondents to a study stating that they have been affected. Next most common is deadline or client pressure with 32%, followed by low pay and inability to build financial savings with 29%.

The study also identified differences in how stress is experienced between genders, and between employees of SMEs or large companies. Also revealed were crucial differences between the support available to permanent employees and that offered to employees hired on a contractor or freelance basis.

Tackling stress

When asked how they would deal with stress, 6% of permanent employee respondents stated that they would not seek help if they were suffering from excessive stress, opting to ‘hope it gets better’. This figure rose to 17% of contractors and freelancers surveyed.

When respondents were asked how they’d tackle stress, 30% of those at large companies stated that they would speak to their manager.

The majority of employees from large companies stated that long working hours (40%) caused them the most stress, followed by overwork and management pressure (36%).

Further findings from the study:

Female contractor workers are less likely to suffer from excessive stress due to long working hours when compared to female permanent workers. It is still predominantly women who take time off work, as the main carers for children within a family. They have to set their working hours around childcare, made possible by freelancing and contracting.

Contractors and freelancers were found to rely more heavily on their friends and families for support, with 26% stating this was their method to combat excessive stress.

Furthermore, 30% of contractor and freelancer workers have taken leave from work to combat excessive stress.

Lauren Monks, Group Operations Director at Dolan Contractor Group, states:

The Stress in the workplace study deepens our understanding of our contractors, freelancers and the self employed. It outlines the key areas that cause stress and so gives us and employers insight to help reduce stress in the workplace.

Stress is prevalent in all areas of work and across all industries regardless of the way you work- as a traditional employee or via your own limited company or umbrella employment, though contractors and freelancers are rarely mentioned in the conversation for stress in the workplace and mental wellbeing.

With the potential IR35 reforms looming, this adds a degree of uncertainty which we understand is unsettling and stressful for our clients. With 27% of contractors and freelancers stating that tax, red tape, and government changes contribute to excessive stress at work, we make sure that we offer IR35 contract reviews so our clients have the advice they need, plus we can offer them both umbrella employment as well as limited company accountancy. This takes the added stress of finding a new umbrella employer should the IR35 reforms affect them.”

Richard Holmes, Director of Wellbeing at Westfield Health, provides further comments on the study:

Burnout is a state of emotional, physical and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. Pressure at work is usually the main culprit and when budgets are tight and teams are small, people often find themselves with multiple roles and heavy workloads, piling on the stress.

Policies like flexible or remote working can help employees balance work and home life, and things like turning off email servers outside of working hours helps ring fence valuable recovery time. Mental health first aid training can also help managers spot the signs or triggers and put preventions in place.

Contractors or freelancers who don’t have the support of HR might need to adopt their own strategies such as setting working hours, turning off email alerts out of these hours and separating work and living space if working from home.”

Check out Calibre Furniture’s website has a wealth of information on this topic.