E-Learning for
Counselling
Professor Mick Cooper
National Advisor for Counselling for CYP IAPT
Counselling provides children,
young people and young adults
(CYPYA) with an opportunity to
explore their difficulties with a
skilled, supportive and
understanding professional; such
that they are helped to overcome
their distress, manage their
problems, and be more resilient
Plan B
(Ben Drew: rapper, director,
singer-songwriter)
‘I've had counselling since
year eight. They called it
sports counselling in my
school, because otherwise
kids would say, “I ain't
mad, I ain't going to see a
therapist!” ….it was just
counselling it was great, I
loved it. It did me a world
of good.’
(The Guardian, 27th May 2012)
Provision of counselling in
England
• Available in approximately 70% of
secondary schools ≈ 65,000 clients/year
• 95% of universities; majority of FE
institutes provide counselling
• More mixed availability in primary sector
• Large network of community-based
counselling services: Youth Access, 200+
members
An evidence-based therapy
• Counselling (individual non-directive
supportive therapy) is a NICE
recommended intervention for children
and young people with mild depression
• Perceived by users and stakeholders as
an accessible, effective and nonstigmatising intervention for a range of
psychological difficulties and levels of
distress
Our vision
The CYP-IAPT ‘kitemarked’ counsellor
The ‘CYP-IAPT kite-marked’ counsellor…
1. Provides an evidence-based intervention
2. Integrates regular outcome and process
evaluation into their practice
3. Is informed by users’ views of counselling,
adopting a highly collaborative stance
4. Is effective at detecting specific mental
health problems and referring onwards as
appropriate
5. Works in integrated and coherent ways with
other mental health services
Modelling excellence
• ‘Time4Me’ primary school
counselling
• ‘Client-directed, outcomeinformed’ therapy
• Clear goals for counselling
agreed at assessment
with child and family
• Weekly use of ‘Child
Outcome Rating Scale’
and ‘Child Session Rating
Scale’ to assess progress
and personalise therapy
© Duncan Soar Photography 2011
Session-by-session outcome (CORS) and process
(SRS) monitoring tools used by Time4Me
Time4Me: Start of counselling
Clinical levels of distress
= 73.6%
Time4Me: End of counselling
Clinical levels of distress
= 9.4%
The e-portal
• Funding for E-Learning for
Counselling (E-LfC) project
provides valuable opportunity
to enhance evidence-based,
outcome-informed practice in
counselling sector
Developing the project
• CYP-IAPT Advisor for Counselling to
develop programme proposal
• Working in collaboration with BACP:
largest professional body in the field
(37,000+ members)
• Next step: extending collaboration to
key organisations and stakeholders
Timetable
Sep-Mar 2013: Establish steering group,
training needs analysis, scope existing
e-Learning materials, curriculum
development
Mar 2013-Mar 2014: Development of eLearning sessions/ modules
Mar-Sep 2014: Promotion, launch,
implementation and independent
evaluation
Legacy
E-portal content will be designed
for integration into CYPYA
competency, training, CPD and
accreditation structures
Content
• Approximately 35 half-hour sessions
• Structured within five to ten discrete
modules
• Wide variety of formats: e.g., video clips,
diagrams, online ‘tests’ of knowledge
• Additional resources for users/parents/
schools on counselling
• Maximising levels of engagement
• Freely available through e-Learning for
Healthcare (E-LfH) site
Indicative modules
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Basic/specific competences for counselling CYP
Assessment, formulation and planning
Interventions for specific disorders
Outcome monitoring and evaluation
Counselling contexts for CYP:
• primary schools
• secondary schools
• community/voluntary sector
• independent sector
6. Supervision
7. Counselling with young adults
E-learning as adjunct to
face-to-face learning
• Accessibility to national and
international expertise
• Cost effective
• Flexibility of use
• Personalised learning pathways
• Capacity to monitor own progress
• Password-protected, confidential
learning materials
The development of the
CYP-IAPT counselling eportal will give us the
opportunity to address a
number of important
issues for the field…
Assessment
• What kind of assessment
/diagnostic /detection skills –
and tools – should CYPYA
counsellors have?
• What care pathways should
CYPYA counsellors integrate
into?
Counselling-CAMHS
communication
• How can communications and
relationships between counselling
services and specialist CAMHS, at a local
level, be optimised?
Evaluation
• What tools/measures should counsellors
be using to integrate regular outcome
and process monitoring into their
practice?
• How might outcome data be used in
supervision?
• How can we achieve more comparable
evaluation procedures between
counselling and wider CAMHS services?
Referral
• When should counsellors be
referring on to specialist CAMHS,
and how can counsellors be
trained to do this?
• When should specialist CAMHS be
referring on to counselling, and
how can specialist CAMHS workers
be trained to do this?
Practice
• Are there particular evidence-based
methods or interventions, beyond
standard counselling practices, that
CYPYA counsellors might be trained to
provide?
Summary
• Development of E-Learning for Counselling
programme – and associated developments
– provides unique opportunity to enhance
the experience and outcomes for children,
young people, and young adults
participating in counselling
• And can help to develop care pathways
across services that are more streamlined,
accessible, and user-friendly
Thank you
mick.cooper@strath.ac.uk