Today we heard
from Shane Kelly, Professional Services Manager and Iwona Blasi, the Accreditation
Supervisor at the Irish Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy.
Shane and Iwona
discussed the evolution of mental health services over the years in Ireland.
IACP was established in 1981 and prior to that time, people with mental health
issues often ended up in mental hospitals. Since then, IACP has made an
intentional effort to promote positive mental health. He discussed ‘mental
health hygiene’ – and shared strategies to keep mentally fit. Counselling and
psychotherapy is not regulated in Ireland, so the IACP provides accreditation
through the work of various committees (e.g., ethics, continuing education,
supervision). Accreditation would be equivalent to a U.S. license. It takes
around 200 volunteers to help run the IACP. There are currently approximately
2,000 accredited members. Students complete courses that often include 2 years
of training, at least 100 hours of clinical work, and 50 hours of personal
therapy. After they graduate, once counselors and psychotherapists have clocked
450 hours they can become an accredited member. If a counselor is fully
licensed in the U.S. he or she can obtain a reciprocal accreditation within
Ireland. Counselors and psychotherapists obtain approximately 1 hour of
supervision for each 10 hours of clinical work. In order to become a
supervisor, clinicians must have worked at least 5 years as an accredited
counselor or psychotherapist and also complete a 1 year training in
supervision. There are currently approximately 550 accredited supervisors.
Shane mentioned
the advocacy efforts they have taken to help regulate the profession. The last
time I was here in Ireland with Dr. Remley 6 years ago, Dr. Remley suggested
that Shane and others change their approach to working with the legislation to
emphasize the dangers of counseling rather than only the benefits. This mindset
shift has resulted in remarkable movement within regulation efforts. Recently
they have worked with the department of education to establish minimum
requirements, discussed about protecting the title of counselor and
psychotherapist.
He also shared the real dangers that can occur within an unregulated profession. Shane explained a ponzi scheme they found out about in which a counseling and psychotherapist school was recruiting clients to become counseling students. They also promised the students if they invested 250,000 euros in the school they would make 1 million euros within a few years – of course, none of this was legitimate and eventually came to light within the media. Unfortunately, this negatively impacted the view of all counselors and psychotherapists until Shane and others encouraged the media to distinguish between accredited and non-accredited counselors and therapists. They also try to educate the public about mental health issues through intentional PR. They strive to de-stigmatize help seeking by discussing typical challenges throughout the lifespan, such as relationship issues, job changes, and Seasonal Affective Disorder.
IACP surveyed
their members last year and found 70% worked full time in another job and part
time as a therapist, because it is exceptionally difficult to make a living as
a therapist in Ireland. There are few high paying jobs, and often those
positions require training as both a psychologist and a
counselor/psychotherapist. There is also a distinct difference between
counselors and psychotherapists and career guidance counselors, who work in the
K-12 schools about academics and career decision-making. Most people work
privately as therapists. Insurance companies will not typically cover
counseling or psychotherapy. There are annual dues, 289 euro per year for
accredited member as well as supervisor, pre-accredited, and student rates.
Next we
debriefed the experiences everyone had during their site visits. One of our
participants summarized the experience by reflecting on the sense of community
she felt and heard about at all of the different sites when she shared, “Ireland
is a community and we are our brother’s keeper.” This is a truly unique country, and we have all learned so much from being here over the past couple weeks. We fly back to Chicago tomorrow, and we will certainly take all the lessons and wonderful memories back home with us!
