Counseling Services in Ireland - August 12, 2016

Today we heard from Shane Kelly, Professional Services Manager and Iwona Blasi, the Accreditation Supervisor at the Irish Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy. 

 

Bottom of ForShane 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!