Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 17 January 2024
1562. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Health if consideration will be given to the key recommendations set out in an online submission by an organisation (details supplied) to CORU; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [56888/23]
View answer1563. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Health that due consideration be given to the development of clarity around the nature of the work of psychotherapists, in particular including the differentiation between psychotherapists from counsellors, as per the key recommendations set out in a submission (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [56889/23]
View answer1564. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Health that due consideration be given to the setting of the threshold level of entry to the register for psychotherapists at level 9 on the NFQ and that additional proficiencies be added as described in a submission (details supplied) to address the higher educational level, clinical supervision as integral to the programme and personal and professional growth and development arising from engagement in personal psychotherapeutic experience; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [56890/23]
View answer1565. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Health if due consideration will be given to the inclusion within the framing of training programmes for psychotherapists of personal psychotherapy/personal psychotherapeutic experience, as per the key recommendations set out in a submission (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [56891/23]
View answer1566. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Health if due consideration will be given to revisiting of details around direct observation of clinical practice within training, as per the key recommendations set out in a submission made by an organisation (details supplied) to CORU; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [56892/23]
View answer1567. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Health if due will be given to the revisiting of details around practice placement context and clinical supervision, as per the key recommendations set out in a submission made by an organisation (details supplied) to CORU; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [56893/23]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 1562, 1563, 1564, 1565, 1566 and 1567 together.
As the Deputy will be aware, the Health and Social Care Professionals Council and Registration Boards, collectively known as CORU, are responsible for protecting the public by promoting high standards of professional conduct, education, training, and competence amongst the professions designated under the Health and Social Care Professionals Act (2005).
Each profession designated under the Health and Social Care Professionals Act has its own independent registration board with statutory responsibility for:
• Establishing and maintaining the register of members for that profession;
• Recognising qualifications gained outside the State;
• Approving and monitoring education and training programmes for entry to the register;
• Setting the code of professional conduct and ethics giving guidance to professionals on Continuing Professional Development (CPD).
The Counsellors and Psychotherapists Registration Board (CPRB) was established in February 2019. Its membership comprises practitioners, representatives from education and training, and lay members, which ensures there is a broad range of voices and perspectives shaping the design of standards and criteria. The work of the CPRB includes consideration of the titles to be protected and the minimum qualifications to be required of existing practitioners and the qualifications that will be required for future graduates. The work of the CPRB is significantly more challenging than it is for registration boards for some of the more established professions owing to the different and complex pathways into these professions, the variety of titles used, and the variety and number of courses and course providers.
The CPRB undertook an extensive research process which informed the drafting of standards and criteria. This included a review of contemporary evidence-informed academic literature, an examination of comparator international professional standards, and understanding the contemporary practice of the profession in Ireland. Key stakeholders, including the public (through a public consultation process), were also part of the drafting process.
Throughout the course of 2022 and 2023, the CPRB drafted threshold level standards of knowledge, skills and professional behaviour – its Standards of Proficiency – and the systems and processes that education providers must have in place to ensure consistent and effective delivery of graduates who have achieved the Standards of Proficiency ¬– its Criteria for Education and Training Programmes. Two sets of these requirements were drafted: one for counsellors and one for psychotherapists representing the first attempt to establish distinct standards for each profession in Ireland and the first effort to standardise threshold level education and training requirements for entry to each profession.
The public consultation on the draft Standards of Proficiency and Criteria for Education and Training Programmes ran for 12 weeks from 4 September until Friday 1st December 2023. As part of this consultation, the CPRB encouraged feedback from all stakeholders, including members of the professions, education providers, employers, professional and representative bodies, as well as members of the public. The public consultation is the mechanism through which professional bodies, as well as other stakeholders, are given an opportunity to provide their views on the draft standards.
I am informed that the CPRB will consider all submissions very carefully in formalising Standards of Proficiency and Criteria for Education and Training Programmes for the psychotherapy profession. CORU, on behalf of the CPRB, will brief my Department on the outcome of the public consultation in due course.
