Official guidelines for supervision of Assistant Psychs

[baa]

Hi people,

I'm looking for some official guideline type things for the supervision of assistant psychologists - it looks as though the DCP are in the process of writing something, and the other document that I've found is this one

Is there anything more recent? I've had a bit of a search on here to see if anyone else has linked to/discovered anything!

Ta!

[BlueCat]

Those are the 2007 guidelines, currently under revision. As far as I'm aware, there isn't another version, although you would imagine there should be as that one says it should have been revised in 2009. The qualified guidelines were revised and published August 2014, so I imagine the AP ones will be available soon.

[baa]

Thanks BlueCat - I'll keep an eye out for them in that case! I need something written down to wave at some managers

[baa]

Hmm. I have a question - if an AP is employed in an iapt service, is it appropriate for them to receive clinical supervision from both a cbt therapist and a clinical psychologist? Say, once a month from the CP and twice a month from the cbt therapist?

It doesn't really fit in my head, but thought I'd check!

[BenJMan]

To the best of my knowledge the minimum recommended supervision for an AP is weekly for at least an hour, but I'm not sure where I have plucked that from, someone feel free to contradict me. So once a month from a CP and twice a month from a CBTT wouldn't meet the mark.

That said to the best of my knowledge there aren't specific rules around who has to supervise AP's, I know that it is certainly the case that some portions of supervision are often done by non CP's. I think providing the person is qualified to supervise the actual work, it's is appropriate

[Lancelot]

As the guidelines state that "at least a minimum of two hours per week quality supervision should be provided" and that it should be with a qualified applied psychologist. Two hours usually means one hour of formal supervision and an hour where they can be in contact with the psychologist e.g. queries outside that time, going over a report. The majority of the supervision really should be from the psychologist rather than a CBT therapist or CBT therapist supervision as an adjunct. If you want a CBT therapist to fully or mostly supervise I think that it would be better to call the position something different, like an assistant practitioner.

[miriam]

The definition of the role of an AP is that they assist a practitioner psychologist. I would have strong feelings about posts that are called AP but don't have supervision from a qualified practitioner psychologist.

However, if it is agreed that the person will have some share of their supervision from a person of another profession (as is often the case with line management, or case supervision, depending on context) then I think it reasonable that this is part of the structure, provided that their practitioner psychologist supervision is the majority, accessible every week and takes responsibility for their overall personal and professional development and that the total amount of time ring-fenced for direct supervision meets the minimum standard of being at least an hour per week WTE.

[baa]

Thanks for your thoughts people. I agree with them, and have the same concerns and am planning on discussing it at the next team meeting. I just wanted to check that I was still remembering the AP world in the right way!

[chixta]

Miriam, can I ask what guidelines you are referencing (HCPC/BPS)? I'm having some current disputes about supervision of an AP who people feel only needs supervision fortnightly - I have insisted on weekly and the powers that be are demanding proof. I'm leaving, so this is more for the psychologist who is taking over from me. Cheers

[BenJMan]

Miriam, can I ask what guidelines you are referencing (HCPC/BPS)? I'm having some current disputes about supervision of an AP who people feel only needs supervision fortnightly - I have insisted on weekly and the powers that be are demanding proof. I'm leaving, so this is more for the psychologist who is taking over from me. Cheers

Hey Chixta,

The document is called guidelines for the employment is assistant psychologists (http://dcp.bps.org.uk/document-download ... C2B5186D05), if you look under section 9 you will find good guidelines about a whole range of issues about supervision including (under the 'content' sub section):

At least a minimum of two hours per week quality supervision should be
provided and carried out in a confidential setting without interruption with
additional supervision for clinical duties if needed. This should comprise at
lease one hour of formal supervision and at least a further hour of informal
supervision/contact. The exact amount of supervision should depend on
the context. If a number of assistant psychologists are working in the same
department an element of group supervision may be appropriate. If a single
assistant psychologist is working in an isolated service they may need to
receive more supervision. (Supervisors and qualified psychologists should
be mindful of risk and governance arrangements when agreeing to act as a
supervisor in isolated services.)

[sweetpea]

^ The new version has been released, though unclear whether it's a draft or not. Apologies for not being able to post the BPS website link, but it won't let me for some reason. Here's the download link:

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j ... 9255,d.ZWU

It's very clear about supervision requirements, plus some interesting distinctions between Bands 4/5 AP roles.

[Gilly]

those are the draft guidelines for the new release, but I do not imagine that they will change beyond that when its finally formatted and released.

[Shmit]

Interesting what it says about the difference of band 4 and band 5 AP's- I wonder how receptive private companies will be to this.