CPPD (UK) LTD
Counselling School

In 2004 we began the only accredited humanistic counselling training in Northern Ireland. We were approached by the Trauma Panel following recommendation by the BACP and it was the first counselling training that was funded by the British Government. This was in recognition of the need for professional training in N Ireland in the aftermath of the troubles.

It was politically innovative because participants recognise that it positively brings together both communities. Students gained their practitioner accreditation by working in the community so their experience was working directly with people affected by the traumas.

The first 30 students completed their accredited training July 2006 and we are now looking forward to the next cohort who start in October 2006.

In 2003 CPPD began a Professional Counselling Training for students who are deaf, facilitated in British Sign Language by a deaf tutor.

In 2004 CPPD launched the first BACP accredited counselling training in Northern Ireland.

CPPD were invited to provide the accredited counselling training by the Western Health and Social Services Trauma Advisory Panel in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, following discussions with the BACP.

The Social Services Inspectorate report, “ Living with the Trauma OF Troubles” and The Bloomfield report “We Will Remember Them”, were launched in 1998 outlining several recommendations. Subsequently a circular was issued from the Department of Health and Social Services, instructing boards and trusts to implement a series of actions, which, reflected those outlined in the above reports. One of the recommendations was that a trauma advisory panel should be set up in each of the board areas.

The WHSSB and Derry District Partnership jointly arranged a meeting on 11th January 1999 for all voluntary and statutory agencies in the North West, who work with victims of violence arising from “The Troubles”. The purpose of the meeting was to consult with these agencies regarding the needs of groups working with victims of violence, and to develop a programme of action, supported by both the WHSSB and Derry District Partnership, that would assist the development and co-ordination of services to victims of violence. This work has continued and from April 2002 the Victims Unit have secured funding to develop this work further.

One of the key recommendations of the meeting was to establish a regular forum for all agencies working with victims of violence. It was proposed that the forum would be called “The Trauma Advisory Panel” (TAP). This panel continues to operate and meets on a regular basis. Over time it has expanded to include agencies in the Omagh and Fermanagh areas. The TAP consists of three subgroups, Training, Publicity, Research and Development. The Training subgroup identified the need for a recognised British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) counselling course in Northern Ireland. To this end discussions took place with BACP to address this deficit. Following these discussions CPPD was approached to provide the course.

The project aimed to train, in the first instance, 30 people to become BACP accredited counsellors. Mr Park’s report highlighted that only 7% of counsellors in Northern Ireland are accredited to BACP and IACP standard. This would at least triple the amount of trained counsellors in N.I.

Aim of the Project: The aims of this project will be to train those providing a service to victims of the “Troubles” with a recognised accredited BACP professional qualification in counselling.

Objectives:

• To provide counsellors in the statutory and voluntary agencies to train and attain a BACP accredited counselling qualification, which will enhance the standard of services, which is being offered to victims of the Troubles within the WHSSB TAP area.
  
• To enhance the standard of counselling provided to victims in N.I.
  
• To enhance the potential development of Service Level Agreements between the voluntary, and statutory agencies that provide counselling services to victims of the Troubles in N.I.
  
• To provide well qualified support and treatment of clients / users who are suffering from trauma they have experienced from the troubles, stress management, depression, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, suicide, education and social well being.
  

The project was available to all the relevant organisations who provide a counselling service and who wish to ensure that their counsellors are providing a high quality service to the user. Funding was secured, and the course was paid for by the Government.

The first cohort of 28 students graduated in June 2006. The project has received funding to continue, and the new intake of 30 students will begin their training on October 21st, 2006.

CPPD were privileged to be asked by AAS (Alleviate Addiction Suffering): a drug addiction treatment centre, to visit Karachi to develop awareness on the subject of addiction and child abuse. As a result of that, the very first counselling training ever in Pakistan took place in 2002.

In 2002 CPPD facilitated Pakistan's first self development workshop and conference on child abuse and it's correlation with addictions.

In 2003 we launched the first international training in Humanistic Integrative Counselling in Pakistan.

The training in Pakistan has grown considerably since then and we are beginning our third student intake in December 2006.

The following article was written by one of the students following his first experience of counselling training, we found it very moving (please click on the icon below to read it).

On 10th October, 2005 there was a 7.6 earthquake affecting the area around the town of Bagh in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, nearly 150 km from the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.

The second training course coincided with the devastation of these earthquakes in Kashmir and in response, CPPD and a selection of our students who volunteered, travelled to the affected areas and were able to train fieldworkers on the subject of post traumatic stress disorder as well as visiting campsites offering counselling support. It was particularly challenging because the field workers who offered themselves for training had also experienced the loss of family and friends in the earthquake.

"The earthquakes and landslides that brought such devastation and human tragedy to Kashmir became a powerful media story from November 2005.

The seismic waves and ripple effects of world news were as nothing compared to the horror and incomprehension they were trying to portray.

The broad narrative that followed was gargantuan: the mass grief and numbness, as family and friends were pulled from the rubble....

...as the counselling group left ‘a camp with no name’, a little way outside of Sarbuland, they were told: “So many people have come to see us and gone away, but none have come and sat and listened, until today.”

extract from “Bagh: a time to tell our story”
by Dr Stewart Falkes

To read the full article please click on the icon below

At the time of her visit in 2005, discussions were held with Lynne about the possibilty of introducing a counselling training course in Malta leading to BACP accreditation. In March 2007, CPPD started the first year of a three year humanistic integrative counselling training course in collaboration with CPD Malta, please click here to visit their website.

In January 2009, CPPD in collaboration with CPD Malta launched the first 3-year humanistic integrative counselling training course. This training was accredited by the BACP in December 2009. It is the first training outside of the UK that BACP has accredited.

If you would like to apply for the postgraduate training course held in Malta please go to the online application forms page and complete the academic courses application form, selecting the Malta course. Please click here to go to the application form.