Update on copsy and neuropsychology

Progress on opening up opportunities for counselling psychologists within the domain of neuropsychology are slowly moving forward.

Where we are at right now is society officers drafting a proposal for members of other professional areas outside of clinical and educational psychology to be able to access relevant training and in due course be recognised by the Division of Neuropsychology. This is currently being developed.

Tony.

DCoP lead for neuropsychology

I am very pleased to be able to announce that I have been invited to work on the DCoP executive committee as the lead for neuropsychology.

This is a very exciting time to take this on. After many years of lobbying, it now looks likely that opportunities are about to open up for counselling psychologists to pursue neuropsychology training and recognition. The DoN is currently working on the practicalities to making this happen.

As things progress over the coming year, I will use this blog to keep everyone updated as to where we are and what is happening.

Tony.

I have been doing some work recently on the rapidly developing area of neuropsychotherapy. This seems very exciting to me, as it has the potential to unify psychotherapy based n the neuroscience paradigm, and also links to neuropsychology.

I've put a short vide together which you can see here:

Intro to neuropsychotherapy.

Dates now set and booking available

Dates for the counselling neuropsychology cpd courses have now been set, and places can be booked online. Workshop participants will also be able to access online resources and activities through a dedicated website.

For dates and booking, follow this link:

http://www1.uwe.ac.uk/hls/psychology/professionaldevelopment/counsellingneuropsychology.aspx

CPD strategy

We have decided that the best way to develop the MSc in the first instance is to pilot some of the delivery through a range of CPD activities.  This will also allow us to gauge interest in the eventual course.

So we will be offering the following two day CPD workshops over the coming year:

1) Foundations of psychometric testing.  Autumn term
2) Neuropsychological assessment.  Spring term
3) Working with neurological client groups.  Summer term

These will be advertised shortly.

MIA approved

The University has just approved the MIA, and we will therefore now be taking the course forward to validation.  We expect a likely start date of January 2012, and we will begin advertising shortly.

Slight delay with MIA

There were some technical queries about the MIA, which have delayed its progress, but it is due to go to the Programme Development Group for approval within the next couple of weeks.

We should then be able to give a schedule towards getting the course documentation approved.

MIA form ready for submission

The first step in getting approval for a new course at UWE is to submit a Market Intelligence Analysis, i.e. to demonstrate that there is a viable market for the course.

Having identified that we have the necessary range of expertise available, we have now completed the market analysis.  We were helped in this by recent surveys showing that 25% of counselling psychologists would like to see training developed in this area.

We hope to submit the MIA and get it approved by christmas.  Then we can move onto the next stage which is developing the course documentation.

I'll report back here once we hear back from the programme approval panel.

What is Counselling Neuropsychology?

Counselling neuropsychology is founded in the discipline of counselling psychology.  It therefore inherits a humanistic value base and a respect for the phenomenology of the client.  Practitioners combine an in-depth knowldege of neuropsychology and the psychological effects of neurological conditions, with experience of providing a deeply facilitating theraputic relationship.  They can thus help clients face the intense challenges posed by their conditions (Judd and Wilson, 1999, Khan-Bourne and Brown, 2003, Langer, 1992).  Their neuropsychological expertise enables them to adapt the conditions of psychotherapy to the unique requirements of the client (Laatsch, 1999). 

One of the ways therefore that counselling neuropsychology may differ from other areas of neuropsychological practice is a deep respect for the client, and a collaborative approach to theraputic work.  When conducting assessments for example, the question at the forefront of the counselling neuropsychologist's mind is likely to be "how will this benefit my client".

Judd, D.P.,  Wilson, S.L. (1999). Brain injury and identity--the role of counselling psychologists.   Counselling Psychology Review, 14, 4-16.

Khan-Bourne, N., Brown, R.G., (2003).  Cognitive behaviour therapy for the treatment of depression in individuals with brain injury.  Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, 13, 89-107.

Laatsch, L.  Application of cognitive rehabilitation techniques in psychotherapy.  Chapter in  Langer, K.G., Laatsch, L., Lewis, L. (eds.) (1999).  Psychotherapeutic interventions for adults with brain injury or stroke: A clinicians treatment resource. Madison: Psychosocial Press.

Langer, K.G. (1992). Psychotherapy with the neuropsychologically impaired adult.  American Journal of Psychotherapy, 46, 620-639.

Introduction

This blog has been created to discuss issues in counselling neuropsychology. It will also be used to give regular updates on the development of the new MSc in Counselling Neuropsychology at the University of the West of England.