AFT news August 2010

As we approach this year’s AGM it is now three years since I was elected as Chair at the Glasgow EFTA conference in 2007.  These have been the fastest 3 years of my life.  A lot has changed in that time, both in the country, for me personally and also for AFT.  I  have now finally got to understand the workings of AFT in the UK,  EFTA (European Family Therapy Association) and worldwide affairs through IFTA (International Family Therapy Association).  AFT is well respected by many external agencies and it has been a pleasure and honour to be Chair, everyone has been patient and supportive of my learning curve.  We are a Registered Company and Registered Charity with statutory responsibilities, but most importantly we are a membership association and have a responsibility to our members to work efficiently, offer excellent service and promote and develop family and systemic practice. This is challenging with the economic situation, but I would like to take a little time to reflect on some of the activities that have taken place over the last year.

We held a very successful conference in Cambridge, where the weather and setting was just perfect.  We also had a wonderful day in Cardiff in April for the Eileen Jamieson memorial workshop at the Wales Millennium Centre.  We have produced a number of information leaflets and our ‘What is Family Therapy’ leaflet has proved very popular. These can be downloaded from our website – www.aft.org.uk   We are endeavouring to be more inclusive in our approach to all our activities and held a meeting in February with the Diversity, Equal Opportunities and Inclusivity sub-committee to review what we can do as an organisation to ‘Walk the Talk’.  This year’s annual conference theme is Diversity and Inclusivity, for members to reflect on their practice. We are also looking at how our conferences can be more inclusive and welcoming.  The Derbyshire Branch is already planning the 2011 conference and looking at how we can encourage new delegates by allowing more time for networking and meeting new colleagues. 

We have introduced the electronic newsletter this year, which allows us to communicate with members more easily.  This is useful to advise members of events and workshops and to alert the membership to changes and developments.  We have opened an APEL (Accreditation of Prior Experience and Learning) route to registration as a Supervisor and seen the development of the Systemic College at UKCP (United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy).  We have seen lots of battles in terms of those for and against regulation by the HPC (Health Professions Council) but AFT’s position is and always has been to support regulation and we have recently written to Anne Milton, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Health with regard to this.  We would encourage members to do the same. Thanks to the Registration Committee we have a detailed register of professional members and a rigorous system of ensuring members maintain their professional development.  We also maintain an approved list of supervisors which we have invited KCC registered supervisors to join.  We endeavour to maintain the highest standards of professional practice and are working with the UKCP to ensure that our knowledge and skills are incorporated into the College whilst not threatening our own infrastructure. 

Context is now produced in full colour, making it much more interesting and up to date.  This excellent and well received publication is a tribute to all those involved in its publication, including the contributors, issue editors, the general editor (Brian Cade) and deputy editor Ged Smith and Louise Norris who so ably and patiently creates this publication.  Advertising revenue is currently down, due to market trends, but we will endeavour to encourage people to advertise in Context and on our website, thereby targeting the most appropriate audience.   The Journal has a new look this year with a change of front cover and again I must thank all those involved in its publication.  Wiley-Blackwells who publish the magazine, the Editor (Mark Rivett) and Cheryl Goddard the Editorial Assistant.  They all just get on with their jobs and make life so easy for the Chair of AFT. 

There are many developments that take place through the work of AFT’s committees and Branches, which offer members workshops in their own area.   If you are interested in getting involved with your local Branch or setting up a new one, please do get in touch.  To support members with CPD activities locally is one way to support and encourage inclusivity. 

There have been tough times over the last three years and it has been a rush to deal with endless new policies from government, but things may well get “hotter”.  I have infinite faith in the wisdom and creativity of the individuals who work for AFT and those who sit on the committees and Board to carry us through.  Thank you all for giving me this wonderful opportunity.  It has been one of the highlights of my life so far.

Best Wishes

Dorothy Ramsay

AFT news June 2010

Since the last issue of Context, the country has seen major changes in the political arena.  AFT’s policy is to work with all major political parties and that work continued within days of the General Election, when AFT was invited to discussions with the Centre for Social Justice, an influential Conservative Party think tank headed by Iain Duncan Smith.  We thank Marcus Averbeck and Caroline Dalal for attending this May 12th  hearing on AFT’s behalf,  to discuss the future of adult and child mental health services.  They report that an interesting dialogue was held and discussion took place around the importance of systemic posts, systemic training and the importance of family and systemic practice.  We are pleased to learn from Caroline and Marcus that the Centre for Social Justice hold a high opinion of AFT as an organisation.  We will continue to promote family and systemic psychotherapy by lobbying politicians and others about the importance of maintaining and developing family therapy services and we must thank Jan Parker, our Communications Officer, for her perseverance in developing our links here.

In contrast to the above,  I attended the IFTA (International Family Therapy Association) conference in Buenos Aires on behalf of AFT.  I was moved by seeing the families asleep on the streets of Buenos Aires, with the little ones lying between their Mums and Dads.  Despite their circumstances the children are so polite and all the people we came across were most welcoming.  The conference itself was an excellent opportunity to share experiences on a global level, but perhaps we need to think creatively about alternative ways of getting people together.  These international events are expensive for us as an organisation,  but definitely exclude other countries poorer than we are.  Video conferencing in small groups could be one answer and would certainly be greener!

Back to AFT business and a report from the last AFT Board meeting held on 19 April.  At this meeting we acknowledged the fact that Arlene Vetere had resigned as a Board Director and Trustee and as Chair of the Academic and Research Committee.  We reflected on all the work that Arlene has done for AFT and EFTA over the last 30 years and feel that we owe her a huge thank you.  We do hope that even though Arlene has resigned from the Board, she will still find time to be part of AFT.  Arlene says “I am proud to have been part of the large and committed group of people that has worked to promote systemics - this connection has formed the core of my career and profoundly influenced my life, in all its respects”.   The Board will ve inviting members of the Academc and Research Committee to our next Board meeting to look at how we can best support this area of work. 

It was with regret that the Board discussed the fact that the KCC (Kensington Consultation Centre) had closed and we looked at how best we could help their current registrants and students.  We have made arrangements for registrants to transfer their UKCP member organisation body to ourselves and full details of how to do this, together with information for current students is given on our website www.aft.org.uk/employmentandregistration  

We noted how active AFT Cymru had been recently.  With the support of Jan Parker AFT Cymru representatives had recently met with members of the Welsh Assembly and also the Health Inspectorate to discuss a recent report into CAMHS services in Wales.  These were helpful meetings with lots of mutually useful advice.  The local branch now have a big action list to take forward.  AFT Cymru have also hosted a most successful one day Eileen Jamieson workshop at the Wales Millennium Centre with Laura Fruggerri.  A big thanks to everyone involved who made this day so successful, in particular Lorna Edwards, Ariana Faris, Tessa Jones and Philippa Seligman.  If any Branch would like to host the Eileen Jamieson Day for 2011, the last date for expressions of interest is the 30th June. 

Many of you will have seen publicity in the national press recently about UKCP.  AFT’s position has not changed, in that we support statutory regulation and are working hard with UKCP to achieve a situation that is acceptable to all.  The current AFT reps to UKCP are Maire Steadman and Judith Lask, they have written the following statement to keep you updated.  Please contact our UKCP representaitive if you wish to discuss any issue and we will continue to consult you about any policies and initiatives.

Many of you will know that this has been a fairly turbulent period in the life of UKCP as it makes its transition into its new shape and meets the political challenges of statutory regulation. The old Family, Couple, Sexual and Systemic Therapy Section is no more and Inger Gordon has led us into the formation of the College of Family, Couple and Systemic Therapy, (CFCST). The British Association of Relationship and Sexual Therapists has left to form a separate college and this ends a long period of happy and creative work together. However we will continue to work closely as separate colleges. At the moment, following the closing of KCC, the Systemic College has only two organisational members - IFT and AFT. However all individual Registrants belong to the College in their own right so the College currently has two main tasks in addition to engaging in the work of UKCP.

1.         To connect with all Registrants

2.         To firm up a workable and democratic structure.

It is envisaged that this will be in place by the autumn when a new chair will be elected. The next meeting of the College to which all registrants are invited is on Monday July 12th. If you are a registrant you should receive an email with details but check out the AFT and UKCP websites.

There is also a new student and trainee membership of UKCP if anyone is interested in this and details can be found on the UKCP website together with other conferences and events.

AFT and the CFCST has had major concerns about the multi-track policy towards statutory regulation adopted by UKCP and the very adversarial stance taken by some within UKCP, towards the Health Professions Council. We have voiced our concerns and will continue to do so. In our view HPC is an acceptable regulator and is working on changes that will create an even better fit for psychotherapy and counselling. Psychologists and Arts Psychotherapists are already among the professions regulated. Our view is that any organisation needs to take a clear stand on statutory regulation and to support its role in helping to provide more safety for  the public and to enhance the level of confidence in seeking help. UKCP is at the moment combining support for statutory regulation with a commitment to provide alternative regulation for those who choose not to use the term counsellor or psychotherapist because they do not want to be regulated. Judith Lask has attended the HPC meetings as an observer and there is now a new phase of meetings with some difficult issues to debate. For example should counsellors and psychotherapists be on different registers? And should there be a separate title for psychotherapists working with children?

There will be a series of meetings held by HPC across.the UK.  Please check their website for details.

AFT values its relationship with the other psychotherapy modalities and continues to work to develop the Systemic College. However we also continue to seek the best ways of promoting the Family and Systemic Psychotherapy both within and outside our relationship with UKCP.

It would be good to see you at the July meeting

Email Judith.lask@virgin.net or  mairestedman@yahoo.co.uk

Finally don’t forget to book early for your place at the 2010 conference in Birmingham on the 17th September.  This will be a full day amounting to 8 hours CPD and the booking form is on the back cover.  It will also be our AGM when a number of places on the Board will be up for election.  Full details of the election process will be given in the August issue of Context. 

With Best wishes
Dorothy Ramsay
Chair – AFT

AFT NEWS – APRIL 2010

I am writing this on the way to Buenos Aires and the IFTA (International Family Therapy) conference and I hope to report back next time on the conference and what is happening globally in the field of family therapy.  Closer to home we have the Eileen Jamieson workshop in Cardiff on the 30th April with Laura Fruggeri and the AFT National Conference and AGM on the 17th September in Birmingham.  Bookings are now being taken for this one day conference, which AFT has managed to reduce in price to £70 for AFT members and £55 for students ( a booking form can be found on the website.)  We have tried to keep this year’s conference as reasonable as possible as we realise that members may wish to go to the EFTA conference to be held in Paris in October as well.  However, we have not cut down on quality and the conference venue is very pleasant, the programme is looking very exciting with numerous speakers presenting on various aspects of Working in Diverse Communities. 

With regard to recent political activity, Tessa Jones will report below on a meeting held with Welsh Assembly Members and the Health Inspectorate in Wales on the 11th March where useful discussions took place to highlight the lack of family therapy services for Children and Young People with Mental Health needs in Wales.  Thanks to Jan Parker for supporting this and leading on our response to the Government’s Green paper “Support for All: Families and Relationships”.

There’s still time – just – for you to contribute to AFT’s response to this green paper. Please send your thoughts, insights and examples of systemic services and teams to janparker@aft.org.uk by April 19 latest.  The summary document, full paper and six consultation questions to address are available to view and download at http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/supportforall/ .

All the main parties and advisors are monitoring the document’s reception and responses, and it may influence debate on policy and provision for a long time to come whatever the outcome of the general election.

AFT would also like to thank Jim Wilson, who presented for AFT on 'improving outcomes for vulnerable children and families: expanding practice and possibilities' at the recent Family Futures conference hosted by The Guardian. All delegates and presenters (including Government ministers, shadow ministers and heads of workforce training and research organisations) received copies of AFT’s new information sheets. These outline latest research into family therapy and systemic practice, training frameworks, improving outcomes for vulnerable families, improving specialist services, and ‘What is AFT’. Updated regularly, they will be used as a core information pack for conferences and other events and are now available for members to download at www.aft.org.uk.

We have a Board meeting on the 16th April where a number of proposals will be taken forward.  The Board have already approved opening up an APEL route to Supervision, which the Registration Committee hope to launch in the Summer and a new training programme “Training to Work Effectively with Families” to cascade the knowledge and skills necessary for family sensitive, family inclusive working.  Both of these require considerable work and development by committees before they can be implemented and we thank all those involved in doing this. 

With Best Wishes

Dorothy Ramsay 

Chair - AFT

Welsh Assembly Government meetings – Update from AFT Cymru

Meetings have now been held with Assembly Members from the Conservative and the Liberal Democrat parties in Wales to further the cause of family therapy and systemic practice. Jan Parker and representatives from AFT Cymru were pleased with the interest shown by these AM’s in the ways in which systemic work could enhance services within Wales. Major gaps in the existing provision were acknowledged as was the presence of the Family Institute which often trains people who are then unable to gain a suitable position within Wales and need to look elsewhere.

Useful ideas which came out of these meetings ranged from presenting a formal petition to the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) highlighting the need to develop designated family therapy posts and family therapy services in Wales, to establishing links with those responsible for WAG policy and with other bodies such as the Welsh Local Government Association. AFT Cymru has been invited to take part in a fringe meeting at the Welsh Lib Dem conference in September and also to have a stand at this conference. Eleanor Burnham, AM is also interested in mentioning our endeavours and her support for them in her manifesto.

On the same day the group were invited to meet with those from the Healthcare Inspectorate Wales who were the main authors of the CAMHS report, published in November 2009, which emphasised the variability and lack of services. As the Inspectorate needs to make informed judgements about agency Action Plans which are soon to be presented to them, they were keen to understand what the lack of systemic psychotherapists and practitioners means in practical terms. They were particularly interested in hearing how other systemic services have developed and they expressed an interest in hearing more detail.about effective family-focused service design and practice. They, too, were able to give useful pointers to ways in which AFT Cymru can develop links with those within WAG responsible for policy making. AFT Cymru will now discuss how to take these opportunities forward.

Tessa Jones

Chair - Cymru Branch