AFT news August 2008

Dear all
I hope you are enjoying the Summer.

I went to Helsinki to attend a meeting of the National Family Therapy Organisations who are in EFTA (European Family Therapy Association) in June, which was a very interesting and enjoyable experience.  I did not find anything equivalent to the delicious custard tarts that we had in Portugal at the IFTA (International Family Therapy Association) Conference, but to match the breads were delicious.  I am wondering what we will find at the Manchester Conference, a good old Eccles Cake I hope.

On a serious note EFTA would like to work more closely with us and use our expertise to support developing countries by sharing our training and professional policies and procedures with them. EFTA is financially quite poor as the contributions of some countries is very low due to their financial economies.  The NFTO chamber members were asked to encourage our own members to join EFTA as individual members.  Details of how to join and the costs are given on the EFTA website www.eftacim.org  Individual members receive a subsidy on the EFTA conference and the European family therapy passport which offers access to periods of training in centres that are participating in the programme.  However, I feel that those who choose to join would see this as an altruistic gesture given that European families need as much help as our own and yet the expenses of running EFTA are greater because of the geography.  I will leave this request with each reader.

Logically we can not draw the line after European children and families, but need to look towards greater collaboration with IFTA (the International Family Therapy Association).  All of this whilst not taking our eyes off our own AFT finances and developments in the UK.

The AFT National Conference is now fast approaching and delegate places are filling up fast, so do book soon.  We will hold our annual general meeting (which is open to all members not just conference delegates) from 5.30pm to 6.30pm on Friday 12th September.  A nomination paper to stand for election to the Management Committee is available on the inside back cover of the August issue of Context and we have one vacancy for an ordinary member.  We welcome new people on the Management Committee (Board of Directors and Trustees as we usually refer to it) so do think about applying.  The Board is crucial to the decisions that are made about your organisation and for the future of the profession.  We normally meet four times per year and have lots of email communications too. 

There are lots of changes happening with new Government Initiatives, the “family” being very prominent in these initiatives and we feel that we should use our expertise with families to shape strategy for the future.  We need to embrace the profession of psychotherapy, but also the whole range of service providers and people who work with families.  Statutory regulation is another big issue we are facing and the relationship between UKCP and the HPC, (Health Professions Council) is still uncertain.  I do encourage you to read the annual reports from committee chairs and Board members to get a clear picture of the work that is being undertaken.   There is a tension between doing lots of proactive work i.e. dealing with the government’s endless changes, safe guarding the systemic model against the runaway juggernaut of CBT but keeping enough money in the bank to ensure there is an association when I end my term as Chair.  There is a sense of cut down and cut back as we go through the financial upheaval, though this is the time we need to be developing.  We are therefore putting the membership fees up slightly because we have come down on the side of being proactive.  I hope members will agree with this action.

To reduce printing, postage and paper costs we are placing the annual reports and papers on the “members” area of the AFT website www.aft.org.uk, but if you would like a paper copy posted to you please let us know.

I would also ask you to read the revised Code of Ethics that is printed in this issue.  All members are asked to abide by the Code of Ethics and you may find some of the content helpful to your practice.

I look forward to seeing many of you in Manchester and for those who can’t make Manchester this year, please note in your diary that the 2009 AFT National Conference will be held at Robinson College, Cambridge from the 11 – 13th September.

Best wishes
Dorothy Ramsay - Chair AFT

AFT news June 2008

A personal message from Dorothy

In the last two months I have attended the International Family Therapy Association conference in Portugal and I also went to the Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Meeting with other Executives of the Board.  Wiley Blackwell publish our Journal of Family Therapy.  These two events made me more conscious of the influence of family therapy worldwide.  The conference had representations from 54 countries and at the meeting with Wiley-Blackwell I was intrigued to learn that our readership of the Journal in China had gone from 1% to 3% of the total readership in one year.  I had no idea that the journal sits in 5,533 institutions worldwide and 159,246 articles were downloaded in 2007.  I had thought of just a local influence. 

I wonder how many of the readers have been trained in Britain (two of my fellow students were from Greece) and what influence their training in Britain has had on their work?  How much have they had to adapt their training to fit with local needs when they returned home?  Perhaps I can invite anyone who has trained in Britain and now returned home to write for Context of their experience of adapting twice.  I am sure Trainers would like to read of their experiences as would we at AFT, so it would be good to keep a conversation going between us and ex-students from overseas.

At the conference I met a group of delegates who had formed a cross-cultural supervision group, keeping contact during the year by email and meeting together at the annual IFTA conference.  How many of these groups are there?  There was a presentation by the Japanese member who introduced us to the supervision group members from Israel, Argentina, USA and Germany, they called their work cross-cultural collaboration.  They had all benefitted from questions of: what is unique to the family, what is global, what is cultural?  The case which they presented was broadened into a conversation about - does the culture in which the family live help individuals to complain or hinder them and in what way do different cultures encourage fathers to help their sons?  This twinning is a tradition we have with towns; could we develop it between different departments with similar roles in diverse countries e.g. a US CAMHS team or equivalent and a CAMHS from a European country – I am up for that is anybody else interested?  Perhaps we could put up a list at the Manchester Conference and then place that on the website.

Some times it is hard to hold a systemic position in the workplace.  David Epston said it is really helpful to use systemic language all the time.  I am finding it hard to keep systemic as my first language.  Perhaps we could increase the opportunity by forming SKYPE groups both nationally and internationally – just an idea.  Please email me or AFT if you have any creative ideas.

I still have my “L” plates on as Chair, but every one is supporting me.  I am off to the European National Family Therapy Organisations meeting in Finland next month. 

We held our Board meeting on the 16th May in London.  We welcomed Ian Lea to the Board as the new Branches Rep from East Anglia.  It was agreed by the Board that the 2009 National Conference will be hosted by the East Anglian Branch and we look forward to more information on this, which we will share with you in the next issue.  The Board had deep and thorough discussions about the strategic future direction of AFT and we were grateful for the work of the Strategic Planning Group in focusing our thoughts on our strengths and future needs.  The future of training was reviewed and it was felt important  to move away from the debate on the mid-level training qualification to a revised structure which would develop systemic skills in a modular fashion, allowing individuals to build up sufficient credits to move on to the 4 year training.  A working group will be formed called the “Training and Workforce Development Group” to discuss this further.  If you are interested in taking part please let Sue Kennedy know.  The question of fund-raising was also on the agenda to support specific pieces of work.  Again if you are interested in looking at how AFT can raise funds or know someone who might be able to help, then please get in touch.  We are looking to advertise posts for specific short-term projects and pieces of work, as and when needed, in this changing climate, so please keep your eye on the job advertisements page of the AFT website.  Whilst talking about raising funds, we would like to thank the member who donated £1,750 to AFT through gift aid, which meant we could claim the tax back on top of this.  This generous donation was much appreciated.  A gift aid form is available on the members area of the website.

Many thanks to the Surrey Branch for hosting the Eileen Jamieson workshop in March this year.  We are now looking for a Branch to host the 2009 Eileen Jamieson Day in memory of Eileen Jamieson past Chair of AFT.  AFT will help support the event financially, so that delegate fees are subsidised to make the workshop as accessible as possible to members.  If any Branches are interested in doing this, please let us know.   

Enjoy the summer and please remember to book for the Manchester Conference in September. 

With my best wishes
Dorothy Ramsay
Chair AFT
Email: Dorothy on  s.kennedy@aft.org.uk
Visit the website: www.aft.org.uk

P.S.  we now have an email discussion forum on disability if you are interested in taking part email : AFT_Disabilities-subscribe@googlegroups.com

AFT news April 2008

I hope you are enjoying the Spring, this year is going very quickly and we are certainly keeping busy at AFT  I shall try and give you some updates below.

Essay winner! - We are pleased to announce the winner of the 2007 student essay prize is Philippa Beale, from the University of Bristol.   The winning essay will be prepared for publication in a future issue of Context. 

Supervisors - Thank you to those who returned the audit form to remain on the list of approved supervisors.  This information will help us to develop a system of re-registration and CPD.  A list of those supervisors, who have agreed to their contact details going onto the website, has now been uploaded under http://www.aft.org.uk/professional/supervisor.asp  Have you visited the website recently?  Please do take a tour around and you will find out all sorts of interesting information.  Please encourage your Trust/Course to advertise with AFT.  Any adverts placed in Context are automatically placed on the website. 

Creative Initiative Fund - The next deadline for proposals will be the 30th June, please see further information on the website under Training and Development.  The purpose of this fund is to pump prime creative and novel initiatives which support the welfare of families by endorsing family therapy practice, teaching, and supervision and research projects in the UK.

UKCP Registration - We are informed that the same procedure will apply for UKCP re-registration for our AFT members this year as previously.  All registrants will receive their renewal form directly from UKCP.  As last year this must be returned to AFT with payment.  We are awaiting confirmation of the subscription this year, but cheques will need to be made payable to AFT Ltd.  The Chair of Registration must then countersign your renewal form to say that all is in order and we send the paperwork and payment on to UKCP.  The Registration committee has moved towards a 3 year cycle of reviewing registrant’s CPD (continuing professional development).  This means that as a full audit was conducted in 2005, a large number of members will be asked to complete this CPD review again this year.    A few Registrants will be asked to provide more information this year, where it was identified at the last CPD review that information given required follow up sooner, in terms of supervision, hours of practice, insurance cover, CRB check etc.  Those that need to complete a CPD review will receive a letter from the committee in April. 

Clinical Practice Hours - At the last Registration Committee it was agreed that the minimum number of hours clinical practice would be added to the CPD policy, the requirement is now:

- For the first 3 years after qualifying it is expected that the minimum clinical practice will be 12 hours per month.  (This is to be face to face hours with clients, not in partially reflecting teams.)

- After 3 years the minimum requirement would be 8 hours per month averaged over a 3 year period.

- Those that have been practicing for 10 years may remain on the UKCP register whilst only supervising other registrants, provided they make a special case to the registration committee and can demonstrate their CPD is up to date.  This includes many retired members.

Unite magazine – Well done to Theresa Hendra for getting a double page spread on “We are family” in the Unite Health union magazine for health professionals.  It is a lovely article about family therapy and a lovely photo of Theresa too.  For those who are not members of Unite we have put a copy on our website.

Cabinet Office Meeting - On Friday 7th March, Peter Stratton, Roger Stanbridge, Judith Lask and Jan Parker attended a meeting with the Cabinet Office Social Exclusion Task Force which went very well.  Jan Parker our Communications Officer writes: “Exciting news! Lead researchers from the Cabinet Office want to hear about AFT members’ work. Researchers with the Social Exclusion Task Force requested a meeting as part of their exploration of effective family-sensitive work in public services.
They were particularly interested in hearing about systemic work with families and drugs and alcohol misuse, ways of engaging marginalised families and communities, trainings in systemic skills and practice and the SCORE project (developing a short self-report measure of family functioning and change during therapy – visit AFT’s website at www.aft.org.uk for details). We also discussed the role of family and systemic psychotherapists in creative multi-disciplinary team working across service and sector boundaries, fitting services to families' needs rather than expecting families to fit services.
The discussions were part of the Cabinet Office’s 'Think Family' review, a rolling consultation and report process which, it hopes, will drive a radical 'shift in mindset' throughout public services to 'focus on the strengths and difficulties of the whole family rather than those of the parent or child in isolation'.
If you’d like the Government to know about the work of your team or service, please email details to me at janparker@aft.org.uk. AFT members’ contributions have informed and enriched our recent submissions to Government bodies and, it seems, we’ve sparked their curiosity and wetted their appetite to find out more.”

Branches - It is great to see the network of Branches thriving, as you will see in the special feature “Roots, shoots and branches” in this issue.  We are glad that new branches have now formed in Sussex and in South and West Wales.  South and West Wales will be holding their inaugural meeting on Thursday 24th April from 3.30pm.  Please email Tessa Jones for more information on Tessa.Jones@thefca.co.uk  If any other members feel they would like to form a Branch in their area and want to discuss this, then please contact the AFT office.  We are also looking for Branches to express their interest in hosting the 2009 AFT National Conference and 2009 Eileen Jamieson workshop.  Interested Branches are invited to do this by 12th May.

Northern Ireland Celebrations - We wish Northern Ireland every success with their 30th birthday celebrations and their workshop to celebrate this on the 16th May, facilitated by Arlene Vetere and Rudi Dallos.  Details of the workshop can be found on the website. 

In the next issue of Context we look forward to reporting on the Eileen Jamieson workshop that took place in Surrey on the 14th March and on my trip to Porto in Portugal to represent AFT at the IFTA (International Family Therapy conference).  There are some benefits to being Chair!

Best wishes

Dorothy Ramsay

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AFT news February 2008

I hope 2008 is proving to be a good year for you. Since the last AFT news there has been a lot of activity happening at AFT and we have really been raising the profile of family therapy in what are exciting and interesting times.  The Cabinet Office have launched “Think Family: Improving the life chances of families at risk” and Peter Stratton attended the launch day.  The report flags up a radical shift in government thinking from supporting children and adults in isolation to a recognition of the importance of supporting all family members to break cycles of disadvantage and complex and often multiple problems they may have struggled with for generations.  We have put this report on the AFT website.  Every pathway is acceptable to get families to be empowered and I would like members to think about creative ways that AFT can raise funds, so that it can support more creative ideas. The Board will be discussing this at their next meeting on the 29th February, and talking to the Family and Parenting Institute.  If you have any comments on the report or ideas please let me know.

AFT’s submission to the Cabinet Office Social Exclusion Task Force, compiled by Jan Parker with contributions from many leading family and systemic psychotherapists, is also available to download from the AFT website (see  ‘Current Practice, Future Possibilities’, on the website’s News Updates page). AFT members are already using it as a training resource as well as a useful reference to the latest NICE and other guidelines which highlight the importance of Family Therapy and family interventions.                                                                                                               

We are grateful to Lorraine Davies-Smith and Mary Swainson who presented at a Westminster Briefing conference about family therapy.  This was well received and appreciated – well done to both of you.

In November I attended the “Psychological Therapies in the NHS conference” with Peter Stratton and Jan Parker.  AFT promoted the fact that family and systemic psychotherapy is one of the evidence-based psychological therapies, we welcomed the opportunity to contribute to discussions on the challenges and opportunities of evidence-based practice and hoped this would generate opportunities for further interdisciplinary collaboration.  AFT is now a signatory to the New Savoy Declaration, which congratulates the Government for its commitment to improving access to psychological therapies , calls for people to be given a choice of appropriate, evidence-based therapies and urges the Government to invest in their further development and evaluation.

You may be pleased to hear that Professor Peter Stratton is currently updating the Report on the Evidence Base of Systemic Family Therapy document in his role as Academic and Research Development Officer for AFT.

Just before Christmas we heard about the Government plans to cut back on funding for students who are studying for a qualification which is at an equivalent or lower level than one that they already have, which will affect the majority of students on family therapy training.  AFT responded to the Higher Education Funding Council consultation seeking exemption from withdrawal of funding for students embarking on trainings in Family Therapy, stating the case that to not do so would not only jeopardise the trainings of essential workers in UK health, education and social services but also the health and well-being of the vulnerable children, adults, families and communities they are trained to work with and for. This would fly in the face of the Government’s recognition of the importance of developing such trainings and services.  The AFT response to the consultation is on the AFT website.

We are in communication with UKCP over the draft secondary legislation, which would take 'practitioner psychologists' into regulation by the Health Professions Council (HPC).  More information on this can be found on the department of health website http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Consultations/Liveconsultations/DH_081518 

One of the priorities for UKCP is to decide how to manage the response to these consultations.  James Antrican, Chair of UKCP, says “It is envisaged that we will need to create a system of cascading responses to consultations that relies on communication to maintain our solidarity. We also have to show how we embrace the diversity of responses that may come from our registrants, MO's, Sections/Colleges and Central UKCP. The future shape of the UKCP will be determined not only by the responses to and outcome to these consultations, but how we manage them. Ultimately our role as Voluntary Regulator is in the process of being changed for ever.”

Other committees within AFT continue with their stirling work and if you feel you would like to get involved with the work of AFT please contact myself or Sue Kennedy at the AFT Office, as more help is always welcome.  We must thank Isobel Reilly for her work as Chair of the CRED committee.  Isobel has performed this role with the highest degree of professionalism and a diligent eye to detail.  We are pleased she has agreed to remain on the committee and are grateful to Annie Turner and Paula Boston for agreeing to take over this role in a co-chairing capacity. 

There are a number of Branch workshops taking place around the country, do look on the website under “About AFT” to find details of your local branch and forthcoming activities.  In the next issue of Context I look forward to reporting on the Wales Day to take place on 24th January in Cardiff.  This is an opportunity for members and those interested in family and systemic work in Wales and surrounding areas to come together and look at the benefits of forming a branch or support group, to meet the needs of people in this area of the UK. 

Here’s to a busy and exciting year.  I look forward to keeping in touch with you.

Dorothy Ramsay

Chair

AFT news December 2007

We have now had our EFTA/AFT 2007 conference in Glasgow. This was a very busy and lively conference, both academically and socially, with a great atmosphere.  We would like to thank people for their comments and it is good to see that so many people enjoyed it.  One member wrote:

“Congratulations to all of you for the way the event went. I thought it was fantastic in many ways. I enjoyed the different presentations, workshops, stimulating discussions, the networking and re-connecting with friends and colleagues in the field.”

At the conference we had our AGM and I was elected as Chair of AFT.   I thought it may be helpful if I told you a little about myself.

I have worked for 16 years as a full time therapist, both in a prison and a University in Wales, and have spent the past 10 years within psychology service in the NHS. Where sadly the change is more into the direction of diagnosis and expert knowledge, contrary to our systemic aspirations. I have also worked in the past as a volunteer counsellor and a negotiator in neighbourhood disputes and as a Lecturer in Art.  My own narrative has been coloured by dyslexia, which tried to tell me that I could not be academic.  However, I have had to alter my set of stories now that I hold two MA’s.  I found in my academic training, first as a person-centred counsellor, and subsequently as a systemic family therapist, no great conflict between the basic philosophies of both models, which is to respect and listen to others.  As Chair of AFT I look forward to listening to you, the membership, to see how we need to take AFT forward over the next few years.  Please write or email me at the AFT office and I look forward to meeting you at AFT workshops and conferences.

As Chair I am looking forward to working with Erica Widdowson, who was elected as Treasurer, the Board and Executive.  We have to say a very big thank you to Barbara Warner and Robert McCandless for all the work they have done for AFT as Chair and Treasurer respectively, but are very glad to know that they will still remain as Board members and it is great news that Barbara has agreed to take over the role of Chair of the Ethics Committee. Details of the current Board membership can be found on the AFT website.  If you have not looked at the AFT website recently then can I encourage you to do so: www.aft.org.uk  We are working to make this more informative for the public, training courses, employers and our membership, who will soon have their own password protected area.   

We would like to thank those members who have donated via Gift Aid to AFT, see details on the members section of the website.  We would also like to acknowledge the kind donation from our members in the Norfolk area.  Unfortunately the Norfolk Branch closed some time ago. but we are grateful for the transfer of funds from their bank account to our creative initiative fund and the fund will be £457.56 better off because of this.  We do still have an active branch in East Anglia, contact Ian Lea for more information ian.lea@nemhpt.nhs.uk   

We are now looking forward to 2008 and the workshops and conferences we have planned.  In March the Surrey AFT will be holding the Eileen Jamieson Workshop and details can be found on the inside back cover of this issue.  The Leeds Family Therapy Centre and AFT are hosting a joint evidence based practice two day workshop on the 22nd and 23rd May 2008.  In September we have our National Conference in Manchester, so please remember to put the 12th and 13th September in your diary.  The organising committee are currently calling for workshop proposals and abstracts, the theme being "Linking the old and the new" regeneration within therapies and therapists.  Having two Welsh grandchildren, I am very enthusiastic about the possibility of creating our new branch in Wales.  Members in Wales are holding an initial meeting to discuss forming a Branch on 24 January 2008 at the University of Glamorgan.  As I worked at the University of Glamorgan for three years as student and staff counsellor, it will be really nice for me to visit my old haunts.

I would like to end by wishing you all the very best for the New Year.

Dorothy Ramsay

Chair AFT

To all members of AFT

Thank you from Barbara Warner

Those of you who were present at the AGM at the Glasgow EFTA-AFT Conference will have seen that Iwas presented with gifts from AFT following my 3 year term as Chair of the Association. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time as Chair, have met many of you and been incredibly well supported by all the AFT staff - Sue Kennedy in particular, the Executive and Board. Thank you all for your support and for the gifts, the AFT Chairs' paperweight which takes pride of place on my desk, some very pretty earrings and a theatre voucher which I shall enjoy spending. I look forward to my continuing involvement as post-Chair and Chair of the Ethics Committee.

With very best wishes. Barbara Warner