Announcement of SCoPEd Oversight Committee Chair
Partners from across counselling and psychotherapy professions welcome Paul Buckley as the first independent Chair and Experts by Experience for SCoPEd Oversight Committee
The unique SCoPEd partnership has successfully appointed an independent Chair to lead the next phase in the development of the first shared framework of standards for counselling and psychotherapy with adults. Membership of the SCoPEd Oversight Committee (SOC) has been widened to include four Experts by Experience (EbE).
Former General Medical Council (GMC) Director of Strategy and Policy, Paul Buckley, has been appointed to the new role of Independent Chair. He will now Chair the SOC, which leads on and agrees strategic decisions in relation to the SCoPEd framework.
Paul has recently retired after 25 years with the GMC, where he had an impressive track record of leading major reforms, including education and standards.
Paul has worked successfully with senior leaders from many major UK healthcare organisations in a variety of contexts.
The SCoPEd Oversight Committee includes the Chief Executive of each of the seven partners and its role is to lead on and agree strategic decisions in relation to the framework.
In his new role as SOC Chair, Paul will work closely with the Chief Executives of the partners, along with the Chair of the SCoPEd technical group, to help navigate the challenges and opportunities of the shared framework and build on the new collaboration.
Paul said: “I’m looking forward to working with the seven partners on this important initiative and recognise the unique characteristics of these professions and the importance of reflecting the different traditions, approaches and contexts in which counsellors and psychotherapists work.”
“It is a huge privilege to have been appointed as the first independent Chair of the SCoPEd Oversight Committee. SCoPEd is a really important and ambitious initiative that reflects broader developments in the health and well-being landscape as well as my own values, with the recent expansion to seven partner organisations enabling a step change in increasing the reach of the work.
“The counselling and psychotherapy professions are playing a vital role in helping the UK in its post-Covid recovery and the development of SCoPEd is a key part of that. A shared framework that reflects and promotes the very important work therapists do will be greatly valued by clients, employers and commissioners alike.”
In a joint statement, the Chief Executives of the seven SCoPEd partners said: “Paul shares our passion for advancing the profession and our values of equality, diversity and inclusion and will play a hugely important role as the first independent Chair of the SCoPEd Oversight Committee.
“His considerable experience in strategic leadership, change management and professional standards speaks for itself, and will make a real contribution to the future of counselling and psychotherapy professionals working with adults.”
The expansion of the SOC to include Experts by Experience will ensure that the needs of clients, patients and service users from all backgrounds are reflected in the framework. The EbE reflect a rich diversity of genders, ages, characteristics and life experience. Together they represent a variation in mental health journeys, spanning NHS, third and private sectors and various modalities. The project will further benefit from the breadth of their respective service user networks.
The seven SCoPEd partner organisations are;
- Association of Christian Counsellors (ACC)
- Association of Child Psychotherapists (ACP)
- British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP)
- British Psychoanalytic Council (BPC)
- Human Givens Institute (HGI)
- National Counselling Society (NCS)
- UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP).
