From the BACP team
‘We need to ensure that members experience a welcoming and inclusive organisation’
To support this vision further BACP piloted a mentoring scheme where members volunteered to become mentors to trainee practitioners. The participants of this scheme were invited from ethnic minority backgrounds, and a total of 30 pairs were matched for the duration of nine months, providing support to the students who were able to consult and discuss challenges of becoming a professional counsellor in the context of EDI. In November 2023 we organised an online training to enable training institutions, their programme leadership and the course trainers to learn how to put into practice the learnings from the toolkit produced by the Coalition for Inclusion and Anti-Oppressive Practice, of which BACP is a member and a contributor. This is in addition to a series of anti-racism podcasts, produced in collaboration with Hackney Borough Council, available on the BACP website. This year our focus is on development of EDI criteria in line with the SCoPEd project for our accredited courses and services, and to increase accessibility within our accreditation application assessment services. In addition we are planning to undertake several third sector grant projects to further explore barriers to
For this month’s column our CEO, Phil James, has asked me (Dr Lisa Morrison Coulthard) to update members on what we have been doing across the organisation to deliver our equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) strategy. I’ve asked our Project Manager (Designated Funds), Marzena Hunter, who oversees all of the project work under the strategy, to co-write the column. To recap, in early 2023 we launched our EDI strategy outlining key strategic goals and long- term commitments to the improvement of EDI for the profession of the future. Social justice is at the heart of our strategy, and we are fully committed to its promotion and progression. Social justice means many things to many people, but for us it is about ensuring that anyone who needs counselling will be able to access equitable, ethical and e ff ective support. The development of the EDI strategy was a collaborative e ff ort with the input from BACP’s Senior Leadership Team and the specially formed Task and Finish Group made up of BACP members who provided expert advice and practical steps. The full EDI strategy document can be accessed from the BACP website. Fundamentally, the strategy is focused on ensuring that the counselling professions are
welcoming and inclusive organisation that facilitates a sense of belonging, with members identifying themselves as being part of BACP because it re fl ects who they are, what they stand for and their values and beliefs. To con fi rm our commitment to the delivery of the EDI strategy, designated funds of £1.3 million have been ring-fenced for a portfolio of 21 EDI-focused projects to be delivered over the period of fi ve years. The delivery of the strategy is being governed by a number of internal groups such as the EDI Steering Group, Designated Funds Project Board and the steering groups of individual projects whose membership includes external partnering organisations and BACP members. One of the key ongoing projects is the bursaries pilot scheme, which o ff ers BACP sponsorship for students from marginalised and ethnic minority backgrounds to support their training. For the pilot a total of 10 bursaries were o ff ered – fi ve at entry level for students starting their career path into the profession, and fi ve at progression level for students working towards becoming fully quali fi ed. This project supports our EDI strategy vision in removing and addressing barriers to training, entry to the counselling professions and access to paid employment.
relevant to all in our diverse society by removing barriers to the professions so they are re fl ective of the communities we serve. Barriers that prevent the growth and development of therapists also need to be removed, supporting a skilled, competent and diverse workforce to deliver therapy to people from all sections of society. From an organisational perspective, we need to ensure that members experience a
counselling services for people from diverse and marginalised backgrounds within the voluntary sector. These are just a few examples of the EDI strategic projects that BACP is involved with. We are proud to pioneer some of the innovative ways of supporting our aims and our vision for EDI transformation within our
organisation and within the counselling profession. ■
Marzena Hunter Project Manager (Designated Funds)
6 THERAPY TODAY MAY 2024
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