Please note: this page is here for historical reasons.
The AUCC Service Recognition scheme was subsumed into the BACP Service Accreditation Scheme in 2004.
AUCC COUNSELLING SERVICE ASSESSMENT AND RECOGNITION SCHEME
As a minimum the service should provide:
1.1 Individual counselling (as defined within the BAC Code of Ethics and Practice) to students for educational, personal, developmental and relationship issues. This must be provided by counsellors meeting the standards set out in section 7 "Staffing" and who have specific time designated for counselling and a suitable setting in which to work. The service must be free at the point of use. Sessions should normally be a minimum of 45 minutes.
1.2 Consultation to staff considering whether, or how, to refer someone for counselling. Counsellors should be aware of potential boundary issues, role-conflicts, etc. which may arise through such work and should ensure that their practice is ethical in this regard.
1.3 Referral to other services. The counsellors within the service should recognise where counselling is not appropriate and supportively refer individuals on to agencies (e.g. psychiatric services, G.P.) which are more suited to their needs. Links should be established with local medical and psychiatric services for consultation and referral.
The Service should be sufficiently embedded within the institution. It should be an integral part of it not simply an "add-on" or on the periphery. Where services are outsourced contracts must explicitly address all of the areas outlined for service recognition. At the same time services must retain the degree of separateness necessary to a counselling service. Effective management of the tension between integration and separation is seen as a central task of any service.
As a minimum the Service must provide feedback to the institution about the changing emotional climate of the institution, the impact of institutional practices, etc. This feedback should be provided with an awareness of the institutional dynamics and in such a way that client confidentiality is not breached. There is an expectation that such feedback should be offered on at least an annual basis.
Counselling is an activity with ethics at its core. There should therefore be systems or structures in place to ensure that the work of the service and the work of the individual counsellors is ethical. The following minimum standards apply:
3.1 Code of ethics. Counsellors should work to a specified, professional code of ethics (e.g. BAC, COSCA, BPS, UKCP) appropriate to their training and role. An agreement should have been reached between the institution and the service as to which code individual counsellors are expected to work to and the institution is expected to support them in working to it.
3.2 Professional consultation or supervision. In view of the nature of the work, crisis, short-term focused and long term, it is vital to good practice that there is designated time for the review of casework. Counsellors must monitor and develop their professional work through regular consultation with an appropriately trained professional. Supervisors must be trained and experienced members of a cognate profession. The supervisor should not have any other working relationship within the Institution with the core counsellors, which might lead to a conflict of interest. The frequency of supervision should meet the requirements laid down in the code of ethics subscribed to.
3.3 Confidentiality. Confidentiality is a core factor in providing an environment within which clients feel safe enough to work. Any limits upon it therefore should be kept to a minimum and if feedback is given on the work of the service it should be done so in such a way that individual users cannot be identified. Services must clearly differentiate what is confidential to the counsellor, the service and the institution and should make this explicit to users or potential users. Safeguards against the loss, misuse or misappropriation of records must be in place. Receptionists and administrators who support the service also have a duty to maintain confidentiality. At all times confidentiality should be maintained in accordance with the code of ethics subscribed to. The Data Protection Act must be complied with.
3.4 Boundaries. All counsellors have a responsibility to maintain clear boundaries. Those who have additional roles have a particular duty to ensure that they maintain clear boundaries between their counselling and any other work. The institution is expected to support them in this.
3.5 Disturbed and disturbing clients The Service should have systems in place for supporting counsellors working with clients who are: at risk of suicide; highly disturbed; or involved in critical incidents. Such systems should comply with the principles advocated in the AUCC Advisory Service discussion document.
3.6 Workloads To ensure high standards of practice full time counsellors should not normally exceed 20 therapeutic-hours work per week or five hours per day or whichever is the lesser (part-timers pro rata). Where there is a head of service he or she should have fewer client contact hours in order to undertake management responsibilities.
3.7 Insurance. There should be a clear and explicit agreement that professional indemnity and public liability cover is provided by the institution.
The setting of a service is a major factor in how "safe" people perceive it to be. Many potential users are less likely to approach a service if the setting is such that they are likely to feel exposed. The layout and furnishings similarly can convey important messages about the values underpinning the service. As a minimum the following apply:
4.1 Location. The service should be accessible yet discreetly located. Where either of these are in any way compromised the service should take active steps to minimise the effect.
4.2 Counselling rooms should be dedicated for the purpose and should be adequately private and soundproof. They should be furnished to create an atmosphere conducive to counselling. Change of room is disruptive to the counselling process and should therefore be kept to a minimum. It is essential that counselling sessions are safe from the threat of interruption.
4.3 Any waiting areas should be sufficiently discreet and appropriately furnished.
4.4 Any reception areas should be located and designed in such a fashion that they recognise clients' needs for privacy.
4.5. Security. Practice arrangements should ensure adequate physical safety for clients and service staff.
5.1 Publicity material and pre-counselling information should comply with the BAC code of ethics and practice.
5.2 First contact. The service must provide a suitable first point of contact for students, members of staff, concerned relatives, academic tutors, etc. This individual should be accessible but contacting them should not have to be a "high-profile" event. The individual concerned must have the ability to work within a tightly boundaried environment in which the maintenance of confidentiality is paramount and to be experienced and confident in working with those in distress. During working hours the service should remain open and accessible when the counsellors are not available.
5.3 Appointment systems should be adequately private and confidential.
The service should seek to be as accessible as possible to all potential users and should as a minimum:
6.1 Have an awareness of to whom it is less accessible and why.
6.2 Have a strategy for meeting the needs of these people in the immediate term and for improving accessibility in the longer term.
6.3 Have an awareness of the race, gender, disability balance of its users as compared with the balance in the institution overall.
In order for a service to be purposeful, coherent and sufficiently embedded a core counselling staff is a necessity and the minimum requirements apply.
7.1 Core counsellors must have achieved a sufficient level of training and experience to be eligible for accreditation by BAC, COSCA, UKCP, or BPS.
It is good practice for them to be registered or accredited and to have experience and training relevant to issues specific to the client population (e.g. psychology of learning, transitions, etc.) In order to safeguard against vulnerable clients being abandoned core counsellors should be on contracts which ensure continuity of service throughout the year and from year to year.
7.2 Additional staff
Where any of the following work in or on behalf of the Service, the following minimum requirements apply:
7.21 Part-time counsellors. The expectation is that part-time counsellors make a significant contribution to all aspects of the service including attending staff meetings, policy discussions and strategic planning. Contracts of employment should therefore be at least 20% pro rata.
7.22 Other counsellors. Where services employ temporary, sessional, newly qualified, trainee counsellors, etc. their work should be supported by permanent counselling staff. They should be appropriately inducted and systems should be in place to ensure they are adequately integrated into the service. Temporary, sessional, newly qualified, trainee counsellors, etc. should not normally exceed 30% of the total therapeutic hours of the service. Contracts should normally be for not less than a year because of the need to provide continuity of service and, where necessary, long term support for students.
7.23 Trainees on Placement. The AUCC Guidelines on trainee placements must be complied with. Services considering offering placements should study the guidelines carefully before proceeding since not all services are deemed suitable.
7.24 Senior counsellor / head of service should be involved in the work of relevant professional associations and engage in professional development for their management as well as their counselling role. If not already registered with, or accredited by, BACP, COSCA, BPS or UKCP they should be in the process of seeking accreditation or registration.
7.25 Secretarial, administrative and reception support staff must have the ability to work within an environment in which the maintenance of confidentiality is paramount. Reception staff must be experienced and confident in working with those in distress.
7.3 Staff Development All staff should be supported in their work in the service through appropriate training and staff development.
7.4 Recruitment A condition of Recognition is that for all appointments of counsellors an experienced and qualified counsellor must be a member of the appointment panel.
What distinguishes a counselling service from a collection of counsellors is a sense of coherence and joint purposefulness in their work. In addition to counsellors reflecting on their own work individually therefore there should be joint reflection on the work of the service as a whole and its overall direction. Specifically the service should:
8.1 Monitor its work through the collection of statistics on its use, and reflect upon the meaning of these statistics.
8.2 Seek feedback from users and potential users on the services it provides and reflect on this feedback.
8.3 Manage the demand made upon it - particularly where the demand exceeds the current resources.
8.4 Co-ordinate its work
8.5 Evaluate its work and act upon the basis of this evaluation.
1. On payment of the administration fee services will be provided with a Service Recognition Pack comprising: Application form; Assessor Nomination form; Assessment and Recognition Criteria; Assessment and Recognition Procedure; List of Assessors.
2. The Service assesses itself in each of the areas identified. In each case it decides whether it meets the minimum requirements and identifies areas of strength and weakness. It gives reasons for its decisions and identifies evidence to support them .
3. On the basis of its overall assessment it decides whether it meets all the minimum criteria and thus can seek recognition. If it does not meet one or more of the minimum criteria but considers itself still to be safe and ethical it may opt to put a case for an exception. In such a case it must demonstrate that it still provides a safe, coherent and integrated service and provide evidence in support of this. The Service writes a detailed self-assessment, an overview of its strengths and weaknesses, and requests recognition if it judges itself eligible. A Service which does not consider itself eligible for recognition may still opt to proceed with assessment.
4. Services wishing to proceed with assessment send the AUCC:
5. The Service Recognition sub-committee allocates an assessor. This assessor and the Service’s first choice assessor are asked to confirm their willingness and ability to assess. Both must return “no interest” declarations. Where assessors are unable to assess, alternative assessors will be sought. The Service-nominated assessors will be taken in the order of preference indicated by the Service.
6. The assessors consider the self-assessment document and evidence, requesting any supplementary evidence and planning the assessment visit.
7. The assessors visit the Service and compare the self-assessment with their observations of the Service in operation. Towards the end of the visit the assessors offer verbal feedback. This may include identifying criteria where the assessors consider there is insufficient evidence to support the self-assessment. The Service may respond verbally, producing further evidence where possible. Subsequently the assessors will indicate what they are minded to recommend.
8. The assessors write a commentary on the Service and the Service’s self-assessment and send it to the Service. The Service may offer corrections to any inaccuracies in the commentary. Where a Service has requested recognition the assessors make a recommendation for or against. The Service and the Service Recognition sub-committee are advised of the assessors’ recommendation.
9. If the Service does not agree with the assessors’ recommendation it may appeal against it. It shall do so by making a written submission to the Service Recognition sub-committee outlining its grounds for appeal.
10. The final decision to confer or withhold recognition lies with the Service Recognition sub-committee.
11. The only grounds for appeal against the decision of the sub-committee are that there have been material irregularities in the assessment procedure. Such an appeal should be submitted in writing to the Chair of the AUCC who will decide whether or not to refer it back to the Service Recognition sub-committee for further consideration.
12. The Service retains a copy of the approved assessment, overview and commentary. A second copy is held by the AUCC together with copies of the detailed, annotated assessments.
13. Services renew their recognition annually by completing a return outlining any major changes and confirming that the Service still meets the minimum requirements. At that time a Recognition renewal fee shall be payable.
14. Re-recognition to take place every five years. This process to be the same as the recognition process.
15. Where it is brought to AUCC’s attention that minimum standards are not being maintained it reserves the right to review the situation and where necessary withdraw recognition.