1.1 This Bye Law sets out the minimum criteria that an applicant, who is a qualified and experienced clinician, must meet in order to be accredited as a psychotherapist and accepted as a member of the Irish Association of Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapy (IAHIP). These criteria have been drawn up so as to comply with the standards of IAHIP, ICP and EAP.

1.2 To be accredited as a psychotherapist and accepted as a member of IAHIP, an applicant must:

a) be able to demonstrate that they practise psychotherapy from a humanistic and integrative ethos, and

b) give specific undertakings as to their professional and ethical practice if accredited.

1.3 The humanistic and integrative nature of an applicant’s practice is ascertained through:

a) evidence of at least 4 years of training in psychotherapy, whilst also meeting the criteria in Clause 2 below; and

b) evidence of continuous membership of a relevant professional body for at least 5 years; and

c) evidence of relevant Continuing Professional Development; and

d) a comprehensive report from the applicant's current supervisor(s); and

e) a personal statement demonstrating how they practise psychotherapy in a humanistic and integrative way.

1.4 For the purposes of accreditation, a psychotherapy or supervision ‘hour’ is a session of 50-60 minutes duration. A combination of shorter sessions that accumulate to 50-60 minutes does not qualify.

2.1 You must provide evidence that your psychotherapy training includes postgraduate psychotherapy training.

2.2 Core training that was not taught at postgraduate level (NFQ Level 9 or EU/UK Level 7) must be supplemented by (a) subsequent postgraduate psychotherapy qualification(s). (NB: a combination of undergraduate qualifications will not suffice.)

2.3 All the criteria outlined in Appendix 1 (which is available on the IAHIP website) for Bye Law 2D must be met.

3.1 During training and since then, there must be a total of at least 250 hours of psychotherapy undertaken as a client.

3.2 Of these 250 hours, minimum requirements are:

a) Individual Psychotherapy: 120 hours, and

b) Group Psychotherapy or Process Group: 60 hours

3.3 Evidence is only required to demonstrate that the applicant has attended at least 20 hours of psychotherapy as a client in the five years immediately prior to application. Whether individual psychotherapy, group psychotherapy or process group, it must have been conducted by either:

a) an IAHIP accredited psychotherapist, or

b) a suitably qualified psychotherapist accredited by an equivalent professional organisation, and who pursue their own practice from a humanistic and integrative ethos.

4.1 A minimum of 200 hours of clinical practice of psychotherapy are required in the two years immediately prior to application.

4.2 All clinical practice hours must have been supervised in accordance with the provisions of this Bye Law.

4.3 Time spent in consultation with or offering psychological support to a client’s partner, parents/guardians, friends or family, or in consultation with another professional (social worker, doctor, etc.), does not count towards clinical practice hours for the purposes of accreditation.

5.1 A minimum of 20 hours of clinical supervision must have been received during the two years immediately prior to application.

5.2 Supervision can be either individual, or in group, or a combination of both.

5.2.1 Where supervision is in a group, the group must not exceed four supervisees. Each supervisee must have the opportunity to make a meaningful presentation and must receive one hour of credit for each hour of group supervision. Group supervision sessions must last at least 30 minutes per supervisee (eg 90 minutes for a group of three supervisees, or 120 minutes for a group of four supervisees). This does not imply that time must be strictly allocated equally to each individual.

5.3 Didactic supervision (e.g. clinical seminars) may be included as supervision of clinical practice, up to a maximum of 5 hours of the required minimum of 20 hours.

5.4 A full current supervisor’s report is required.

6.1 All supervisors, whether individual or group supervisors, must be either:

a) IAHIP accredited supervisors, or

b) supervisors accredited as such by other equivalent organisations acceptable to IAHIP*, and who agree to work in a way that is congruent with the supervisee’s orientation as a humanistic and integrative psychotherapist. (*Check the IAHIP website for the current list.)

6.2 There must be a clear distinction between line management and clinical supervision. The avoidance of dual relationships provides maximum benefit for the supervisee and protects the integrity of the supervisory relationship. Supervision should not have a disciplinary function, which it is inevitably open to if the supervisor is also a line manager. Therefore, for accreditation purposes, an applicant who received supervision from a line manager, or other person with similar authority, cannot count these supervision hours towards accreditation.

7.1 Applicants who are applying for accreditation must give evidence of at least 20 hours of continued professional development as psychotherapists in the two years immediately prior to application.

7.2 Acceptable forms of CPD can be from any combination of at least two of the following four categories:

a) attendance at additional or advanced training programmes or workshops directly related to the theory and practice of psychotherapy; or

b) writing and publishing an article related to psychotherapy in a peer-reviewed journal (such as Inside Out). Each published article counts here as 10 CPD hours. Writing and publishing a book related to psychotherapy counts here as 15 CPD hours; or

c) additional psychotherapy as a client over and above the 20 hours outlined in Clause 3.3 above; or

d) additional clinical supervision hours over and above the 20 hours of supervision outlined in Clause 5 above.

8.1 All applicants for accreditation must provide evidence of current adequate professional indemnity insurance for their practice as psychotherapists.

9.1 All applicants for accreditation as a psychotherapist and membership of IAHIP must undertake:

a) to abide by the Codes of Ethics and Practice of IAHIP, and

b) to present themselves for re-accreditation as IAHIP requires, and

c) to renew their membership of IAHIP annually, and

d) to demonstrate commitment to ongoing professional development, and

e) to be committed to maintaining appropriate ongoing supervision and support in accordance with IAHIP requirements, and

f) to ensure they maintain adequate and up-to-date professional indemnity insurance for their practice as psychotherapists.

10.1 The Accreditation Committee is the competent body to implement this Bye Law in accordance with the provisions of Bye Law 2, and the decisions of the Accreditation Committee as to whether an applicant for accreditation fulfils the conditions of membership shall, subject to the right of appeal below, be final.

10.2 Applicants for accreditation, whose applications are refused by the Accreditation Committee, may appeal this decision if the Committee did not properly follow its own procedures. The appeal must be made in accordance with the procedure for Appeals set out in Bye Law 10A and must be made within 20 working days of receipt of the decision being appealed.