Season’s Greetings to you all!

I expect this will be finding its way into your inbox with only a few days to go to Christmas, so I hope you all have a good break and a renewal of energy to greet 2013.  Just to let you know that the office will be closed from 21st December and reopening on the 2nd January and I shall be heading off to warmer climes for a couple of weeks in January so you will have a delay in replies to any emails during this time.

Work continues behind the scenes on ACAT’s plans – and I have tried to give you a flavour of the main themes with which the members of the committees are tasked.  To that end I would like to highlight vacancies for Trustees for ACAT.  This is a crucial role as Trustees oversee the governance of ACAT, ensuring that we meet our charitable principles, that we use our money wisely and generally do what we’re meant to do, well.  Trustees meet four or five times a year in London and may have some contact at other times.  When we hold the AGM in March there will be four vacancies for the Board of Trustees without office and one vacancy for the Board of Trustees with office – Vice Chair of ACAT.

Anyone interested in these roles should complete the nomination form which will be posted to all members in mid January – and will also be available on the website from this time.  This should be returned to Susan Van Baars at the ACAT Office (ACAT, PO Box 6793, Dorchester DT1 9DL) before Monday 18th February, 2013.

There is information on the website about the role of Trustee which may be helpful:  http://www.acat.me.uk/page/trustees but if you would also like to talk to someone about the role before applying then please contact Susan.

ACAT’s Board of Trustees is made up of a maximum of twelve people and they are elected by full members of ACAT at the AGM. Two of these twelve can be lay people (i.e. non-ACAT members; people perhaps who represent the patient’s voice or that of the NHS or the third sector) and nominations are warmly invited from both members and non-members.

Click here to download a copy of this Newsletter in PDF format

Contents

• News in brief from the Committees
• Change for the Better – Ebook edition
• A new voice in the office
• Copyright and the Library
• ACAT 2012-13 – a cunning plan!
• User/public involvement strategy
• Talking of football ...
• Website changes
• Calling all trainees – representation within ACAT
• Cynthia Pollard – a well earned retirement
• Pop up data collection
• Research strategy
• Accreditation scheme for assured voluntary registers
• ACAT in the news
• Radical self love.org
• Conference 2012 – podcasts and PowerPoint presentations
• CPD programme
• Towergate
• Talking about CAT campaign

News in brief from the committees

• Next exam board:  Friday, 8 March, 2013 with a closing date for accreditation applications of 15th February 2013
• There has been an ongoing discussion about the modularisation of Practitioner Training but it has been decided to put this on hold for the time being, and to continue with the present arrangements.
• The next international conference is being planned and waiting for final confirmation but it is likely to be 3-5 October 2013 in Malaga.  The theme being considered is “Identity in Relationships in a Changing World”.  As soon as we have further news we will let you know.
• Look out for The Journal of Psychological Therapies in Primary Care.  This is published by Karnack, and Tina Griffiths has been in receipt of information about its development, and has an article in the first edition which was published in November.
• Calling all trainees – the search is on for a new Trainee Representative.  See the article later on!

Change for the Better – E-book edition

Change for the Better is now in its fourth edition – it was celebrated at the Manchester conference when Liz brought copies of all the previously published editions.  How many do you recognise or own?!

This new 4th edition is selling well, and is now available in an electronic version from ebooks.com.  It can be downloaded from ebooks.com onto Kindle Fire, Kobo, Mac, Android, Sony Reader and Apple.

Liz McCormick writes:  “If anyone is prepared to write a review of the 4th edition and post it on Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com this edition will begin collecting its stars!  I’m not sure how good a selling point it is but the 2nd and 3rd editions already have a number of stars, and it's all about introducing CAT to the wider world of self help and training.
Thank you!“  Liz

A new voice in the office

Some of you may know that we have had a change of personnel in the office.  Frances Free left us in June, but continues to be involved with ACAT, working with colleagues in Manchester.  Meanwhile, we are delighted to let you know that Maria Cross has joined Sue in Dorchester, working from  Monday to Wednesday 9-5.  Maria’s email is maria.cross@acat.me.uk Her main roles are around the administration of CPD events, the Exam Board, Supervisor Training and Conference 2013 together with other general administration work.

She was thrown in at the deep end, and able to meet about a quarter of the CAT membership at the Manchester Conference.  I’m pleased to let you know that despite this trial by conference, she agreed to stay and is getting to grips with all things CAT like.

COPYRIGHT AND THE LIBRARY

I am sure you will all be relieved to know that the difficulties with the library have finally been resolved.  I have learnt more about Copyright Law in the UK than is good for my health but you will see that if you log on to the website that articles are reappearing. 

The layout is slightly different.  If an article is available, you will see this notice:

IMPORTANT LEGAL INFORMATION [Copyright Licence]

Ryle, A. and Golynkina, K. (2000) 'Effectiveness of time-limited cognitive analytic therapy of borderline personality disorder: Factors associated with outcome', British Journal of Medical Psychology 73 pp 197-210.

You may download this article for Your Own Personal CPD use by clicking on the PDF Icon/Link below and saving the document to your computer. In order to comply with our Copyright Licence we record this download and will include the record of the download in our anonymised report to CLA. No personal information is passed onto the CLA.

You are not permitted to make further copies or distribute this document without written permission from ACAT. You can read the full agreement here.

You can then download the article for your personal use but the terms of our licence is such that you must not send this on electronically to another recipient, or photocopy it for anyone else.  When a paper is selected, you will notice that other related references appear in the right hand column.  Where a copy of that paper is available, you will see a small down load symbol with a green arrow.   We are ordering as many papers as are available – there will be a small number that we cannot acquire, either because they all appear in the same journal (you can have only one paper from a journal edition), or because there are copyright restrictions emanating from the publisher.  A few papers are freely available on the internet – we will be posting the link so that you can go to the paper direct.  Each paper costs ACAT between £30 and £70 so this will help alleviate some of the costs involved in establishing the library.  Once the peer-reviewed journal papers have been ordered, then I shall begin to order book chapters – these will be the individual chapters, not those in the CAT textbooks.

Please let me know if you publish any new CAT papers.  I shall add the reference, and order the paper.

ACAT 2012-2013 – a cunning plan!

One of the things I didn’t understand or appreciate when I started my job as Liaison Officer with ACAT was how the organisation worked.  I hope the series of articles I’ve written for the newsletter will have given you a little background knowledge of the function of the main committees but this time I wanted to give you a flavour of the current work being undertaken and summarised in the rather grand-sounding ‘Annual Strategic Plan’.    This reflects the work that we need to undertake as a charity, ensuring our governance procedures are up to date, meeting requirements laid down by the UKCP and potentially by the new external registration body, the Professional Standards Authority.  Other aims look at how we develop CAT in a wider sense – through research or by marketing – both ways of getting CAT better known in the wider world.

The aims for 2012-2013 are as follows:

• To develop and implement a marketing strategy
• To develop and implement a user / public involvement strategy
• To develop and implement a research strategy
• To review, modernise and put in place a robust system for dealing with complaints / ethical policy and procedure within ACAT
• To ensure ACAT Members are eligible for voluntary registration with PSA
• To review and update ACAT’s clinical guidelines regarding safeguarding and clinical risk assessment / management
• To review and update ACAT’s supervision statement to form a supervision policy that may fulfil future UKCP requirements for supervisor registration in terms of standards / grandparenting
• To advise and agree terms of reference for ACAT’s Committees (Training Committee, Exam Board, Council of Management)
• To establish a Risk Management Framework for ACAT

All of these overarching aims are broken down into more manageable objectives under four headings – a research strategy, marketing strategy, risk register and a user/public involvement strategy.

User/Public involvement strategy

One of the aspects of being a charity is that there has to be a ‘public benefit’.  To that end I would like to ask for your help.  Many of you who came to the conference will remember Nick Barnes’ work in London with Tottenham Football Club using CAT ideas to work with young men (who are not mental health clients) on a football project  - A Game of Two Halves.

What we don’t know is whether anybody else is involved in using CAT in ways beyond the standard settings for therapy and consultation?   I have scoured back issues of Reformulation to see if any other examples have been written about, but to no avail.  So, please email me if you have any experience or knowledge of how CAT is used in these other creative ways.  For example, a few years ago I organised a workshop on working with violent men with Steve Potter and Karen Shannon to which we invited people who worked in agencies associated with domestic abuse.   Steve Potter has also put on workshops which explore identity.  So there are any number of scenarios which take CAT ideas beyond the therapy room or institution – we’d love to hear about them, and maybe act as a resource to generate new ideas.

Talking of football....

Jurai Darongkamas writes: “At the conference in Manchester recently, I was inspired by Nick Barnes's presentation about using psychological concepts, including a CAT informed approach, in his work with adolescents as part of involving them in football. We set up a local football playing opportunity for men with mental health difficulties in our area and hence, to see how Nick has married the activity itself with psychological ideas was amazing. Just to let readers know that there are many benefits to be gained from the activity alone; so I think incorporating CAT informed ideas  is a great step. I would be happy if anyone wanted to contact me to make use of our local experience of setting up our scheme but I would encourage the further incorporation of psychological ideas as described by Nick.

For anyone who still remains to be thoroughly convinced, the reported benefits from exercise, sports and football in particular are reviewed in the article below (i.e., improved ability to cope, increased self confidence and esteem in a socially inclusive culture) as well as in other literature.

Darongkamas, J., Scott, H., Taylor, E., (2011). Kick starting men’s mental health: An evaluation of the effect of playing football on mental health service users’ wellbeing.  International Journal of Mental Health Promotion, 13, 3, 14-21.

Website

A year on from the redesign of the website, we have been looking to improve several aspects of the site, in particular the navigation and the event listing.  Look out for changes and don’t forget to let us know if you have particular problems.  When you are used to the site, you stop seeing the difficulties that other people have!

Calling all trainees - trainee representation within ACAT

Until now, the trainees’ voice on ACAT’s committees has been limited to one trainee representing all the courses but in discussion with the current rep, Petros Lekkos, we have decided that we need to improve this aspect of communication.  It is proposed that a national Committee of Trainees is formed, with a representative from each course appointed.  Reps on the committee would feed any issues to the lead Trainee Rep on ACAT’s Council of Management, and that Rep would also cascade information back to the course reps for the rest of the trainees.  A Chatterbox facility will also be created on the website.  Petros will stay on as Rep until another trainee is appointed – but he has now been accredited, so we need to find someone else as soon as possible.  The Council of Management has a ‘conference call’ approximately every 6 to 8 weeks (a free call from a home phone or mobile with all committee members), and there are 3 half day meetings a year in London.  If you are interested in getting involved as the Lead Rep, we would love to hear from you – Petros is writing to all trainees and your course director will forward copies to you all.

Cynthia Pollard – a well earned retirement

Many of you will know Cynthia, who has been a stalwart of ACAT for many years, and has worked with the UKCP as ACAT’s representative with the Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapy College.  She is taking a well-earned retirement and three people who know and have worked with her wanted to acknowledge the contribution she has made:

Jessie Emilion writes: I first met Cynthia about 3 years ago when I was nominated as the shadow ACAT member within the HIPC section of the UKCP.  As many people know, these HIPC meetings were quite a puzzle to work out and quite daunting at times. Cynthia was extremely kind and supportive which certainly made the meetings less scary. She was very encouraging and  positive when I was confronted with self doubts and wanted to step down from the shadow role in the early days. Over the last three years i have observed her contributions within the HIPC and came to recognise that she was well liked and respected by all the other members within the college. She also played a crucial role within HIPC when the Quinquennial Review had raised some concerns over the therapy hours for ACAT’s psychotherapy course. I am now one of the ACAT reps within the HIPC and I owe this on some level to Cynthia. I know it’s going to be a hard act to follow but I hope that I have learnt enough over the years from the guru to maintain the professionalism and respect she has established  within the college whilst representing ACAT. 

Heward Wilkinson, Chair of HIPC:  ACAT joined the Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapy College (now HIPC) of the UKCP in the early nineties.  From around 2004 Cynthia was involved in the Executive of HIPS, becoming Vice-Chair and was heavily involved with working to enhance HIPC’s position relative to the NHS, and a key member of the Assessor’s Board.  Cynthia became an always very well briefed and extremely competent ‘modernising’ influence within the Section, but at the same time she always had an extremely sensitive awareness of the historical concerns of members of the Section, and was able to develop and pursue a more business-like attitude and strategic awareness within the Section without giving offence to more traditional members. She was central to the discussions about modernising UKCP and the development of the new ‘shape’. She was trusted on all sides as a ‘safe pair of hands’ who was at the same time radical and a person of enormous human integrity. With Michael Knight, she put ACAT ‘on the map’ in HIPC and UKCP and will always be associated with the high profile of ACAT within UKCP and HIPC.

She was and is a friend who supported me with a heart of oak, and a clear mind, at more than one difficult time, and it is with great pleasure and admiration that I write this small tribute to her extraordinarily honourable and able role in the development of ACAT, HIPC, and UKCP, and offer all good wishes for her future.       

Ofra Anker writes:  I have worked closely with Cynthia for many years, both of us as delegates to HIPC (previously HIPS) and both of us as members of the HIPC Assessment Board.  Cynthia's contributions to the development of the Assessment Board have been absolutely second to none, so much so, that without her we couldn't have operated a high level of professionalism and excellence as we have done. It has always been her stance to maintain excellent standards thus, indeed, the committee's accomplishments are mainly due to Cynthia's hard work and commitment. What I admire most about her is that she always gets her professional wishes met through kindness, elegance and care.  She is a pleasure to work with; we have had many years of a good working relationship.   She is what I would sum-up; "a caring professional". 

ACAT would also like to add their thanks to Cynthia for everything she’s done for the organisation over these years – working quietly and effectively behind the scenes.  Thank you and enjoy your retirement!

 

Pop up data collection

We have been thinking for a while about how we can collect demographic information about in what settings CAT is represented  in order to have a better understanding of the CAT community and for the improvement of services to ACAT members - we are sometimes approached by members asking about who works in particular specialities with a view to putting on training days, or to gather together collective expertise.  We would also like to be able to use the broad statistics in our marketing information.

We are planning to begin to collect that information in as painless a way as possible.    When you log on in the near future, you will find a pop-up box offering a range of options covering core profession, place of work using CAT and speciality using CAT.  You will be asked to tick all those appropriate, so for example, if you work in ‘secondary care community services’, i.e. based in a CMHT, and have a private CAT practice, you will be able to tick both options.  We appreciate that this will only give us an approximation but we wanted to find a way of doing this without having to ask you all to fill out a lengthy form with a detailed description.

Please be assured that your personal information is confidential to ACAT, and will not be passed on to other ACAT members without your permission.  You will of course have the right to not complete the form, but we would ask you to consider doing so – it will only take a couple of minutes of your time, and will help us build a much more complete picture of the work undertaken by the membership.

Research strategy

The July conference saw the first meeting of a small number of members who undertake research into CAT on a regular basis.  The idea was to develop a research strategy with different streams, each led by a small number of individuals.  The aims reflect the needs of the ACAT and are as follows:

• To have a fully funded ‘blue chip’ phase 3 research proposal
• To have consensus outcome measures for CAT research organised into a digest for potential researchers
• To have a support pack to inform local services as to how to present retrospective CAT service evaluation / Audit data effectively to commissioners
• To develop a research proposal on the use of CAT as an intervention for a team-based skills development
• To extract CAT data from the National Audit of Psychological Therapies data and present as an analysis
• To look into the possibility of user-led research

The various streams are due to report back at the next meeting in March, and we will keep you up to date with progress.

ACCREDITATION SCHEME FOR ASSURED VOLUNTARY REGISTERS

You may be aware that the CHRE (Council Healthcare Regulatory Excellence) shortly to be known as the ‘Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care’ (PSA) are being asked to set up a scheme to set standards for and accredit voluntary registers for people working within health and social care who are not required by law to be on one of the registers of the health and social work professional regulators in the UK.

Some health professionals like doctors, nurses, pharmacists, dentists and allied health professionals and social workers must by law register with the relevant regulator in order to practice.  However, many other health and social care professionals and workers want to ensure that they too provide good care to patients and the public and to offer protection to the public from people who do not. Some have therefore set up voluntary registers – ACAT is one of those organisations that has done so.

Voluntary registers offer a useful way for employers, commissioners, service users and the public to tell which unregulated health and social care professionals have been assessed as meeting good standards of practice, follow a Code of Conduct and who have demonstrated by registering that they are personally committed to providing a good service or care. These health and social professionals and workers sign up to a voluntary register and agree to meet these standards because they want to, not because they have to.

The government has asked the CHRE (now called the PSA) to set up a system to strengthen public protection by encouraging organisations that hold voluntary registers to be effective. They have therefore set standards that the organisations holding the voluntary register should meet and they will accredit organisations who apply to them that they find are meeting their standards. They will accredit (or approve) them so that health and social care professionals and workers wanting to register, or employers, commissioners, patients and the public wanting to choose someone to work for them or provide them with a service can see easily which registers have met their standards.

The registers of organisations that have been accredited by them will be known as assured (or approved) registers. Accreditation will provide additional assurance to employers, commissioners, patients and the public that standards are being applied robustly; and that they can reasonably expect health and social care professionals and workers on a quality assured register to be competent and to behave ethically and compassionately.

Although it is likely that psychotherapist members will receive PSA registration via the UKCP, there is a possible opportunity here for our practitioner members to also achieve voluntary registration with the PSA if ACAT joins the scheme in its own right.  ACAT will be working towards an application to have our voluntary register accredited over the following few months.

ACAT in the news

Over the past year, I have been working with a writer/journalist, Ann Lloyd, with the aim of spreading the word about CAT and ACAT in the media.  Ann comes with a wealth of experience, having had articles published in The Guardian and Independent, as well as women’s magazines over the years.  She has also published ‘Doubly Deviant, Doubly Damned’, which grew out of a piece that Ann wrote for the Guardian on women who are violent.

It is notoriously difficult to get stories placed in the national media, but I am delighted to let you know that two pieces have appeared in local newspapers thanks to some hard work and persistence from Henrietta Batchelor in the North East, and Sue Yabsley in Somerset, combined with Ann’s experience and advice.  This grew out of networking at the conference, (i.e. a conversation over a glass of wine!) with the idea of approaching local papers for Mental Health Day on 10 October.  Henrietta and Sue put together composite stories (not actual case histories) emphasising depression – the theme for mental health day this year – and approached their local papers, The Journal, the local paper for Newcastle and the Somerset County Gazette.  Henrietta landed a two page spread with a diagram, and Sue, after a great deal of chasing, had a letter published with a link to her story in the online edition.  Congratulations and thanks to both of them for getting CAT in the news.

We have learnt a lot from Henrietta and Sue about the experience of placing this kind of story in the local press.  It seems a good idea to have a ‘hook’ – a reason to say you would like to offer them a story, and to that end  I have drawn together a list of ‘awareness’ days, weeks or months that occur over the year.  Having these dates well in advance means that we shall try and approach people who might be willing to put together a story, (e.g. June 2013 is Men’s Health Month – the emphasis this year is on mental health), and have a go at getting into the local paper.

We have written an advice sheet for people who are interested in the idea but don’t know where to start – and we will give you advice and support to help you in your introduction to the media.  If you feel that this is something you might be interested in, please let me know – you never know, you might see your name in print and help to spread the word about CAT!

Radical Self Love.org

I was recently in touch with McKenzie Cerrie.  She is in the process of setting up Radical Self Love.org and was very excited to be introduced to Cognitive Analytic Therapy.  If you are working in the field of eating disorders, she would appreciate your help in promoting eating disorder recovery from a CAT perspective.

She writes:  "Hello, my name is McKenzie Cerri and I am the founder of http://radicalselflove.org/, an online resource endorsed by Prof Janet Treasure and dedicated to supporting people with eating disorders, nega­­tive body image, and food and weight obsession.

The site came about as a result of my own suffering and the suffering of those I know.  People with eating disorders spend hours trawling the internet, often looking for sites that will remind them they are not alone, build their confidence and motivate them towards recovery.

With collaboration from people involved in working with those with eating disorders, Radical Self Love aims to be an engaging online resource that motivates suffers to reach out and access the professional help they need.  Not simply because a NHS site says they should, but because a person just like them got better, with the help of a professional just like you.

It aims to do this by:

• Spotlighting and sharing stories of recovery to inspire and motivate sufferers and carers
• Interviewing eating disorder experts to increase awareness of treatment options and support
• Providing tools and resources to foster and support recovery

Radical Self Love.org is set to launch in 2013 and I would appreciate your help in highlighting CAT as one of the many treatment options available. Do you have experience successfully using CAT patients who have eating issues? Would you be interested in finding out more about Radical Self Love and possibly collaborating? If YES, I would be grateful to hear from you.

Please call 07972031606   Email : Mecerri@gmail.com   Or visit http://www.mckenziecerri.com   or http://radicalselflove.org/

With thanks, McKenzie

Conference 2012 – Podcasts and PowerPoint slides

The 2012 conference in Manchester was a great success, with more members attending than at any one conference, and a terrific atmosphere as all aspects of CAT were deliberated upon and dissected.  Podcasts and PowerPoint demonstrations from speakers and workshops are available on the website – log in and on your personal page, scroll to the bottom and they will be under Resources.

Now, hot on the heels, the 2013 conference details have been released.  Clearly, no rest for the wicked!

20th Annual ACAT National Conference 2013

"Cognitive Analytic Therapy and Ethical Practice: Maintaining our Professionalism and Humanity”

Friday, 22nd March to Saturday, 23rd March 2013 to be held at: Wokefield Park, Goodboys Lane, Mortimer, Reading, Berkshire RG7 3AH

Tony Ryle developed CAT during the 1970s and 80s in order to respond to the high demand for mental healthcare for a deprived and ethnically diverse busy inner London area. CAT recognises the relational and social origins of distress and deprivation, and the need to offer short-term focused therapy for the NHS with its limited resources. It offers a model of therapy which is inclusive, non-elitist and non-stigmatising, and where each client provides a unique starting point for the therapy dialogue.

The ethical values of CAT can be difficult to maintain in systems that are moving towards, as Glenys Parry has put it, the ‘industrialisation’ of psychological therapies or where the needs of the system impinge on the freedom of the client and therapist to work creatively within the therapy contract and boundaries.

ACAT is delighted to be able to make a provisional announcement of the following keynote speakers:

• Dr Anthony Ryle, President of ACAT, will deliver his valedictory address to conference entitled: ‘Preserving the Key Values of CAT’
• John Ballatt, co-author of ‘Intelligent Kindness: reforming the culture of healthcare,’ will speak on: ‘Practising with compassion: challenges in the modern NHS.’
• Dr Philip Pollock; keynote speaker – to be confirmed.

There will be opportunity to attend two workshop sessions on clinical and ethical CAT topics and to take part in a formal debate about the future of psychological therapies.

We hope that this year’s conference will provide a relaxing, supportive and stimulating environment in which to engage in dialogue about the creative solutions to maintaining our compassion, humanity and professionalism in the practice of CAT.  For details of the programme and booking facilities, see http://www.acat.me.uk/event/695/20th+annual+acat+conference+2013-03-22.htm

Jason Hepple, Yvonne Stevens, Sue Yabsley
Conference Planning Group

ACAT CPD programme

There is slow but steady progress on reinvigorating the ACAT CPD Programme.  We realise that in these cash-strapped days, choosing to go on CPD workshops, or getting permission (and money!) from managers, is very difficult.  To that end, we are looking to organise workshops that reflect current agendas in the NHS, e.g. equality and diversity and cost-effectiveness are two such items.  They are being planned so that you will know what skills and knowledge you will acquire from these days, in the hope that this will give you good information and arguments for attending these workshops.  The plan is for three or four workshops in London during 2013, and our hope is to keep costs as low as we can.  Keep an eye out for information – we hope you will support the new programme.

Towergate

We have recently been in touch with Towergate Insurance with the intention of getting good terms for professional indemnity insurance for members of ACAT.  They write:

“Towergate Professional Risks is part of Towergate Caring Professions Division, combining the expertise of four specialist businesses within the Towergate Group, with over 100 years experience providing bespoke insurance solutions to caring professionals in the UK.  Towergate Professional Risks arrange cover for individuals and firms from a wide range of caring and professional occupations, and with specially discounted scheme rates in place with ACAT we can offer their members discounts on our policies.

We know that providing the best possible service to your clients is your priority. Towergate Professional Risks’ priority is looking after you, and we understand that there may be times when you need some extra support with issues which may fall outside of your control.

Should a client or anyone else decide to take legal action against you as a result of your business activities, professional liability insurance could protect you by paying for damages paid to the other party and any legal costs. Defending yourself against a claim can be a very stressful experience, and Towergate Professional Risks want to give you the peace of mind that you will be supported along the way with our in-house claims team.

Why do you need this cover as a talking therapist? Professional liability is not a legal requirement; however, with litigation against professionals on the rise, it makes sense to be protected. Many professional bodies now recommend members take out this insurance.   All it takes is for someone to allege that you have done something wrong and you will still need to defend yourself against the allegation. Some of the types of claims we deal with include working outside of competence, breaches of confidentiality and breaches of copyright.

For more information on public liability insurance, how it will cover you or for a quotation, visit our website at: http://www.towergateprofessionalrisks.co.uk/ or call 0844 346 3307 to speak to one of our specialist advisors.  Don’t forget our preferential rates for ACAT members."

Talking about CAT campaign

We have produced a series of factsheets on CAT, including information designed for clients and prospective clients, young people and professionals seeking to find out more about CAT as a psychological therapy.  Other factsheets cover research into CAT, training in CAT, and ‘What is CAT understanding’.  They have been written by a range of people from the CAT world that ensures they are multi-voiced and I hope they get to the essence of what it is about CAT that continues to enthuse therapists and clients and allows it to grow, even in difficult times for health and social care services.

All the fact sheets are available as PDFs on the website for you to forward, print out and distribute but we have now had them professionally printed on high quality paper, and double sided.

Commissioners’ fact sheet and PowerPoint presentation

There is a new fact sheet designed for use with commissioners reflecting the questions posed by them about Cognitive Analytic Therapy; (there will be a parallel one for use with private health providers - this is still in development).  As an adjunct to these two leaflets, we are putting together a PowerPoint presentation that reflects the content of the leaflets and will be available on the members’ section of the ACAT website.  You will be able to download this, and add your own statistics and clients’ stories as you wish.

The fact sheets are now available in a smart folder and we would like to encourage you to use these to start a dialogue with people local to you about CAT and what it has to offer.  Do you have contact with your local commissioning group?  With the Board of your Trust?  With a Users/Carers Forum?  We want to get the word out there.  If you feel you can make use of the pack, please email Sue at the office – admin@acat.me.uk and she will forward copies of the pack to you.

Leaflets for private practice

We are also aware that some members in private practice might wish to have copies of individual leaflets as publicity material for potential clients.  We are able to supply these at the cost of production - a pack of 10 is £2.50 plus postage.