AJA is committed to a policy of Continuing Professional Development, in line with the requirements of BPC and UKCP and with AJA’s Code of Ethics & Practice.

Members are responsible for maintaining their professional competence, and UKCP states that CPD should be flexible and achievable, and capable of being accounted for and verified.  CPD is seen as one of the ways in which we can promote high standards within the profession and thus ensure the protection of the public. We also have a responsibility to maintain our physical and mental health, and when necessary to seek consultation and supervision, and to undertake further education and training.

Our work is essentially reflective and often isolated, and we consider it a duty to enhance and enrich our practice through increased awareness and creativity and through contact with colleagues. This may be done through our own organisation, through work with other organisations, and through other outside activities.

Annual procedure for reporting CPD and overseeing fitness to practice 

BPC and UKCP requires that CPD is bounded and flexible, working within an annual cycle, and we encourage Members to take part in a wide range of professional and personal activities, within the categories mentioned below that orientate towards growth and development of their work and to broaden insight. The intention is that members should engage in a programme which furthers good practice, reflects their own individual needs, and interests, and considers their current professional and personal situations.

AJA therefore proposes that members should:

1          sign an online statement once a year confirming that they are actively engaged in a programme of CPD and can evidence activities.  This form will be sent from the AJA office with the annual request for fees.  Members will also be required to give the names of their clinical executors and to confirm their insurance cover with the number of their policy.

2          keep a personal record of their activities, in whatever form best suits them, so that their portfolio may be discussed and presented with their CPD group prior to submission and provide verification if required.

3         be in dialogue with AJA colleagues (and where appropriate, and agreed, other analytic organisations) through annual meetings (held in good time and ahead of the submission of the annual statement above) within a continuing practice group of three or four members.

Each member will be responsible for negotiating the establishment and meeting arrangements for their practice group. Groups can decide how many meetings are held, if all group members have had a chance to share developments adequately. For example, a group may choose to have one extended meeting, or choose to have as many meetings of each group per year as there are members of each group.

At each meeting members will share with colleagues in the group:

• learning from individual CPD activities
• case material for discussion
• any concerns or considerations about their practice (eg caseload)
• share and discuss their intended CPD submission to the EPC including confirming their clinical executor details are up to date as per B6 Clinical Executors in the handbook.
• their planning for retirement and /or non-clinical membership (if appropriate)

The purpose of this meeting will be fourfold:

1. To support colleagues to maintain their wellbeing given the demands of the work.
2. To enable each member to share their professional activities across the year that supports knowledge growth and skills development; and for other group members to hear, discuss, and potentially learn from this.
3. To provide an opportunity for colleagues to hear and discuss practice material (in confidence) together with any reflections or concerns a member may have about what constitutes good therapeutic practice.
4. If relevant, colleagues may encourage you to reflect if a health condition is having and impact on your ability to practice effectively and offer you support with finding a professional way forward.

This opportunity allows for colleagues to continually recognise the work and development of a member. In the event of any concerns about the ongoing competency of a member arising from this discussion, then group members can share these concerns, offer support and advice, and if necessary, discuss with the member any further steps which may be needed to safeguard the wellbeing of patients, the professional probity of the member, and the organisation. In such circumstances, the group must take all steps necessary to contain the matter confidentially and respectfully.

In the, hopefully, uncommon event of this relating to a concern about the member’s mental or physical capacity to continue to practice as an analyst, members can bring the concern to the Ethics and Professional Committee in confidence for further consideration. The member would be given a choice of whom they would prefer to meet.

If it is apparent, arising from the feedback from the member’s practice group and this assessment meeting that the member needs to be asked to discontinue practising, then two members of the EPC will formally meet with the member and inform them of this. At this assessment meeting another colleague, selected by the member concerned will be present as their advocate. Their role would be to offer support on AJA’s behalf. This colleague will also have the role of liaising with the member, and the EPC, to ensure any necessary steps are taken to notify the member’s patients of the situation and, where appropriate, to offer them suitable referrals.

Normally, the member who has been directed to discontinue their practice will have the opportunity to request a further assessment of their fitness to practice after one year, and thereafter annually for three years from the point at which they were directed to discontinue. If after three years, the view they are not fit to resume their practice still holds, then they will be offered a retired membership of AJA.

This decision would normally be final.

The Ethics and Professional Committee

The EPC are responsible for monitoring CPD reports after completion of the process. The EPC working with a selected team of AJA members check the CPD forms for completeness in confidence. In addition, the EPC also check members are registrants of the BPC and or the UKCP annually. If the EPC is in doubt that the member is fulfilling their CPD requirements, it has the right to make specific recommendations and monitor the progress of a member in addressing these.

 CPD Activities

The following are examples of activities in four categories of CPD, and it is expected that activities from each category will feature in every member’s record;

1. Personal therapy – individual, group or other

Supervision/consultation – individual, group, peer group

2. Maintaining awareness of current developments and research through

attendance at and/or participation in:

conferences

workshops

lectures and seminars

reading groups

scientific meetings

individual reading within the profession

writing and research

publication of books, articles, blogs

presentation of papers

3. Participation in the life of AJA, and/or of other professional organisations:

serving on Council, committees or working parties

organising conferences, workshops, seminars

administrative work in support of the above

external work on AJA’s behalf e.g. as a delegate

teaching and leading seminars

acting as tutor or mentor

selection, assessment, supervision

4. Personal activities

cultural, social, political, literary, philosophical, physical etc.

Members should endeavour to ensure they select activities from each of the above four categories of CPD.  AJA considers it good practice to maintain a balance in activities to stimulate professional development in new and different directions, enhance professional wellbeing and reduce burnout and moral injury. Moral injury is a harm because of their own or others’ actions of a deeply held moral belief. Support for burnout will not alter moral injury. It’s a potential with therapists who may be exposed to areas that cause prolonged distress in relation to the moral codes during their work.

5.  A brief reflective statement on what has been gained from these activities is also required. The BPC and UKCP recommends that it is good practice for each member to report not only their activities, but also to reflect on these experiences.  This is a crucial part of CPD, and members are asked to write a brief statement of no more than one side of A4 (probably less) which conveys how these experiences have impacted on their practice, and on their personal and professional development.

Failure to fulfil these requirements will be considered as a breach of the Code of Ethics & Practice.

March 2024