20-06-2010

Report of the Dutch association for person-centred psychotherapy (VCgP) for the European network (PCE Europe) 2010

The relaunch development of the person-centred movement in the Netherlands, that had been started in 2008, was carried forward and this report contain the ongoing activities for the repositioning of the VCgP.

1. Membership and statutes

As stated in our 2009 report: ‘in the past, becoming a full member of the VCgP required an intensive period of training, supervision and therapy of the candidate member. Although there seemed to be enough practitioners that were interested, due to these demands ‘at the gate’, the majority stayed a candidate member for many years, while some even decided to stay a candidate member. In the mean time, due to fewer young trainees and retirement of older therapists, the association kept on losing members every year (actual count in 2010 is ???)) and was in need for new (and young) members. For this reason, the board of the VCgP decided, in agreement with their members, to change the admittance policy. In line with the philosophy of the person-centred approach every person (with at least a higher education level and an interest in the person centred approach, is welcome to become a member and join our association. This means membership without any further demands, in order to stay a member however, re-registration rules apply’.

In order to formalise these registration rules, the following activities have been undertaken by the board and committees:

-  A new, user-friendly and interactive website has been developed, with a separate section with a chart of educational activities (courses, trainings, workshops) accredited by the VCgP for re-registration.

-  New statutes of the VCgP have been launched after a revision process by 20 active members by the board and are visible on a separate section of the website as well. In these statutes the admittance policy has been described, besides the rules for accreditation of educational activities, conferences, etc.

-  The next activity will be a connection to a national registration site (PE online), in order for VCgP members to get a personalised overview of the accreditation received for attended educational activities and conferences for different professional (e.g. psychotherapy, psychiatry) and psychotherapy (e.g. cognitive behaviour therapy, person-centred therapy) associations in the future. This national registration becomes even more necessary when the re-registration rules by the government for different professions, such as psychotherapists, start to apply within a few years.

2. PR activities

The new developed flyers about person-centred psychotherapy, containing information about its’ specific merit for several mental health problems, the scientific underpinnings in comparison to other psychotherapeutic traditions. The first flyer ‘The power of person-centred psychotherapy’ for mental health care professionals, policy makers and health insurance companies has been distributed widely. The second flyer for clients and referring bodies, will be in the same layout as the first one, the only difference being the specific issues for this population.

As stated above a new website has been launched in the first months of 2010. (www.vcgp.nl). The newsletter for VCgP members has been digitalised with the launch and the newsletter is connected to the website as well, which contains a separate section for members only.

3. Regional activities

The country has been subdivided in 7 regional networks of active members, who organise regional scientific meetings about person-centred topics, such as spiritual dimensions in psychotherapy, process-oriented treatment of personality disorders, emotion-focused therapy and the role of an open attitude and self-compassion within the model of Leigh McCullough. In several regions there have been meetings already in an informal atmosphere, which gets members more personally involved in the person-centred movement.

4. Organisational structure

Several active committees of the VCgP have been further centralised. There is a board of 5 persons, and several active members that attend to the board meetings if necessary, depending on their task force (e.g. PR of scientific activities). The organisational structure has become more transparent as a response to the relaunch developments in the VCgP.

5. New professional groups within the VCgP

Within the goals of attracting more future new members for the VCgP and getting the person-centred ideas more widely incorporated in mental health care in the Netherlands, psychologists without any further licences seem an attractive group. At the moment several initiatives throughout the country have been started to organise basic person-centred training programmes for psychologists.

6. Educational activities

Several active members, usually experienced trainers in the area of person-centred psychotherapy, have introduced the training for Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT) and enable person-centred therapists to become a licensed EFT therapist, in 2009 Robert Elliott trained one of the first groups. Recently the training institute Apanta Academy has been founded, which is the first institute in the Netherlands aimed solely at person-centred, existential and system oriented psychotherapy.

6. National conference

A national conference has been organised by the VCgP in April 2010 titled ‘helplessness and power’, visited approximately 125 members. The theme focused on the current time frame in our field, where solutions should be easy and relatively painless, like surgery. Feeling helpless and powerless is not easily confessed by clients and therapists. During the conference there was an open spirit to discuss these themes, which offered new possibilities, by a mixture of interactive workshops, new scientific insights and practising different therapeutic methods. The power of the conference was enforced by guest speakers from other specialisations.

7. Revision of national guidelines

The VCgP has been active in getting involved as a partner in the development and update of guidelines for diagnosing and treating mental disorders. In 2010, an update has taken place of the guideline for Schizophrenia and one of the VCgP members did a revision of the evidence base and practical utility in light of the person-centred premises.

Angelique Timmerman

VCgP, the Netherlands, June 2010