BABCP Guidelines for Good Practice of CBT
The BABCP has produced a set of guidelines for therapists practicing Cognitive and Behavioural Therapy. These guidelines are reveiwed and updated when necessary.
The guidelines are set out below and a copy can be downloaded here - Guidelines for Good Practice
BABCP GUIDELINES FOR GOOD PRACTICE OF BEHAVIOURAL AND COGNITIVE PSYCHOTHERAPY
INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT
1. All members of the BABCP are required to endeavour to adhere to these guidelines.
2. Most BABCP members will already be members of the helping professions and hold appropriate qualifications. They should, therefore, be bound by a code of practice by virtue of their belonging to a profession and so a detailed statement of general ethical/legal principles is not included in these guidelines. It is expected that all members of BABCP approach their work with the aim of resolving problems and promoting the well-being of service users and will endeavour to use their ability and skills to their best advantage without prejudice and with due recognition of the value and dignity of every human being.
3. The term "worker" and "service user" are used throughout to designate the person responsible for helping and the person being helped respectively and should be taken to subsume similar relationships, e.g. doctor/patient, therapist/client, teacher/student etc. as appropriate. Similarly "assessments/ interventions" is used to subsume training, treatment, programme etc.
1 ASSESSMENT AND BEHAVIOUR/COGNITIVE CHANGE PROCEDURES
(i) The worker will ensure that any intervention procedures adopted will be based upon evaluation and assessment of the service user and the environment. The worker will also strive to ensure that any assessments/interventions will be in the best interests of the service user, minimising any possible harm and maximising benefits over both the short and long term whilst at the same time balancing these against any possible harmful effects to others.
(ii) Assessments/interventions will always be justified by the available public evidence taking into account all possible alternatives, the degree of demonstrated efficacy, discomfort, intervention time and cost of alternatives.
(iii) Assessments/interventions will be planned and implemented in such a way that effectiveness can be evaluated.
(iv) The aims and goals of assessments/interventions will be discussed and agreed with service users at the outset and may be renegotiated, terminated or a referral made to another worker at the request of either party if the goals are not being met after a reasonable period of time or if they later appear to be inappropriate.
(v) On both ethical and empirical grounds assessments/interventions used will be of demonstrable benefit to the service users both short and long term and will not involve any avoidable loss, deprivation, pain or other source of suffering. It is recognised, however, that circumstances might exist where long term benefits could only be achieved by interventions which involve relatively minor and transient deprivation. Workers will ensure that no such assessments/interventions are used where effective alternatives exist or where long term benefit does not clearly outweigh the short term loss. The design of such assessments/interventions by virtue of the aims would minimise any suffering involved and ensure that dangerous or long term deprivation will not occur. Whenever there is room for doubt about justifying the use of such interventions, workers will always seek advice from an appropriately qualified and experienced colleague who is in a position to give an independent and objective opinion.
2 CONSENT
(i) It is understood that consent to particular assessments/interventions is an ongoing process which places emphasis upon the service user's role in the continual evaluation of the assessments/interventions.
(ii) Where a worker sees a service user only for evaluative or diagnostic procedures, this will be explained clearly to them.
(iii) Upon team agreement regarding the best procedures to implement, the aims, rationale and alternatives of assessments/interventions will be explained to the service user at the start as explicitly and as fully as is consistent with therapeutic effectiveness and the person's best interests. If the assessments/interventions are experimental rather than established and proven, this will be communicated to the service user. If this has been fulfilled, the service user gives consent to the intervention and this is recorded.
(iv) For people unable to give informed voluntary consent, written consent will be obtained from a relative after informing them as described above. If no relative is available, consent will be obtained from an advocate or other responsible professional.
(v) Retroactive consent will only be considered sufficient in emergency situations such that any delay in intervention would lead to permanent and irreversible harm to the person' well being.
(vi) If a service user, when capable of informed consent, or other appropriate person when 2(iv) applies, chooses to withold consent, the intervention does not proceed. This applies equally to involuntary service users or those referred from the courts.
(vii) Where a service user is within an institution, whether voluntary or otherwise, interventions may take the form of institutional management or specific programmes in which all members take part In these circumstances informed consent may be difficult to achieve but the conditions of 1(iv) are taken as minimum requirement. People are informed of the extent to which they are free to withdraw from any aspect of assessments/ interventions. In addition, those responsible for the procedures have the responsibility for collecting objective evidence for their continuing efficacy.
3 QUALIFICATION AND TRAINING
(i) No workers represent themselves as having qualifications or skills they do not possess.
(ii) Workers recognise the boundaries to their competence both from formal training and from work experience and if faced with a situation outside their competence, either refer the person to a colleague who has the required skills or, if taking on the situation themselves, ensure that they receive supervision and training from a competent other.
(iii) Workers expect to continue to develop expertise after formal training has finished and take reasonable steps to keep up-to-date with current research and practice, e.g. reading current research, by attending appropriate courses and receiving regular practice supervision from an appropriately qualified and experienced person.
4 INTERPROFESSIONAL RELATIONSHIPS
(i) Workers in a multi-disciplinary setting keep their colleagues informed of their decisions, consult with them when appropriate and establish clearly the limits of their involvement with a particular service user.
(ii) Where workers have in practice overall responsibility for service users, they recognise aspects where their own professional competence ends and consult other professionals as appropriate.
5 CONFIDENTIALITY
(i) Information acquired by a worker is confidential within their understanding of the best interest of the service user and the law of the land. Written and oral reports of relevant material are made available to other persons directly involved.
(ii) The service user's consent is required where information is passed beyond the normal limits of persons concerned or made available for the purpose of research.
(iii) The service user's consent is required if they are presented to an individual or group for teaching purposes and it is made clear that refusal would have no implication for intervention.
(iv) If an intervention is being published, personal details are restricted to the minimum required for describing the intervention.
(v) If a video tape, film or other recording is made, consent in writing is required specifying whether the recording may be shown to; (a) other professionals; (b) students; (c) the lay public.
6 RESEARCH
(i) If a service user is asked to be tested or interviewed as part of a research project, it is made explicit when the procedures used are not of direct therapeutic benefit to that individual and formal consent is obtained.
(ii) When service users are in a research project where interventions are being compared or a control condition included, if one intervention or condition emerges as the most effective it is subsequently made available to those in the less effective control groups.
7 EXPLOITATION OF SERVICE USERS
(i) Workers have a clear responsibilty not to exploit service users in financial, sexual or other ways. Though some interventions entail workers and service users socialising together, a clear distinction between personal and professional relationships is still made.
8 PRIORITIES
(i) Workers will often have to decide areas in which to specialise and this choice is made with due regard to the priorities involved taking into account the known efficacies of interventions available and the overall benefit conferred on service users in general.
9 ADVERTISING
(i) Membership of BABCP does not confer any professional status or qualification. Workers will not refer to their membership of BABCP in advertising or elsewhere to imply any such professional status or qualification.
(ii) Workers accredited by BABCP as Behavioural and/or Cognitive Psychotherapists to meet the criteria for registration with the Behavioural & Cognitive Psychotherapy Section of the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy, are free to advertise or otherwise announce that fact.
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