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Special Interest Groups

Women's Equality and Gender Diversity SIG

Aims

To provide high quality training for members to raise awareness of the specific and complex issues faced by women and gender minority groups which negatively impact on psychological well-being.
To support members by offering training so they can develop the necessary competencies to provide non-discriminatory, effective and inclusive treatments.
To provide an open, safe space which facilitates exploration and discussion of gender issues experienced within the organisational culture.
To promote equality of opportunity for women and gender minorities within the organisation
To recognise the discriminatory effect that structural racism has on women of colour and to raise awareness of how this affects equality of opportunity within the organisation.
To promote supportive workplace environments for women and gender minorities
To build closer professional relationships in the workplace to enable differences to be embraced.
To organise training to identify and address the issues that may be preventing women and gender minorities from putting themselves forward for leadership positions within the organisation
To raise awareness of discriminatory practice against women and gender minorities
To address and support through training the issues that affect women and gender minorities in the workplace
To encourage the career development of women and gender minorities in CBT research, training and clinical settings
Empower women and gender minorities to contribute further to the development and dissemination of high quality CBT research and practice.
Foster a supportive environment for women and gender minorities to create professional networks to improve patient care
Raise awareness and understanding of the cultural, social, political and psychological processes underpinning gender difference in psychological disorders
Promote the positive visibility and diversity of women and gender minorities in the organisation and celebrate their achievements

Committee Members

Role	Name
Chair, Newsletter Editor, Co-White Ribbon Champion, Co-Social Media Lead	Bea Carrington
Secretary	Angela Dingwall
Treasurer, & Research & Development Lead	Kirsty Flatman
Ordinary Member, Conference Lead, Co-Social Media Lead	Layla Mofrad
Ordinary Member, Branch Liaison Rep & CPD Events Lead	Carly Bell
Ordinary Member, SIG Rep on the BABCP EDI Committee; SIG Rep on CBT Today Editorial Group	Amber Alker
Ordinary Member and Menopause Workstream Lead	Sally Tribe
Ordinary Member and Co-White Ribbon Champion	Clair Domeney
Ordinary Member and Menopause Workstream Lead	Sarah Fairweather

Resources

We send regular newsletters to SIG members. You can read the latest ones here -

July 2022 [PDF]

May 2022 [PDF]

Feb 2022 [PDF]

Menopause Resource Directory - compiled by the WOMGENE SIG committee

In 2018 a small group of women founded the BABCP’s Women and Gender Minorities Equality SIG (‘WOMGENE’ for short). The name was changed in 2022 to Women's Equality and Gender Diversity SIG.

Achievements of the SIG to date - It has been hard work, but our achievements have been significant -

We initiated BABCP’s signing up to the White Ribbon Campaign. This three-year accreditation process helps organisations reflect on what they do to be part of the process of reducing and preventing violence towards women, and a key part of this is asking men in the organisation to think about their role in perpetuating the culture of misogyny, harassment and violence that means the UK is not a safe place to be a woman.
Submitted contributions to the Draft Strategic Plan; updating of the BABCP Minimum Training Standards; the EDI requirements for CPD and Maintaining Accreditation; and updating the Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics.
Fostered a strong alliance with the BABCP Equality & Culture SIG as there is a natural alignment with our aims and interests, including hosting joint CPD events.
Produced bimonthly newsletters for our SIG members.
Participated in the BABCP Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Audit which included extensive telephone interviews with an external auditor. This provided us with the opportunity to feedback not only our membership experiences but to make recommendations about how the organisation can wholeheartedly promote an equal, diverse, and inclusive culture.
A SIG representative sits on the EDI Working Group Committee.
Submitted contributions to a directory of Equality and Diversity Member Resources across all protected characteristics of the Equality Act.
Committee members Patricia Murphy and Bea Carrington have written a piece for the October 2021 edition of CBT Today on why Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) is a men’s issue & why men need to step up & engage with it.
Organised a free webinar with our colleagues at E&C SIG in October 2020. The webinar hosted Professor Gina Rippon who presented The Gendered Brain: A neuroscientific approach to understanding the effects of stereotypes and biases on CBT therapists and their patients. The event went down a storm, the feedback received was excellent and demonstrated a clear appetite for more training on the issues raised. You can watch this under the Webinars section of the BABCP website.
Other training/ CPD events we have been involved in include: our previous Co-Chair Rachel Phillips joining a line-up of speakers on ‘Why behaviour change is required for inclusion and all of our wellbeing’. Rachel presented on improving access to mental health services for the trans community. We also hosted a workshop on ‘Exploring and Working with Gender and Gender Divergence’ delivered by Sam Hope.
Released a press statement and information in relation to domestic violence and abuse, along with a list of resources for those affected (Summer 2021).
Produced provisional EDI Guidelines for presenters at BABCP Conferences and Workshops.
In 2020, our previous Co-Chair and co-founder of the SIG Patricia Murphy, was awarded the Engagement & Involvement Award - for a significant contribution to public engagement and the involvement of people with lived experience in relation to CBT.
Committee members have been involved in reviewing papers for the Cognitive Behaviour Therapist Journal.
We maintain a lively Twitter account @BabcpW

If you would like to support the work of the SIG:

Follow us on our active Twitter page @BabcpW
Join as a member of the SIG to receive our regular newsletters. To join, go to the BABCP Member's Area at the link below.

Contact

Any BABCP member can join. To do so, please go to the Member's Area (login required).
To contact the committee, email us at womgend-sig@babcp.com

Widely recognised Accreditation High quality CPD CBT Register

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