Student members of the Irish Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (IACP) are required to engage in supervision to ensure ethical and professional development throughout their training.
Supervision provides essential guidance, helping students refine their skills, reflect on their practice, and uphold the highest standards of care. This process supports their journey toward accreditation, ensuring they receive structured oversight from qualified supervisors while gaining valuable experience in the field.
- Students who are members of IACP must comply with IACP supervision requirements.
- Students who intend to apply for IACP accreditation must be aware of and comply with the Course Accreditation Criteria.
- Students must use an Accredited Supervisor whose orientation is consistent with the core theoretical model of the course and who holds IACP/BACP*/IAHIP** Supervisor Accreditation
- The Course has the responsibility & discretion to identify and approve the appropriate Supervisor.
- The student’s external supervisor must not be a member of the course staff.
- Student’s external supervisor must not be the same as Student’s Group Supervisor.
- It is the responsibility of the course to ensure that the student has contracted with an appropriate and accredited supervisor before beginning practice with clients.
- Students must complete a minimum of 25 hours personal therapy prior to beginning practice with clients. The therapist must be IACP/BACP/IAHIP Accredited.
- Students have an obligation under the IACP Code of Ethics to indicate their student status to agencies and to their clients.
- Upon completion of the 120 student client hours, and after all clinical components are fully completed, and provided that the student has ceased working with clients, a break from external 1-1 supervision is acceptable.
It is required by the IACP that a Counsellor / Psychotherapist or a Student Counsellor / Psychotherapist must choose a Supervisor who is one of –
a) an IACP Accredited Supervisor
b) a BACP* Accredited Supervisor or
c) an IAHIP** Accredited Supervisor
Please note – it is the supervisee’s responsibility to check that their Supervisor is accredited with one of the above organisations.
*BACP Accredited status plus supervisor qualification. These requirements are due to the BACP reconfiguring membership categories (16/10/2023) – if contracting with a BACP Accredited Supervisor, please ensure that the above criteria are met. If you have any queries regarding a pre-existing contract, please contact the IACP).
**IACP shall authorise IAHIP accredited supervisors who are accredited supervisors [operating under European Association of Psychotherapy (EAP) guidelines]
Frequency: Students must have at least one external individual supervision session prior to starting client work. Once client work begins, individual external supervision must be conducted for a minimum of 1 hour per month.
Ratio: The student is required to have a minimum of one hour of individual supervision after every 5 client contact hours (1:5) for the duration of the core course, until receipt of final transcript of results.
As a student, up to 30% of supervision can be done online.
Additional information for students regarding supervision for the IACP Accredited Course Criteria:
7.8 A mix of group and individual supervision is required.
7.9 In-house group supervision is required. Group size must be between 3 and 6. Groups must meet for a minimum of 2 hours per month over two academic years. Minimum attendance is set at 80%. Group Supervisor’s Report must be completed post every progression cycle. Group supervision should be counted towards academic requirements. Group supervisorsmust be IACP, BACP or IAHIP Accredited Supervisors.
7.10 For counsellors/psychotherapists in training, External one-to-one supervision must not be less than 1 hour’s presenting time to 5 hours client work, subject to an overall minimum of 1 hour of presenting time per month per student. Upon completion of the 120 student client hours, and after all clinical components are fully completed, and provided that the student has ceased working with clients, a break from external 1-1 supervision is acceptable.
7.11 The student’s external supervisor must not be a member of the course staff.
7.12 Student’s external supervisor must not be the same as Student’s Group Supervisor.