Tag Archives: Continuing Professional Development

November 2021 News

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It’s been a while since we published a newsletter to update on new developments. At our recent Executive group meeting in November 2021 we thought we’d try updating more regularly on the blog. If you’re interested in following Catalyse activities this is another way to stay informed.

Practitioner Training

We made the decision to defer the next intake of the Practitioner Training until 2022. However this doesn’t seem to have made 2021 a less busy year. We’re pleased to have had a great deal of interest in the course already. The deadline for applications is May 6th next year and we look forward to checking our inbox then. Marisol Cavieres provided her final training day in October, and has now moved on from her tutor role after ten years of working with us. This makes way for trainer Jo Coggins to take on the tutor role for our new October 2022 intake, working alongside Kathyrn Pemberton who is the tutor for the 2021 cohort.

People

This year we’ve also had further additions in that David Harvey has joined us as an associate. Jenny Marshall has also joined and taken on a lead role for Personal Reformulations. Additionally, Cath Laverty has come on board in a Non-Executive Director role. Glenys Parry made the transition to a Non-Executive Director role after retiring from her Executive and Finance roles at the end of August. Her inimitable mix of wisdom, strategic precision, seemingly limitless practical skill, plus her warmth, irreverence and humour, have aided Catalyse since its inception. We miss her in our Executive meetings. However we’re pleased she’ll remain involved in a number of other ways. Alongside their practitioner training roles, Dawn Bennett and Sarah Littlejohn are now Co-Chairs of Catalyse and Dawn is Finance Director.

CPD

After a pandemic-related pause, four CPD events over the second half of this year have been well received. Our December event on Therapy for Parents and the Family Court Process is the most well-subscribed of the year, but there are still spaces if you wish to book on. David Harvey will be repeating his in-person CPD day on CAT as a Tool for Leadership on Thursday 5th May 2022. More details and booking options for this will be available soon.

CPD lead Jo Coggins is in touch with several colleagues about a number of other stimulating CPD days over the coming year. We’ve streamlined the CPD proposal process so that there is a bit less form-filling. Instead the process includes more conversation with Jo to begin developing a proposal. We hope this will help prospective presenters move from an idea to something firm. If you have chats with Jo on Zoom you may not spot her swapping a tentative pencil for a more confident pen. Have no doubt she will be working towards getting a definite date in the calendar. Then the website work gets properly underway and we can start to advertise your event.

Many of you completed our CPD survey earlier this year. In response, for 2022 we’re planning to offer a range of different events to suit different pockets and purposes. This includes a mix of face-to-face and online events, and we will share more details soon.

Catalyse Training Films

It’s just over a year since the Catalyse training films became available to stream. Vimeo recently informed us they have had over one thousand views. We’re about to launch a brief survey to ask more about the experience of those who have used them to date in training, or their own learning. Catalyse practitioner course trainees have direct access to them throughout training. Other CAT Practitioner training courses and Clinical Psychology courses have purchased subscriptions too, and some have also arranged for their trainees to have direct access at a small cost-per-head fee. Being able to watch the films at any time means that learners can use the materials more flexibly. In addition to viewing them direct during remote training days, they can also review them in their own time.

We didn’t really anticipate that individuals might want to subscribe to the films as a preparation for training in CAT. However we’ve discovered that there is some interest in this. As a result we’re reviewing the subscription costs to make it more possible for people to access them in this way. We’ll share details of new subscription arrangements shortly.

Training Films: Take Two

Not content with one series of materials, supporting initial skills development in cognitive analytic therapy, we are well underway with a second series. This is thanks to a generous donation from a charitable endowment fund by Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust. Their contribution is enabling Kathryn Pemberton and a small group of CAT colleagues to plan and produce a further five short films, in conjunction with Brickoven Media and a number of local CAT colleagues.

The first series is suitable for introductory and year 1 practitioner training. Using different fictional scenarios, this second series of films will demonstrate a range of situations presenting more complex therapeutic challenges. From countertransference and strong expressed emotions, to rupture linked to values and world-views, the films aim to demonstrate more advanced CAT skills and competences. Again they will not be striving to show ‘perfect’ clinical practice. Instead, they explore the richness of such therapeutic encounters and possible responses by CAT therapists. As learning resources we hope they will facilitate exploration, discussion and debate around more advanced CAT skills and competences.

The recent weekend of improvisation and filming at GMMH premises in Manchester deserves a blog in its own right. Until that emerges, you can see a few visual highlights and glimpses of therapists who kindly gave up parts of their Sundays to help us, on the #CatalyseFilms hashtag on Twitter. If you’re not on Twitter you can scroll back to view the Twitter feed here on the website.

Staying involved with Catalyse

As ever, we welcome approaches from ACAT-accredited CAT therapists across the North of England who would like to become involved in the work of Catalyse in some way. There are plenty of possibilities. You can read more about how to go about this in Dawn and Glenys’ guidelines here. And of course you can always contact us through our administrator Frances Free.

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Journeying Together: A Second CAT Research Conference

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Plans for a second research conference hosted jointly between ourselves and ACAT have now come to fruition.  ACAT is leading on the organisation of this second event – The Research Journey From Start To Finish: Motivating-to-Motivated – which takes place in London on 1 March 2019.  Again this conference aims to bring together people interested in hearing about and developing the evidence base for cognitive analytic therapy.

You’ll be welcome to attend whether you want to gain an update on current and future research in CAT, make connections and develop your research networks, or get support in developing your own research ideas.  Those with roles supporting the research activity of others are also most welcome to attend.  This could be a useful day to attend if you are a research tutor or supervisor on a core professional training.  Similarly if you have responsibility for supporting psychotherapy research activity within a  mental health or learning disabilities trust, you may make helpful connections.

The theme of a research journey was present throughout last year’s conference.  People shared stories of projects at different points along the way and reflected on what had helped or hindered them complete different stages. Alison Jenaway’s guest blog about the 2018 conference tells you more about that day.

When thinking about an image to help promote the 2019 event, we liked the metaphor of migrating geese.  Apparently they fly together to help reduce air-drag and conserve energy.  Different flock members move in and out of the front position depending on who has energy and resources to lead.   Of course following is as important as leading in this context.  We share a direction and learn from each other.  As peers we can reciprocally motivate with helpful “honking” in order to keep up a pace.

Of course none of this precludes solo flyers who want to take their own direction.  After all, would CAT ever have developed without a bit of independent thinking?

We’re not content, of course, with merely developing a metaphor or an understanding of relational processes in research.  As with the CAT model, some action is expected and encouraged.  To support concrete action getting “off the ground”, this year ACAT is offering three free places for people planning a project on CAT.

To be considered for one of these places, you’re invited to share a maximum 2000 word outline of a realistic project you can take forward, complete and publish. This should include:

  • Your main research question
  • Why it is important
  • The method you are planning to use to answer it
  • Any previous work or publications that you would be building on
  • The next steps you intend to take to get the project off the ground

The deadline for submissions is 10 January 2019.  If you’re successful we may be able to match you with a mentor from within the CAT community or related networks.  We will of course welcome you back to present at a future CAT research conference.

Whether or not you wish to apply for a free place, you can get some inspiration from the list of presentations lined up for the day, offered by Stephen Taylor, Barney Dunn, Steve Kellett, Steve Jefferis, Liza Messing and Samantha Hartley.   Topics include integrative models for nurse supervision, learning from research into other therapies, making use of data on CAT in IAPT, qualitative research into mapping, group interventions, and coproduction with young people around brief therapy for self harm.

You can also follow the hashtag #CATres19, and add to it with any queries and comments. Please also feel free to share any links or resources you think may be useful in the run up to the conference.

We look forward to seeing you there.

For more details and to book your place at the conference – The Research Journey From Start To Finish: Motivating-to-Motivated – visit ACAT’s event page at this link

 

 

Image of Catalyse logo plus wording Inviting Applications for Lead for our Continuing Professional Development Programme

Inviting Applications for a Lead for our Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Programme

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Are you interested in leading our Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme as a member of the Catalyse Executive group? Then read on:

Catalyse is a not-for-profit social enterprise offering training, therapy and consultancy through a network of experienced therapists and trainers based across the North of England. We have developed as an organisation through a core group of colleagues working together for over twenty years since setting up the first North of England CAT Practitioner course. Catalyse functions in an open and accountable way and is overseen by an Executive Committee who agree direction and priorities, and co-ordinate Catalyse activities, on which particular Executive members lead. In addition, a larger network of Catalyse Associates provide services.

We need a CAT trained therapist to lead and develop the organisation of our CPD programme of events across the North.

Key aspects of the CPD lead role include:

  • liaising with the CAT community to generate needs and ideas;
  • including strategic thinking with the course team for a programme of consolidation events for post practitioner training;
  • liaising with presenters and carrying through the planning, costing, advertising, delivery and evaluation of the programme with administrative support.

As CPD lead you would be a full member of the Catalyse Executive contributing to the broader aims of Catalyse which has work streams delivering the CAT Practitioner course; Personal Reformulations for CAT Skills and Foundation courses and other professionals, Sheffield CAT Psychotherapy Practice; varied bespoke Projects in CAT teaching, research and evaluation; Café CAT and a new work-stream in Organisational Consultancy.

We are hoping to recruit someone who has good interpersonal skills, is collaborative and responsive, who works well in a group and who wants to contribute to CAT developments in the North.

Interested?

The CPD lead role does require flexible working of approximately 30 hours over a year and attendance at meetings and email to support the business of the Executive. See role description (download below) for more information.

Apply?

Closing date for applications is Friday 14th September, 5pm

Please submit the application form (download below), a brief CV and a personal supportive statement of up to 750 words to say why you are interested in this role and what you feel you can bring to the future of CAT in the North.

CPD Lead Downloads

Catalyse-CPD-Lead-Advert.pdf

CPD-lead-role-description.docx

Catalyse-CPD-Application-Form-2018.doc

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Bringing Home Some Gold to Café CAT

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Would you like to share, or hear about, some “golden nuggets” from this year’s ACAT conference in Keele?  Come along to Café CAT Manchester on Wednesday 25th July where we’ll be bringing back some highlights and opening these up for discussion whether you attended or not.

The twenty-fourth annual ACAT conference is almost upon us, taking place between the 5th and 7th of July in Keele.  Conference themes include therapist authenticity, creativity, and use of positive resources in cognitive analytic therapy.

Clive Turpin is offering a workshop there about Café CAT. This will include an introduction to the concept and history of the meetings, and also an experiential taster of its conversational approach.  To quote from the workshop outline:-

“Clive will introduce the topic and encourage the voices of others to contribute on the subject of therapist authenticity. This provides a valuable and rich opportunity to explore the topic as a group through conversation, rather than presenting a specific idea or approach in a usual workshop format. We don’t know where the conversation will go, which is both curious and exciting.”

The conference will be followed by some Café CAT reciprocation on 25th July – an opportunity for anyone attending the conference to feed back highlights, key learning and ideas to share with the CAT community in the north.  As usual these will be a springboard to conversation, and we hope a nice way to cascade proceedings even if you couldn’t make it to the conference this year.  Please come along if you’d like to hear, or share, these “golden nuggets” and develop the conversation.

This will be the fourth Café meeting and we’ll also be reviewing how it’s developing and future directions.

Looking forward to seeing you there at Z-arts, Hulme, Manchester.  The meeting will start at 6.15 pm and end at 8.15 pm; £5 on the door.

More information about Café CAT is at this link, or you can contact us to find out more.