Contemporary and innovative practice: CPD in Sport and Exercise Psychology

Across the world a significant time and effort is invested within the profession of sport, exercise, and performance (SEP) psychology in qualification, accreditation, and recognition schemes. Understandably this is very important, we need to ensure everyone who operates under the banner of sport and exercise psychology is appropriately qualified and fit for practice. However, this intense focus on qualification does appear to often be at the expense of continuing to develop those individuals who are already qualified within those organisations and associations. With so much resource and time invested in qualification routes much less is available to continue to develop and evolve those individuals who have met (often assessed at a minimum) the threshold to practice, and that is it. Now some registrations, accreditations and recognitions require individuals to reapply, or to present evidence of continued professional development (CPD) but I would question sometimes how focused these are on the CPD element (rather than practice experience – which of course can be very developmental).

What skills, knowledge, expertise and experiences do SEP psychologists need to develop? What is the best avenue to deliver these? From a European perspective, CPD appears to be dominated by academia. Look at any relevant conference programme and it is dominated by University academics and researchers. Most workshops and sessions are organised and delivered by the same group. This is great for these academics and researchers, but not so great for non-academics. The argument is always ‘you need to keep up to date with research’ but surely the academic world needs to keep up to date with the applied world too? In the USA the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP) conference offers a much better service to applied practitioners, and as a result is much better attended by that group. However, at the same time it is the academic community that often are willing to lead on delivering these sessions. For a range of reasons this is more difficult for the ‘purer’ practitioners. So who’s responsibility should good quality CPD be? Is it the organisations and associations that ‘qualify’ SEP psychologists? Should it be sport-specific and led by national governing bodies? Should it be specific interest groups or service providers (such as Institutes of Sport), or should it be more commercial organisations (is there an issue with maintaining a market advantage)?

In reality the answer needs to be all of these, but crucially it needs to be developed in a collaborative manner. One thing I would like to see at some point in the future in the UK is the development of a collaborative annual ‘Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology CPD handbook (either hard copy or virtual) that lists all of the CPD opportunities available to trainees and practitioners. If we could bring together the different stakeholders this could become an amazing resource for the profession in the UK. Something similar could also work in other parts of the world to. By putting the profession first we could achieve fantastic things . . . . . . . I better put it on the to-do-list!

What should we be teaching trainee sport, exercise and performance psychologists?

As we approach the start of a new academic year in many UK University’s and the running of many Masters degrees in sport and exercise psychology, it is a perfect time to ask the question ‘what should we be teaching trainees’? The first and most obvious answer is psychology. The majority of Masters courses in the United Kingdom (UK) are accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS). In order to gain BPS accreditation you need to demonstrate that you cover a range of specific general psychology, and sport and exercise psychology specific topics. This is great from the perspective of maintaining a certain level of knowledge, though can also result in very uniform programmes across institutions. The British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES) have no such content requirements, though the majority of courses still seek to conform to the BPS criteria, not least because at the moment completing a BPS accredited programme is the only route on to the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) register of practitioner psychologists. So, anyone following this route will develop a foundation in psychology, and hopefully develop their understanding of the sport, exercise and performance domains as well, but what else? The complete training routes to practising either as a HCPC registered practitioner psychologist or a BASES accredited sport and exercise scientist (Masters and supervised/mentored practice) focus heavily on the practice hours and the underpinning knowledge. Both of which are crucial. Though the end-point of the process is for fully competent practitioners to emerge into the sport, exercise and performance domains.

 

So what is missing? Often the practical business knowledge and business skills that are required to successfully practice. Increasing numbers of newly qualified practitioners are self-employed, but where is the training to do this? For instance, a quick Google search highlighted three separate practitioners trading under the same name, one of which is actually registered on the UK Register of Business Names. This means the other two are trading illegally. Crucial to any business is the ability to negotiate. We teach trainees and students about negotiating goals and performance indicators for consultancy but not how to negotiate in terms of price, access, timing etc. Also, do you register as a sole trader or a limited company? How do you register a business name? What is tax deductible?

Also, pretty much all practitioners have a website, but how do you register a domain, design the pages, and select .com or .biz? Now you can employ an accountant to deal with the tax, and a web designer for the website, but this throws up other questions. Do you sub-contract or do you employ? What is the difference, and what are your legal responsibilities? Often new practitioners are looking to build a client base in their geographical region, but where have they been taught about marketing and promotion campaigns? Increasingly many consultants are on social media. But which media should you use and what should you say (and not say)?

Also, in most Masters courses the importance of networking will be highlighted. But what does this actually mean and how do you do it? Outside of actually doing a good job as a practitioner (without which you are ultimately doomed to failure) the development of sounds business knowledge and skills is going to increasingly define those who make it as successful practitioners in an increasingly competitive market. So, if you looking to train as a sport, exercise and performance psychologist you need to consider how and where you are going to get access to this training if you are going to have a successful career.

Why qualified is best!

One of the challenges facing the field of sport and exercise psychology is the lack of clarity regarding why you should employ a qualified practitioner (other than the suggestion you really should). We spend a lot of time talking about qualification systems, but not enough time telling the public what a qualified practitioner gives you that other practitioners might not.

Illustration depicting a sign with a qualification concept.

The first (and potentially most important) reason relates to insurance. If you have a profession, you can get indemnity insurance – for many non-qualified ‘consultants’ out there without a profession insurance is problematic. It is important to check that insurance is in place, and it is for the domain of practice. Second, and potentially as important relates to conduct and ethics. Qualified practitioners have professional accountability through adherence to professional codes of conduct and confidentiality, non-qualified practitioners do not necessarily have this constraint to work ethically. This would be of particular concern for individuals working with under-age or vulnerable groups.

The training and supervision that comes with getting qualified is also important. This helps to develop the required knowledge, skills and expertise. Depth of knowledge is particularly important. The fundamental requirement to be a psychologist is, unsurprisingly, an in-depth knowledge of psychology (hence the name). Anyone who does not have this underpinning is not a sport and exercise psychologist – regardless of whether they refer to themselves as such. Part of the reason here is valueaddedness. Strength and conditioning is a good parallel example here. Sports employ S&C practitioners because of their advanced skills and knowledge. All coaches can do fitness but there is a recognition that the S&C expert goes beyond this. It should be true to sport and exercise psychologists. The coaches can do goal setting, mental skills, being mentally tough etc etc. As a result the psychologist should be doing more advanced psychology – that is kind of the point. The context information is important too – that’s why we are sport and exercise psychologists and not just psychologists. To become a HCPC registered Sport and Exercise Psychologist you need to complete at least 6 years of education and training. To become an NLP practitioner you need to complete a 20-day training programme. In the Sport and Exercise Psychology Review this quarter there is an interesting discussion of NLP use by qualified psychologists rather than as a stand alone qualification).

There is a very interesting study recently published by Toby Woolway and Chris Harwood (reference at the end) that explored attitudes towards profession titles. In the study they clarified to participants what the different ‘levels’ by being qualified meant. They had three categories: lifecoach, NLP practitioner, and Sport and Exercise Psychologist. Unsurprisingly, once participants understood the differences between all three categories professional title became an important factor in influencing client preferences for practitioners. It is no wonder that non-appropriately qualified individuals try to use the title. But, once the right information is communicated to the public their preference is for correctly qualified practitioners.

So, as a profession we need to do more to communicate this message. To further highlight the gulf between qualified practitioners and everyone else trying to work in the domain.

Woolway, T., & Harwood, C. (20015). Do titles matter in sport psychology? Performer attitudes toward professional titles and the effect of a brief intervention. The Sport Psychologist, 29, 171-182.

Collaboration the key to good PR

Having left another meeting with potential clients lamenting the fact that I had to again explain what being ‘qualified’ as a sport psychologist actually means, I think it is time for action. There is still much undermining of the profession that is taking place due to poor communication and dare I say it marketing. In the UK, as in other countries the dilution of the key messages that occurs through too many different organisations having a stake is constraining the professions development.

Collaboration word cloud

We have a Uk regulatory body (Health and care Professions Council) who, current evidence suggests do nothing more that take the registration fees of those who are qualified. Yes, they produce the guidelines for what ‘qualified is, but fail to ‘police’ the profession as was originally hoped. There is the British Psychological Society who are busy pushing the agenda of psychology, but fail to recognise the needs of sport and exercise psychology. There is the BPS and BASES at logger heads about how to get qualified, while the majority of ‘qualified’ practitioners emerge from the BASES training route.

All of which means that the clients have not got a clue about who they should employ, and what these practitioners should do. There are many who are protecting the interests of a specific group within the profession without really taking a global view of the profession in the UK. There are multiple registers of approved practitioners, but where to go for the best practitioners?

We, as a profession need to turn over a new leaf. There needs to be greater collaboration, and greater action. The HCPC register, as in other professions such as physiotherapy, should be the gold standard for practitioners. Everyone who is looking to employ a sport psychologist should know that this is where to look? But how to achieve this? well everyone, to use a well worn team-focused saying, should be ‘singing from the same hymn sheet’! The BPS should be helping to promote the HCPC gold standard as well as the values of being BPS chartered across each of the protected title domains. BASES should be doing the same for Psychology-focused practitioners. Currently the question here would be why would BASES do that? Well the way to achieve this is to develop a BASES route through to HCPC registered status as well. Offering two routes through to the same end. This would help to provide greater clarity and consistency in the profession. yes, this new route would need to meet the same HCPC criteria as the BPS are required to do, but would help reinforce the one ‘gold standard’ requirement, which should be HCPC registration.

This could usher in a new age of collaboration with better provision for aspiring sport and exercise psychologists, and also better continued professional development support for qualified practitioners. But, returning to the start of the blog, it would finally mean we, as a profession, could with confidence let the clients know who sport and exercise psychologists are and where to look for them!