qualifications

Qualifications & Certificates

Quals vs Sticky Foots

There is an important difference between qualifications and certificates.

Qualifications are backed by creditable award bodies, usually at a national level, and are part of national and international frameworks of standards. This means different quals can be compared for levels of effort needed and academic content. Crucially for changework, qualifications also assert that the holder can apply a skill - they are competent to a recognised level.

Certificates however, can be awarded by anyone. By me even. In fact I have been involved on the board of an international NLP association who could award its own certificates - but I found this simply not proper enough. Certificates may be awarded for attendance, not skill. This has not helped changework as it emerged from NLP - where the main income seems at times to be training others in NLP! Rather than actual client practice people have spent large efforts developing training businesses.

Nevertheless I am happy to display my certificates and qualifications. I am proud of them: the hours spent, the commitment to a course, the travelling and staying in hotels, the written follow-up and mostly the new skill learnt and applied. And of course - a Continuing Professional Development.

NLP, and most hypnosis, is only certificated - people turned up, paid us and went through the course. This is a shame and the field mostly has itself to blame. Although academic response to NLP has involved serious errors in experimental methodology and a protective approach to psychoanalysis, counselling and other psychology approaches.

Recently there has been great success with treating PTSD - and in the United States Eye Movement Therapy has been trialled extensively with brilliant 90% efficacy in published results. Due to their wars, there are lots of money to back effective programs for PTSD.

There are a couple of UK post-grad University qualifications dealing with NLP now, and FE courses too. And I am doing PhD research using the Eye Accessing Cues model from Bandler & Grinder's early days of 1970s NLP. Here is a PDF showing how different UK qualifications relate to each other.

NLP Practitioner

This is my practitioner certificate from Society of NLP. Achieved over several weekends training in Leeds, UK with the eminent Nick Kemp.

NLP Master Practitioner

I chose to do this online as a way of seeing how NLP and indeed other courses, could be delivered online. It was very interesting - and involved written work, case study submission and some complex multiple choice assessments. The techniques I learnt were great - and have led to me developing my own. Is it a University as the UK would see it? I don't think so. But Steve Jones is a good trainer and the organisation is still rolling. I have just friended their Facebook page.

MA Creative Practice

This is a qualification, awarded by the Open University, which itself is chartered to award degrees by the UK government. This is what's known as a Level 7 qualification, post-grad, measured against the Qualification Framework. Although the OU is known for distance learning, I achieved this award over a 2-year period at my local art college - Hull School of Art & Design. As part of it I made my changework-improvised feature film Under the Weather.

Certificate in Training Practice

This is actually a qualification, even though it is called a certificate. So hey - it's OK to be confused! This one is a post-grad level teaching qualification and is the equivalent of a PGCE. Although this qualifies me to teach 16+ - college and University environments, rather than in schools. Which is a shame for me as if I had that qualification I would probably do supply teaching as a useful flexible income. This award took several several days over a period of several weeks. Like most qualifications, the hourly overhead is set and usually more than certificates. Although I do not remember if this tested my ability to actually teach? The brilliant award body are now known as Chartered Institute of Professional Development.

Provocative Therapy

This certificate is the result of a course over several days with Nick Kemp and the late Frank Farrelly, who was a student of Carl Rogers, the founder of person-centred counselling which is still the main force in psychotherapy. Rogers said in the 60s that is he was starting out today, he would follow the methods of Frank Farrelly. This is a wonderful tribute to the interventionist approach to counselling that Provocative Therapy brings. It is fun and wildly effective - my experience being like a guided missile that keeps coming for your problem... in a good way!

Integral Eye Movement Therapy

Yes I have lost my certificate in an office move. This is why I now keep all sticky foots in a frame on my wall. It also channels psychiatrist office which is useful for clients sometimes. Whatever it takes for clients to feel positive and engaged is valuable, like my high-backed Chesterfield chair. And as someone involved in delivering a range of qualifications - why should we not be proud and display our earnt learnings? This image is a grab from the professional members page of the IEMT website.

Literacy Level 2

This qualification is equivalent to a GCSE pass. I needed to take this as I had lost my GCE certificates from schooldays and many education employment offers require evidence of literacy and numeracy. The course was online - but it was required to go to a recognised centre a few times to practice and do this course before taking the assessment. Again framed and displayed safely on the wall where I can find them when I need them. I don't want to spend days doing the course again, even though it was well-structured and enjoyable.

Numeracy Level 2

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy

This certificate involved a day or so of writing in response to reading passages about how it works. It also involved writing up a case study. This certificate is all that many CBT Practitioners have and most people would not see the significance of "hereby certifies" compared to "hereby qualifies". CBT is part of the changework oeuvre in that it usefully focusses on changing behaviour for clients.

Federation of Small Business

The wonderful FSB is a great organisation for the self-employed and small business. Membership includes insurances and protections alongside free legal advice. It is also a good lobbying organisation, talking to government and policy-makers on behalf of small business.

Master Coach

An interesting weekend training at a hotel on Heathrow Airport. Some great techniques - mainly about selling your coaching to others? Met some good people here and some of the luminaries of the international coaching world. Most changework training attracts counsellors but this was a room of business folk.

Lifelong Learning Award - Business

Awarded for our work developing young people and interns at Engage Now Ltd. We were runner-up to a multi-million housing association so very proud of this. Such good people in such a usefully-focussed organisation - Yorkshire & Humber East Lifelong Learning Network. They also gave me the funding to set up the networking event HumberMUD.

BA(Hons) Fine Art

A 2:1 in Time-Based Media was the start of my adult education - having arrived at Uni aged 25. I can thoroughly recommend a degree course. Any degree course. You will get from it what you are able to put in. You will be supported and professionalised. Ambitions will be revealed and opportunities presented. This is another lost certificate - so I was pleased the University could supply a genuine acknowledgement in replacement.