Counselling and Psychotherapy Services :: About CAPA
CAPA's aims
CAPA is the peak New South Wales Counselling and Psychotherapy Association.
CAPA was established to provide a forum for professional counsellors and psychotherapists and it works at the State and Federal level to further the interests of its members. CAPA is a member association of Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia (PACFA).
CAPA members are practitioners with a diversity of training and specialty areas. All members meet the criteria set down by CAPA, at the State level, and PACFA, at the national level. These criteria cover training, client contact hours, ongoing professional development, supervision, insurance requirements, ethics, complaints handling and good governance.
The aims of CAPA are:
- To support professional development via a conference, meetings, workshops, publications and the electronic media.
- To formulate, review and monitor ethical behaviour for the public benefit in the professions of counselling and psychotherapy.
- To formulate, review and monitor standards of training and education leading a counsellor and/or psychotherapist to membership.
- To represent members' views on standards and professional issues to the community, training institutions, professional organisations and government.
- To operate on a non-profit basis.
CAPA's contributions
CAPA fulfils responsibilities to practitioners, the counselling and psychotherapy community, the general public including those attending or wishing to attend counselling and/or psychotherapy, the State and Federal governments.
For CAPA member practitioners, we:
- Provide a forum for their issues to be heard and responded to in an appropriate and timely way.
- Provide information about current issues related to the counselling services and psychotherapy fields via professional development activities, The CAPA Quarterly journal and the website.
- Develop and manage professional development activities.
- List members on the website listing and assists members with group advertising.
- Assist individual practitioners in developing their networks for professional referrals.
- Provide a consultation service to members regarding ethical issues that may present themselves.
- Provide a stepping stone for application to the national PACFA Register of Counsellors and Psychotherapists.
- Represent members in both State and national forums on issues that affect their professional activities.
- Develop links with other like-minded organisations to ensure cross-fertilisation of ideas and responses where appropriate.
- Facilitate access to professional indemnity insurance.
For the counselling services and psychotherapy community CAPA:
- Is actively involved at the State and National level in a variety of taskforces, committees, discussion forums.
- Provides a liaison point for media and other relevant bodies for responses to counselling and psychotherapy issues.
- Increases the awareness of the general public and others as to the services provided by counsellors and psychotherapists.
For the public we provide:
- Member practitioners who are recognised as trained to a high standard, have ongoing professional development including appropriate clinical supervision, and are bound by the Code of Ethics.
- Information about the process of counselling services and psychotherapy.
- Assistance in managing complaints against member practitioners, via the CAPA Complaints Procedure, and providing information and processes for complaints against non-member practitioners.
For the government, we provide:
- Member practitioners who meet a high standard of training and ongoing development.
- Liaison over issues that affect the counselling and psychotherapy fields.
- A group of practitioners who have expertise in a variety of areas that can assist, advise, explore and otherwise contribute to the development of government policy.
