President's column
A crystal ball should be essential equipment for any president.
Preparing the monthly column means anticipating significant
developments that may occur between writing it and the time you read
it. A hostage to hindsight.
The article by Caroline Watt in this issue (p.424) on the work of the
Koestler Parapsychology Unit was therefore particularly timely. Alas,
it failed to reveal the secrets of precognition, but it did remind me
of interesting insights from undergraduate days at Strathclyde
University. There I encountered Professor Gustav Jahoda and his book
The Psychology of Superstition (Penguin, 1969). It revealed the
potential for psychology to provide an understanding of many
‘paranormal’ occurrences that had seemed simply the stuff of mystical
tales and thrilling yarns. Even the most esoteric human experiences
might be amenable to psychological interpretation.
This had practical consequences in a career as a clinical psychologist.
Dealing with hallucinations and delusions, or the apparently irrational
beliefs that often seem associated with psychological distress, it was
helpful to reflect on perspectives on memory, perception and cognition
gleaned from parapsychological research.
Misty though my crystal ball is, it reveals some plain facts about the
Society’s future financial prospects. For seven years members were
protected from inflationary pressures through innovative income
generation and good management of resources, enabling us to build
reserves. As a result, last year saw the first subscription increase
for a considerable time.
However, it is clear that such a stop-start policy has significant
drawbacks. Now we are living on those reserves; investing past savings
in securing our future. Year on year we face increasing costs and
members expect higher levels of activity on their behalf. The rising
cost of living is something we all face in our day to day lives and the
Society is not immune.
Work is continuing on developing new sources of income and efficient
cost control. Even the recent purchase of new London offices was funded
by the increase in value of our previous premises, not only providing
better services but earning income.. But, in order to provide a stable
environment for planning and development, it is essential we move to a
system that takes inflation into account on a routine basis. The
reserves that served us well as a buffer are depleting and, without
urgent action to remedy the situation, will run out. That would leave
the Society facing hard choices.
The Trustees believe that action now will preserve our ability to
represent the discipline and practice of psychology strongly at a time
when it is in increasing demand. We have invested in improved
facilities and infrastructure and are well placed to take advantage of
the opportunities we have fought to make possible. However, unless we
follow through, the benefits could be lost.
The business plan for the coming year will identify a number of ways of
increasing income and reducing expenditure. Subscriptions must also
contribute to inflation proofing if we are to succeed in achieving the
objectives that members have demanded through the strategic plan.
One of these objectives relates to statutory regulation. By the time
this is published it is rumoured that we will have heard more of the
government’s plans through a report of the Foster Review of non-medical
regulation, completed late last year. In that review we argued
forcefully that previous proposals for the regulation of applied
psychologists had been flawed. The optimum way forward would be to
establish a ‘General Psychology Council’ to regulate both psychologists
and other professions, such as counselling and psychotherapy, who share
significantly in the development and delivery of psychological
interventions.
We believe that the government may not share this view and that it may
remain convinced that the appropriate route to regulation will be
through the Health Professions Council. Trustees have recently
reaffirmed our key principles:
The Society believes that it is vital for public protection that a separate and independent regulatory body is created. The working title for such a body is ‘The General Psychology Council’.
The
regulatory model exemplified in the Health Professions Council (HPC) is
inadequate for the regulation of psychologists and, subsequently,
allied professions. An action plan has been developed to deal with a
range of eventualities and members will be kept fully informed.
Lastly, I would like to congratulate Emma Gore Langton and Craig
Aaen-Stockdale, winners of the undergraduate and postgraduate student
writer competitions respectively. Their articles appear in this edition
(p.412) and make impressive and interesting reading. A crystal ball
isn’t needed to predict a successful future for them both.
(Please note that some pictures may have been removed for copyright reasons)
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