Sir, - Once again, it seems to be necessary to remind Government, health boards, health professionals and readers of The Irish Times that there is a national accrediting body for professional counsellors.
The Irish Association for Counselling and Therapy (IACT) has 600 fully accredited counsellors nationwide on its data base. It offers an information and referral service. An IACT-accredited counsellor is well qualified, is in regular supervision, and is subject to sanctions from the complaints committee if a breach of professional practice is proven. In April of this year, the IACT register of accredited counsellors will be reprinted.
On January 27th your correspondent Carol Coulter reported: "Counselling has also been slow in coming. The shortage of qualified counsellors, the issue of their independence - perceived or otherwise - from the religious orders, and the role of the health boards, have all combined to make access to acceptable counselling difficult for many victims." On January 1st and 3rd the same correspondent reported that a spokesman for Survivors of Child Abuse considered that ". . . little (counselling) was immediately available . . ."
On December 22nd, 1999, your correspondent Eithne Donnellan reported that a national register of counsellors was called for, at the monthly meeting of the Eastern Health Board. Dr James Reilly was quoted as saying that "a lot of modern illnesses were associated with stress. A very important adjunct to treatment in these cases was counselling, but a GP had no way of knowing whether the counsellor they were referring a patient to was adequately qualified . . ."
As counsellors we are trained to listen well. Who is listening to us? How loudly do we have to shout in order to be heard? - Yours, etc.,
Ursula O'Farrell, IACT, Cumberland Street, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin.