Clanwilliam’s approach to systemic practice is grounded in ethical principles drawn from professional codes of practice, a duty of care towards all involved – clients, students, colleagues, stakeholders, and the public– and a desire to develop non-discriminatory forms of service delivery. The ethos of Clanwilliam is informed by its mission statement and values and the ethical and theoretical principles of the professional discipline of Family Therapy.
Family Therapy Association of Ireland (FTAI) and the European Association of Psychotherapy (EAP) are the professional bodies responsible for professional accreditation of Clanwilliam Programmes. FTAI accreditation ensures that practitioners are appropriately qualified and work to recognised standards of professional competence (FTAI, 2017). All therapists working in Clanwilliam are professionally accredited or working as interns working towards professional accreditation under Supervision.
Clanwilliam’s approach to Quality Assurance is based on Mutual Accountability, Rigour, Transparency, Recursivity, Fairness, Equality and Accessibility:
- Mutual accountability – At every level of the organisation’s operations there are structured opportunities for feedback from
anyone receiving or providing a service – clients, students, employees, service providers. - Rigour – The ethical rigour essential for accountability stems both from the codes of practice that govern
Clanwilliam staff and also from the commitment to respect the integrity and ensure the wellbeing of
the various stakeholders who avail of and provide Institute services – students, clients, employers,
staff and the public. The quality procedures are regular, programmed and subject to checks and
continual improvement. - Transparency – Fulfilling the above principles necessarily requires a high degree of transparency which is constrained
only by attention to the rights of the individual for privacy and confidentiality. - Recursivity – This is the process whereby information circulates in and feeds back into a system. It is a defining
characteristic of systems which are maintained in existence by means of feedback – both positive and
negative. It is a key principle of systems theory. - Fairness, Equality and Accessibility – The objectives of fairness, equality and accessibility are guiding principles in the development of
Clanwilliam services.
Inclusion is fundamental to an ethical systemic practice. It involves both an explicit structuring of provision for all to be heard and a consciousness that some are always in danger of being excluded or silenced. It requires an ongoing rigorous attention to ensure that practices are non-discriminatory.