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This has been a momentous year for the profession of psychotherapy. The United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy was established on 10 January 1993 and our national voluntary Register of psychotherapists was launched at the Houses of Parliament on 20 May 1993. These historic events have defined psychotherapy as an autonomous occupation in the United Kingdom. UKCP provides a matrix for a pluralistic profession, accommodating and respecting differences of method and philosophy, whilst maintaining firm boundaries and high standards for the training and practice of psychotherapists. It is from the robust safety of this matrix that we are now able to confront the important external challenges that face us.
The past twelve months have shown the importance of continuing to ensure that we can procure a safe and trusting environment, where there is room for internal debate and questioning in the spirit of cooperation and mutual respect. In order to safeguard this we need to maintain an open flow of communication as well as setting clear directions for decision making and executive action. The Governing Board is proposing to make some adjustments to our structures so as to achieve a better balance between the need for independent operation of individual units and effective feed-back and consultation throughout the organisation. This is a matter of fine tuning rather than a major reorganisation. We must be prepared to continue improving our organisation as and when this seems appropriate.
As UKCP has grown from a small voluntary organisation into a significant professional body, distinctions have to be made between different levels of decisionmaking and each has to be situated appropriately. The Governing Board has streamlined its modus operandi and needs to confirm this with some amendments to the constitution. These will link all major committees to the centre, making all chairs of committees and boards into officers and ensuring that the executive group is therefore truly rep