Event Details

On Friday 26th April 2024 The Psychologists Protection Society invited Barry McInnes to speak on the topic “How will I know when I’m a good enough therapist?”. This session was part of The Psychologists Protection Society’s 2024 Annual General Meeting, held in London, England.

Session Outline

How do we define good therapy? What criteria should apply? How can we measure impact, and what separates the most from the least impactful among us? Who is a ‘supershrink’, and who gets to decide? What does the evidence say about the effect on outcomes of adopting routine outcome measurement, and is there a way of integrating it into our practice model that we can not only live with, but embrace?

These are questions that Barry has been asking himself on a journey spanning some 25 years to date. During this presentation, he shares his thoughts on the above questions, and some of what he’s learned so far, drawing on research, reflection and a good deal of personal experience, not all of it entirely comfortable. 

Along the way, Barry outlines how he’s reframed his use of outcome measures, and how what started out as a tool for assessing service performance has evolved into an invaluable means of eliciting client progress feedback. Feedback which now helps keep him on his therapeutic toes and therapy on track. He also shares how, over time, this has helped him build an evidence base for reflecting on his own impact, and how you (should you wish) might go about doing the same.

Speaker Information

Barry McInnes is an independent therapist, service consultant, writer and blogger, and co-creator of Therapy Meets Numbers.  https://therapymeetsnumbers.com/

Barry has worked in the therapy field for 35+ years, starting as a volunteer in a youth counselling service. A range of roles followed, including youth counselling and managing the counselling service at Royal College of Nursing (RCN).

Barry’s involvement with evaluation and measurement started at the RCN, having implemented the CORE system in 1998. By his departure in 2005 the service was one of the top-performing in the UK (84% of clients reaching a planned ending; 85% achieving clinical and/or reliable improvement).

Barry joined CORE Information Management Systems in 2005, initially as an independent consultant delivering UK-wide training and consultancy for outcome measurement and service development, then as Director of Training.

Since 2010 Barry has been fully independent. His portfolio includes consultancy, writing and blogging. In 2017, together with colleague Giles, he created Therapy Meets Numbers, a resource dedicated to bridging the gap between research, evaluation and practice.  He remains passionate about the role of research, evaluation and feedback in creating the best therapy experience for every client.