Committees

Executive committee

The Executive Committee of the EAP consists of a maximum of fifteen persons: the President, the two Vice-Presidents, and the Treasurer, all elected by the General Meeting, the General Secretary, the External Relations Officer, the Registrar, the Chairpersons of the NUOC, EWOC and ETSC, all appointed by the Governing Board. The Governing Board may elect two more of its members to the Executive Committee.

Minutes of decisions taken by the Executive Committee are presented to the Governing Board.
The Executive Committee carries out the tasks of the Governing Board and is responsible to the Governing Board.

Executive Committee | Detailed Information

Ethical Guidelines Committee (EGC)

The main task of Ethical Guidelines Committee is to facilitate research and discourse, such as symposiums and workshop events for example, on ethical developments relevant to psychotherapy. The Ethical Guidelines Committee will also periodically review the EAP Ethical Principles and propose amendments to the EAP Board as appropriate. The Ethical Guidelines Committee cannot receive ethical complaints or act as an appeals board for complaints but may develop additional policies in response to recurring conflicts between EAP stakeholder organisations and individuals affiliated with EAP and recommend such policies to the EAP Board.

European Training Standards Committee (ETSC)

The European Training Standards Committee (ETSC) is a ‘standing committee’ of the EAP, which has the function of establishing suitable standards for training and education for European psychotherapists and to make recommendations to the Governing Board.

Within this remit, the ETSC has the responsibility of overseeing the development of the European Certificate of Psychotherapy (ECP) and the project to establish the professional competencies of a European psychotherapist.

It is also involved in negotiations with ESCO, the committee for European Skills, Competencies, Qualifications and Occupations, which identifies, classifies and categorises all the skills, competences, qualifications and occupations relevant for the EU labour market and professional education and training

European Wide Organisations Committee (EWOC)

The EWOC is the body dealing with all matters arising in European-wide organisations (EWO) and monitors the development of modalities throughout Europe. It assists other EAP committees, in particular Membership and Training by checking the scientific validation of an applying organisation. Two members of EWOC are delegated to the Membership committee.

Grandparenting Advisory Panel (GAP)

GAP meets twice per year when it reviews European Certificate of Psychotherapy applications for modalities which are not represented by a European Wide Organisation (EWO); applications that fall into the category of “Multi Modal” and for reviewing appeals. 

Panel members – The Registrar, Ivana Slavkovic and delegates from EWOC and NUOC

Membership Committee (MC)

The Membership Committee has six voting members. Two members are appointed by the National Umbrella Organisations Committee (NUOC), two members from the European Wide Organisations Committee (EWOC), one member from the Chamber of Individual Members, and the current EAP president. The chair is elected by the committee. The committee considers all applications for organisational and individual membership. The committee has two formal meetings per year but will consider and decide individual membership applications throughout the year with digital communication.

National Umbrella Organizations Committee (NUOC )

The NUOC represents all National Umbrella Organizations (NUO) and considers any topics and situations that concern them. The council monitors the development and recognition of psychotherapy in European countries and supports other EAP committees such as Membership and Training and Accreditation committees, for example with information about the situation in a country relevant to EAP membership, or ECP award issues.

Nominations Committee

The Nominations Committee prepare the nominations of the President-elect, the Treasurer, and any other Officers (General Secretary, Registrar, External Relations Officer). It collects nominations and scrutinize in accordance with the position’s job description. Last but not least, the Nomination Committee has the mission to present suitable candidates to the General Assembly or a meeting of the Governing Board.

Science and Research Committee (SARC)

The SARC’s principal mission within the EAP is to facilitate the access of psychotherapy practitioners to research and to bridge the well-known gap between practitioners and researchers. There are several forms and designs of practicing research in the field of psychotherapy. SARC contributes to the discussions about appropriate research designs that respect the nature of interpersonal processes in psychotherapy. Research is a complex and highly technical multidisciplinary activity and to achieve our goals, we have built a network with respected international researchers. Through this contact we offer the possibility for a working relationship between researchers and EAP trained psychotherapists. For example, by participating in ongoing psychotherapy research studies, we can bring our contribution to the research in the form of our everyday experience as clinicians in the field. These possibilities create dialogue and help to reduce the practitioner- researcher gap as each understand better the needs, objectives and methods of the other. The finality being that research can result in a form of practical knowledge that clinicians feel able to evaluate and eventually integrate into their clinical considerations when treating patients. This leads to a more informed and chosen form of “evidenced based practice”.

SARC has a mission statement whit a description of its aims and purposes, which can be seen here.

The SARC meetings are held twice a year connected with the regular EAP meetings. They are open to anybody interested in Research.

We participate in psychotherapy research conferences to and report at the EAP meetings.

More information on Science & Research | SARC Aims of SARC

Training Accreditation Committee (TAC)

Training Accreditation Committee is in charge of setting criteria and procedures for accrediting training organizations as European Accredited Psychotherapy Training Institutes (EAPTI) of EAP. The detailed criteria and procedures for obtaining and maintaining EAPTI status are contained in the TAC document. The TAC is responsible for checking and accepting the quality and procedures of the training organisation and subsequently recommending it to the Governing Board for EAPTI status. TAC is comprised of TAC permanent members and assisted by the pool of TAC International Experts who visit the institutes and scrutinize their training programs.

The Chair of TAC is the Registrar of EAP