EuroPsy (or European Certificate in Psychology)
is a European standard of education, professional training and competence in psychology set by the European Federation of Psychologists’ Associations (EFPA).

Visit: www.europsy.eu  

Participation of the EuroPsy European Awarding Committee at the European Health Psychology Society (EHPS) Conference in Dubrovnik (Croatia)
September 3-7, 2019 – Dubrovnik, Croatia    

The Chair of the EuroPsy European Awarding Committee, Dr. Rosaleen McElvaney, participated in a roundtable discussion on moving health psychology forward in Europe at the European Health Psychology Society (EHPS) Conference in Dubrovnik in September 3-4, 2019.  

The EHPS task force on health psychology started the process to drawing up a list of core competencies and skills for health psychologists to increase the visibility of health psychology practice in society, and to improving global mobility. Issues such as health psychology education and developing internationally recognised standards of training and practice, the distinctive competencies of health psychologists, legislation, employability and liaison with other professionals and other psychology colleagues from different specialties were discussed in this forum.  

Readers may be interested in a series of articles published in the  European Health Psychologist  in 2017  that reflect the work of this EHPS taskforce in identifying the challenges facing health psychology as a discipline. EFPA will continue to work closely with EHPS on developing standards for health psychologists in Europe.

European Awarding Committee (EAC) meeting
September 20, 2019 - Brussels   

On September 20 the EAC met at the EFPA offices in Brussels where they discussed about the latest updates and developments on EuroPsy. 

This was the last EAC meeting for Salvatore Zappala, past liaison for and as chair S-EAC Work&Organisational Psychology. We warmly thank him for all great collaboration over the past years.  

Read more about Salvatore Zappala, his contribution and vision for EuroPsy in the interview section (pop-up) in this page.

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EAC meeting was also the occasion to welcome Steve Woods as new chair of  S-EAC Work&Organisational Psychology.

We wish to Steve a successful and fruitful journey in his new position.

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Interview
Salvatore Zappalà - Past chair Specialist European Awarding Committee (S-EAC) Work & Organisational Psychology
September 30, 2019 - University of Bologna, Italy

What are the highlights from your time on the EAC and S-EAC in W&O? 
One important highlight from my time in the EAC and SEAC in W&O Psychology is related to the annual report that countries involved in Europsy fill each year. EuroPsy is a great example of the extraordinary challenge of European psychologists: despite the many differences between countries and cultures, EuroPsy is a framework and a model shared enough to become a common standard of reference across Europe. The annual reports highlight the significant effort made, year after year, by the countries to converge towards the Europsy platform. The effort is relevant for the countries with a national standard closer to or higher than Europsy but it is, especially, impressive for those with lower professional standards; these latter countries are implementing initiatives that are progressively and successfully taking psychologists to the same level of educational and professional competences European-wide.   

What do you think EuroPsy has achieved in the past eight years?
EuroPsy is a social project, and as such it has to match the changes happening in each country, at political, legislative, academic or economic level, and even within the EFPA member associations. For instance, in one country where the standards fit well with the EuroPsy requirements, the government may have introduced some changes in the legislation about supervised practice that impacted on whether the standard continued to meet the EuroPsy requirements in that country and the member association may be considering some solutions to this situation so as to meet the EuroPsy requirements. Thus, there are ups and down in the enthusiasm, energy and determination, with which EuroPsy is implemented across Europe. Nonetheless, multiple improvements are observed. And they concern the educational curricula of psychologists, training of supervisors and supervision procedures, or more clear and formal structures of continuous professional development activities. Not all countries adopting EuroPsy are progressing on each of these fields, but almost all of them are introducing improvements in at least one of them. And this is extremely valuable.  

What hopes do you have for the future of EuroPsy in Europe?
For the future of EuroPsy, my main hopes are focused on the management and presidents of the national associations of psychologists. They have a very important and determinant role in driving and leading the development of EuroPsy. Although associations are tied to their national tradition, Europe and EuroPsy are there to remind them that each country has to go a step further, evolving the professionalization of psychologists in order to provide services adequate for societies, citizens and workplaces that are progressively changing. And EuroPsy is the greatest opportunity that national psychologists’ associations have to strengthen our profession, going in the same direction as the other European countries, led by the EuroPsy. Following Prof. Poortinga’s hope, I also believe that “united we stand, divided we fall”.  

What thoughts do you have about the future of the specialist certificate in W&O psychology?
The EuroPsy Specialist certificate in W&O Psychology is still taking its first steps. The post-degree education of specialists unfolds, in many countries, following multiple different and sometimes fragmented pathways. However, pathways do exist. Countries should start to be more aware of such complexity and variety. At the same time, EuroPsy encourages them to formalize the variety of pathways and support the process of making explicit and evident the high quality competences possessed by W&O psychologists when providing services to firms and customers.        

ABOUT SALVATORE ZAPPALA’ 

Salvatore Zappalà is an Associate professor at the University of Bologna (Italy). His recent research interest concerns readiness to change, service climate, as well as inter-organizational collaborations, and particularly teams of entrepreneurs that collaborate in order to achieve common shared goals. Having served in the executive committee of EAWOP (European Association of Work and Organizational Psychology), he led the Provisional S-EAC in W&O Psychology, the body that supervised the implementation and testing of the EuroPsy Specialist Certificate in W&O Psychology in five European countries. From 2014 to 2019 he served as chair of the S-EAC in W&O Psychology and in the EAC as liaison with the S-EAC W&O.    

EuroPsy...

     Influences legislation on regulation of psychology
     Influences university curricula
     Improves transparency for the public
     Assists with mobility
     Promotes best practice (supervision; CPD)
     Brings together psychologists in Europe  

Find out here if you can obtain the EuroPsy in your country  

The Development of the Supervised Practice of Psychologists in Slovenia

Edited by Anja Podlesek

This book is a wonderful compendium regarding the highly innovative training program for supervision in Slovenia. It is very professional, integrated and both compelling and persuasive regarding implementation of the competence model. It is comprehensive, thorough and thoughtful, providing a prototype for future implementations of similar projects.

There are a number of features that make this volume unique. It is impressionistic—powerful impressions are conveyed by individual supervisors and supervisees, providing depth and breadth to our understanding of the supervision process. The format of an edited collection also lends itself to the elucidation of multiple viewpoints and perspectives. 

The book can be downloaded for free  

EuroPsy - Standards and Quality in Education for Professional Psychologists 

I. Lunt, J. M. Peiró, Y. H. Poortinga, R. Roe

The only comprehensive professional handbook on EuroPsy, the European standard and benchmark for education and training in psychology. This book is mandatory reading for anyone involved with accreditation, education, quality assurance, and assessment of standards in psychology.

More information & purchase 

A Model of the Supervised Practice of Psychologists

Anja Podlesek, Vlasta Zabukovec

EuroPsy - the European Certificate in Psychology represents an educational framework and minimum standards for the training of psychologists across EU. Within this framework, a year of supervised practice is required for entry into independent practice.

The basic condition for the implementation of supervised practice is to educate mentors of supervised practice.

The authors of the book developed such an educational program in 2010 within the European Social Funds project called 'Establishing a Network of Mentors and Training for the Supervised Practice of Psychologists'. This book presents the project and its results.

You can purchase book here 

More publications on EuroPsy website 

Save the Date
Next EuroPsy events to come:

Friday, January 10, 2020 - Brussels: 
Training the trainers: Skills training for trainers of supervisors (Workshop 3) 

March 13, 2020 – Brussels:
Annual EuroPsy (S)NAC chairs meeting 

1) Friday, January 10, 202 - Brussels. 
Workshop outline: Training the trainers (Workshop 3):
Building on the previous two ‘Training the trainers’ workshops in May 2018 and May 2019, this workshop will focus on experiential engagement with supervision training exercises, as well as discussion of methods of evaluating trainee supervisors and giving feedback regarding supervisory competency.  

Learning objectives: Following this workshop, it is expected that participants will:
 have experience of supervision training exercises designed to develop supervisory awareness, knowledge and skills;
 have information about and experience using methods for evaluating and giving feedback to trainee supervisors.

2) March 13, 2020 - Brussels. Annual EuroPsy (S)NAC chairs meeting:
The chairs of the National Awarding committees (NACs) and Specialized National Awarding Committees (SNACs) will meet together with members of the European Awarding Committee (EAC) and Specialized European Awarding Committee( SEAC) in Brussels for the Annual EuroPsy EFPA Chairs Meeting. During this meeting various topics regarding EuroPsy will be discussed.