Accreditation

Level 2 Module

Accreditation as a BUSS Practitioner

 

BUSS® and the BUSS Model® are registered trademarks and must be used in line with the protocol below. 

Only Accredited BUSS® Practitioners can offer BUSS® as a therapeutic intervention, assessing and working with individual children, young people and their families. Further details of the accreditation process can be downloaded as a PDF here. While we are keen to train suitably experienced practitioners in BUSS®, we remain passionate about maintaining the highest standards for practise, and ensuring the best service for children, young people and their families. 

A register of Accredited BUSS® Practitioners is held by BUSS Model Ltd and this can be viewed by members of the public here. If you have been offered BUSS® by a practitioner who is not listed on this register, please inform us as soon as possible (email: info@BUSSModel.org  or call: 01423 276203). They are not qualified to deliver this intervention.

To ensure ongoing fidelity to the model and high standards of practise, Accredited BUSS® Practitioners must be supervised by Consultants in BUSS® and renew their registration every four years. A register of BUSS® Consultants is available here.

Level 3 Module

Training in BUSS

 

There are two training pathways in BUSS®, depending on an individual’s core training, experience and the needs of an organisation. The training programme has been carefully designed so that training is appropriate for practitioners from a range of backgrounds, ensuring that the fundamental ethos of the intervention as well as its application, are taught and faithfully implemented by trained practitioners. Sarah Lloyd, the author of the model, leads the training team, which comprises Accredited BUSS® Practitioners and Consultants, BUSS® Parent Mentors and our BUSS® in Education lead.

 

 

Pathway One – Accreditation as a BUSS® Practitioner

Prerequisites: 

To train as an Accredited BUSS® Practitioner you must have a core training in either Social Work, Clinical or Educational Psychology, Occupational Therapy or Child Psychotherapy. There may, on rare occasions, be an exception to this, e.g. a practitioner who is a Certified Theraplay® Practitioner working within a Multidisciplinary Team. In such circumstances, decisions will be made on a case by case basis, but the key factor will be the person working within an appropriate Multidisciplinary Team.

 

Pathway Two – Accreditation as a BUSS® Preschool Group Practitioner

It is recognised that a lot of skilled and experienced practitioners working with children who have experienced developmental trauma do not have a core clinical or Social Work training. With this in mind, we have developed an arm of training that builds on Level One BUSS® training to train practitioners to follow a manualised programme for a BUSS® preschool group (Training as a BUSS® Group Practitioner). This group is designed for preschool children and their foster carers or adoptive parents but can also be adapted for use within an education setting. There are further details of the training and supervision requirements below. 

 

 

Introduction to BUSS® Webinar and Level One Training

These trainings are the starting point for both training pathways and open to everyone who is interested in learning more about BUSS®, either as a parent or carer, or in a professional capacity, as a way of working with children who have experienced developmental trauma and their families. Successful completion of Level One BUSS® training can be useful to parents, educators, clinicians and managers working in this field but does not equip participants to practise BUSS® or use the term ‘BUSS® Informed Practitioner’. 

 

 

Pathway One – Accreditation as a BUSS® Practitioner:

 

Level Two training 

Participants with the prerequisite core professional training (please see Pathway One prerequisites above) who have attended the Introduction to BUSS® webinar and successfully completed Level One BUSS® training can apply for Level Two training. The Level Two training is a step towards the supervised practicum stage of training to become an Accredited BUSS® Practitioner.

Please note that, at this time, it is not possible to progress to the Level Three BUSS® training without a core training in one of the professions listed above. Therefore, unless there are exceptional circumstances, we would advise those participants without such a core training not to train beyond BUSS® Level One. 

Successful completion of Level Two training involves participation in the training days and completion of assignments between day two and day three of the training. The task is to record themselves as they practise administering the BUSS® assessment on two typically developing children aged between 5yrs and 18yrs, including reflection on their practise. These must be submitted to the trainers for successful completion of this level of training.

Following successful completion of Level Two, it is appropriate to use the term, ‘BUSS® Informed Practitioner’. It is hoped that this level of understanding and knowledge will enrich the practice of Social Workers and other clinicians, but it does not equip participants to use BUSS® as an intervention with the children and families they are working with. However, it does equip them to:

  • Understand the synergy between relationships and movement in the development of a child’s foundation sensorimotor systems
  • Notice and analyse patterns movement, developing your skills in being able to frame your observations in terms of the foundation sensorimotor systems
  • Recognise when a BUSS® intervention may be appropriate for a child / family and be able to talk to families and referrers about this
  • Support families to complete the BUSS® screening tool
  • Progress to Level Three (with the appropriate qualifications)

 

Level Three Training

Following successful completion of Level Two and its associated assignments, practitioners can apply for the supervised practicum part of training. This is the final part of the training towards becoming an Accredited BUSS® Practitioner, enabling practitioners to use BUSS® as an intervention with the children and families they are working with and use the term Accredited BUSS® Practitioner.

As well as a core clinical or Social Work qualification as outlined above, practitioners must be able to demonstrate extensive experience of working with families. It may be that it is necessary for an individual practitioner to undertake further training in a related field (e.g. DDP Level One) if their experience has been predominantly in treating children and they are less experienced in working with families. 

As part of the application process, applicants will be required to show evidence of registration with their professional body, give details of their working environment, provide evidence of current professional indemnity insurance and be registered with the DBS online update service.

Level Three training starts with an introductory training session which is delivered remotely. Following this, participants will work sequentially with four families (children aged between 5yrs and 18yrs) using the BUSS Model®, from the start to the end of the intervention. A BUSS® intervention typically comprises nine sessions over four months and it is likely that this part of the practicum will take about eighteen months to complete.

Supervision will be a combination of individual supervision, at which practitioners and their BUSS® supervisor will watch the recordings of the sessions, reflecting on the practitioner’s analysis of their practise, and group supervision. The supervisor will offer help and support in designing and implementing BUSS® with the family, including the writing of reports. Alongside this, practitioners must attend monthly group supervision sessions at which they will be expected to share recordings and learnings from their practise. There will be a BUSS® Parent Mentor in these groups to offer their expertise and lens.

It is likely that individual and group supervision will take place over Zoom but this could be face to face if proximity to a BUSS® Consultant allows.

Following successful completion of the Level Three BUSS® training, practitioners are entitled to be on the register of Accredited BUSS® Practitioners which is held and administered by BUSS Model® Ltd. A fee for the administration of the accreditation is payable on completion of the practicum (£30 plus VAT). The cost of membership of Accredited BUSS® Practitioners is £50 plus VAT, payable at the point of registration and every 4 years thereafter.

Feedback from the Level Three Training

“Thank you all for your amazing support all the way through – the training and supervision is fantastic and so thoughtful. Honestly the best training I have done!”

– Aeron, Senior Occupational Therapist & BUSS Level 3 Trainee

 

 

Pathway Two – Training to run a BUSS® Preschool Group:

 

It is necessary for there to have been some discussion with Sarah Lloyd about the feasibility of running a group within an organisation before attendance at this training. This allows for consideration of individual circumstances and the suitability of running the group in that particular setting. Generally, if it is an education setting, there needs to be evidence of a culture of trauma informed training and practise within the organisation. The therapy setting needs to be a multidisciplinary team.

This training builds on Level One training and comprises a one day training and subsequent supervision. At the one day training, practitioners will be given the resources needed to run this twelve week group. This will include detailed instructions about the content and running of each session, descriptions of activities and resources required, as well as weekly handouts for parents or carers.

Supervision for the group programme will be every two weeks for the first group and thereafter the frequency of supervision can be negotiated between the BUSS® supervisor and group facilitators, but will never be less than three sessions of supervision per programme.

Sessions must be videotaped and recordings sent to the BUSS® supervisor to watch before supervision. It is the responsibility of the organisation to obtain consent from parents / carers / Social Workers for this and it must be presented to BUSS Model® Ltd before commencement of the group. BUSS Model® Ltd uses a password protected Dropbox account for all of its clinical and supervision activities.

Introductory Webinar

Maintaining Accreditation

 

To ensure fidelity to the model and to use the title of Accredited BUSS® Practitioner, practitioners must maintain their accreditation. In order to do this, it is necessary for practitioners to:

  • Complete the declaration form.
  • Pay a fee for the administration of the accreditation and a fee for membership of the community of Accredited BUSS® Practitioners.
  • If practitioners would like to have their profile and details on the list of Accredited BUSS® Practitioners on the BUSS® Model Ltd website, they must supply the necessary information.
  • BUSS® Practitioners must continue to receive supervision from a registered BUSS® Consultant for their BUSS® work (a register of BUSS® Consultants is available here). Working with up to 10 families concurrently, the minimum requirement for accredited practitioners is to attend 9 sessions of supervision per year.
  • To maintain accreditation, a practitioner must complete a minimum of 46 hours of supervised BUSS® practise within one calendar year – this equates to completing the intervention with 2 families. In circumstances where practitioners are unable, for whatever reason, to practise for a period of time, we would work to support them to meet the requirements of accreditation e.g. providing individual supervision for the first case.
  • Maintain professional indemnity insurance.
  • All BUSS® practitioners must adhere to the highest professional standards. All practitioners must maintain membership of their professional body (e.g. HCPC) and uphold the values and standards of that body. Any behaviour, be it personal or professional, on the part of any accredited practitioner that brings BUSS® into disrepute will result in immediate removal from the register of Accredited BUSS® Practitioners. Information about any concerns will be passed on to the individual’s professional / accrediting body. A practitioner must inform BUSS® if there is any change to their professional registration.

 

If you wish to read more about the accreditation and renewal process, please download the PDF document here.

 

Fidelity to the model and standards of practise

Any Accredited BUSS® practitioner whose practise is deemed to fall short of the standards required of a BUSS® Practitioner, or whose practise brings the model into disrepute, will be removed from the register of Accredited BUSS® Practitioners.

BUSS® is working hard to respond to the high demand for training. All information is correct at this time but may be subject to change in the future. Any queries about this process should be directed to Sarah Lloyd, Director of BUSS Model Ltd: sarah.lloyd@bussmodel.org

 

Date: 16/06/2023


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