Professional Identity, SCoPEd, and Practising with Integrity

As a training provider, we want to begin with humility and make clear that we don’t believe we hold the profession. We don’t get to decide who is “enough”.

And we don’t believe that growth should ever be driven by fear, pressure, or comparison.

What we do believe in is professional identity, ethical clarity, and integrity; and that’s the spirit we want to bring to conversations about SCoPEd.

Because many counsellors right now are not feeling supported by how this framework is being talked about.

·         They’re feeling unsettled.

·         Second-guessing themselves.

·         Quietly wondering if they’ve fallen behind.

And that deserves care.

What SCoPEd Is Trying to Do, and Where the Conversation Has Drifted

At its heart, SCoPEd is a descriptive framework. It aims to clarify:

• different scopes of practice

• the training that supports them

• how practitioners can work safely and transparently

• how the public can better understand what counsellors offer

  
  

What it was never intended to do was:

• create a hierarchy of worth

• imply that one path suits everyone

• suggest that staying where you are is a failure

• turn development into a moral obligation

  
  

When SCoPEd is communicated without nuance or care, with anger, frustration and from a place of not really understanding or even not knowing, the framework itself becomes distorted, and counsellors end up carrying anxiety that doesn’t belong to them.

Professionalism Lives in Integrity, Not Escalation

There’s a subtle message creeping into professional spaces that says: being professional means continually moving upwards.

More training. More cost. More complexity.

But professionalism is not about more, it is not about accumulation.

It is about:

• knowing your scope and respecting it

• understanding what you’re trained to do — and what you’re not

• using supervision honestly

• making thoughtful, defensible decisions

• referring on when work moves beyond your remit

• practising in a way you can stand behind

These are matters of integrity, not ambition.

And they can exist at different scopes of practice and they do, by design.

Identity Before Advancement

As trainers, we see how damaging it can be when development is framed without identity.

When counsellors are encouraged to ask: “What do I need next?” before they’ve had space to ask: “Who am I as a practitioner?”

Not everyone wants the same work. Not everyone needs the same depth. Not everyone is meant to travel the same professional road.

Some counsellors will feel called to expand scope. Others will feel settled, grounded, and effective exactly where they are.

Both positions can be ethical. Both deserve respect.

At Training by Liberty, our guiding principle is simple: Train with purpose, grow with integrity.

That means:

• supporting development when it’s thoughtful and chosen

• resisting narratives that equate cost with credibility

• valuing consolidation as much as progression

• encouraging reflection before escalation

• respecting counsellors as professionals, not products

We don’t see training as something that fixes people.We see it as something that supports clarity, confidence, and ethical steadiness — when it’s right. Because the counsellors and clients deserve an authentic therapist that truly believes in the profession they are in.

If You’re Feeling Disoriented Right Now

If conversations about SCoPEd have left you feeling:

• unsure of your professional standing

• pressured to invest beyond your means

• anxious that you’ve “stopped too soon”

• quietly diminished rather than empowered

Please hear this:

•       You are allowed to practise within your scope.

•       You are allowed to pause, consolidate, or stay where you are.

•       You are allowed to define professionalism through integrity, not comparison.

And confusion doesn’t mean you’re failing — it often means the system hasn’t been explained well enough.

A Closing Reflection

SCoPEd is a map, not a mandate and Training is a resource, not a judgement and for us, professionalism is something you live, not something you chase.

As trainers, we remain learners too as we are constantly listening, reflecting, and holding this conversation with care.

Because a profession rooted in integrity needs space, humility, and respect at every level.

And that’s the only way growth means anything at all.