Committees

Purpose:

The Executive Committee possesses specific powers under the By-laws to make decisions between board meetings if necessitated by unusual circumstances. Such decisions are subject to ratification by the Board at its next meeting. The Executive Committee also has responsibility for the annual performance evaluation of the Chief Executive Officer and for making recommendations to the Board with respect to his/her performance, continuing tenure and compensation.

Purpose:

The Governance Committee shall be responsible for recruitment, nomination and orientation of Board members; evaluation of Board members and the Board itself; succession planning for the Board and its Committees; regular review and recommendations with respect to the By-laws and the governance policies; auditing compliance with the By-laws and governance policies; and, such other duties as the Board may from time to time assign by resolution.

Purpose:

The purpose of the Risk Management Committee is to ensure the development and implementation of a comprehensive Risk Management Program. It is responsible for reviewing financial, human resources and risk management systems to ensure their integrity and for monitoring reports and making recommendations to the Board with respect to these matters. It is responsible for ensuring the development of appropriate standards, authorities and practices in these areas and for ensuring the audit of management compliance with these.

Purpose:

To audit and evaluate the effectiveness of the organization in meeting approved program and service objectives and to ensure that program and service delivery is generally provided in a manner consistent with recognized standards for good practice. Annual objectives, benchmarks for progress, audits on programs and services.

Purpose:

The purpose of the Education and Policy Committee is to assist the Board in identifying current and emerging issues of importance to the members of the organization (or consumers of its services), develop, for consideration of the Board (and/or the organization‘s members), policy positions that reflect or promote the interests of the organization’s constituents, advise on strategies to advance those interests, and participate in implementation of those strategies.            

Purpose:

The purpose of this committee is to deal with appeals of decisions of the Ethics Committee, the Ethics Adjudication Committee, the Registrar of Certification, and other CCPA decisions.

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Purpose:

The purpose of the Ethics Committee is to advise the Board of Directors on all matters pertaining to the Code of Ethics, Standards of Practice, the Ethics Casebook, and the complaints and disciplinary procedures and to serve as a complaints and disciplinary committee when an ethical complaint is made against a CCPA member.

Purpose:

The purpose of the Certification Committee is to advise the CCPA Board of Directors with respect to the procedures and eligibility criteria of its counsellor certification program.

Purpose:

The purpose of the Awards Committee is to oversee the CCPA Awards program.

Purpose:

The purpose of the CACEP Committee is to oversee and manage the CCPA accreditation program, which involves providing professional and arms-length evaluation of counsellor education programs.

TORs (Terms of Reference):

Council

The full name of the Council is:  The Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association Council on Accreditation of Counsellor Education Programs (CACEP).

The Council is to be composed of a minimum of a Chair, and three additional members, all of whom are recognized counsellor educators and one of whom is proficient in both official languages.  Members of the Council are appointed by the Board of Directors of CCPA upon the recommendation of the Council and are appointed for staggered terms of up to four years. The Chair is elected by the Council from among its members and is recommended to the Board for approval.

Mandate of the Council

• To oversee and manage the CCPA accreditation program, which involves providing professional and arms-length evaluation of counsellor education programs.
• To develop policies and procedures pertaining to the operation of the Council and to make recommendations regarding these to the CCPA Board of Directors.
• To periodically review the CCPA Accreditation Procedures and Standards and to make recommendations for change to the CCPA Board of Directors.
• To develop and implement a program for training site visitors.
• To develop documents and instruments needed to administer the accreditation program.
• To provide consultation to counsellor education programs.
• To provide information to the President of the institution applying for accreditation, regarding the outcome of the institution's application;
• To interact through the CCPA president with other elements of the CCPA governance structure on matters related to accreditation.
• To develop marketing strategies to interest universities in the accreditation of their counsellor education programs.
• To cooperate with provincial and federal institutions and agencies  and other professional groups in promoting high standards of counsellor education.

Conflicts of Interest

All deliberations of the Council on Accreditation are confidential and its decisions are grounded in the principles of fairness and natural justice. If Council members have other roles that would compromise their ability to be at arm's length from making a decision about a specific program, they need to identify the conflict and absent themselves from the discussion. Further, the Council may, in its judgment, determine that a member is in possible conflict of interest and ask that member to withdraw from discussion of a decision on a particular program.

Responsibility of the CCPA Board of Directors

• The Board approves any modification to the CCPA Accreditation Procedures and Standards for Counsellor Education Programs.
• The Board approves the appointment of Council members and Chair upon the recommendation of the Council.
• The Board approves the annual budget for the Council.
• The Board delegates authority over accreditation matters to the Council in order to avoid the perception of any influence of or interference with the accreditation decisions of the Council.

Reporting Requirements

• The Co-chairs will provide the CCPA Board of Directors with an annual written report on Council activities for the year ending March 31st. This report is to be submitted at least 15 days prior to the CCPA May Board meeting;
• In addition, the CCPA Chief Executive Officer will be informed as follows:

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   1. Information on the accreditation status of programs (i.e., programs which have been accredited, granted provisional accreditation, or declined accreditation) will be provided for information only, within 30 days of the Council having made a decision;
   2. Information and recommendations about modifications needed in the accreditation policy and procedures;
   3. Information about and recommended changes in the Standards.

Liaison with the National Office

• Copies of all reports intended for the CCPA Board will be submitted to the National Office.
• The Accreditation Manual will be available "for free" on the CCPA website.
• The National Office will arrange for sufficient copies of the Accreditation Manual to supply to site visitors and to provide to Program applicants and to other interested parties.

Administrative Assistance

Administrative Assistance (part-time or contract position) is the responsibility of the Council as reflected in their budget, to:

• provide information on accreditation,
• coordinate site visits,
• review applications to ensure they are complete and respond accordingly,
• send out various notices to programs,
• prepare letters,
• provide other assistance as required