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Some time after the International Conference of Pastoral Care and Counselling which was held in the USA Duncan Forrester and Alastair Campbell called a meeting of people involved in teaching pastoral care and counselling in Scotland. The group comprised not only those directly involved in educational institutions but also those with an interest in working with students through placements such as hospital chaplains and the then director of the Tom Allan Centre, Hamish Montgomery, who was engaged in teaching counselling skills to a wide variety of people in the church. The plan was to re-establish a group similar to one that had folded up some years previously. The purpose of the group was two fold.
1. to provide a forum for those involved in pastoral education
2. to ensure that Scotland had a separate voice in the European and International movements.
I am sure that somewhere in the files/archives the minutes of all these events will be available.
A small working group was set up at this meeting and was given the title of the Scottish Pastoral Education Group. There were no women at the original consultation so the steering group was a 'male only' affair, largely Clerical and drawns from the Central Belt of Scotland.
It comprised:
1. David Lyall, Church of Scotland, the first secretary of the group. chaplain to the Western General Hospital, Edinburgh
2. Hamish Montgomery, lay member of the Church of Scotland. Director of the Tom Allan Centre
3. Derek Haley, Church of Scotland, Chaplain to Gartnavel Hospital, Glasgow.
4. Derek Murray, Baptist, Chaplain to St. Columba's Hospice, Edinburgh
5. Ian Walker, Church of Scotland, Tutor St. Colm's College, Edinbeurgh
The first purpose of the group was met by holding an annual conference.
The normal style of the conference was an address by a noted figure in the pastoral care movement followed by some discussion and the annual meeting of the group. It had a very informal structure. The steering group worked without a budget, there were no members as such but lists of interested people were kept.
Since there were no members there were no membership subscriptions.
The second was met by the appointment of representatives to the International committee and to the European committee. David was already involved with the International side of things and doubled up as our representative. Ian Walker took on responsibility for the European side of things since the Church of Scotland Board of Parish Education, his employer, was keen to have more European contacts and agreed to finance attendance at meetings and at the European Conference, held every four years.
For the first few years the committee simply reported to the general meeting and was authorised to continue. There were no rules about length of service or of numbers and holding office. However as people felt they had served a sufficient length of time and as some had changed circumstances new members were appointed to the steering committee and authorising such new members became a part of the responsibility of the annual general meeting.
As the lists of interested people grew the Steering Group attempted to get wider representation and Alan Main, who had been appointed to the Chair of Practical Theology in Aberdeen accepted nomination to the committee. Distance prevented him from really participating and he resigned after a short time. The group also attempted to get a wider representation in terms of denomination and tried to be aware of gender balance. Sari Salvesen, an Episcopalian involved in Lay Training at Coates Hall became a member of the group to replace Derek Haley.
Something of a turning point was reached at the Stirling conference. This was held in the Baptist Church Centre and the key speaker was Michael Jacobs. This meeting drew a large attendance and brought in many new people. It was at this conference that Peter Bowes was nominated and elected to the steering group.
Peter, at that time, was much involved with the Pastoral Foundation and his ministry at Morningside Baptist Church was greatly influenced by his interest in counselling. Also at that meeting Michael Burns, a Roman Catholic Priest in Bathgate, became a member of the Steering Group.
A slightly more formal structure for the steering committee was adopted after the Stirling Conference and Peter Bowes was invited to chair meetings. He brought in a clearer structure and we moved towards having a formal membership although initially still without any subscriptions.
The organisation continued to fulfil its two main purposes but the style of the conferences changed. Peter's philosophy was that those who had some attachment to SPEG should be encouraged to 'own' the group and to make of it the sort of group they wanted to belong to. The conferences were resourced from within the membership and used to provide a structure for that membership which was reinforced by the publishing of a newsletter.
The next major change was to give SPEG a new direction and it adopted the name 'The Scottish Association of Pastoral Care and Counselling, (SAPCC) with a formal constitution and subscriptions for membership. This change emphasised the link with our partners on the International Committee of Pastoral Care and Counselling, the European Committee of Pastoral Care and Counselling and the English Association of Pastoral Care and Counselling and gave SAPCC a more formal structure with a constitution, a mission statement, specified tasks for committee members and a committed membership.
As this process unfolded membership inevitably decreased and the majority of those lost were people involved in Pastoral Care. Membership at present has a high concentration of people with an active Christian affiliation and an involvement in counselling or counselling related work. This was a process that had to be gone through as part of the evolution of the group and the current task is to reclaim those involved in Pastoral Care.
During the last two conferences we have reverted to having a conference leader and facilitator from outwith the membership It has clearly been the right time for this and has proved very successful.
SAPCC has moved a long way since its initial foundation. The committee is now much more representative, comprising lay and clerical members with an appropriate gender mix. The constitution ensures that fresh people with new ideas are regularly joining the committee and the future for SAPCC looks bright.
Ian Walker May 2004
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