Dual Roles Policy

Dual roles in The Bowlby Centre refers to any situation where multiple roles exist between members and students. This policy aims to be clear about which dual roles are permitted and which are not. It also aims to give information on best practice protocols when dual roles are unavoidable.

Ethical guidelines do not mandate a blanket avoidance of dual relationships but do prohibit exploitation and harm of clients.

Supervisory relationships inherently involve multiple roles, loyalties, responsibilities and functions. A supervisor has professional relationships and duty not only to the supervisee, but also to the supervisee’s clients, as well as to the training organisation and the public.

Dual roles of a training therapist

Training therapist and training supervisor. A training therapist cannot also be a training supervisor for their client (or for an ex-client) and where possible we recommend that they think carefully about supervising a trainee who is in the same training year as one of their clients.

Care must be taken not to encroach upon supervision material in therapy sessions although we recognise that there is often an overlap, when exploring counter-transference for example. There are times when supervision issues might be brought to personal therapy, for example when the training supervisor is on a break, or a client evokes particularly difficult feelings that need extra support. However, care must be taken to respect and protect both professional relationships, therapeutic and supervisory.

Training therapist and teacher or course tutor. The dual roles of therapist and teacher are not permitted without the discussion and agreement of the relevant CTC or the clinical lead. For the most part they will not be encouraged but may occasionally be unavoidable when cover is needed. It is important that the training therapist gets consent from the client when called upon to teach. The dual role of therapist and course tutor must always be kept separate.

Training therapist and CTC member. Members of the CTC can be training therapists, but the two roles must be managed carefully. The Chair of each committee must remain in charge of overseeing student procedures even if they have a training client in the intake and must only remove themselves where strictly necessary.

Each member of the CTC can choose to leave or stay in the meeting when their client or the intake of their client is being discussed. This decision can be made on a case-by-case basis. Care must be taken to keep as many committee members as possible involved in discussions for the CTC to remain quorate. It is important that no content from CTC discussion be shared with clients and that no therapeutic content from clients be shared in the committee.

Training therapists must be transparent with their client about their level of involvement with the organisation.

If a complaint is made about the training client, the training therapist cannot be involved in the disciplinary procedure in any way.

Dual roles of a training supervisor

Training supervisor and training therapist. A training supervisor cannot also be a training therapist for their client (or for an ex-client). Care must be taken not to encroach upon therapy material in supervision although we recognise that there is often an overlap, when exploring counter-transference for example.

There are times when personal material might be brought to supervision if a client evokes particularly difficult feelings that need extra support. The decision to explore this material must be the choice of the supervisee and in the service of the clinical work with the client who is evoking any countertransference. Care must be taken to respect and protect the integrity of both professional relationships, therapeutic and supervisory.

Training supervisor and teacher or course tutor. Supervising and teaching dual roles are permitted. Ideally supervision starts after the teacher/student relationship has finished, but this doesn’t have to be the case. Both roles are essentially about training the student.

Supervising and being a course tutor on the other hand is not permitted. The course tutor needs to be free to assess their students’ readiness without the complications of having another kind of relationship with them, and the student group needs to trust that they all have relationship with their course tutor that is on an equal footing with their peers.

Training supervisor and CTC member. Members of the CTC can be training supervisors, but the two roles must be managed carefully. The Chair of each committee must remain in charge of overseeing student procedures even if they have a training supervisee in the intake and must only remove themselves where strictly necessary.

Each member of the CTC can choose to leave or stay in the meeting when their supervisee or the intake of their supervisee is being discussed. This decision can be made on a case-by-case basis. Care must be taken to keep as many committee members as possible involved in discussions for the CTC to remain quorate. It is important that no content from CTC discussion be shared with supervisees and that no supervision content from supervisees be shared in the committee.

Training supervisors must be transparent with their supervisee about their level of involvement with the organisation.

Training supervisors must be transparent with their supervisee about their level of involvement on the CTC.

For all other committees, training supervisors can participate fully.

If a complaint is made about the supervisee, the training supervisor cannot be involved in the disciplinary procedure in any way.

Dual roles of a trustee

Trustee and Exec or CTC member. There is precedent for this now that we have member trustees, and members who become trustees tend to have significant organisational experience so are often involved in committees. There is a good opportunity for more joined up thinking if the roles are combined, and for quicker channels of communication. However, it is important that member trustees remain aware of the power they hold in relation to their fellow committee members when they are participating on the Executive or the CTC. If the member trustee is on an assessors panel due to their role on the Executive or the CTC, they can also be involved in PiT or RAPP assessment.

Member trustees must exit a trustee meeting if there is a conflict of interest. An example of this might be the Executive proposing an increase in pay to the board of trustees that benefits the member trustee. The trustees are not involved in the day to day running of the centre and it is important that this boundary is held and that the member trustee doesn’t conduct day to day business with the board based on their knowledge of what the Executive or the CTC is managing. An example of this might be trying to involve fellow trustees in a training matter, like the suitability of a candidate for PiT or RAPP.

Trustee and teacher. There is already a protocol for this and much of what is outlined above, particularly around carrying an awareness of power, is relevant here too. The seminar space is for teaching and must not be used to discuss organisational or board issues. All communication about board issues must be disseminated to the students by the CEO or the Chair of the CTC. This policy is in place to avoid some students having more information about the organisation than others and to prevent rumours being spread. It is important that information is contained and only given out by members of committees and not directly by trustees. Member trustees who teach need to respect the role of course tutors and not have contact with individual students about extra curriculum activities without consulting with and informing the course tutor. There may be group dynamics of which they are not aware.

Trustee and training supervisor/training therapist. These dual roles are permitted because the board of trustees is not involved in the day to day running of the centre or the management of the training and the assessment of students. The member trustee must not share personal and specific material from therapy sessions or supervision even if the content might be pertinent to the issues being discussed by the board of trustees.

Dual roles of a course tutor

Course tutor and teacher. Sometimes a course tutor of an intake is also a teacher for the same intake. The teaching could cover just a term, a year, or two years as is the case for the Infant Observation seminar. This dual role is permitted, and the key guideline is that the seminar space is used only for teaching purposes and not for course tutoring, unless agreed by the CTC for a specific purpose. (An example of this might be to suspend teaching the seminar for part of the session to resolve conflict in the group or to communicate important and time sensitive organisational matters.)

Course tutor and PiT and RAPP assessor. This combination of roles is not permitted. The course tutor will be involved in assessment for the duration of the training via individual and group tutorials but will not be involved in the formal PiT or RAPP interviews on the grounds that these interviews need to be as impartial as they can be.

Course tutor and training supervisor. This is also not permitted. The training supervision needs to be kept separate from the tutoring aspect of the training. The course tutor and the training supervisor will be in close contact to discuss the student’s progress through training and to think together about the student’s readiness to proceed towards PiT and RAPP but these two relationships need to be kept separate to protect the student from having too narrow a base of people involved in assessing them.

Course tutor and training therapist. This is also not permitted. To protect the therapeutic relationship, the course tutor will not also be a training therapist of one of their students under any circumstances. This is also important to safeguard against difficult group dynamics which would inevitably occur if the course tutor had one student in the group as a client. It is a UKCP requirement that a training therapist is not involved in assessment in any shape or form, and assessment is a key part of the course tutor’s role.

Course tutor and student sitting on a committee together. This can occasionally happen when a student has a particular skill to contribute to organisational life or is post taught and has taken on another role for the organisaiton, like teaching. Thought must be given to the impact on the group dynamic and to the recruitment procedure which must offer opportunities to all students, and not just one.

Available committees for this dual role are the Conference planning group and promotional activities. Committees or groups that are not available to students are the Executive, the Clinical Training committee and the board of trustees.

Reviewed February 2026

Tori Settle