Welcome to the first episode of Members Matters, the new BABCP podcast made exclusively for our members.

This podcast will bring all the latest news and information from BABCP and we will be introducing our members to key figures in the organisation and you get to have your say in our Ask me Anything section.

In this episode:

• Meet our CEO – Rachel Handley chats with Tommy McIlravey, Chief Executive Officer of BABCP. Tommy shares his personal journey, what brought him to BABCP, his vision for the organisation, and how he plans to support members through better communication, inclusion, and strategic leadership.
• Spotlight on… Low Intensity SIG – Steph Curnow speaks to Sam Torney, Chair of the Low Intensity Special Interest Group (SIG), about the challenges and opportunities for wellbeing practitioners. Sam shares how the SIG supports members, upcoming CPD opportunities, and how to get involved.
• Ask Me Anything – Helen Macdonald answers a member's question about finding the right CBT supervisor and what to look for in terms of accreditation, qualifications, and fit.

Links and resources:

• Join a Special Interest Group (SIG): https://babcp.com/Membership/Special-Interest-Groups
• Find a CBT supervisor on the CBT Register: https://www.cbtregisteruk.com
• More information on our Journals Special Issues can be found here
• BCP Hoarding Special Issue can be found here
•  Check out our other podcasts Let's Talk About CBT, Practice Matters, and Research Matters in our podcasts hub: https://babcp.com/Podcasts

Contact us: podcasts@babcp.com

New episodes every month – subscribe now so you don't miss out.

Transcript:

Rachel: Hello and welcome to Members Matters, the podcast made exclusively for BABCP members. I'm Rachel Handley, also to be found hosting the BABCP Practice Matters podcast. And I'm here with my co-host, Steph Curnow and Helen Macdonald. Guys, do you want to say a little bit to introduce yourselves?

Steph: Yeah, sure. I'll start. Hi everyone, I am Steph Curnow. I am the BABCP Journals Managing Editor, and also the host of our Let's talk about CBT- Research Matters podcast.

Helen: And Helen. Hi, so I'm BABCP's Senior Clinical Advisor, and I host the Let's talk about CBT Podcast.

Rachel: So in this podcast, we're going to bring you the latest news and information for members. We're going to be packed full of information like meeting some of the key figures in the organization in our introducing section, and you'll get a chance to get involved too and ask me anything where Helen with her Senior Clinical Advisor hat on is going to take any questions you'd like to ask. You can find out more about that a little later on. You'll also hear from the low intensity special interest group in our spotlight on session. But first up, Steph Helen, how have things been in the world of BABCP?

Steph: Yeah, things have been really good from the journal's perspective. We have been super busy lately. We have four special issues on the go at the moment across CBT for addictions, a neurodiversity special issue, one for the low intensity workforce, which we'll hear a bit more about later, and also one on hoarding, which is very exciting.

Helen: I'm looking forward to those coming out. When are we going to see them?

Steph: So the closing date for the first one has just happened, so that should hopefully be published later this year or early next year.That's going to be the first one on CBT and addictions. So, yeah, really exciting.

Rachel: Helen, what's been going on in your world?

Helen: There's quite a few things as usual going on. We're about to publish an issue of CBT today where there's another ethics article coming out, so you can look forward to seeing another question from one of our members about number of sessions when you're working in CBT. I've been doing some work with the children and young people's special interest group on updating the Good Practice guide on working with children, young people and families, and we are just about to complete work on a good service and good practice guide as well. So there's a lot going on in terms of building up guidance and information for members. And apart from that, doing a lot of answering questions from members, which is another reason for having the Ask Me Anything section here.

Rachel: You're never lacking in work, are you, Helen?

Helen: I don't get bored.

Rachel: Fantastic. So shall we get into the podcast? First up is our introducing section where we'll be bringing you an in-depth conversation with some of the key people here at BABCP.

This episode I'm going to introduce to you our CEO Tommy McIlravey, here's our chat.

Across the Members Matters podcast episodes. We're hoping to introduce you to some of the key figures in the BABCP. I know that we have fellow members who've been part of the BABCP for so long they know the organization, like they know their own family, and for many, it really does feel like a family and will lead aside any stereotypical therapist jokes about family dysfunction for now, but for many of you, the organization is something you signed up for, maybe for a very specific purpose like accreditation and as the organization has grown so much over the years, the heart of who, what, and how BABCP business has done can seem very remote or vague to you. So today we'd like to introduce Tommy McIlravey, chief Executive Officer of the BABCP since mid 2023 I believe, Tommy.

Tommy: Yeah, that's about right. I started the week of the conference in 2023 and worked part-time for the first few weeks cause I was finishing off some other stuff. And then full-time from September 23.

Rachel: Wow. So conference is either a baptism of fire or a total immersion in the joy of BABCP depending on how you see it. But welcome and thank you so much for joining us.

Tommy: Oh no. It's great to be here.

Rachel: So before we get into the ins and outs of what it means to be CEO of the BABCP, can you tell us a little bit about yourself? So, what would your friends and family tell us about what's important to you? What gives you joy, gets you out of the bed in the morning? Or, or if someone wanted to make conversation with you at the at the conference, what would be a good opening topic?

Tommy: I think I probably like to think of myself as being quite interested in lots of stuff. So there's not, there's probably not one go-to, I, I'm always interested in meeting other people. I think I'm probably quite extrovert, and so I, I do my best thinking while I'm speaking to other people as well. So there's things that I love Luton Football club, and we are both wearing orange today. Bizarrely,

Rachel: What colour could I have worn that would've been the enemy, the chief opposition.

Tommy: Oh yeah. So yellow for Watford would be particularly problematic, although I have a lovely yellow jumper that I'm very fond of, so I'm not that precious about it.

Rachel: Okay. You've told us a little bit about yourself. What brought you to the role of Chief Executive Officer at the BABCP?

Tommy: Well, firstly, I've been a charity CEO now for, I think it's 17 years.

Rachel: Oh, wow.

Tommy: Most of that time was in CEO roles for what I'd call frontline mental health charities. So those working much more directly with people using services, and that started off in a wonderful charity called Sahir House in Liverpool which does work around HIV and sexual health across Merseyside and Cheshire.

Rachel: It sounds like you had an early interest then in both mental health and diversity. Why the interest in mental health?

Tommy: Well, actually for much longer than that, so from the mid nineties or late nineties, I volunteered at a mental health drop-in for LGBTQ plus people. And I suppose that interest in mental health I think was continued through working in sexu