ISSP is pleased to announce that applications to the ISSP-Registry (ISSP-R) for [i] established practitioners will be re-opening and applications for emerging practitioners and [ii] ISSP-R Approved Supervisor (established supervisor) will be opening for the first time. Applications will open on Friday, January 15, 2021. Please refer to the ISSP-R section of the website for full details; however below is some of the key information 

There are two routes to being accepted onto the ISSP-Registry – the Established Practitioner route and the Emerging Practitioner route. Presently, we are accepting applications for both the Established Practitioner and Emerging Practitioner routes in this round. Secondly, there are two routes to being accepted onto the ISSP-Registry as a Supervisor – the Established Supervisor route and the Emerging Supervisor route. Presently, we are accepting applications for the Established Supervisor only. The deadline for submission of all applications will be Thursday April 15, 2021. We appreciate that many practitioners who also have academic roles will be entering into both a busy and unusual period with student education and assessments, and therefore we want to offer several months to allow sufficient time for an application. 

The Established Practitioner route to ISSP-R is for those well-established practitioners (i.e., greater than 8 years of consistent, independent consulting experience post-MSc degree qualification) to apply to the Registry in recognition of their longer standing work in the field.  This route will be time-limited and is specifically for those who would consider themselves to be well-established, active professionals with extended amounts of consulting work in sport.  We want to encourage these slightly more senior colleagues to become part of the ISSP-Registry and continue to serve as role models for the profession.  

The Emerging Practitioner route to ISSP-R is for earlier-career practitioners looking to demonstrate their competence in the field. In addition to the minimum academic (i.e., BSc/BA, MSc) and supervised experience requirements, applicants will be required to engage and successfully pass three short ISSP-specific modules focused on cultural competence, ethics, and mental health. These modules will be offered in the summer of 2021 after your application has been assessed as successful, and will allow you to progress onto engagement and completion of the modules.  

The Established Supervisor route to ISSP-R Supervisor is for those professional sport psychology practitioners interested in gaining ISSP-R supervisory status (e.g., appropriate education and preparation for supervisory role, currently holding nationally/regionally recognized status as a supervisor to apply in recognition of their special standing and credentials with regard to sport psychology supervisor role. It is hoped that the ISSP-R approved supervisor pool of individuals will in turn assist emerging professionals in gaining ISSP-R credentials in the near future.

Important Disclaimer

Safeguarding Clients and the Profession: Professional liability insurance and criminal records checks

Purchasing and maintaining Professional Liability or Indemnity Insurance for a practitioner in one’s country to cover one’s work domestically, or abroad is viewed as an important professional responsibility by ISSP. However, we appreciate cultural differences and the role of any national standards/guidelines or norms for insurance in the country where the consultant resides. On this basis, we have not mandated evidence of a professional insurance policy as part of an ISSP-R application, but we encourage all potential employers and clients to ask practitioners about such insurance as a matter of due diligence.

Equally, the procurement of criminal records checks by employers or organisations as part of the process of ensuring the safeguarding and welfare of its athletes is an important step in practitioner recruitment. The protection of vulnerable clients in sport (both young athletes and adults) is critical to ISSP’s duty of care; however we appreciate that not all countries or organisations require or apply criminal records checks for employment of practitioners. In addition, if ISSP mandated evidence of a criminal record/government check to be submitted as part of an ISSP-R application, then it would be only current from the date of submission. Hence, we have not mandated evidence of such a check as part of an ISSP-R application, but we encourage all potential employers  and organisations to consider such checks as part of their recruitment process.