Area
BICA's website makes it quick and easy to...
... find a counsellor in YOUR area, keep up to date with forthcoming events, explore a range of useful links or becoming a member of the Association and take advantage of our training programme ...
Who We Are
Based at 111 Harley Street, London, WIG 6AW. see Executive Officers
The Association was founded in 1988 for infertility counsellors with a membership drawn from a variety of professions including counsellors, psychologists, nurses, social workers etc.It was established to represent the interests, views and needs of members actively involved counselling people with fertility issues and of professionals in related research. It seeks to address the many practical, social, psychological and ethical issues around the treatment of assisted conception. BICA is also committed to improving the educational opportunities and training of Infertility Counsellors.
The Association is a registered Charity with its own constitution and guidelines for practice. We expect our members to adhere to the BACP Ethical Framework for Good Practice in Counselling and Psychotherapy or other professional Code of Ethics. Administered by an elected Executive Committee and supporting regional groups it is financed through annual membership subscriptions and sponsorship.
Mission Statement
BICA aims to encourage and facilitate its members to provide the highest standards of counselling support to people affected by fertility issues.
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National & Regional networks
BICA has a network of contacts in Scotland, Wales and Ireland and the regions of England. There is a named infertility counsellor who helps organise periodic, peer meetings and more formal training events throughout the year. These are listed here and under 'Training & Workshops' if appropriate. The details are as follows:
Scotland: Isobel O'Neill
0141 211 44218/4787
isobeloneill@ntlworld.com
North East: Sue Bedigan
0191 2638579
sue.bedigan@ghnt.nhs.uk
Janet Owen
01642 644961
jowen.avantgroupltd@tiscali.co.uk
Northern Ireland: Patricia Gilbert
bsr@ireland.anglican.org read more »
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Professionals Come Together To Reduce Risk Of Multiple Pregnancy
Doctors, embryologists, nurses, other clinical staff, patient groups and the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) have come together to launch a new national strategy to reduce the number of multiple pregnancies – the single biggest health risk of fertility treatment.
Focusing initially on IVF, the strategy will aim to reduce the rate of multiple births from the national average of 24 per cent of all IVF births to 10 per cent over three years. In the first year (from January 2009), all clinics will be expected not to exceed the 24 per cent maximum. read more »
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BICA Executive Officers
BICA Executive
Chair
Suze Fisher suze.e.fisher@gmail.com
Membership Secretary
Jim Monach jim.monach@virgin.net
Treasurer
Janet Owen jowen.avantgroupltd@tiscali.co.uk
Journal Editor
Helen Allan H.Allan@surrey.ac.uk
Executive member
Scottish rep/Publications
Isobel O’Neill isobeloneill@ntlworld.com
BICA Training
Jennifer Dunlop jendunlop@tiscali.co.uk read more »
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Parliamentary Briefing on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill April 2008
BICA welcomes the review of the 1990 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act and the government’s decision to maintain a dedicated regulatory body for assisted conception services.
We also welcome the opportunity to comment on aspects of the Bill of most relevance to our area of expertise.
The legal requirement that counselling must be offered routinely to people considering treatment services or becoming donors
BICA fully supports the government’s decision to retain the counselling provisions set out in the HF&E Act 1990 for the reasons outlined in the attached document below:
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Guidelines for Good Practice - Revised
This 44 page document has just been updated (05/07) and is available here in PDF format or at http://bica.net/about-policies-listing.
It covers areas such as What is counselling?, Good quality of care
Regulatory framework, Counselling for infertility And assisted conception, Gamete / embryo donation, egg-sharing Or surrogacy, Pgd, pgd/hla & other genetic counselling and Qualifications, training & accreditation.
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