Raise your standards

You won’t have spent long in the industry before hearing the term ‘CPD’, but what actually is it, and are you doing enough? Professional Association BABTAC gives you the insider guide for making the grade…

Continued Professional Development (CPD) is the official term for undertaking training each year to update your skills and gain new knowledge. Contrary to common belief, it is not just about learning entirely new services, but about updating your existing skills, keeping up with trends for treatments you already offer and ensuring you meet current standards whatever they may be. This means qualifications to learn a new treatment are obviously valuable to you, your business and your clients, but are not the only thing which counts towards your annual CPD target to be an effective therapist.

So what does count? CPD is about building on your existing knowledge for something you already do, or learning a new discipline within the beauty field. It can come in the form of short courses, reading articles, attending training and seminars at shows, going to a conference, selected manufacturer’s training and even watching training videos, as long as they come from a reputable source and have been verified for CPD points where possible.

Standards setting body HABIA recommend that all therapists undertake 30 hours of CPD every twelve months, which equates to 2.5 hours each month. As a rough guide, a one-day course usually equates to around 5-10 points, reading an in-depth article is 1-2 points, watching a training video is 1-2 points, attending a one hour seminar is 2-3 points and attending a trade show or conference can be up to 10 points, as long as they have been independently certified. It therefore doesn’t take long to accrue 30 points and many gain considerably more each year. What it is essential to understand is that all of the above are valuable regardless of whether they have CPD points, but will only count towards your annual targets if they have been certified by a professional body, or ratified by HABIA.

At its heart, CPD helps to safeguard the public and employers, as well as your future career, by keeping you abreast of any changes. What’s more, your clients will assume it is something that you do, even if they don’t ask you what you have done. You might find you are already doing CPD without realising it, driven by genuine passion for your skills and an interest in what’s new, but we appreciate life can get in the way. Our advice is to think about your desired career development and what you want to achieve in the next 12-24 months. This will help you to decide what CPD you want to do, and to plan it in at the beginning of the year, making it easy for you to achieve your 30 points in the next twelve months. Good luck!

To help therapists with their CPD, BABTAC has organised its Innovative Beauty Conference for 15th September, with speakers including Alison Young and Liz McKeon among others. For more information please visit babtac.com