CPD: What is it and how do I do it?
Continuous professional development (CPD):
- is the process of learning and developing as a professional from what we do everyday;
- is about identifying our development needs in order to maintain the currency of our practice;
- requires that we organise activities to meet these needs. We need to make sure these needs and activities are sufficiently broad to ensure that we remain effective practitioners.
CPD is something we all do all of the time. In fact it is probably very difficult not to engage in CPD. The two main purposes of CPD are:
- To help you continue to update and improve your own professional expertise
- To reassure the public
Examples of Common CPD Activities:
- Supervising others/being supervised
- Attending conferences/workshops/training programmes
- Presenting at conferences/delivering training
- Conducting research
- Reading relevant books and journals
- Developing teaching skills
- Peer group discussion
- Professional committee work
This list is by no means exhaustive, and CPD can be pretty much anything that helps you to develop as a health psychologist.
The DHP committee organise and run a number of events each year that are designed to meet professional development needs of members. Contact the committee if you would like to suggest a topic for a training event.