Developing the resources and management support for routine evaluation in counselling and psychological therapy service provision: Reflections on a decade of CORE development

Abstract

This paper presents a profile of the development of the tools and support services that define the CORE System as a unique resource for routine evaluation. After contextualizing developments against a backcloth of policy development, the paper sequentially explores five key areas. The first two profile the development and content of the paper tools that make up the CORE System and include the CORE Outcome Measure (CORE-OM), the Therapy Assessment Form and the End of Therapy Form. Subsequent sections then move on to profile the background and iterative development of standardized software in the form of CORE-PC and the critical role of preparatory training to support services in meeting the challenge of organizational change introduced by routine evaluation. The final section looks at the development and structure of CORE benchmarks to resource benchmarking for service quality development. Overall the paper hopes to convey a sense of the positive benefits that can be accrued from a close working collaboration between a research-practice collaboration developing a range of unique and innovative resources and support tools over the past decade.

Keywords:

• Routine evaluation
• CORE System
• CORE-PC
• training
• benchmarking
• quality
• service management