Pregnancy counsellors to be rated

AN accreditation system is the best way to help women with a crisis pregnancy avoid rogue counselling services, Tánaiste Mary Harney said yesterday.

The health minister emphasised she was against regulating pregnancy counselling services because it would not stop rogue pregnancy agencies from operating in Ireland.

“If we had a quality mark associated with an agency, then we would know that organisation was authoritative in this area, had expertise and could provide a valuable service. I think that might be the way to go,” said the minister, at the launch of the Crisis Pregnancy Agency’s (CPA) annual report.

Earlier, CPA chairperson Olive Braiden said work on the development of a manual of good practice on crisis pregnancy counselling had been completed in the past year and plans are being finalised to develop a third level qualification in crisis pregnancy skills.

The course, expected to be available next year, will be initially geared towards crisis pregnancy counsellors working in agencies funded by the CPA.

Ms Braiden said the CPA hoped that by accrediting crisis pregnancy counsellors, and promoting agency funded services through Positive Options, the agency would help to guide women towards choosing a reputable crisis pregnancy counselling service.

Meanwhile, the CPA is attributing a 20% decrease in teenage births over the past five years to improved sex education in Ireland.

It points out that the number of teenagers giving birth has fallen from 3,087 in 2001 to 2,427 last year, a drop of 660.

“We have invested huge resources in the prevention of crisis pregnancy, especially among young people,” Ms Baden said. However, she said it is parents who play the most important role in the prevention of crisis pregnancy by communicating with their teenagers about sex.

“Research has shown that open communication in the home about sex can delay first sex and help young people to practice safer sex,” Ms Braiden said.

Parents who find it difficult to talk to their teenagers about sex can obtain a free copy of a booklet and DVD (You Can Talk To Me) from the CPA.

The CPA is also concerned that the latest drop in the number of women with addresses in Ireland having abortions in Britain may be because more women are choosing to travel to other European countries to terminate their pregnancies.

Ms Braiden said there was anecdotal evidence that Irish women were going further afield for abortions and this would be investigated further by the agency.

Since its establishment in 2003, the CPA has received more than 400,000 text messages from people wanting to know more about the services funded by the agency that provide free, non-directional, crisis pregnancy counselling.

Over the same period, there have been around 50,000 visits to the agency’s website.