How do you find out if someone is a legitimate therapist?

[GreenTeaMug]

I am asking because I think a friend of mine is being taken for a ride. She is getting therapy from someone who claims to be a Dip Psych and registered who I cannot find on the internet anywhere and who is engaing in some very strange boundary pushing such as writing directly to my friend's employer demanding answers to workplace niggles my friend has. This 'therapist' has even written a letter to a mutual friend accusing her of mistreating the friend (her apparent client) in question. It seems at best unprofessional, and at worst perhaps like she is a con person. I have had concerns for a while (my friend is deeply vulnerable) and like I said I cannot for the life of me find this 'therapist' or her consulting rooms on the interwebs.

You could search on BACP:
www.bacp.co.uk/

A Dip Psych only means she's studied a diploma in psychology, it doesn't actually make her a therapist at all on its own. I'm not sure where she'd be registered (therapy wise) with only that. She sounds awful, if she's BACP or BPS registered, even only as a student then a complaint can be made to them otherwise she's free to do what she wants really, there's no statutory regulation.

Not on BACP

about to check BPS

not on BPS.

Your vulnerable friend is being taken advantage of by this person.

I agree. i agree 100%. I am very worried.

i want my evidence together before i approach my friend.

But there is no evidence to be had, just a lack of it.

I saw the letter she (the therapist) sent to our mutual friend. There is no indication of where the Dip Psych came from. It is on regular paper with no letterhead.

I am in a regulaetd profession myself and i was gobsmacked. Not leats because of the accusations and inflammatory language.

Ooh. Horrible. Can you approach the police, see what they say?

Or you could contact the therapist and threaten to go to the police to say they're providing services under false pretences.

Nasty, taking advantage of vulnerable people.

Oh that’s bad!

I would approach your friend, tell her you were concerned that the things her therapist is doing were very clearly crossing professional boundaries so you looked up the registers and she isn’t registered on any of them. Tell your friend this means her therapist isn’t regulated and she should seek another therapist.

There is a risk your friend will tell her therapist and the therapist will start isolating her from you.

What “therapy”?

I know for example someone can legally practice as a Life Coach without being a member of an independent body.

Contact BPS or BACP and ask what you should do if you have concerns about someone practising as a Counsellor, Psychotherapist etc and behaving inappropriately.

This sounds really odd and you are right to be concerned.

There is no way a legitimate therapist would contact any third party involved in your friend’s life unless they had concerns she is a danger to herself or others. It’s entirely unprofessional and any rational person knows the information given by your friend about her relationships is subjective. She is there to focus on how she reacts and changes her behaviour, she is not going to therapy to get the therapist to try and change other people’s behaviour and actions. Has she told you how much she is paying this person and how she heard of them?

Everything you are all saying is what i thought. Especially the contacting third parties. i was told by my friend that the therapist had contacted her workplace. i saw the letter to our mutual friend. it was all 'my client says that you are doing this to her and and you must NOT ..' sort of language. it was - frankly- bananas.

No, I do not know how she found this person. I will find out. Gently express my concerns. My vulnerable friend is really in a very bad state MH wise and has been for some time.

There's also UKCP (UK Council for Psychotherapy).
But I agree sounds dodgy. I'm a retired therapist and no way would ever have broken the kind of boundaries you describe. The whole point is to deal with the client's own mind within the 4 walls of the therapy room - and then the client goes out and acts in their own life hopefully with fresh strength and insight etc. Therapist writing to people in client's life? No no no. Only in utter extremis (risk to someone's life or risk of abuse, and then only after consulting supervisor and informing client).

Is there guidance on UKCP, BACP etc websites? I'm not up to speed these days. They might advise you?

Not on UKCP either.

Thanks everyone for directing me to the right places to look. I appreciate it.

There are lots of Accredited Registers apart from BACP and BPS, such as UKCP, NCS, ACC etc. You’d have a hard time searching them all (www.professionalstandards.org.uk/what-we-do/accredited-registers/find-a-register).

However, this behaviour sounds highly unprofessional and exploitative. Unfortunately, counselling is unregulated - anyone can offer counselling services without being registered (or even qualified!).

The only thing you can do is talk to your friend about your concerns. Perhaps your friend could ask this “therapist” for full details of their qualifications and registration.

Therapy isn’t a regulated profession in the UK unfortunately.

I have never heard of a therapist writing letters to third parties.

Do you have the therapists name?

I do have their name ilove but I am not going to put it on here. :) i have google searched her and found literally nothing that would indicate they have a related practice of any sort.

Also HCPC. That’s is main body for psychologists and other allied professionals many of whom wouldnt be on BPS.

As others have said
Bacp
Ukcp
Babcp
Bpc British paychotherapy council

The problem is if someone is not on any register there isn’t much a regulating body can do. It’s a grey area though it shouldn’t be.

No sorry I wasn’t suggesting you put it on here! Just thinking whether you can generally google them.

Could you contact them pretending to be interested in their services and ask where they trained etc?

Not all therapists are registered and not all have an internet presence - especially the older ones I have found.

But it’s the letters that sound absolutely batshit. And they will not help your friend at all :(

ilove oh i see. :) Sorry!

contacting them as a potential client. Might be an idea, thanks.

I am glad I posted here. I thought about ti a bit before doing so. But you have all given me some great ideas and tips about where to look. I am worried. My friend is really ill. We have been worried about her for years. This increases my worry.

Unfortunately, counselling is unregulated - anyone can offer counselling services without being registered (or even qualified!).

Therapy isn’t a regulated profession in the UK unfortunately.

that’s quite terrifying!

To clarify - therapy is unregulated by the govt although bodies have been in consultation with the govt over statutory regulation for a very long time. But there are regulating and accrediting bodies - UKCP, BACP etc.
All of them are of longstanding, with codes of ethics and practice, governing bodies, constitutions, websites etc. So it is possible to check a person's credentials according to the body they are registered with.
And if unregistered, better not to use them.
Sorry it's so complicated, the endless discussions are very complex and as I say I'm not up to speed any more. But it's not the case that there's no regulation.

Therapy is unregulated in the sense that "counsellor" isn't a protected title, and being a member of an accredited register is entirely voluntary. BACP, for instance, is a membership body, not a regulatory one.