To be amazed anybody can call themselves a pyscologist?

[ComposHatComesBack]

I was half-watching a trashy Channel 5 programme called 'Bent Coppers' (yes it was every bit as well made, researched and rigorous as the title makes it sound)

Anyway throughout the programme 'Emma Kenny: psychologist' popped up offering analysis of the motives in these cases in which she she had no involvement and commenting on the motivation behind the crimes committed by corrupt Police Officers.

Now I am a complete layperson, but it struck me as odd that a medical professional was prepared to make such authoritative comment on people or cases she's had no direct involvement with and her analysis seemed a bit cod, even to my uneducated ears.

So I googled her: she has been described as an 'expert child psychologist' on a netmums webchat and was advising on potty training and speaking on children's safety on the internet conference arranged by the Safe Network.

I was beginning either she was some sort of renaissance woman, ranging across specialisms or something was amiss. Turns out that she only has an undergrad degree in psychology and a masters in counselling. A BBC website even goes to describe her as a a 'qualified physiologist' on a BBC website.

What really shocked me is that anyone can call themselves a psychologist! That only the profession of Practitioner psychologist is protected by law.

www.hcpc-uk.org/aboutregistration/professions/index.asp?id=14#profDetails

So she's even perfectly legally able to use the description 'qualified psychologist' as she has some qualifications (as does anyone who's paseed a GCSE) and anyone can use the title psychologist.

AIBU to think more legal protection ought to be given to the title 'psychologist' to stop the misrepresentation/misinterpretation of people's qualifications and experiences and that organisations should be rather more careful about vetting people's qualifications before setting them up as 'experts' on sensitive topics?

psychologist is merely someone who studies or works in the field of psychology. Ology just means the study of something.
If someone thinks a psychologist is a specific type of professional that is really their own problem. You need specific titles and qualifications to be specific: Clinical Psychologist, Chartered Psychologist etc etc.

It is confusing. I think she should call herself an Unregistered Psychologist to be transparent about her training although I agree that legally there is no requirement to do this.
I spent 10 years training to become an HCPC Registered Practitioner Psychologist and yet I only recently found out that anyone can call themselves a Psychologist. If I don't realise this, imagine how easily someone who pays to see a 'Psychologist' could be inadvertently misled. Who would you rather see for therapy, someone who has spent hundreds of hours with clients in training and in supervision or someone calling themselves a Psychologist after an incomplete training?

Emma Kenny is quite familiar to those, such as myself, with an interest in 'real crime'. But most people who are devotees of that genre are not overly critical of the so-called experts who appear on these shows. Emma Kenny, in my book, is one of the worst in the cast of usual suspects who appear on UK and Us crime programs. Kenny has two cards: 1) talking utter nonsense and 2) telling the audience that which would be obvious to a young child. She does this with all the hubris of a card sharp. I'm not quite sure why she keeps getting gigs. I suppose she will do anything - highly credentialed professionals are more devoted to their work.

Update: Emma Kenny has now popped up sharing her views in a news article about schoolchildren. So apparently now she is an educational psychologist as well as a forensic and a counselling one!

A further update

Emma Kenny has uploaded a video to her youtube channel that I thought readers might find interesting.

The video is here

and is mirrored on the youtube channel of notorious conspiracy theorist Anna Brees.

In the video Emma Kenny rants angrily about being opposed to a second lockdown becaue of the effect it will have on the economy and she claims that the damage will be mostly to the poor.

Kenny goes on and on about people being poor and how terrible it is.

While I have very serious reservations about how the government is dealing with the covid crisis I think that pop psychologists should wind their neck in on the covid issue unless they have some expertise in relation to the issue at hand.

I found Kenny's rants about poverty to be especially galling given the prices she charges for her services on her website, which are as follows:

Emma is available for online Skype sessions
From £150 per hour

Emma offers one-to-one therapy sessions at her clinic in Manchester
From £200 per hour

Immersion therapy days
Half-day session £600
Full-day session £1000

Corporate training
Emma is available for corporate training on a wide selection of workplace wellbeing issues,
including stress management and work/life balance
Prices start at £1500 per hour for max 200 trainees

Relationship therapy
Couples therapy
1-hour Skype session £150

Couples therapy
1-hour group session £200

Self-therapy
1-hour Skype session £150

Self-therapy
1-hour face-to-face session £200

source:

<a class="break-all" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200621022626/www.emmakennytherapy.com/therapy" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">web.archive.org/web/20200621022626/www.emmakennytherapy.com/therapy

Surely if she is so very concerned about poverty she could put her hand in her pocket and help out?

I also notice that she displays the logos of the BACP and the British Psychological Society at the bottom of the page.

Given how many dodgy doctors, nurses and therapists are appearing on conspiracy themed websites and even in person at anti-mask protests, surely the BACP and the BPS should be addressing this as a serious issue?

My sister is a clinical psychologist.

She has a first class degree and a masters with distinction in an unrelated subject then did a conversion course to psychology and then worked on a psychology research project for a year and then did a doctorate in clinical psychology with placements at The Maudsley ... and only then (I think) could she call herself a clinical psychologist. Maybe there was a step I've forgotten

She's highly qualified and highly skilled and not paid nearly enough for what she does.

You're right its not reasonable that people can impersonate psychologists who work very hard and for a very long time to get to where they are.

“Interesting” Twitter rant by “psychologist” Emma Kenny.
twitter.com/emmakennytv/status/1330988271698993152?s=21

but the distinction between a psychologist (anyone) and a charted psychologist is often not clearly understood

I think the problem here is wrong expectations. If "psychologist" is not a protected title, then it is true that anyone can call themselves a psychologist. Not only can they lack even a GCSE, as far as education is concerned, they don't need to even have been employed as a psychologist. Just an aspiration to be regarded as such is enough.

The same it true for accountancy. Unless something has changed since I last looked, anyone can call themselves an accountant. Not even a maths GCSE is needed.

I am a Chartered Psychologist through the research route which is important for my profession as an academic and I am required to abide by their code of conduct, so I can call myself a professional psychologist (I earn money by teaching and doing research in the field of psychology), but I am not registered with HCPC and do not engage with or offer therapeutic treatments. If you are looking for therapy, you need to check counsellors and psychologists credentials carefully, and ensure you get the right person for you. They all specialise in different areas, and what might be suitable for you would not be appropriate for someone else. Certainly you should be looking for someone who has BPS approved training and is registered with HCPC.

In fairness, I cleaned the windows yesterday, so I could call myself a window cleaner. Or a writer, because I’m writing this post. Look beyond job titles to qualifications, professional memberships, and experience - that applies to almost everything 😊

I don't see a problem with someone calling themselves a psychologist, in the same way anyone can call themselves a scientist or historian.

The thing that pisses me off is people calling themselves "doctor" when they've never studied medicine (Valentino Rossi excepted) or "Lady Smith" because they bought a title off the internet.

“Interesting” Twitter rant by “psychologist” Emma Kenny.

Thanks for that Zinger, the "interesting" rant seems to have been removed

Fortunately it has been uploaded by someone else

twitter.com/MrBozo666/status/1332461836625735685

Yet another extremely concerning element to Emma Kenny's position of influence in the media

Dr is short for doctorate which is why people with PhDs use the title and have done since the 1300s.

Psychologist is not a protected title so if you need one look for a Chartered Psychologist.