UKCP: new statement: exploratory therapy not to be mistaken for conversion therapy

[VWdieselnightmare]

Spotted this today, posted by James Esses:
https://www.psychotherapy.org.uk/news/ukcp-guidance-regarding-gender-critical-views/
With the King's speech on Tuesday and the Conversion Therapy Practices Bill mooted (and likely to be included in the speech) this seems very timely. Please contact your Conservative MPs with this information and ask them to get the Bill removed from the King's speech. I'm told that Conservative MPs have been inundated with demands to have the Bill included and it seems Stonewall have been pulling every string: apparently a lot of communications seem to be coming from people working in the public sector. In an attempt to fight back I've have contacted Rishi Sunk, Steve Barclay and others, including Baroness Nicholson, to ask them, in the light of this new decision by the UKPC, to vote down the Bill. If others could do likewise it might help. Here's a chunk from the statement issued by UKCP:This is a public statement and I quote it at some length:Psychotherapy (UKCP) is today issuing a statement on the law regarding gender-critical views and its implications for the practice of psychotherapy and psychotherapeutic counselling. This statement is also being made to highlight the fact that exploratory therapy must not be conflated with conversion therapy.Case law has confirmed that gender-critical beliefs (which include the belief that sex is biological and immutable, people cannot change their sex and sex is distinct from gender-identity) are protected under the Equality Act 2010. Individuals who hold such beliefs must therefore not be discriminated against.Psychotherapists and psychotherapeutic counsellors who hold such views are likely to believe that the clinically most appropriate approach to working therapeutically with individuals who present with gender dysphoria, particularly children and young people, is exploratory therapy, rather than medicalised interventions such as puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones or reassignment surgery. Such therapy explores the presenting issues through open-ended discussion, and is conducted without any preconceptions or pre-decided theoretical framework regarding the person’s gender identity. An important aspect of exploratory therapy is the ability to explore the fullest range of issues that may contribute to the person seeking help. Within the interim Cass Review report, the exploratory approach is described as ‘therapeutic approaches that acknowledge the young person’s subjective gender experience, whilst also engaging in an open, curious, non-directive exploration of the meaning of a range of experiences that may connect to gender and broad self-identity’.

It's positive that they are recognising that gender critical beliefs are protected under the Equality Act. I'd be interested to know how this statement has been received on social media.

This is an important retreat - given how trans captured the psychotherapy & allied professions have been. It's a sign that the appalling impact on children is finally being recognised.

Plus of course the likelihood of future legal cases against professionals who have unthinkingly affirmed children below the age of consent. Given the evidence of levels of social contagion & social grooming by adults in positions of power over children this is inevitable. Young adults will seek compensation from those who failed to protect them from toxic gender ideology.

Apologies for the lack of paragraphs in my OP. I'm sure I put some in.

This is fantastic to see. Thanks so much for posting OP!

Wow.

This is massive. Way too much damage has been done to young people by enthusiastically affirming their first gender questioning utterance, especially by school counsellors and newly graduated CAMHS staff.

where are BACP up to on this?

(I could search but it’s Friday and I’m lazy)

I’m just so relieved to see this. I’ve been a therapist for years and I’ve been so dismayed by the groupthink in the professional organisations. I am a member of UKCP and I’m going to let them know how grateful I am for their clear statement.

I think BACP have a long way to go unfortunately. They have a massive membership and they are increasingly authoritarian, captured and lacking transparency. I think they have pretty much got rid of any dissenting voices at all levels ☹️

The majority of therapists in the UK are BACP members and so that’s the organisation that needs to make the changes.

I’m sorry I didn’t really understand your op.
what do you want us to write about?
something is bad but also good?

Is it easy for psychotherapists to change from one body to the other @Orangedoll? Because if so, perhaps the sensible might migrate from BACP to UKCP?

It's all right, stand down, you don't need to understand.

Dennis Kavanagh KC (Gay Men's Network) has just confirmed that even if the Conversion Therapy Practices Bill is mentioned in the King's speech it's been downgraded and will have to go through another period of scrutiny before anything is decided. If it gets that far, that's the point at which we'll all have to ply our MPs with evidence.

In the US detransitioners are starting to sue the therapists who offered affirmation-only, and my guess is that BACP (the other main accreditation organisation for counsellors and therapists here in the UK) is likely to take the same view as UKCP in order to protect members from the risk of being sued. The tide is turning on the therapy front, to the relief of the therapists I know, and I think we can (probably) relax about this. For now, anyway.

This statement from UKCP is great news, and the added remarks from the new chair add weight - some extracts below.

The UKCP continues to recognise the fact that there are different professional beliefs on many differing topics within the psychotherapeutic community. This position is fundamental to the UKCP.

The nature of human diversity means that psychotherapy cannot be a ‘one size fits all practice’.

Whether a practitioner has gender-critical views or not, it is important to recognise that there are multiple factors that can contribute to people questioning their gender.

This is why it is essential, especially for children and young people, that these aspects are thoroughly explored with highly trained psychological practitioners. This can take time, and sometimes a very long time.

Medical interventions can potentially be irreversible,

@FreddysSquishyBollock It's fairly straightforward for UKCP members to join BACP, but not the other way around. The training requirements for UCKP accreditation are more rigorous.

@FreddysSquishyBollock UKCP membership criteria are rigorous and include the need for postgraduate level training and years of personal therapy. Many people who train as counsellors are ineligible because their qualifications are of a lower academic level or their training organisation is not affiliated to UKCP.

Unfortunately I think most therapists in the UK are stuck with the BACP for now, or other similarly captured organisations, because it’s practically impossible to work without being a member.

@VWdieselnightmare why bother posting on a public forum if you don’t care if people don’t understand what you’re on about?

Why don't you explain what you're not understanding? What's so confusing?

No one else seems to have had any trouble understanding what I was talking about.

You're on the internet: do some research.

I've known a number of people over the last few years looking for a therapist for themselves or their child, who are terrified that they'll end up with a GI one. Now people will know that if they find someone who's a member of BACP they are less likely to find themselves being lectured about being hateful. I imagine this will increase the number of people seeking you and others in BACP.

I think you mean UKCP, VW?
But yes, definitely would be reassuring for both parents and therapists.

Yes, sorry: and I've left it too late to edit. Too many acronyms.

Yes, and it means that when potential clients ask a therapist about their stance on gender identity, therapists can say if they're 'gender critical' without fear of consequences.

'too many acronyms' ... ain't that the truth!

Sorry: I was a bit thrown by the accusation that if one person can't understand a thread, it shouldn't have been posted.

And I would add to that, for anyone who wants a GC therapist, that you would still need to ask about their views. Many UKCP therapists are still wedded to the ideology and so are the training organisations. This statement legitimises the exploratory approach, but I read it as opening up the possibility of differing perspectives rather than saying that this is what is now happening across the board.

But yes as you say @DidoDino it will make it easier for me therapists to be open about having GC views with potential clients.

Yes. That was very strange and threw me too. I assumed wrong thread initially.
(For clarity- my jokey comment on 'too many acronyms' was about linking this problem to the culture at large, not you, VW!)

I think you should be posting it’s important, but I actually didn’t understand, not every one is up to speed on the internet. Why are you posting and then telling people to do their own research.

Just popping this here for those generally interested in the overall direction of travel within psychotherapy bodies.
This psychotherapist (Michael Dewan-Herrick) has started a youtube series critiquing social justice and diversity approaches in the therapy profession.
He taught diversity at Middlesex Uni to psychotherapy students, and also has a background in cultural anthropology and is a practising Buddhist who has taken his bodhisattva vows, so has a compassionate, informed, and highly reasoned stance.

If anyone is aware of Ken wilbur's integral theory- Michael bases his approach and understanding on this theory (which is very complex but Michael uses a simplified structure from it)

Fascinating if you are involved in the therapy world in any way, I think.

I also wonder, as I believe he is UKCP registered, if he has had anything to do with the recent statement.

"Medical interventions can potentially be irreversible,"

I'm not sure any of the medical interventions are reversible. At best they may have minimal impacts (If used for a short period of time) or the impacts are somewhat hidden in the short term, but reading the experiences of detransitioners attempting to get back to some semblance of good health is very sobering.