All psychotherapists in England must be regulated, as abuse claims rise

[IwantToRetire]

Lack of formal oversight means anyone can set up in practice and continue to work after misconduct cases, campaigners say.

Ministers face calls for the urgent regulation of all psychotherapists and counsellors to protect vulnerable people, as lawyers report a rise in lawsuits by patients for alleged harm done during therapy.

... few people realise that anyone without a qualification can call themselves a therapist, and that they can continue to practise after an episode of misconduct.

... Catriona Rubens, a solicitor at Leigh Day, said that since representing Ella Janneh – who in June successfully sued her therapist for sexual assault in the first high court case of its kind – she had been “inundated” with inquiries, with approaches quadrupling from people who claim to have been sexually, psychologically or emotionally abused.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/oct/19/psychotherapists-in-england-must-be-regulated-experts-say-after-abuse-claims-rise

There may already be a thread about this. The story is from a month ago. I forgot to post at the time.
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Off topic

Its funny how in these article that they talk about "vulnerable people" and include within that being a woman.

Yet when women say they are vulnerable if men can acess women's space that are called transphobes.

In Irelands we have being doing some work in this area.

Coru, a government agency will bring in regulation over a period of time I think 4 years. It may be of interest as a comparison and consideration of approach.

I can see why it's important.

The problem is that when you have everyone needs to be under a regulatory body, the danger is that body is ideologically captured. And then you get professionals afraid to express doubts or objections for fear of losing their livelihoods.

It's weird that therapist isn't regulated though. I looked once at whether I could get qualified to do art therapy and the rules around that are very strict and demanding (and geographically not doable for me)

Which is a bit weird because there are well being/mood benefits generally through doing creative arts, so you'd think it would be a more widespread thing. But they wanted very strong qualifications on both the art and psychological sides so must be thinking of it more as a treatment for trauma way rather than in the more general let's help people with mild depression/anxiety express themselves creatively and build confidence sort of way.

In the past I've looked into becoming a therapist. I can't for the life of me see how anyone could do it without a qualification, it seems to have quite a lot of hoops. I have friends with Psychology degrees who still have had to train to be a basic therapist, I'm not talking a specialist psychology therapist or clinical therapist.

The only way I see it possible is through services offered by a church, faith group etc.

Its explained in the article!

Unlike most other healthcare roles, including doctors, midwives and osteopaths, “psychotherapist” and “counsellor” are not protected titles nor statutorily regulated professions in the UK. (This excludes art therapists and art psychotherapists, dramatherapists and music therapists which are protected titles that can only be used by regulated professions.)

Also in the article:

Experts have told the Guardian that few people realise that anyone without a qualification can call themselves a therapist, and that they can continue to practise after an episode of misconduct.

Clinical psychologists and counselling psychologists, and some other titles, are statutorily regulated but the term “psychologist” is not protected. Psychotherapists and counsellors can apply for accreditation at one of several bodies voluntarily. These include the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), which requires a minimum level of training with recognised courses, and operates a complaint process that is not legally binding.

and

“If you’re seeking therapeutic services you’re probably talking about intimate, personal disclosures. If someone abuses that trust, it’s hard to challenge that and take further action. Women talk to me about how embarrassed and humiliated they feel, how under control of the therapists they feel.”

She added that for most clients their priority was to prevent other people from suffering the same harms, since even after a successful lawsuit therapists were not prevented by law from continuing to practise.

The problem is that when you have everyone needs to be under a regulatory body, the danger is that body is ideologically captured. And then you get professionals afraid to express doubts or objections for fear of losing their livelihoods.

This. The biggest counselling organisation in the UK is BACP., who are completely captured by gender and critical race theory. BACP are signatories to the Memorandum of Understanding on Conversion Therapy, which is queer theory all the way down, and are currently using a transwoman, Sophie Grace Chappell (who is not a counsellor) to advise them on 'decolonising' their ethical framework.

Chappell is notorious amongst terfs for stating that it wouldn't matter if allowing males with gender feelings into women's single sex spaces led to an increase in the numbers of women murdered. 'It wouldn't matter if there was a slight spike' in the numbers of women murdered I believe was the phrase Chappell used. That's who BACP have brought in to advise them on ethics.

Unless there is a new, non- captured regulator, this won't help.

Anne Craig and her behaviour is enough to make this Law surely?