"Pressure from trans activists led to the ousting of the leader of one of Britain’s biggest therapy groups" claim

[IwantToRetire]

Dr Christian Buckland, the former chairman of the UK Council of Psychotherapy (UKCP), had raised concerns that treatment for gender-questioning children was unsafe.

He claims to have been sent death threats by independent activists including a hand-written “rest in peace” sign as part of an intimidation campaign.

He is one of four former leaders from Britain’s biggest therapy institutions blowing the whistle on the profession’s failure to protect children with gender identity issues.

and

Meanwhile, Natalie Bailey, who was chair of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) for six years until August, said since leaving that “many members have contacted me about the gender issue and how it is placing children at risk of serious harm”.
She was ousted in August, alongside her deputy, after an internal audit found “expenses claims exceeded what is permitted”.

Ms Bailey claims she was targeted for whistleblowing about concerns she had uncovered, but was instead “treated as the source of the difficulty”.

“When I raised concerns about procedural failures, exclusion from decision-making, and the handling of audit and legal processes, my contributions were dismissed and I was cut out of key conversations,” she said.

Full article https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/10/26/top-therapist-ousted-after-trans-activist-row/ and also at https://archive.is/u1gt2

Thanks for posting. I've just read this. Its absolutely shocking but what are these former therapy heavyweights going to do to help right the ship? Seems to me these professional bodies are no longer fit for purpose and the activists are driving the profession into the ground.

There go the most oppressed and marginalised again, controlling organisations, getting senior leadership sacked so they can be replaced by someone more susceptible to manipulation by the [checks notes] voiceless minority.

It's a masterclass in political & social engineering, I'll give them that.

unsure what you expect them to do. They've lost their jobs and their influence, while still presumably having mortgages to pay and people to feed. The majority of their professional contacts will now treat them as radioactive, lest it happen to them.

There have been I think two rather worrying threads on here about leadership and governance the BPS/BCAP (apologies if I’ve got that wrong) on these issues, so I’m not surprised, though routinely horrified.

James Esses must be rolling his eyes.

All the professional therapy bodies have been taken over from the inside by trans activists but i think the tide will start to turn. There's enough practitioners fed up of it and the supreme court ruling as protection now.

Thank you for sharing OP.

It all sounds incredibly chilling. On a plus note, it's good to see it being picked up in the press that a) senior people in the counselling profession are trying to protect children from harm and b) shockingly they are being ousted for this.

Regarding this quote from Dr Auckland....

“I fear that it is currently almost impossible for parents to know if their child will see a psychotherapist, psychologist or counsellor who will put their child’s individual needs first over personal and ideological beliefs,” he said.

.... this thread is has some good points on the subject too:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5343604-seeking-support-for-my-autistic-child

And banging his head on the table I should think.

The link I've shared above is about an article from his substack.

Hopefully some of them have found their way into back channel discussions. As awareness about harm is growing, I should think that there will be tentative discussions happening between people who recognise that they aren't alone in their concerns. SEEN in Health is a good example of such a network forming.

I'd expect them to keep speaking out. Engage with the grass roots organisations that are pushing back against this destructive ideological capture. Utilise their contacts (I don't buy the idea that all will see them as toxic, not now). Maybe they are already doing these things, as some of those individuals seem more ethically driven than others.
Because the alternative is...? The profession is being undermined by its own professional bodies, if they want their profession to survive, new professional bodies are required. And who better than those with experience in running one?

It's horrific that people turn to counsellors for help and good advice, without any way of knowing if they are cultists. They have so much power to harm. We can clearly see that when they harm their colleagues, as in these cases. But who knows how many patients they have subtly steered into the self-harm of wrong-sex hormones and surgery?

I just keep thinking of all those young people, and their parents, who thought they would get support.

Not become trophies for ideologues.

Just shocking.

There are so many concerns about the BACP. I had a terrible experience with them when I complained about an abusive therapist. Despite tons of evidence, they protected the therapist and made me out to be crazy. When my MP intervened, they lied to him. It was incredibly traumatic. It seems many have had a similar experience: https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.bacp.co.uk
Whilst I don’t agree with naming individual therapists online, as the complaints system fail them, these poor people have nowhere else to go. The irony is that the BACP make a big show of the importance of mental health, yet they cause so much harm. I hope the PSA and Charity Commission can properly intervene.

This blog post from a therapist is great, as they don’t treat their therapist members well either:

https://whitestonetherapy.com/blog/f/bacp-blues-20825

It seems like the Charity Commission may be looking into the systemic failings:

https://www.thirdsector.co.uk/regulator-opens-case-counsellors-charity-sacked-its-chair-deputy-chair/governance/article/1939242

With so many institutions having been infiltrated by activist / entryists exploiting their complacency, I would hope that professionals might look to creating new institutions for themselves.

I think it might actually become financially imperative that they do; as faith in institutions like BACP dies, potential clients would be looking for an accreditation they felt able to trust. A sort of 'BACP is dead, long live the realist-based replacement association' kind of scenario, as professionals desert the no-longer-fit-for-purpose schemes.

UKCP Reviews 15

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1.8
Psychotherapist

I bet that most people who use a therapist see that the person is accredited by one of these 2 professional bodies and assume that they've taken the necessary precautions and are in good hands. They're likely to be wrong. And if they complain, they can expect to be let down yet again.

@Scoffingbiscuits you’re spot on. When I complained, the BACP just repeated the trauma. The therapist had lied about me in response to the complaint and a member of the BACP’s senior leadership team also lied to my MP. Gaslighting. I’ve heard of similar experiences with complaints to the UKCP. The UK needs a stronger watchdog. These regulatory bodies are complicit in client abuse. Their priority is to the protect themselves and the therapists. BACP is a for profit company and in 2024 they advertised for a staff member to increase their investment portfolio: held in Kleinwort Benson.

I’d like to think that a new professional body could be set up which is specifically science/data-led. However, so many of the degree/other courses which lead into these professions are also heavily biased towards gender ideology. Plus of course, so many of our young people have been indoctrinated in school that it will be difficult for them to recognise the bias and push back….

That would be brilliant. A body led by seriously bright, ethical individuals too.

@WhereYouLeftIt this would be a great scenario. Creation of ethical bodies from the grass roots up. The public would be more likely to trust this than a for profit company.