Written Evidence Submitted By Unsafe Spaces Campaign (PSA0008)

1. Executive Summary

2. An increasing number of people in the UK, many of whom are vulnerable, are accessing counselling or psychotherapy services. 

3. Almost uniquely among mental health professionals, neither counselling nor psychotherapy are subject to a statutory regulator, and neither the terms “counsellor” nor “psychotherapist” are protected titles. 

4. Voluntary registers exist, which have been granted Accredited Register status by the Professional Standards Authority. However, if such registers strike off a practitioner for misconduct, there is no legal requirement for this individual to stop practising.

5. We found that nearly one in four practitioners struck off by the BACP or UKCP appeared to be still practising.These included individuals struck off for very serious allegations.

6. We examined a case study of Palace Gate Counselling Service in Exeter. This company was struck off by the BACP in 2014 after a complainant “experienced emotional advantage being taken of her of a sexual nature which amounted to an abuse of her trust”. However, the company remained in business with the therapist retaining his role as therapist, supervisor of trainees and director.

7. Despite efforts to raise the alarm including via national press, Palace Gate continued to be publicised by the NHS, churches and the voluntary sector.

8. From this evidence, it is clear that, from a safeguarding perspective, the current system of accredited registration is a complete failure. It is simply not effective at removing rogue practitioners from the counselling and psychotherapy professions. This safeguarding failure is putting vulnerable people in danger of serious abuse, including sexual abuse.

9. We recommend that the Health Select Committee open up an inquiry into the regulation of counselling and psychotherapy. The view of Unsafe Spaces is that “counsellor” and “psychotherapist” should become protected titles and these professions should be subject to a statutory regulator.

2. About the Unsafe Spaces Campaign

Unsafe Spaces is a volunteer-led campaign calling for stronger regulation of counselling and psychotherapy. It receives no external funding. The authors of this evidence are:

1. Phil Doré RMN, MA, PgCert, BN(Hons), BA(Hons)

Phil Doré is a registered mental health nurse with a clinical interest in psychological therapies. He writes the campaigning website Unsafe Spaces which highlights how the lack of regulation in counselling and psychotherapy puts vulnerable people at risk. Since writing about the Derek Gale case in 2010 Phil has received a steady stream of enquiries from people who have had abusive experiences with counsellors and psychotherapists.

2. Amanda Williamson Reg MBACP (Accred)

Amanda Williamson is an accredited member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy and works in private practice. Through being vocal about the lack of statutory regulation and abuse in therapy, some of her work is with clients who are recovering from abusive experiences in counselling and psychotherapy. Amanda finds that she is contacted regularly by people who have been traumatised or abused by professionals.

3. Background

1. Counselling and psychotherapy are growing in popularity in the UK. A survey in 2014 found that 28% of respondents had consulted a counsellor or psychotherapist at some stage in their lives, an increase from 21% in 2010. The same survey also found that the number of people agreeing with the statement, “People today spend too much time dwelling upon their emotional difficulties” had decreased from 60% in 2004 to 39% in 2014. (British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy: 2014) Despite this, almost uniquely among comparable mental health professionals, counsellors and psychotherapists are not subject to a statutory regulator, and neither “counsellor” nor “psychotherapist” is a protected title. Professional registers exist, but membership of them is purely voluntary. Anybody can call themselves a counsellor or psychotherapist regardless of whether or not they have membership of these registers, or even if they have been struck off by a register. 

2. It is perfectly legal for anybody to work therapeutically with adults or children, and to have no training, no insurance and no DBS checks. The only exception to this being in the area of adoption where it is illegal to provide support services (including therapy) to adoptees and adopters without being registered with Ofsted. This is currently the only regulation in place for counsellors and psychotherapists.

3. There appears to be public support for stronger regulation of counselling and psychotherapy. A 2010 survey of mental health service users found that 85% of respondents either “agreed” or “strongly agreed” that these professions should be regulated. Concerningly, 41% of those surveyed were not aware until that point that there was no statutory regulator. Of those who had seen a counsellor or psychotherapist, 70% did not know or were not sure which professional body they belonged to. Even more concerningly 38% of those surveyed had experienced abuse by a counsellor or psychotherapist. Of those who had experienced abuse, 77% did not make a complaint. For those who did not complain, the most common reasons were, “I didn’t know how to complain” (37%), “I was worried that I would not be believed” (32%), “I was concerned that the complaints process was not independent,” (25%) and, “There was no one to complain to.” (25%) (Mind: 2010)

4. Our research findings; one in four counsellors and psychotherapists continue to practice after being struck off.

1. We obtained this figure by downloading all the striking-off orders by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, and UK Council for Psychotherapy for a 10 year period. Internet searches were then carried out to establish whether the struck-off therapists were still practicing. Current business websites were found for 23.6% of those who had been struck off.
2. This survey would not reveal any struck-off counsellors or psychotherapists who are practicing without a website, or who have changed their name or location. For this reason the figure of 23.6% is likely to be an underestimate.

5. Further, worrying information regarding Accredited Registers discovered while gathering the data

1. Four of those struck off by BACP were found to have remained registered with another PSA-Accredited Register.

2. Of those struck off by BACP but remaining on another Accredited Register, one of them was found to be a lecturer in psychotherapy at a university. When the university was contacted for comment, they confirmed that they were aware of the striking-off but had not dismissed the lecturer.

3. Another of those who remained with a different Accredited Register was a major provider of counselling and hypnotherapy training.

4. Some of those who continued to practice claimed membership of other, non-accredited organisations. These often had very impressive-sounding organizational titles, including such words as “Institute” and “Therapy”. However, on checking further, membership of such organisations often required little more than the payment of a subscription fee.

5. Of those who had continued to practice after being struck off, their removal from the register had been for various reasons. Several had been struck off for serious sexual misconduct with vulnerable adults. Some had originally been given lesser sanctions, and were then struck off for failing to comply with the sanction. Other reasons included turning up to therapy sessions drunk, and breaches of confidentiality.

7. Case Study: Palace Gate Counselling Service

1. John Clapham and Lindsey Talbott are the directors of and therapists at Palace Gate Counselling Service in Exeter, which is registered as a business under the name Phoenix Counselling Service. Palace Gate reports having a team of 25 practitioners, offering low-cost counselling. Until May 2014 Palace Gate Counselling Service was registered (under their registered businesss name of Phoenix Counselling Services) as an organizational member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy.

2. In May 2014 the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy published the outcomes of two separate (but simultaneous) misconduct hearings against Phoenix Counselling Services (aka Palace Gate Counselling Service). In both hearings multiple allegations were found proved, and for both hearings the decision was a striking-off.

3. The hearings found that a complainant, “experienced emotional advantage being taken of her of a sexual nature which amounted to an abuse of her trust…The complainant said that both during and following the incident “she had switched off” which the Panel considered to be consistent with perceived abuse.”  The Panel also found that, “her supervisor [i.e. Mr Clapham] suggested to her that they should both undress so that they were naked…her supervisor touched her breast during the bodywork session, which she experienced as abusive to her.”

4. The hearings also found that “Phoenix Counselling Services [aka Palace Gate] made no attempt to remedy the harm caused to the complainant. It made no enquiry as to the allegations; it was defensive in its actions and aggressive in correspondence. Phoenix Counselling Services failed to remedy any harm and took no steps whatsoever to utilise independent dispute resolution or mediation to resolve the issues. Instead it exacerbated the situation by sending threatening emails” and that, “While the Panel looked for some evidence of regret from Phoenix Counselling Services about the distress caused to the complainant it heard nothing that amounted to concern for her.”

5. Following the removal of Palace Gate’s BACP membership Clapham and Talbott announced that Palace Gate would continue in business, and that they would both continue to practice as counsellors and supervisors of trainee counsellors.

6. This caused a great deal of alarm among professionals in Exeter. In May 2014 a joint letter was signed by 27 counsellors and psychotherapists from the local area, including 11 clinical supervisors. The letter described the nature of the allegations found proved against Clapham and Talbott, and was distributed to the NHS, voluntary sector, universities and other relevant agencies. The local Clinical Commissioning Group issued instructions that health professionals should not refer or signpost patients to Palace Gate. Details of the case were reported in the Mail on Sunday (Luck: 17 August 2014), under the headline, Struck off and shamed...so why is groping psychotherapist still free to treat women today?

7. Following these efforts, a number of concerned individuals in the local area maintained a vigilance as to whether these warnings were being heeded. In the ensuing months, a number of incidents took place which suggested they were not.

• A GP practice was found to have posters in its reception advertising Palace Gate.
• Leaflets in a local Citizens Advice Bureau were found on display, also advertising Palace Gate.
• Palace Gate was recommended in a leaflet distributed by a local church.
• Unconfirmed reports suggested that a counselling training provider was sending students on clinical placements to Palace Gate.
• On Twitter, the BACP (the same professional body who had struck them off) retweeted a tweet by Palace Gate.
• A local Mental Health trust is still signposting patients to Palace Gate on documents updated as recently as May 2016 despite being made aware of the situation.
• On at least two occasions people with mental health difficulties were signposted to Palace Gate by other agencies, and then subsequently discovered that the service had previously been struck off. This caused considerable distress to both of these individuals, forcing them to then look for support elsewhere.

8. Palace Gate Counselling Service continues in business to this day, and both John Clapham and Lindsey Talbott continue to practice counselling and psychotherapy there and also in private practice.

8. Conclusions

1. As a safeguarding measure, the current system of accredited registration is a complete failure. It contains no mechanism to remove rogue practitioners from the counselling and psychotherapy professions. This places vulnerable people in danger of serious abuse, including sexual abuse.

2. The data from the BACP and UKCP striking-off notices suggests that at least one in four counsellors or psychotherapists who are struck off continue to practice. In the case of Palace Gate, not only was the striking-off insufficient, but subsequent national media attention and sustained community activism were also unsuccessful in removing Clapham and Talbott from the profession.

9. Key Recommendations

1.      We would like the Health Select Committee to open up an inquiry into the regulation of counselling and psychotherapy.
2. The view of Unsafe Spaces is that “counsellor” and “psychotherapist” should become protected titles and these professions should be subject to a statutory regulator.

References

British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (2014) Attitudes to Counselling and Psychotherapy: Key Findings Of Our 2014 Survey http://www.bacp.co.uk/admin/structure/files/pdf/13381_attitudes%20survey%202014%20key%20fi

ndings.pdf (accessed 4/11/15)

British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (May 2014) Phoenix Counselling Services, Reference No: 101959, Exeter EX1 1JA Withdrawal of Membership/Registration http://www.bacp.co.uk/prof_conduct/notices/termination.php (accessed 13/3/16)

Department of Health (21st February 2007) White Paper: Trust, assurance and safety: the regulation of health professionals National Archives http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130107105354/http://www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_d h/groups/dh_digitalassets/@dh/@en/documents/digitalasset/dh_065947.pdf (accessed 11/3/16)

Luck, Adam (17th August 2014) Struck off and shamed...so why is groping psychotherapist still free to treat women today? Victims said they were asked to undress – but lack of regulation means firm found to be 'abusing trust' keep operating. Mail on Sunday

Mind (2010) The Protection We Deserve: Findings from a service user survey on the regulation of counsellors and psychotherapists http://www.cpcab.co.uk/Content/Publicdocs/The%20Protection%20We%20Deserve%20-%20survey%20report.pdf (accessed 4/11/15)

Professional Standards Authority (2015) Find a Register

https://www.professionalstandards.org.uk/accredited-registers/find-a-register (accessed 4/11/15)

Unsafe Spaces (May 2016) Unsafe Spaces: Why the lack of regulation in counselling and psychotherapy is endangering vulnerable people. https://notsobigsociety.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/unsafe-spaces-report-may-2016.pdf (accessed 27/6/16)

7 July 2016