Much has been said in the press in the last few days about the therapist who faces being struck off by the BACP (the British Association for Counselling & Psychotherapy) for her Christian-based agenda and way of working which includes helping gay men to become straight.

There are several things that concern me here.

Whilst I am not accredited to the BACP and so I do not have a knowledge of their training and ethical requirements, my own hypnotherapy and NLP training taught me to have a client-centered approach and to work with the client’s own belief system and view of the world.  If this belief system is causing problems for them, then as a therapist I have duty of care to find ways work with this in order to help them to move forward.

As therapists, we are not just 2-dimensional – we all have our own set of beliefs whether these be religious, political or otherwise but it is very important that these beliefs are not foisted onto the client.  In the treatment of often very vulnerable people, the utmost care must be taken to remain non-judgemental whilst at the same time focussing on how best we can help the client to move forward.   Mrs Pilkington, the counsellor in question, has an absolute right to her own Christian beliefs, but she has duty of care to her clients to treat them according to her Association’s ethics.

What troubles me is that the BACP is launching disciplinary proceedings against her, accusing her of ‘praying to God to heal’ her client and having an ‘agenda that homosexuality is wrong’ but have only just found this out about Mrs Pilkington.  She has apparently been using her ‘Sexual Orientation Change Efforts’ programme for the last ten years.  Does the BACP not have a system whereby counsellors are regularly checked to make sure that they are undergoing supervision themselves from another counsellor as well as undergoing continuous training? 

My Association, the National Council for Hypnotherapy (NCH) regards regular supervision as well as cpd (continuous professional development) and also support from a peer group as an important part of membership.

Whatever your beliefs and opinions are about this case, the important thing here is that the organisations like the BACP that give license to therapists to practice are making sure that their members are regularly checked and supervised, so that it is clear that they are abiding by their code of practice.  This is the very least they can do in order to protect members of the public, who are putting their trust in us as therapists.