Why I would counsel against statutory regulation of psychotherapists | Letter

To proceed would divide a profession that has only recently found a fragile unity via the Professional Standards Authority, writes Prof Andrew Samuels

As a former chair of the UK Council for Psychotherapy, who led our fight against statutory regulation in the first decade of this century, I am disquieted to read of what feels like a new and unreflective rush towards statutory regulation of counsellors and psychotherapists, suffused with all kinds of sectional interests and hidden agendas (Letters, 25 October). To proceed will divide a profession that has only fairly recently found a fragile unity via the government-backed Professional Standards Authority, in which the vast majority of psychotherapists and counsellors sit in their specialist registers.

Two things are needed: when someone is struck off for serious offences, the relevant registration body must make the decision known far and wide. They must pursue those scofflaws who just open another website. And there needs to be a national campaign to alert the public: “Psychotherapy may be of help to you. Ask any prospective psychotherapist with whom they are registered. If they are not in any way connected to the Professional Standards Authority, we suggest you look elsewhere.”
Prof Andrew Samuels
London