MP Stephen Kinnock鈥檚 widely-reported comments on therapy are damaging and incorrect 鈥� and must be challenged.

The Minister for State in the Department for Health and Social Care said that he believes an聽鈥榰nregulated private sector' of therapists is contributing to an 鈥榦verdiagnosis' of mental health conditions.聽

While at the Pulse Live conference for GPs, he said he was concerned about how easy it is for people to set up as a therapist and start charging for it within the next day.

He reportedly said: "You look at countries like Sweden or the Netherlands, other countries, you have to have six years of training before you can set yourself up on that basis.

鈥淪o I am also very worried that there are diagnoses being given out by the private independent sector which are not rooted in clinical expertise, and that is an issue I have commissioned my officials to look at that.

He added: 鈥淚 think that we鈥檝e got to get on top of this, and we鈥檙e absolutely committed to do so.鈥�

Unfounded and harmful comments

We鈥檙e hugely disappointed to see such unfounded and harmful comments coming from the Minister.聽We believe Mr Kinnock鈥檚 comments about private therapy are sweeping statements which do not address these challenges accurately.聽 They do not reflect the skills, good practice or ethics of our members who work in private practice.聽They show a lack of understanding of the therapy sector and the role, training and expertise of our members.聽They fail to recognise the public protections safeguards we have in place.

Members have extensive training

Our members don鈥檛 diagnose mental health conditions as this is outside of their professional role, competence and training. They undergo extensive training that can take several years and involves more than 100 hours on placement with clients.聽They must be fully qualified before they can be a registered BACP member. Training to be a therapist, registered with BACP, is not something you can do online in a couple of weeks.

We wholeheartedly support efforts to protect the public and we agree that incidence of people setting themselves up as a therapists without being qualified is a concern - and needs to be proactively addressed.聽As part of our work as a Professional Standards Authority accredited register we鈥檙e committed to ensuring our members adhere to our Ethical Framework, and high standards of professionalism and good practice. Our members are also held accountable through our conduct procedure.

We鈥檙e concerned Mr Kinnock鈥檚 comments could be harmful in preventing people in need from reaching out for support from a therapist or a therapist in any setting. We鈥檇 always encourage any member of the public to choose a therapist from an accredited register 鈥� such as BACP鈥檚. This means they鈥檒l know they鈥檙e seeing a therapist who鈥檚 highly qualified and who聽is committed to high professional and ethical standards. It also means if they want to make a complaint there is a process and support available.

Writing to Mr Kinnock

We'll be writing to Mr Kinnock on this issue and aim to have a discussion with him to correct these inaccuracies and explain the vital role that counsellors and psychotherapists are playing within the landscape of mental health support and to additionally offer our support to help address concerns around regulation.聽

We鈥檇 like to work with the Government to ensure greater recognition and authority is given to the accredited registers that work in conjunction with the Professional Standards Authority (PSA).