11 March 2008
We received a petition asking:
”We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to make Psychotherapy an independent chartered profession in its own right and kept distinct from psychology, medicine or any other allied profession.”
Details of Petition:
”Presently psychotherapists in the UK undertake lengthy training specifically in psychotherapy. In the US, psychotherapy has already been made elitist by being brought within the control of other professions, such as psychology, medicine and psychiatry: disciplines which are often confused with psychotherapy, but which view and treat clients and patients very differently. In order to retain the title ‘psychotherapist’, for example, government regulation may force practitioners to undertake further lengthy and unnecessary training in subjects which have little or no direct relevance to the practice of psychotherapy. Preserve the diversity of modalities, creativity and uniqueness of psychotherapies by preventing their misappropriation by other disciplines. Demand that psychotherapy be recognised and protected as an independent profession by signing this petition now.”
Read the Government’s response
We have now published the White Paper Trust, Assurance and Safety - The Regulation of Health Professionals in the 21st Century. This sets out our proposals for the regulation of all healthcare professionals, including psychotherapists and counsellors, and makes clear that both psychologists and psychotherapists are priority groups for the introduction of statutory regulation.
Statutory regulation exists to protect the public from poorly performing practitioners by:
- setting standards of professional competence, education and training, and conduct;
- registering those who have completed their training and demonstrated competence and can show they are of good health and character and therefore fit to practise, with protected titles that may only be used by those registered; and
- operating a system to investigate and impose sanctions against registrants who are found unfit to practise.
There have been wide ranging and inclusive discussions over the last few years involving more than 30 individual member organisations and umbrella bodies. There is a wide diversity of theory and practice and it will be necessary to agree the scope of practice and training required before we can introduce statutory regulation. The Sector Skills Council for the UK health sector, Skills for Health, has been developing national occupational standards for psychological therapy using an inclusive approach based on professional participation. We hope that this will provide the basis for professional standards to inform regulation.
We wish to avoid an increase in different types, or modalities, of psychotherapy. All models share some basic function, and Skills for Health consulted on the competencies of these models earlier this year.
Our view of a comprehensive mental health programme is that it should provide three main modalities. These are psychoanalytical or psychodynamic, cognitive behavioural therapy, and family or systemic psychotherapy. Most other modalities are variants of these or post-basic specialisms.
We believe that most new professions should be regulated by the Health Professions Council (HPC), which was designed for this purpose and has the most expertise in bringing new professions into statutory regulation and regulating a wide range of professions within a common system. The HPC currently regulates, and has done so for many years, many staff who work in non-NHS sectors, such as schools, prisons and business, very successfully. They must already therefore show both awareness of and the ability to deal with the issues raised by practice in different non-health or non-medical contexts. We continue to see the statutory regulation of psychologists, psychotherapists and counsellors as a priority. As the White Paper makes clear, we intend for the HPC to carry out the regulation. The HPC is rigorous in assessing regulatory needs and will ensure that its system is capable of accommodating these professions.
We hope to introduce statutory regulation for psychotherapists and counsellors by 2010/11 but this depends on reaching agreement with psychotherapists and counsellors on the standards of training and practice.