Sadly, I have seen a rise in clients having negative or even damaging experiences with counsellors / psychotherapists / ‘therapists’ operating beyond their skill set or without suitable training altogether.
I strongly support the need for government regulation. In the meantime, good therapists can elevate themselves, and thereby diminish those offering substandard services, by providing the following information to the public about their training and experience, in writing, in an easy-to-understand way:
-Number of clinical client hours post-qualification or years’ of experience. (The minimum number of client hours, generally, for a newly qualified therapist is around 400).
-Evidence of membership in good standing of a major professional body based in the UK. (These include the BACP, the UKCP, the NCS and COSRT.)
-Transparency and detail around qualifications and when these were obtained.
-Demonstration of formal training in any area considered your ‘specialism’.
-Evidence that skills are up to date through recent professional development.
-Stating how much clinical supervision you undertake (this is required for all UK based counsellors & psychotherapists.)
There are excellent therapists out there who deserve to ‘blow their own trumpet’, so to speak. We do a service to the public by providing information about our skills and experience as these are often unclear, owing to the lack of a central credentialing system for the profession. This makes it very difficult for the public to compare one therapists to another in terms of experience level and qualifications. The lack of government regulation means that yes, there are people out there practicing as therapists who have no accountability, no oversight and possibly no skills to protect the psychological health of their clients.
If you are looking for a therapist in the Reading area and need assistance with this process, please contact Mind Garden Therapy – our centre exists to help connect the public with vetted, robust therapists.
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