As former chairman of the British Council for Psychotherapywho led our fight against statutory regulation in the first decade of this century, I am dismayed to read of what feels like a new and unreflective rush to statutory regulation of counselors and psychotherapists, imbued with all manner of sectional interests and hidden agendas (Letters, 25 October). To continue would divide a profession that only fairly recently found a fragile unity via government-backed Professional Standards Authorityin which the vast majority of psychotherapists and counselors sit on their specialist registers.
Two things are necessary: when someone is suspended for serious offences, the relevant registration body must publicize the decision far and wide. They should pursue those scoffers who just open another website. And there should be a national campaign to warn the public: “Psychotherapy can be of help to you. Ask any prospective psychotherapist who they are registered with. If they are not connected in any way to the Professional Standards Authority, we suggest you look elsewhere.”
Prof Andrew Samuels
London
