4 Nov 2026 - 2:00pm
A new report from the professional bodies representing the psychotherapy profession has called for statutory regulation of the sector. Quite right, too. The report recommends stronger professional standards, arguing that “sufficient public protection” is not being provided. The Commission’s co-chair, former Labour minister Phil Hope, said this was a “watershed moment” for the industry.
Statutory regulation is long overdue. As things stand, neither “counsellor” nor “psychotherapist” is a legally protected title in the UK. Anyone can adopt either label, put a brass plate on their door, and begin seeing clients without the training that lay people might reasonably assume it requires. There are professional registers, ethical codes and complaints procedures, but participation in these systems is voluntary — meaning the most reckless cowboy practitioner can choose to remain outside the system altogether.
Countless individuals have suffered at the hands of unqualified and malicious practitioners operating within this system. I have been a psychotherapist for over 20 years, and I cannot count the number of examples of unethical, immoral and downright criminal conduct I have heard about over that time. Ella Janneh, for example, sought help from therapist Michael Lousada for difficulties arising from childhood sexual abuse. In 2024, a High Court judge found that Lousada had raped and sexually assaulted her during a session.
I have also heard numerous accounts of incompetent therapists driving wedges between teenagers and their parents, sometimes causing irreparable family rifts. Others have disclosed confidential patient information to friends. Most troublingly, some have reportedly fast-tracked vulnerable, autistic and same-sex-attracted teenagers towards lifelong medical transition without undertaking any meaningful therapeutic process.
Clearly, formal regulations are necessary. However, the problem is that previous attempts by the Government to impose rules on the industry have been murky and contradictory. The Conversion Practices Bill, for instance, seeks to criminalise therapeutic practices which attempt to persuade a patient that they are not really the sexual orientation or gender identity they claim.
Ethical therapy may challenge a person’s understanding of themselves, but that does not make it abusive or criminal. Indeed, the proposed bill sets a high threshold for prosecution: healthcare provision can only constitute attempted conversion therapy if the practitioner’s conduct falls far below “reasonably expected standards”. But who determines those standards in a profession that has been left unregulated? These are the crucial questions that statutory regulation must answer.
Therapists should be held accountable for what they do. That means enforceable standards of training, proper investigation of complaints, and the power to stop unsafe practitioners seeing patients. But it must not mean giving ministers or professional bodies a free hand to dictate clinical practice, nor should it should not dictate which questions a therapist may ask or which ideas a patient may explore. Besides, what use are we to patients if we’re too afraid to ask the difficult questions?
Stella O’Malley is a psychotherapist and bestselling author. She is Founder-Director of Genspect, an international organisation that advocates for a healthy approach to sex and gender.
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