Sally Mumford was excited to start a new career when she enrolled on a training course to become a psychotherapist in 2020.
She wanted to help people understand how their emotions and behaviors were shaped by their past. However, she soon realized that the course might not be what she expected. “I arrived at the slaughterhouse like a lamb,” she said. “There was a real sense of discomfort permeating from top to bottom.”
Ms Mumford said tutors at the London training center allowed bullying between students to go unchecked. “It was all part of making you a therapist. The whole ethos was to destroy you and restore you to what they wanted you to be.”
Mr Mumford said he was one of more than a dozen people to study for qualifications in psychotherapy at British institutions. observer Some courses cross the line from challenging to harmful, with instructors bullying students. Some say their tutors have made humiliating comments in public, leaving them too scared to speak up or leave the course.
Students from a variety of courses also said they felt the complaints procedure was not robust enough.
The demand for psychotherapists is increasing Impact of the new coronavirus pandemic on the incidence of depression and anxiety The problem persists and waiting times for mental health treatment on the NHS continue to rise. Many people who can afford it are turning to private therapists, and as the demand for their services increases, so does the number of people training to enter the field.
Since 2019, there has been a 44% increase in the number of students registering with the British Association of Counselors and Psychotherapists (BACP) and training to become therapists.
However, this industry is largely unregulated. “Psychotherapist” is not a protected profession, so anyone can practice under that title. last month, guardian Calls for urgent regulation of all psychotherapists and counselors in the UK have been reported.
The training of psychotherapists is also unregulated and a wide range of qualifications exist across the UK. BACP and the UK Council of Psychotherapists (UKCP), the UK’s main professional body for psychotherapy, provide accreditation for the course.
Psychotherapist Amanda Williamson, who has been campaigning for regulation of the industry for more than a decade, is concerned about “toxic” training courses. “I’ve heard negative feedback about all kinds of courses at prestigious universities, including horror stories of bullying and badly run ‘group processes,'” Mr Williamson said.
Because psychotherapy training requires students to be vulnerable, she argues that regulations must be stricter than in other industries. Therapists and training institutions should be bound by a consistent code of ethics and regulated by the same body, she said. “Regulations, or at least research, to shine a light on these toxic hotspots where they are allowed to fester are woefully overdue.”
Students studying psychotherapy are often required to examine their own minds, and many courses require students to undergo therapy alongside their studies.
“There are fundamental differences in power structures,” says Kelly*, a qualified psychotherapist who has worked in the private sector and within the NHS and is undergoing training to further her qualifications. She said she was bullied by staff on her current course.
“I can’t talk inside the training center because of my appearance,” she says. “You try not to offend people because they have all the power, but you can be interpreted as being a difficult person. People put up with things like this because it’s difficult.”
said several people who took the training course. observer They felt they could not complain about the tutor. BACP accredited courses are required to have a robust complaints policy and procedure in place, allowing students to contact BACP and, as a result, potentially visiting the course to check on its operations. there is. However, counselor and lecturer Richard* says students who complain to BACP or UKCP are often told to resolve it themselves. “When people make complaints about training institutions, professional bodies only get involved in really serious cases, such as financial irregularities,” he said.
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Samuel*, who is in his mid-40s, qualified last year after a four-year course at a London institution that he describes as having a “bullying and toxic” environment. Samuel said he felt his boss suddenly had a dislike for him. “Something switched and he gave me a negative report and then another. It was horrible. He erased me. It was the most stressful few months. . [There was] No other staff will intervene on my behalf. It was a very hands-off attitude. ”
Samuel felt that he could not complain about his tutor while studying. “Now I wonder why I put up with it, but when you’re actually in that situation, you don’t realize it,” he said.
Sarah*, who is in her late 50s and is already a trained therapist, studied on a course in London earlier this year to further her career. “It’s been a nightmare since day one,” she said. Sarah felt that her tutor silenced her every time she tried to talk about herself, and she repeatedly heard her tutor speak negatively about her.
After months of feeling “excluded and undermined,” Sarah complained to her course director about one of her instructors. She felt that this escalated the attitude towards her and threw her off course. “I went from being happy and content to feeling looked down upon and small. It felt like it dismantled me as a therapist.”
A few months later, Sarah was invited to interview for her dream job. But when she sat in front of the panel, she realized she couldn’t speak. “After I left home, I felt unwell for about four weeks. I still can’t sleep and when I do, I have nightmares. I have anxiety, I’ve lost weight, and it’s really affected my life negatively,” she said. Ta.
John Fletcher, who has been a counselor and psychotherapist for almost 30 years, said regulators needed to focus more on how students process their experiences and emotions during training. “It’s going to be challenging because you’re going to have to straighten yourself out so you don’t let your own backlog get in the way when you work with clients,” he said. “[But] The tutor must be able to hold this safely. Careful attention is required. ”
A BACP spokesperson said: “We are committed to the protection of students enrolled on our courses. We believe that the health and care of our students is paramount for all psychotherapy courses and training providers, regardless of their affiliation with BACP. UKCP did not respond to requests for comment.
*Names have been changed to protect personal information
