Patients have a right to know if a therapist has been kicked out, says victim czar

One of the country’s leading campaigners for victims of crime has called on the government to pass legislation to allow those undergoing therapy to know whether their therapist has previously been struck off for misconduct.

Claire Waxman, an independent ombudsman for victims in London, responded to the findings of a a recent investigation into i it showed how therapists who had been banned for serious misconduct were still taking on vulnerable patients.

Waxman said there was a need for a transparency system similar to Clare’s Law, a domestic violence disclosure scheme that allows members of the public to find out from police whether their partner has a history of abuse.

“You need a registry of excluded therapists so you can check the registry, find a name, and if that name is there, even if they’re trying to practice, it’s going to be on the record,” Waxman said. This will be a ‘disclosure scheme’ where members of the public can look up a therapist before seeking their help to ensure they have not previously exploited or harmed anyone.

Pressure is mounting on the health minister to introduce regulations for counselors and therapists after this i‘s investigating rogue therapists which it turns out are still practicing.

Waxman said: “Legislative changes and really strong regulation are needed to control all therapies. There is a serious gap in the legal framework. If anything happens, this therapist needs to be held accountable – and we need to make sure he is no longer practicing. It is very important that we deal with this once and for all.”

Read the full investigation into rogue therapists: Sex with patients, drugs and drunkenness at work: the world of unregulated “Wild West” therapy.

Read about “dirty documentation”: A GP fired for having sex in his hospital works as a therapist under a new name

last month, i showed how therapists who have been expelled from their professional bodies – often for having sex with their patients – continue to practice because there are no laws or regulations to stop them from doing so. The cases included allegations of grooming, sexual exploitation, racism, financial abuse, drug distribution to clients and being under the influence of alcohol during therapy sessions.

One disbarred therapist, who still advertises his services, was found to have had a sexual relationship with a client for several years while encouraging her to take drugs and telling her it would bring them closer. Another took the patient to his matrimonial home and had sexual relations with her, during which she attempted suicide. And the third one had was previously excluded from the post of general practitioner for having sex with several women who were not his patients in his surgery, but set up shop as a therapist under a new name.

“There has to be another way to hold these people accountable,” Ms Waxman said. “When we’re looking at vulnerable people who need support services, you want to make sure they’re protected and if there’s a problem with that support, there has to be a way of holding those people accountable and keeping that person safe. »

In the absence of government regulation, independent bodies offer membership and accreditation for therapists and counselors. but iThe investigation found that while these organizations can revoke the membership of those found guilty of serious misconduct, membership is not mandatory, so many therapists continue to see clients, and if they are expelled from one organization, some simply join another. Therapists’ professional organizations delete details of misconduct after a certain period, preventing members of the public from checking whether a therapist has been expelled.

New powers are needed, Ms Waxman said, so that if therapists are found guilty of wrongdoing, the state can “make sure they don’t continue to practise”.

“Abusive people find places to exploit vulnerable people where they have power, control over other people,” she said. “We also have to remember who comes to therapy sessions – and these are vulnerable people. These are the spaces we have to make sure are the most reliable in protecting the public.”

Her call for state intervention echoes recent calls for mandatory regulation of therapists MPs from all three main partiesand from leading mental health campaigners including Alastair Campbell and Ruby Wax.

Next month Ms Waxman will take part in a roundtable discussion of activists, politicians and victims of therapist abuse to discuss regulation and consider how legislation might work. “It will be a diverse coalition of people who will campaign and then talk to the government about the need to create this kind of regulation and protections for the vulnerable,” she said. It is expected that the draft law will be submitted to the Government.

Ms Waxman said the issue of unregulated therapy had long been a concern of hers because, before her current role, she ran a therapy service where she became aware that some therapists hoping to join her were not members of recognized organisations.

Currently, anyone seeking therapy can contact the police if their therapist is breaking the law, or they can lodge a complaint with the professional body their therapist is a member of. If support has been provided by the NHS, a complaint can be made through an NHS trust. But many therapists work outside these parameters.

A Department of Health spokesman said people should choose accredited therapists and apply to “seek justice” if things go wrong.