A letter to Sally Brown, editor of Therapy Today:
The article in December's edition of Therapy Today regarding SCoPEd was, as much expected, a pretence to answer the major issues being raised by the autocratic manner in which governance of the BACP is now losing the trust and support of 10,000 or more members of the Association.
I have tried to summarise the feelings of resentment, distrust and massive disappointment in a letter (attached) of approximately 500 words and would welcome publication in the next edition to help bring about a more democratic and transparent governance of our Association.
I am aware of widespread intentions to resign from the BACP if the failure to ballot members opinions continues.
Kind regards,
Turiya
T M R Gough MBACP Snr Accred
Are we hearing the Death Knell for the BACP?
Publication of a three-page propaganda article in December’s edition of Therapy Today (pp.42-44) possibly heralds the beginning of the end of a transparent and democratic Association which historically held dear the healing relationship between counsellors and their clients.
Over recent years, the BACP has allocated vast resources of its workforce and finances toward a determination to impose the academic framework of SCoPEd into the classification of practitioners within the Association.
“We believe SCoPEd will enable a credible, diverse and thriving
counselling and psychotherapy profession that is ….”
Who is this Royal “We”?
Earlier this year the Deputy Chair resigned in protest the direction being taken to adopt SCoPEd, and this week the CEO departed after only one year of taking responsibility “for leading the organisation into BACP’s next five- year strategy.”
Professor John McLeod lists “the unexplained departure of highly experienced and regarded staff, including the CEO, Deputy CEO, COO, Head of HR, Head of External Relations, Edl Lead and Data Protection Lead, amongst others” in his Open Letter to the BACP (see https://therapistconcerns.co.uk/ ).
McLeod and esteemed colleagues call for “the BACP Board of Governors to undertake the work of restoring the effective functioning, accountability and good reputation of the BACP, in an urgent, thorough and transparent manner”.
An Open Letter from The Alliance for Counselling and Psychotherapy calls on the BACP to halt the controversial SCoPEd project, demonstrating that its proposed competency framework is “divisive, elitist and exclusionary”. (see https://allianceblogs.wordpress.com/2020/10/16/open-letter-person-centred-calls-on-bacp-to-halt-scoped/ )
An Open Letter from the National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society, to the BACP expressed serious regret that “your SCoPEd project was conducted in secret and to the exclusion of … major stakeholders, trainers, and individual practitioners, from the beginning, in public, and be subject to democratic voting procedures”. (see https://nationalcounsellingsociety.org/assets/uploads/docs/scoped_open_letter_to_bacp_wv.pdf )
Counsellors Together UK have also written a letter, on behalf of their 9,000 members, highlighting concerns to the BACP regarding the current governance, emphasising how “Members feel uneasy regarding the ongoing changes in management and leadership since 2020, and don’t feel they have received adequate explanation about why this has happened.” (see https://ukcounsellors.co.uk/bacp-members-letter-of-concern-april-2023/ )
Their petition can be viewed at:
In one-month MBACP Senior Accredited members have raised a petition and sent it to the governors requesting that they “Preserve the status and recognition of Senior Accredited Members” and by the end of November it is already supported by 929 of the total 1,451 senior members! Clearly, all Senior Accredited members have already met stringent standards of skills, knowledge, training, and experience, as well as paid the fees, set by the very organisation which is now “throwing us under the SCoPEd bus”.
(see https://www.change.org/p/preserve-the-status-and-recognition-of-senior-accredited-bacp-members )
To contact the senior accredited protest group email: snr.accred.protest@gmail.com
The Psychotherapy and Counselling Union (PCU) also oppose the adoption of the SCoPEd framework by leading a campaign against the way SCoPEd is being implemented including opposition to the BACP Senior Accreditation demise.
(see https://www.psychotherapyandcounsellingunion.co.uk/campaigns )
In total there are approximately 10,000 members of the BACP actively protesting the current governance under Natalie Bailey (Chair) and the autocratic aversion to democratic and transparent governance. Is the only option removal under Article 38?
Turiya Gough MBACP Snr Accred