The importance of Save Mental Health

Anonymous

I just want to convey my thoughts on the importance of your campaign. I am a second year Counselling & Psychotherapy PG Dip student and I've increasingly felt that my accredited course has become a vehicle for BACP's critical social justice stance and adoption of other ideologies.

Some students talk about (and lecturers make reference to) decolonising, white privilege, microaggressions and othering. I've particularly noticed it through the essay requirements, with them stressing that continually referencing diversity is a necessity. It feels like this is code for requiring me to buy into critical social justice theory, but is this my paranoia? 

To be fair to the staff I think they are probably navigating a difficult line, and are possibly trying to keep these ideologies on the periphery or at least giving space for students to not adopt them, but why should they have to? Why can't there be an open discussion about the influence of ideologies in the psychology field? Why are they referenced as if they are settled matters? 

To give you an example of this difficult line, a trans individual who is a counsellor and trainer was given a platform to talk about gender ideology and began the presentation with what he would consider a microaggression within a question. This included referencing detransitioners as evidence that gender ideology was not real. My view is that this had a chilling effect on students who may have wanted to ask questions. I certainly wanted to ask lots of questions. He essentially got what he wanted though, which was a platform to say things like "all femininity is performative" without any pushback. I do believe the lecturing staff have a leadership role on these difficult matters, so that students feel able to explore without the worry of being branded something they are not.

Later, I enquired as to whether we would get a presentation from someone with gender critical views (I shouldn't even have to use that term) and the answer was no. I thought this was very telling, and possibly an indicator of BACP influence. 

Speaking of BACP, I read with horror the article about "Reshaping the Ethical Framework" in Therapy Today recently. Again, it was pushing all the favoured phrases - decolonising, othering, microaggressions, privilege, Eurocentric. 

As far as I'm concerned this is academic nonsense that turns ethics into something that is incredibly impenetrable and, I strongly believe, has very little relevance when working with real clients. Ironically, I find it an oppressive approach.

I also wonder if it is a form of snobbery, a way of excluding individuals who do and will make wonderful counsellors, but don't want post degree level qualifications and don't live lives that are framed by "white privilege" or "microaggressions". 

Finally, I do not intend to renew my BACP membership and would be grateful for advice on which professional body I can join that is rejecting these dangerous ideologies.