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Petition update, 28 November 2008

More details from petition creator

The Government proposes to regulate psychological therapies through the Health Professions Council. Thousands of psychotherapists and counsellors working successfully in these fields would be barred from using their habitual and long-earned titles if the proposal to make ‘psychotherapist’ a protected title is approved.

Specifically, body-centred approaches, client-centred, humanistic and integrative psychotherapists rely on a model which emphasises self-actualisation and the intersubjective and relational nature of human development and experience.

These are not variants of the Department of Health preferred modalities, and often offer a more fundamental alternative to CBT and related outcome-focussed therapies, whose long-term effectiveness remains unproven.

The DH proposals have failed to make the case for regulation. There is no evidence of widespread client abuse. Current voluntary and professional arrangements already deal with client complaints and maintain professional competence in the field of psychotherapy.

Current signatories

Tim Brown, the Petition Creator, joined by:

• David Sharp
• Dev Vaidya
• Asaf Rolef Ben-Shahar
• john leigh dent
• hilit ben-avraham
• silvia gronau
• Maxine Moody
• Kathrin Stauffer
• Kerstin Reutter
• Catherine Rees
• Karin Gray
• Susan Jordan
• Stephen Forrest [petitions.pm.gov.uk/NHSpsychotherapy]
• rose maxwell
• sarah chevalier
• Lucy Holbrook
• annie sheppard
• Jane Martha Roe
• Mark Walsh
• Clare Myatt
• Maiam Zangmo Zimmermann
• Richard Callan
• Tim Kinghorn
• Judy Lewis
• Michelle Cobbin
• Richard James Gates
• Jacqueline K. Smith
• Chris Trewick
• Jill Palmer
• Silke Ziehl
• michael butler
• Joana Silveira
• Catarina Rato
• Len McBride
• Trevor Skeates
• S. A. Evans
• Maya Ring
• Jeannette Adair
• SAM RITSON
• Begona Mendez
• Catherine Beuzeboc
• Susan Glass
• Maggie Taraz
• Jocelyn Chaplin
• Katy Dymoke
• Delma Walsh
• Joanna Ede
• jen sessions
• Carrie Waldron
• Miche Tetley
• Jane Ballard
• Guy Gladstone
• Rebecca Hague
• Cecilia Wheeler
• Paul Summerhayes
• Denise Davy
• Roger Moss
• Laura Greene
• Delcia McNeil
• Margi Bates
• Maxine Linnell
• Jacquie Gammon
• Phelim McIntyre
• Suzanne Keys
• John Talbut
• Steven Burchell
• Gyan Tyagi
• Clare Walters
• Stephen Tame
• Lucy Lepchani
• Nick Totton
• Steven B Davis-King
• Dave Taylor
• Rachel Visconti
• David Rose
• allison priestman
• zoe shobbrook
• Linda Voice
• Alan Gardner
• Pat Johnston
• Dr Bernard Mooney
• Christine Lee
• Jacky Davies
• Vivienne Moss
• Jo Feat
• Anne Judith Seddon
• Nicole Verity
• Rob Stratton
• Cheryl Allen
• Antonia Davies
• Beatrice Millar
• ALAN GEOFFREY BARTON
• Akhila Y Kuprat
• Sue Baxter
• Jonathan Lloyd
• Martin Tootall
• Ng yin Wan
• patricia macdonald
• John Morris
• Julian Cowan Hill
• Robert Bell
• Jacky Walker
• Elizabeth Anne Gurton
• Sue Rodrigues
• Kirsty Rankine
• Meg Fulton
• David Ellis
• Petition against state regulation of psychotherapy
• Lindsay Dobson
• Duncan Craig
• Margaret Taylor
• Barbara Malinen
• Kathy Burrage
• Steven Boettcher
• Pam Shahlavi
• Sue Barbaro
• Clare Challinor
• joanne oxton
• Victoria Kendall
• Lindsay Sykes
• Paul Mcleod
• Debbie Kay
• Claire Gnatiuk
• Martin wilks
• Georgette Ellison
• Barbara Waters
• Diane Finch
• James Harper
• Glynnis Morris
• Jayne Handford
• Sally Kirk
• Hermine Black
• Angela Taylor
• Marie Hazell
• Annette Pinner
• Joanne Artingstall
• farrah atta
• wendy dwan
• emily ellarby
• John Fletcher
• Tina Chatterton
• Elaine Roe
• deborah lowe
• jude beveridge
• Against state regulation of psych
• Collette Atkinson
• Patricia Gallacher
• Alison Wood
• Marion Godwin
• Julie McBride
• Stephanie Pritz
• Gillian Waudby
• Fiona Gallacher
• Anna Reilly
• Frances WaLker
• sarah anderson
• Lindsay Denton
• Lucia A Halhead
• Kay Laurie
• Cliodhna Mc Phillips
• Joanna Barbaro
• Hannah Wisby
• Laura Stewart
• kay parkinson
• miriam hollis
• Bella Mehta
• Lenka Rossova
• Sandy Gee
• antonella russo
• Clive Bowring
• KIM WHITE
• caroline pearce
• gillian gilbert
• Martin Jelfs
• Suzanne Byrne
• Nicola Wyld
• anna lane
• Maurice Veale
• Gerald Phillips
• Charlotte Barrow
• Previn Karian
• agnes munday
• Denis Postle
• Vicky Cuming
• Rory Singer
• Mark Murray
• bee Springwood
• Sarah Doublesin
• Ian Parker
• Bob Lee (petition WiltsPCTout)
• Lesley Black
• karen hamblett
• Josephine Bugeja
• Jill Singer
• Chris Dawson
• Aine Collins
• Julia Carley
• Janet Low
• cher robins
• Bruno de Florence
• Renate Wendl-Berry
• Mark Richardson
• Ray Leary
• Nigel Hughes
• Harman Dickson
• Helen Clark
• Claudette Martindale
• jamie hodgson
• Patricia David
• Norman Spink
• Morris Berg
• Anna CARTALADE
• Brian Dove
• Kathryn Layard
• Jan Gwyn
• Michael Howell
• Dr Kevin Baker
• Elizabeth Bolt
• Robert Bolt
• Andy Rogers
• Nicola Sheehan
• Carmen Roberts
• John Freestone
• Douglas McFadzean
• Janeth Sallaby
• Julie Walshe
• Susan Malcolm
• Ruth Harrison
• Dumah Leach
• Liz Annable
• Michael O'Sullivan
• Christine Perry
• Helen Fry
• Memduh Mirillo
• LAURENCE HERNIMAN
• Joseph Suart
• Clifford Needham
• Robert Toft