News

It has been a busy few weeks for PCP. We have been affirming our aims and position as a growing partnership of organisations, and working collaboratively to ensure we are prepared to respond to the next stages of SCoPEd and the proposed APPG in a way that best represents our members. Our updated aims can be found on our homepage. We have also welcomed three new organisations to our partnership. Surviving Work provide resources for working people, information about politics and therapy, and have recently undertaken an extensive survey of IAPT workers, the preliminary results of which can be found here. We are delighted that Surviving Work’s founder, Elizabeth Cotton, has decided to join the partnership. A Disorder for Everyone is a successful and highly regarded campaign group, led by Jo Watson, which challenges the culture of psychiatric diagnosis and the medicalisation of counselling and psychotherapy. AD4E organises inspiring events around the country, and have recently released the book Drop the...

This news article is intended to give an overview of the activities and discussions leading to the formation of PCP. It is an account of correspondence which has passed between our organisations, representatives of BACP, UKCP and BPC, and other relevant parties. What follows is a chronological record of this correspondence with comments for additional context and information. Further correspondence will be added to our website in due course. The following document, originally circulated by UKCP, was leaked to us in June 2019. All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Counselling and Psychotherapy  Proposal For the collaboration of the Counselling and Psychotherapy Professions, the formal partnership of the British Psychoanalytic Council (BPC) the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) to jointly set up an All-Party Parliamentary Group on Counselling and Psychotherapy and for BPC to provide the secretariat. Background We have welcomed the recently published NHS long-term plan as it commits to a...

We are delighted to announce that the National Counselling Society (NCS) have joined Partners for Counselling and Psychotherapy, working alongside our existing seven organisations to present a united voice challenging current political narratives around SCoPEd and the proposed APPG, and standing for the values of counselling and psychotherapy. NCS's involvement with PCP brings our combined memberships to more than 18,000 counsellors and psychotherapists, which is a remarkable achievement, and strengthens our position to work towards our aims of ensuring that both clients' and our members' interests are heard and honoured as we continue to debate and negotiate the direction of the profession. The NCS have welcomed the move: "The NCS is delighted to add our voice to that of the Partnership on a wide range of issues.  We believe that the future of our profession lies in the spirit of inclusivity and mutual respect between all stakeholders, and that the Partnership and its affiliated organisations can play a...