Therapy is a complex nuance of different psychological techniques and treatments to treat a multitude of issues, disorders and complexes, with ranging severity.
Therapy requires complex assessment, analytical evaluation and careful, considered treatment plans and after-care in order to help a patient in an enduring way - ensuring respect, care, and avoidance of harm throughout. Therapists require years of psychoanalytical training, practice, and qualification to safely assess and care for patients mental and physiological wellbeing. However, we’re increasingly faced with an unprecedented number of unqualified individuals diving in and offering their services to those who are most vulnerable…
Part of the problem is that therapy, coaching or many other one-to-one support services are ‘unregulated’. This means that you do not need to have specific qualifications or be a member of a professional body in order to advertise your services and practice. Unlike a doctor, who needs to be registered with the General Medical Council to practice, anyone can call themselves a therapist.
In a world full of online advice, fads and wellness ‘pioneers’, it is increasingly common to stumble across people full of recommendations and action plans, who lack any formal qualifications, or approaches to treatment to back up their claims.
And if someone feels that the ‘therapy’ they receive is not want was promised, then often their only course of regulatory action is to complain to the Advertising Standards Authority.
The problems
Thankfully, the once prevalent stigma surrounding seeking therapy has largely subsided, with many recognising the importance and valuable benefits of seeking professional help. Therapy is frequently discussed throughout film, TV, literature and amongst peers; however, with this de-stigmatisation and increased uptake, comes the risk of many leaping into the profession due to growing demand, without the qualifications to be able to do so suitably and safely – cue the untrained therapist onslaught.
Requiring therapy of some measure entails that the individual seeking such services is already in a vulnerable condition, requiring care, attention and an efficacious, trained practitioner to assess and evaluate the extent of their requirements and formulate an effective treatment and care plan. The individual seeking treatment may be desperate for a solution, and to find an immediate resolution that they often so desperately seek, they can end up falling prey to a therapist who may have no formal training or any real idea of the issues they are presented with and how to deal with them appropriately, and most importantly, safely. This can potentially result in a vastly harmful ordeal for the person seeking treatment and lead them to an even worse state than they were in prior to seeking help.
The rise of the wellness influencer
The increased prevalence of the life coach and wellness influencer are hugely encouraging the unprecedented rise of untrained therapists. This new realm of ‘practitioner’ is claiming to change your life with some simple steps, a prescribed regime and a large payment later…
TikTok is rife with wellness influencers enticing vulnerable audiences with targeted ‘for you’ pages, and claims of overhauling their baited audiences’ entire lives if only they follow their programme… These influencers rarely reveal the details behind their drastic overhauls or programme breakdowns, instead, answering each desperately searching comment with the cliché “DM me for my plan”, only then revealing to the individual that they need to pay X amount to buy into their ‘wellness overhaul programme’. This type of increasing online presence only diminishes regulated therapy, instead taking a grasp on psychologically vulnerable individuals and twisting their wellness recovery into a heavily lauded marketing scheme.
Resulting in many being washed up into a world of wellness that promises mental and physical results overnight, whilst this online wellness initiative is sadly, largely rife with exploiting a vulnerable cohort of individuals with the promise of instant, easy help.
Diagnostic contradiction
Apart from potentially inflicting harm on the patient with unevidenced treatment methods, an untrained therapist may also entirely conflate a diagnosis and end up treating an issue very different to the one the patient is actually facing, or neglecting a co-morbidity they may have.
This can lead to an individual then not only having to seek actually efficient help from another practitioner but may also lead them to attribute some of their newly prescribed diagnosis to themselves and confuse their entire recovery, conflating their treatment to a far more complex place than it would have been if diagnosed accurately by a licensed professional at the offset.
Identifying a legitimate practitioner
Legitimacy and credentials are crucial when it comes to safe, effective therapy. It’s vital that when seeking treatment from a therapist, that an individual This is why the best advice is to check before you see someone if they are a member of a voluntary professional body, such as Addiction Professionals, before you start seeing them. Such professional bodies require people to have a required level of training, to adhere to a code of conduct, and have a disciplinary procedure. So, if someone is unhappy with the therapist’s approach they can complain, and the therapist may be disciplined and even expelled if the complaint is upheld.
If the therapist is unwilling to do this, or hasn’t done so previously, it’s a blaring red flag, and it may be best to look for an alternative practitioner.
Kate Brinksman
Freelance writer
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