Regulation of counsellors and psychotherapists would protect patients | Letters

Readers respond to the recommendation by an independent commission that the profession be regulated

The independent commission established by the professional bodies that represent counsellors and psychotherapists in the UK makes a case for statutory regulation that is long overdue (Report, 2 November). Ella Janneh, who won damages in a civil case against her therapist, is right that most people assume the safeguards already exist, and the commission is right to say that they do not. What happened to her shows what that mistaken assumption can cost.

I write as the chairperson of the Irish Association of Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapy and as a psychotherapist for more than 20 years. I trained in the UK and have practised in Ireland ever since. In both countries, personal therapy and supervised practice have long been the foundation of training.