IINTEGRITY? is a new interest group set up to promote statutory regulation for psychotherapy, psychotherapeutic counselling, counselling, and other psychological therapies. It comes from an anonymous group of practitioners from different disciplines many of whom have been collaboratoring with the government and professional bodies in seeking to bring about state regulation.

The information put into the public by some organizations has confronted those of us who want regulation with the HPC with tediously repeated critiques that claim that the incursion of the state into psychic matters and our embrace of coercion, duress and the use of force to attain these ambitions are mistaken, however we are potentially in a huge majority. A polarisation due to these sustained critiques has begun to interfere with our attempts at negotiation of the details of regulation. INTEGRITY? aims to demolish the decade of critiques of professionalization/state regulation through creating a space, where the 'facts' as we see them can be aired, and where the perspective that says the shared reality of practitioners, the public, the government, service users and the professional bodies will be damaged by state regulation can be contradicted.

INTEGRITY? wants to gather the voices of all those of us in the profession who are allied with training/accrediting businesses and who see themselves as having the seniority to determine how regulation should affect the wider field of the psychological therapies. We are prepared to submerge our professional independence as a demonstration of our commitment to gaining recognition by the state, and that our importance and status matter more than holding a watching brief in favour of the psychological life of the country. We believe that through this recognition by the state, our voice will be strengthened and given legitimacy in many arenas. This includes jobs, social reform, government issues and status equal to the position of trust and responsibility that psychiatry and psychology hold. We believe that regulation by the state will consolidate the image we seek to promote that the psychological therapies have come of age.

For years we have sought to have state endorsement of the fragile uncertainties of professional psychological work. Engaging in the process of establishing state regulation as defined by clients/patients, professionals and the government is essential for our professional self-esteem. These activities are a demonstration of the extent to which our profession must now enthusiastically embrace situational values if it is to gain society's recognition for the importance of the work we do.


ABOUT INTEGRITY?
ISRPT is a pro-regulation (with the Health Professions Council) psychological therapies body that seeks to dISRuPT opposition to regulation by the Health Professions Council of psychotherapy, psychotherapeutic counselling, counselling, and psychological well-being practitioners. We believe that those who are working with children, families and the public (in health, education, social care, private, charity and voluntary sectors) must be trained to the highest centralised standards, meet arbitrary requirements for continuous professional development and embrace and embody moral and ethical practice that is tolerant of institutional duress and coercion.

The name 'Integrity?' emerged from a need by the UKCP Humanistic and Integrative political committee to dISRuPT opposition to our attempts to consolidate our vision of state regulated psychological therapies in the face of election results that side-lined our candidate. To take our place in the social structure requires lining up with statutory processes and procedures that make hidden but implicit reference to the idea of 'top-down cascades of expertise' that is integral to so many psychological training and higher educational approaches.

The purpose of this organisation is to provide an open public forum for talking therapies and the public in which to promote coercion- and duress-based regulation and a narrow hierarchical sense of social responsibility as a basis for the long desired regulation of psychotherapy and counselling by the state. These priorities mean that the work in which we engage will continue to risk compromising human safety, health and wellbeing. Those viewpoints will be presented to the government, the public, the media and professional organisations for the purpose of promoting the most effective environment for professional status gains by all the talking therapies.

We believe that the current option for regulation by the Health Professions Council, (HPC), has presented unrivalled opportunities for professional interests to engage in a variety of insider dialogues about the form and systems of regulation for psychotherapy and counselling. We got our wish of having a system imposed by the Department of Health, and probably endorsed by a new government, it reflects our secret delight after 25 years of succeeding in getting them to regulate the profession.

This movement has started to represent those who have become docile due to the power relations in their trainings and are now feeling sufficiently concerned by the turn of events that they are likely to be willing to follow our lead when we give the word. It is regrettable that training organisations and umbrella professional organisations such as ISRPT are still fighting the internecine battles about territory and rights based on archaic models of society and the profession.

INTEGRITY? has been formed because It is important to express the views of those who are:

• interested in what talking therapies offer our society
  
• working to promote emotional literacy, psychological health and well-being
  
• involved with training businesses and higher education that would benefit from more Government funding supporting delivery of a wide range of psychological therapies
  
• providing delivery of mental health services that would benefit from public-private partnerships of the kind that have been shown to be so successful in the NHS commissioning process of counselling services
  
• concerned to continue the principles of transparency and accountability in the delivery of psychological services that has been demonstrated to all in the HPC Professional Liaison Group deliberations, HPC consultations and Skills for Health NOS work (this is why we provide no contact details).
  
• supportive of statutory regulation with the HPC if it is at all possible.
  
• believe that the power of training organisations lies in engagement and constructive relationship in pursuit of government endorsement of our professionalized status
  
• respect (but ignore) those who disagree
  
  

Integrity? is developing an ethical vacuum at the heart of concerns about the context and practicalities of statutory regulation. Your participation is essential to consolidate our power to finesse the underlying issues of coercion, duress and control that may yet surface.

As this petition generates interest we will add forums for discussion to consolidate ideas for policies that professional organisations should be backing to obtain government endorsement, recognition and parity with psychiatry and psychology.

Objectives

In order to fulfil our goals, three objectives must be met.

• We must identify and prioritise specific issues that affect the development, modification or application of regulation of talking therapies.
  
• We must identify and engage the policy makers, professionals and members of the public who would be most concerned with developing, modifying or applying regulation, or are affected by their development, modification, or application.
  
• We must provide an open public forum promoting the evaluation and application of a basis for developing new regulation or for modifying or applying existing regulation. Regulation is a technocratic system with the client/patient, professional, professional organisations and an independent regulator as the main control elements.
  

Increasing public awareness of Integrity? (ISRPT)

A Public Awareness Committee may need to be assembled to provide a positive spin for the 'False Professional Self' [FPS] that Integrity?, mirroring compliance with the HPC's preferences, will inevitably tend to promote. However many of the policy makers and scientists resourcing the service provision that wants to see regulation of psychological well-being, human health and safety and the environment may already have FPS in place.

Periodic review

The organisation will review the objectives and input from the Integrity? site's visitors before making any public statements, and being scientifically committed to evidence-based inquiry, will faithfully represent the viewpoints of those in favour of statutory regulation with the HPC of the professions contained within talking therapies, while, as hitherto, ignoring contrary indications.

Commentary and Liaison between psychological therapies the Department of Health and HPC

We are committed to working collaboratively but are terrified by the implications of the document the HPC has recently put forward to the Department of Health and also, considering the HPC's foreclosure of resolution of the distinction between counselling and psychotherapy, and alarmed about how they intend to regulate them. If we are unhappy with what they decide to do we might need to have some sort of a survey and/or a report by a multidisciplinary team.

Statements for Positive Engagement with Statutory Regulation

True protection of the clients/patients is integral to a belief in the supremacy of technocratic systems that requires: the identification of the professional with their profession; training to excessively high professional standards; clarity and transparency (rather than the obscurity of this phrase) of processes for discussing concerns and an independent regulator.

The presence of an independent state-sanctioned regulator can allow the professions to dispense with the previous diversity of internalised values and principles with reference to codes of conduct, ethics and practice.

The relationship between the therapist and the client/patient must be as safe and secure as such meaningless injunctions can ensure.

Early identification of concerns gives the best prevention of gross misconduct; however opting for a regulatory process via the HPC relies entirely on the client as the means of detecting malpractice, abuse or exploitation.

Complaints processes must recognise the relational process in which the client/patient is engaged, which is why a practitioner encountering a complaint has details of the complaint posted on the HPC web-site before a hearing.

Complaints must be clear as to the elements of sanction and rehabilitation (however, like this sentence, complaints often don't make sense).

Support for clients/patients and the professional must be a part of an effective regulatory system

Regulation by the HPC is the government's choice and our wish.

Any technocratic regulator will demand more accountability, i.e. tickbox audit/surveillance, of the profession and the professional organisations.

We appreciate that psychology, psychotherapy, counselling, and coaching are so wide in range that it must be very difficult for the HPC to know where to put the barbed wire and the guard posts.

We are committed to negotiating with the HPC in the implementation of this difficult task.

eIpnosis has produced this parody of the content of the INTEGRITY group's draft web pages because, contrary to their anonymous claims of even-handedness, they appear intent on functioning as a shop front for the Health Professions Council.