Letter of concern about UKCP Chair elections

I'm writing on behalf of a group of UKCP-accredited psychotherapists to express our serious concerns about Sue Parker Hall’s candidacy for UKCP Chair. We are specifically concerned that UKCP members preparing to vote in the upcoming election on Feb 10 may not be aware that in her role as a psychotherapist she publicly espouses and promotes far-right views and conspiracy theories.

I (SG) knew Sue Parker Hall's name only from her valuable and thoughtful book Anger, Rage and Relationship, which I read and benefited from during my formation as a therapist. I was unaware, as were many fellow UKCP members I spoke to, that she is not only an active opponent of trans rights and EDI and social justice "ideology" in the psychotherapy field, but has publicly promoted conspiracy theories on the conservative/far-right platform Rumble, Qanon podcasts and her Substack newsletter.

In one of several videos on Rumble, Sue Parker Hall appears in her professional capacity as a psychotherapist, in association with the World Council for Health, an organisation responsible for spreading health misinformation during the pandemic, to assert at length that COVID prevention measures were "manipulated events... planned and orchestrated" by the government and public health organisations using cultic thought reform techniques. She is joined on this video by Dr Christian Buckland, the former UKCP Chair and anti-vaccine activist who stepped down in June last year.

Although we acknowledge that to read is not the same as to endorse, Sue Parker Hall also appears from her Substack profile to follow and be willing to be publicly associated with a considerable number of newsletters promoting far-right and conspiracy theory content, including COVID denial, QAnon conspiracy theories, support for Jan 6 insurrectionists, anti-immigration misinformation and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. She has also appeared on podcasts promoting similar content and runs support groups for therapists which discuss a range of issues embraced by conspiracy theory believers.

She has speculated that those whose views differ from hers on issues such as COVID-19, climate change, Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas hold such views due to cultic techniques of manipulation and brainwashing by the government or “deep state”, and that those who chose to believe and comply with public health advice and measures during the pandemic succumbed to "mainstream narratives" as a result of brain damage caused by the COVID vaccine.

We believe UKCP members voting in the upcoming election have a right to be fully informed about the views, values and epistemic stance of the candidates they are voting for, and we are not confident that at present they are. We are also not confident that someone who uses her professional presence as a psychotherapist to promote views founded in misinformation and far-right conspiracy theories will use her position as Chair to represent all UKCP members fairly, steer the organisation in a direction consistent with its core aims and values and maintain the reputation of the UKCP and psychotherapy in this country and the wider world.

We are concerned about the possible damage to our professional credibility and reputation if we hold accreditation through a professional body whose leadership is associated with the promotion of views and agendas based on misinformation. We would appreciate your support in spreading awareness of our concerns among UKCP individual and organisational members in advance of the election on Feb 10.

Susannah Gill

Jennifer Cawley

Holly Cassidy

Anna Cope

Jane Nash

Lisa Mclaughlin

Sam O’Connell

Marianne Johnson

Kimcha Rajkumar

Claire Addison

Sources:

https://www.psychotherapy.org.uk/about-ukcp/elections/