The news of a sex therapist whose appeal against his sacking by Relate over a clash between his religious beliefs and his refusal to counsel a gay couple features on both the BBC and Guardian websites today (as many news stories often do).
What strikes me in reading both presentations of the story is the different focus of both articles, and thus a reminder of the myriad issues present in any one incident or experience.
As a practitioner within an agency, this therapist may not have had the degree of choice in which clients he agreed to work with (or not) that those in private practice have, but I’d also be curious to understand in what context or manner his expression of not wishing to work with the couple in question was expressed. Even within an agency it seems important to me that a client is matched with the counsellor most suited to supporting them, whether that’s on a basis of religious belief, gender, age, sexual orientation, class, race and so on.
Within reason it seems sensible to me that if one counsellor would be better suited than another to provide an appropriate form and level of support, then the preference should be acknowledged. As a male practitioner, for example, I may feel that a female colleague might be better suited than me to work with a particular client, and I have the option to make that referral onwards. It’s not so much about discrimination as about acknowledgement of the effective support I’m able to offer – I’d like to think that there could have been a way in which this therapist chose not to work with the couple in question, which wasn’t experienced as discriminatory.
(I’m not seeking to excuse or defend the therapist in question, nor am I seeking to argue against him.)
So although two versions of the story are reflected here, there will be a different version of the events in every newspaper and newsroom which carries it. And each of those version will draw on their own set of issues and references. So I’d encourage an open-minded approach to reflecting on this sort of story, and the issues it presents, and invite people not to rush to a conclusion about the rights and wrongs of it, merely an opening up of the discussion about what it might mean for each of us.
www.wayforwardcounselling.co.uk
Filed under: Current events, Practice thoughts Tagged: | counselling, couples, discrimination, health, homosexuality, law, media, mental health, news, press, psychotherapy, Relate, religion, sex discrimination, sex therapist, sex therapy, sexuality, society, therapist, therapy
