Some of our members (certainly not all the members that have approached them about this) have had an email from NCPS saying that they are applying to rejoin the MoU. We know this to be factually accurate – this is not empty words.
There are still many questions to be answered – specifically around being a ‘member-led’ organisation and the naivety around the idea that one must withdraw from the MoU for fear of being sued but can create an alternative that doesn’t have that threat (which seems to have shifted position in the letter below), but please see below the full letter.
Dear [member]
Please find a message from the Society below regarding your communication with us.
Thank you for contacting us regarding the MOU and conversion therapy. Due to the number of communications from members we’ve received, we are sending out this response to everyone who kindly contacted us about the issue.
The Society opposes conversion therapy and wishes to see legislation that would ensure it was unequivocally banned. We have campaigned on this for a number of years, including engaging with Equalities Ministers, meeting their advisors, and meeting with the senior civil servant at the Government Equality Office (GEO) as far back as 2018.
The Society put forward and pioneered the approach, in the absence of legislation, to approach insurance companies in order that they invalidated insurance cover where a counsellor practised conversion therapy. Our Code of Ethics specifically prohibits conversion therapy and a member practising it would face de-registration.
Our policy has not changed on conversion therapy in any way. We signed up to the multi organisational Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in order to come together with other organisations to push forward a plan to ban conversion therapy.
In 2022, we were targeted by legal campaigners who threatened us with legal action if we remained in MOU. Our insurance providers would not cover our defence of said legal action, and at the time we did not have sufficient funds to allocate to defending our position.
Alongside other signatories, such as our friends Pink Therapy, the noted LGBTQIA+ organisation, we were forced to leave MOU at the time and the threat of legal action was dropped. This was not a decision we wished to make. At no time did this decision change any of our policies or our Code of Ethics. We decided not to publicise this withdrawal to avoid misrepresentation or reputational harm to MOU.
Since then we have continued to campaign against conversion therapy, and have been looking for solutions that would enable us to rejoin MOU. We have managed to secure funds to protect the Society against future legal action and so we are pleased to announce that we have started the process to rejoin the MOU. We look forward to resuming joint campaigning on this issue.
We have no plans to change any of our policies in this area. Any substantive policy change would be a matter for our members, just as with ScoPEd. It’s worth emphasising again that leaving or indeed rejoining MOU is not related to our policies.
Thank you again for contacting us. Please rest assured that we continue to be a member-led organisation and all our members’ views are very welcome.
Kind regards,
The NCPS
Therapists Against Conversion Therapy and Transphobia 