8/9/2019 Information for Those Using or Being Offered Psychotherapy by Leeds City Council

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/information-for-those-using-or-being-offered-psychotherapy-by-leeds-city-council 1/3

Important Information About

'Psychotherapy' Services in Leeds

Are you or have you been offered psychotherapy or some other kind of 'talking therapy' by the local authority?

If so, it's very likely that the person you are seeing is a social worker who is not aqualified psychotherapist or psychologist, and who may not have any

qualifications at all in psychotherapy or psychology.

Please don't take my word for any of this.

ee this !reedom of Information "!#I$ request that was made to %eeds &ity&ouncil on (th eptember )*+

-Please could you tell me how many social workers employed by theest %eeds &ommunity /ental 0ealth 1eam are qualified to perform

 psychotherapy as a service, what qualification or accreditation

they are required to hold in order to perform this service, if theyreceive supervision and if so, what entity provides the supervisionand what qualification or accreditation is it required to hold to

do so.-

1he reply clearly states

-%eeds &ity &ouncil ocial orkers do not provide psychotherapy as a

service and are not employed in that capacity.2

A request for clarification of the above reply asks

-Please can you clarify if it is the case that ocial orkers have never provided this service and have never been employed in that capacity? If'never' is too open ended, please comment on perhaps the last 3 or *)

years.2

8/9/2019 Information for Those Using or Being Offered Psychotherapy by Leeds City Council

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/information-for-those-using-or-being-offered-psychotherapy-by-leeds-city-council 2/3

And the reply of +*st #ctober )*+ says

-A& does not employ social workers as psychotherapists and it hasnever been in any 4ob description.

ome social workers provide ongoing therapeutic input as part ofworking in a &ommunity /ental 0ealth 1eam. 1hey are not employedas psychotherapists or as any other formal

therapist.

1here is no, one definition for therapeutic input as this could mean avariety of approaches i.e. behavioural plans, cognitive behaviouraltherapy approaches 5 whilst these are 6approaches6 we do not employsocial workers as actual therapists.2

Also see this !#I made on *(th 7anuary )*3 asking

-&an you tell me how many ocial orkers employed by %eeds &ity

&ouncil are qualified or trained to provide a therapeuticintervention, and what qualification or training is required,

including the awarding body?2

1o which the reply on *+th !ebruary )*3 was

-%eeds &ity &ouncil does not employ ocial orkers to specifically to provide therapeutic interventions, therefore having training or aqualification to provide therapeutic intervention is not an essentialrequirement of any of the registered ocial ork 7ob 8escriptions. 1he

role of ocial orkers in employed by both Adult ocial &are and&hildren9s ervices is that of assessment and care management.2

1he above replies from %eeds &ity &ouncil itself makes it very clear that they donot employ psychotherapists, do not employ ocial orkers to carry out the roleof a psychotherapist, and what role ocial orkers may have in providing

therapeutic intervention does not require any qualifications beyond those requiredto be a social worker.

:ven if you have been referred to a 'therapist' by a &onsultant Psychiatrist, youmay still have been referred to a ocial orker.

8/9/2019 Information for Those Using or Being Offered Psychotherapy by Leeds City Council

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/information-for-those-using-or-being-offered-psychotherapy-by-leeds-city-council 3/3

1his is not unlawful as such, and is not an issue if the people using this service areaware of the service they are receiving and the role and qualifications of the

 person carrying it out.

1here are serious problems though with regards to informed consent if people

have been told that they were receiving psychotherapy or if the person providingthis service has claimed or implied they were a psychotherapist.

Informed consent means that you have agreed to something after understandingwhat it was that you were agreeing to. If someone will not tell you information

about what you are agreeing to or is telling you things that are wrong ormisleading to get you to agree, that is not informed consent.

hat can you do if you feel you have been misinformed about the service you

were receiving?

;ou can contact the &omplaints #fficer for Adult ocial &are using theinformation provided on %eeds &ity &ouncil's website

-1he &omplaints /anager 

%eeds &ity &ouncilAdult ocial &are/errion 0ouse

**) /errion &entre%eeds% <=>2

If you are not satisfied with the response, you can contact your member of

 parliament and ask for your case to be investigated. ;ou can find out whoyour member of parliament is by clicking here.

If you require information that is not provided here, you can always do your

own !reedom of Information request by clicking this hyperlink . Please notethat !#I requests cannot be used to give information about a specific person

though you can ask about the team that person is on as a way of findingthings out. e.g. if no5one in the team that 7ohn mith is on has a particularqualification, then 7ohn mith does not have that qualification.

Good luck and don't let the b*stards grind you down