OPEN LETTER TO TRUSTEES AND SENIOR STAFF

BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR COUNSELLING AND PSYCHOTHERAPY

For the attention of:

Natalie Bailey (Chair, Board of Trustees); Sekinat Adima, Punam Farmah, Ewan Irvine,
Alwyn Li (Board Members/Trustees)
Anna Daroy (Chief Executive Officer); Philippa Foster, Ben Kay, Jamie Redmond (Senior
Leadership Team)
Martin Bell, Grace Gardiner, Emma Hayes, Caroline Jesper, Adam Pollard, Clare Symons,
Judy White (Senior Management Team)
Professor Lynne Gabriel OBE (President); Luciana Berger, Jabeer Butt OBE, Julia Samuel
MBE (Vice Presidents)

29th October 2023

Dear colleagues

The counselling and psychotherapy profession is facing a situation of unprecedented

economic, political, technological and environmental challenge. The BACP has a unique role
in relation to supporting mental health, well-being, justice, equality, and constructive social
change. To fulfill this potential, BACP needs to be able to harness the vast talents, knowledge
and experience of all of its members, as well as working in an effective and collegial manner
alongside like-minded organisations, communities and occupational groups. Throughout our
careers, in a range of areas of practice, training and research, all of us who are signing the
present letter have consistently viewed BACP as a model and example of how people with
different perspectives can resolve difficult issues through open dialogue. At the present time,
BACP is falling short of this ideal.

In the light of this situation, we have decided to write this open letter to you, albeit with
heavy hearts and following much deliberation. Many of us have been individual members of
BACP for many years, have served the Association in various roles in a voluntary capacity,
and have been part of organisations that stood alongside BACP in the furtherment of the
profession. We all share the same motivation to ensure high-quality, ethical and trustworthy
therapeutic interventions for the clients and communities who use our services. BACP’s
charitable objectives also speak to this endeavour. We are willing to do whatever we can to
support the Board to re-affirm and if necessary re-imagine the purpose and mode of
operation of the Association, and are confident that many other members would also wish to
contribute to this task.

A series of events over the last two years have caused us to be increasingly concerned about
the general direction of BACP. In recent weeks, these concerns have gained more momentum
with material posted on social media (and not refuted by the Association). Taken together, the
issues that we outline below, represent a pattern of governance, and in particular Board
actions, that falls short of its duty to protect the integrity of the charity and its members and,
by default, runs the risk of incurring significant reputational damage to the profession to
undermining public trust in what we do. It is critical the Board works to the Nolan principles
of selflessness; integrity; objectivity; accountability; openness; honesty; and leadership. The
multiple losses of BACP Board and staff members over the past 12-18 months, culminating
with the recent invocation of Article 36 to remove a Board member (Kate Smith), suggests
that these principles are not being appropriately invoked or upheld.
There are three primary areas that cause us particular concern:

1. The unexplained departure of highly experienced and highly regarded staff,

including the CEO, Deputy CEO, COO, Head of HR, Head of External Relations,
EDI Lead and Data Protection Lead, amongst others. Of course, we all make
career decisions to move on to new and different work opportunities. However, the
speed and sequence of these staff departures is worrying, as is the destabilising
impact on the work of BACP in terms of the loss of experience, skill and
consistency of work. We need to state that, as a group in unison, we would like to
offer our support to the staff team at BACP, who we believe – and have
experienced – to be talented, generous, committed and wise in undertaking their
work and have, without question, played an integral part in the furtherment of the
profession. We honour their work and are dismayed by the high levels of work-
related stress that they are currently
encountering, as reported through social media and other channels of
communication.
2. The pattern of departure of highly-experienced Trustees, six of whom have left the
Board through resignation prior to their term of office ending. This too speaks of
dysfunctional governance and, at the very least, also speaks of a Board lacking
sufficient experience to steer the Association through its work. This reached a
point of crisis when Kate Smith, an elected Trustee of the membership, was
removed from the Board through Article 36 of the Articles of the Association; an
action with no precedent in recent times and which marks the 7th departure in a
short time span. At the time of writing the Board have failed to provide the
membership with an explanation of the events that led up to one of their elected
Trustees needing to be removed in this way.
3. It is not appropriate for the Association to launch a 5-year strategy without
consultation with members or staff prior to its official launch. We feel duty bound
to remind the Board that BACP belongs to the membership: Trustees are stewards
of the Association on behalf of members. While final strategy decisions clearly sit
with the Board, is it not reasonable that funds and other resources – primarily
accrued through professional membership fees – should be committed to 5-year
projects without an adequate consultation process. This speaks of either a lack of
understanding of the role of Trustee, or a disregard for the views of the
membership, or both.

Our over-arching concern is that the Association lacks effective strategic leadership, with a
Board that is not functioning in an appropriately rigorous and transparent manner (for
instance, there is no Deputy Chair in post, as stipulated in Article 33), and is disconnected
from the membership. We are also aware of assertions, from multiple sources, that have been
made about conduct and actions within the Association that are inconsistent with the
charitable aims of the Association and that have the potential to bring the entire profession
into disrepute.

Each of the individuals listed below are signing this letter in an individual capacity and with a
positive intention, in the hope that restorative work can be undertaken by the Board to
establish a more constructive way forward and to repair its relationship with its staff team and
the membership. In particular, we believe that it is crucially important to ensure that the
membership can regain confidence in Board processes, policies and decisions.
We call on the BACP Board of Governors to undertake the work of restoring the effective
functioning, accountability and good reputation of the BACP, in an urgent, thorough and
transparent manner. Our strong preference is for this process to be carried out on the basis of
consultation and consensus. However, we are aware that, if necessary, it would be possible
for us to take further action in accordance with procedures outlined in the Articles of
Association. We hope for BACP and the profession that such an outcome can be avoided.

Even at this late stage, we would ask that BACP leaders engage in a conversation to take
forward positive actions to repair the relationship between the BACP Board, its staff and its
membership. In the spirit of progression, we invite you to take steps to talk openly about what
is happening not only with ourselves, but with any other individuals and groups within the
broad and diverse BACP constituency who might wish to be involved.

This letter will be circulated as widely as possible to BACP members.

Yours sincerely,

Professor John McLeod Julia McLeod

Maria Albertsen Professor Ian Parker

Paul Atkinson Dr L.J. Potter

Richard Bagnall-Oakley Dr Seb Randall

Nicola Barden Professor Andrew Reeves

Professor Tim Bond Heather Roberts

Una Cavanagh Dr Jeannette Roddy

Professor Divine Charura Dr Alistair Ross

Professor Mick Cooper Professor Andrew Samuels

Dr Elizabeth Cotton Dr Caryl Sibbett

Dr Philip Cox Erin Stevens

Dominic Davies Vanessa Stirrum

Professor Windy Dryden Janet Tolan

Dr Patricia Joyce Professor Sue Wheeler

Myira Khan Dr John Wilson