The BACP Supports ‘Queering’ the Therapy Space: Trans Activists Call the Shots

Regarding gender ideology, the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) has shed all pretentions to a nonpartisan position. Consider its recent flyer for gender diversity training titled: Queering Therapy Spaces and Working with Gender Diverse Clients. Note the hyperbolic and unsubstantiated statements (identified in italics) made in the following description of a presentation contents:

Britain is currently facing a queer healthcare crisis comparable only to that of the AIDS
epidemic.
The urgent state of trans healthcare requires a specific political response from cic people, and has required a commitment to a mutual aid organising model from the community itself. Understanding the specific role Terfism plays at the heart of British media, the rise of popularity in conversion therapy and the tactics of the far right create a uniquely hostile environment for trans people to access healthcare across the developed world.’

See the rest of the programme description below:

Queer therapy: where we’ve come from and where we’re going
Chris Grant
The introductory session will open the conversation around: what it means to provide queer and gender diverse therapy; what the historical, social, and political context is when working
therapeutically with the queer community; and tools and resources to support therapists when working with queer and gender diverse clients. This event has been created in response to demand for more specialist learning from therapists and professionals with lived experience of gender dysphoria and gender diversity. This event is for counsellors and psychotherapists who wish to increase their knowledge and understanding around the current best practice for working alongside gender diverse people. You may be interested in beginning work alongside gender diverse people or are already working with gender diverse clients in a range of clinical settings.
Presenter biography:
Chris Grant is a trans non-binary accredited Counsellor and Psychotherapist; Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Consultant; and Founder of The Queer Therapist Ltd, a UK-based international therapy and consultancy service dedicated to providing queer, neurodiverse and gender affirming therapy to the queer community. They are committed to ‘queering’ healthcare practices and challenging stigma and shame around gender diversity. Chris has worked with the queer community for over 10 years within the NHS, third sector and private sector organisations. They are a queer health content writer and have developed partnerships with Facebook, Kalda and most recently, Stonewall.
They are a member British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), a member of The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), the European Professional Association for Transgender Health (EPATH) and the Gendered Intelligence Network for Therapists and Counsellors.

Organising to resist: Trans healthcare activism in Britain
Jolliff Seville
see description in introductory paragraph above.
Presenter biography:
Jolliff Seville, a disabled black trans man from Somerset, is an activist, community organiser,
decolonial educator and co-director of Black Trans Foundation- a non-profit grassroots
organisation working for the social advancement of Black trans people in the UK founded in
November of 2020. They provide a free therapy service to Black trans people in the UK and work to decrease the healthcare inequality for Black trans community. He is also a co-director of We Exist, a trans health care campaign group and mutual aid structure based in London. He has consulted nationally on the subject of trans access to healthcare, including the TON panel for city hall.

Understanding trans and non-binary identities in the medico-legal landscape
Oscar Davies
Oscar will focus on, first, Gender Recognition Certificate. What are they, how people get them,
and recent developments with Gender Recognition Act 2004, and how these may affect clients. Second, Oscar will discuss the Equality Act 2010 – in particular, who is protected in terms of ‘gender reassignment’ (section 7), broader implications of discrimination and harassment and how this can be avoided in sessions with clients. Third, Oscar will discuss non-binary identities and protection in equality law. Lastly, Oscar will summarise, taking into account different possible approaches for questions to different clients avoiding discriminatory language.
Presenter biography:
Oscar is a barrister focusing on laws pertaining to trans and non-binary people. Oscar
(they/them) was the first barrister in the UK to use ‘Mx’ as an honorific to their title to be
referred to in court and correspondence. Oscar provides legal resources through their Instagram page (@nonbinarybarrister) which hopes to inform people of the rights (or lack of rights) for trans and non-binary people, primarily in England and Wales. Outside of this niche, Oscar’s day-to-day work includes employment, clinical negligence, international work and property disputes.

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