Background
Critical Therapy Antidote (CTA) was established in 2020 to provide a platform for practitioners, academics, clients, supervisors, and allied professionals concerned about the rapid and largely uncontested encroachment of Critical Social Justice (CSJ) into talking therapies.
Since its founding, CTA has evolved into an international network of clinicians, researchers, and practitioners committed to preserving the integrity of psychotherapy. Our work is grounded in the view that therapy functions best as a space oriented toward the individual – not as a vehicle for ideological or political prescription.
What we do
CTA operates as a platform, network, and developing center for clinical and intellectual exchange.
We engage in selective collaborations with clinicians, researchers, and organisations aligned with our mission, while maintaining CTA’s independence as a distinct and leading voice in the effort to preserve the integrity of psychotherapy.
We host conversations, seminars, and collaborative initiatives that support open inquiry and professional development across disciplines.
CTA’s publication, Cynical Therapies: Perspectives on the Antitherapeutic Nature of Critical Social Justice represents a foundational contribution to examining the relationship between Critical Social Justice and therapeutic practice.
Aims
- Preserve and strengthen the integrity of counselling and psychotherapy by championing the longstanding apolitical and heterodox traditions of the field.
- Support trainees, students, and early-career practitioners in developing a clear, grounded understanding of established therapeutic approaches.
- Collaborate with clinicians, researchers, and organisations committed to maintaining therapy as a space oriented toward individual care rather than ideological prescription.
- Support individuals seeking therapy across the UK, North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand who value a non-political, non-ideological clinical environment.
- Contribute to the development of parallel structures that uphold clinically grounded, non-ideological approaches to therapeutic practice.
Objectives
- Publish original articles and podcast content that critically examine ideological pressures on psychotherapy and articulate clinically grounded alternatives.
- Establish and maintain a trusted directory of clinicians committed to preserving a functional, apolitical therapeutic space.
- Lead the development of training programs and professional development rooted in established therapeutic traditions.
- Create structured forums – including seminars and peer consultation – where practitioners can engage openly with emerging challenges.
- Grow an international network advancing intellectual openness and clinical integrity in psychotherapy
- Produce and support independent scholarship, including a future non-partisan journal.
CTA Today
CTA continues to grow as an international, member-driven network of clinicians, researchers, and emerging professionals. Through its media, training initiatives, and collaborative partnerships, it aims to restore confidence in psychotherapy as a discipline grounded in clinical responsibility, intellectual openness, and respect for the individual.