Critical Therapy Antidote is a UK-registered limited company. It is run by three co-directors all with significant experience as senior therapy professionals.
CO-DIRECTORS
Val Thomas, DPsych, FHEA is a UK-based writer and semi-retired psychotherapist who has worked mainly in private practice and in statutory substance misuse agencies in London. Val was formerly a counselling educator, academic and researcher specialising in mental imagery applications with two books published by Routledge: Using Mental Imagery in Counselling and Psychotherapy and Using Mental Imagery to Enhance Creative and Work-Related Processes.
Since 2020, Val has focused on raising public awareness of the ideological capture of the therapy professions. She founded Critical Therapy Antidote and is the editor of Cynical Therapies: Perspectives on the Antitherapeutic Nature of Critical Social Justice .
Carole Sherwood, DClinPsy, is a UK-based retired clinical psychologist. She previously worked for the NHS, specialising in sexual health, trauma, chronic pain, cancer and palliative care.
In recent years, Carole has focused on the increasing politicisation of the psychology professions, co-authoring in 2022 an independent report, The Politicisation of Clinical Psychology Training Courses in the UK, with Dr Kirsty Miller. She also contributed to the book Cynical Therapies: Perspectives on the Anti-therapeutic Nature of Critical Social Justice, edited by Dr Val Thomas. Carole is a member of the Advisory Council for Don’t Divide Us and founder of the UK campaign Save Mental Health.
Jaco van Zyl, MA (Clinical Psychology) is a South Africa-trained clinical psychologist and psychoanalytic psychotherapist now based in Ireland specialising in trauma-spectrum disorders, personality and mood disorders, and affective disturbances related to gender and sexuality.
Informed by the historical and contemporary political challenges of his home country, Jaco explores the dynamics of group psychology, ideology, adopted narratives and rituals within political and ideological movements. He uses a psychoanalytic lens to shed light on recent identitarian developments writing for Merion West (here) and CTA (here, here and here). Jaco is also a co-host on the Critical Therapy Antidote Podcast, a wide-ranging discussion forum, where he and Christine Sefein Wolk explore current ideological and psychological trends in society with fascinating guests.