The therapy industry is sick.

And so am I, tbh - currently knocked horizontal in bed with flu.

So - why strain my fingers? Why not just keep my little mouth shut, and rest up?

Because, my dear people, you deserve to know what is behind the Wizard of Oz’s curtain of psychotherapy and counselling mystique.

What’s behind the curtain?

  • Clients who say they have been harmed by power dynamics and ‘the blank slate’, with the therapist holding all of the information and revealing none

  • Counselling and therapy students who are studying 4+ years at significant mental, personal and financial cost (course fees, clinical supervision, ongoing personal therapy, unpaid placements to earn hours and credentials, while giving up paid work to fit in all of the above)

  • A counselling and psychotherapy industry that is largely female, straight, middle-aged, non-disabled and white, as shown in the 2025 EDI report of the profession

  • People from marginalised communities being unable to access training for the profession (because of financial, practical, and structural barriers)

  • “Ethical” guidelines for therapists that are prehistoric and actively harmful, stating that practitioners should minimise sharing about themselves online (because clients shouldn’t be able to know who they are working with?!?)

  • In the UK, an industry that is technically open to anyone - all of the governing bodies are voluntary, none are legal - and yet, to jump through the hoop of training and get the gold star from the BACP (one of the most prominent voluntary governing bodies) - the ethical guidelines state that therapists who are students are not able to be in private practice - even though: a) in the UK anyone can legally practice as a psychotherapist and counsellor, b) there is no universally defined definition of what makes a psychotherapist or counsellor, c) the UK government has repeatedly stated, including as recently as April 2025, that it has no plans to make psychotherapy and counselling statutorily regulated

  • There are a number of psychotherapeutic modalities that are not accredited by any of the PCPB governing bodies. For example, Internal Family Systems, Somatic Experiencing, Root Cause Therapy, Embodied Processing, Neuroaffective Touch, etc., are all relatively new developments. Some of these are at the cutting edge of therapeutic practice, and a practitioner could technically be trained in these and be forbidden by practicing as a therapist by their governing body, if they a student on a ‘vanilla’ training course.

Can you see the paradox? A counselling student & trained professional who is not allowed to practice, despite years of training - while, someone who is not a student, isn’t bound by the same ethics?

Make it make sense.

It doesn’t.

The route to becoming a psychotherapist is not always linear.

Therapy students spend years and tens of thousands of pounds on training.

And most of them come to this because they have a passion and a heart for this work. Which, often will include actual lived and professional experience in the field.

This boils my piss, so let’s lay it out really simply.

Therapists are meant to be able to:

  • Give up their full time salary in order to spend four years studying, on placement and in clinical supervision in order to qualify

  • Provide their skills, effort and time for free working as a therapist on placement

  • And while incurring this great time and financial expense, are supposed to not earn money providing therapy services which they trained for previously, at great expense - while any other member of the public could continue to work as a therapist / counsellor because these draconic standards only apply to those who choose to jump through the flaming hoops of the BACP / NCPS.

So we are meant to spend loads of money, loads of time, while our own skillset and confidence in it is diminished and told to be worth nothing.

Great start huh?

Is it any wonder that the industry is overwhelmingly undiverse?

With accrediting bodies that make your life a living hell while you are studying, who needs enemies?

It doesn’t sound so appealing now does it.

I believe the world can be better.

I speak to therapists and clients every day who are living the reality of this field - not some fantasy land where things fit into neat little black and white categories.

Here’s the call to action:

  • If you are a therapist, counsellor, or trainee of the above, and you vibe with the above - or have been harmed by the above, and prevented from entering the industry, I want to hear from you. Make my day and fill up my inbox (deanna@deannanava.com) with your glorious liberating vibes. I know there is so much more out there than the status quo.

  • If you are a client who has been damaged by the unequal power dynamics in therapy - even by so-called ‘credentialled’ therapists - I want to hear from you. Your voice deserves to be heard. Therapy shouldn’t be done to you, it should be done with you.

We, the professionals, need to be doing better.

We need to be doing better to make the field more accessible to diverse practitioners.

We need to be moving with the times when it comes to serving clients and empowering them to make informed choices.

We need to level this industry the fuck up - or we will get left behind, while some quack coach who took a £16 certification on Udemy kicks dust in our eyes, as they cackle into the sunset, filling the void that antiquated therapists were too oblivious to anticipate.

The time is now.

Make my flu-addled brain feel better. Hit me up in my email inbox if you: a) want to be on my podcast Reimagining Therapy (I cannot wait to reveal the guests we have lined up!), or b) just wanna vibe on liberation-oriented therapy solidarity, making the field more accessible, impactful, and empowering for all.

¡Viva la revolución!

DeAnna

29 December 2025