Welcome

Welcome to Thoughtful Therapists. We have come together with a shared concern about the impact of gender identity ideology on children and young people. We want to protect the integrity of the open-ended exploration of thoughts and feelings that has always been, and is still now, the basis of ethical and effective therapy.

We are concerned that a proposed Bill to Ban Conversion Therapy may criminalise or ban exploratory therapy in the context of gender dysphoria. The push to affirm a client’s gender identity, without exploration or neutrality, will be detrimental to both therapists and clients who want to work in this area.

We believe that ethical therapists would never carry out conversion therapy, and so the focus should be on protecting the integrity of the therapeutic process. We do not agree with faith-based conversion practices and we do not consider these to be either ethical or therapeutic.

We are concerned about the consequences of the Memorandum of Understanding on Conversion Therapy. This document seems to promote an affirmation-only approach for therapists working with individuals with gender-related distress, creating a ‘chilling effect’ for exploratory work. There is no long-term, high-quality evidence base to support affirmation-only and we fear that the MoU limits the range of therapeutic options available to individuals who are endeavouring to freely explore their innermost thoughts and feelings.

It is also absolutely clear from Employment Tribunal decisions (Forstater, Bailey, Fahmy, Meade, Phoenix and Adams among others) that therapists can hold and express gender critical beliefs within their work setting and are legally protected in doing so.

Please visit our About Us page to learn more, or get in touch for more information.

Resources for parents/carers

Here is a list of helpful organisations for parents/carers looking for support and for therapists who offer more than affirmative care. Unfortunately, Thoughtful Therapists are not in a position to recommend therapists ourselves. We hope that one or more  of the following organisations will provide help and support where needed. We have included the LGB Alliance and LGB Christians because many gender questioning young adults are same-sex attracted and may be struggling with their feelings of same-sex attraction.

Genspect
https://genspect.org
This organisation represents parents of gender-questioning children. If you email them (via the contact details on their website) they will be able to put you in touch with parents in your area for support. Once vetted, you will be able to access a list of therapists in your area.

Gender Dysphoria Support Network (International)
https://genderdysphoriasupportnetwork.com
This organisation offers support to families of individuals.

Therapy First
https://www.therapyfirst.org
Therapy First can provide access to therapists in a number of different countries.

Our Duty
https://www.ourduty.group
Our Duty provides support for parents in the UK, Australia and Canada.

Bayswater Support
https://www.bayswatersupport.org.uk
Bayswater offers parents whose children have a transgender identity somewhere to talk, share and be understood. They are wary of medical solutions to gender dysphoria, believing that exploring gender roles is part of normal child development.

Sex Matters
https://sex-matters.org
This website has links to parents’ groups, along with information and support for parents.

LGB Alliance – UK, Canada and USA
https://lgballiance.org.uk
https://www.lgballiance.ca
https://lgbausa.org
LGB Alliance is a charity that supports lesbian, gay and bisexual people. Their website provides information and advice that you may find useful, as many gender non-conforming/questioning teenagers may be struggling with feelings of same-sex attraction. LGB Alliance has recently set up a text helpline for young LGB people here: https://thelgbhelpline.org

The Lesbian project.
https://www.thelesbianproject.co.uk
A non-partisan, not-for-profit organisation with a focus on same-sex attracted females and lesbian wellbeing.

LGB Christians
https://lgbchristians.org.uk
This network of lesbian, gay and bi Christians and friends is ecumenical and non-party political, and aims to defend the rights of same-sex attracted people.

The WPATH Files: Pseudoscientific surgical and hormonal experiments on children, adolescents, and vulnerable adults. By Mia Hughes.
Explosive revelations from Mia Hughes about the inner workings of WPATH.

PRESS RELEASE from Thoughtful Therapists: WPATH Files

“WPATH ‘whistleblower’ emails suggest a patchy evidence base for medical transition: WPATH public confidence is apparently belied by private doubts…”

Issues of potential medical negligence and questionable clinical practice relating to the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) are deeply concerning for us.  Whilst little known outside the USA, WPATH has given trans activism a global voice, with far reaching consequences, reaching deep into our health and education sectors, and our social and political life.

In unquestioningly adopting the contested philosophy and language of gender ideology, WPATH has influenced approaches to working with gender distress across a range of professional disciplines, including counselling and psychotherapy.  WPATH advocates for “gender affirming care”. This has now become synonymous with the medicalising of gender distress, and its push towards hormonal and surgical intervention, rather than an open exploration within therapy of the many issues which may underlie such feelings.

In the UK, the most visible expression of WPATH’s approach is via the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Conversion Therapy. This has now been signed by over twenty-five health, counselling and psychotherapy organisations. The MoU could be interpreted as endorsing an “affirmative” approach to gender-questioning individuals, but, significantly, it makes no distinction between working with adults and with children.  The “affirmative” approach lies at odds with established best practice within the talking therapies, which seeks to explore, to understand and to help individuals reach some resolution. The “affirmative” approach was criticised in the recent Cass review into the care of young people with gender distress.

Conventional ‘exploratory’ therapy has been increasingly equated with “conversion” practice.  Whether or not therapists are regarded as “trans allies” now depends entirely on their willingness to abandon long-standing therapeutic approaches towards client distress. The risk is of therapists appearing to support the most extreme form of conversion therapy. This involves radical surgery on healthy body parts and a lifelong dependence on powerful drugs to “affirm” the individual’s chosen gender identity.

Self-appointed expert activist groups, influenced by WPATH’s approach, increasingly access schools and health care settings to promote these ideas and shut down debate, despite WPATH’s stated mission to promote evidence-based care in transgender health.  It is time alternative therapeutic options were offered more widely to address very real client distress, rather than to endorse a potentially negligent push towards largely irreversible medical treatment.

Contact: info@thoughtfultherapists.org

03/03/2024

The following resources include detailed analysis of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) and its influence on gender affirming therapy in the UK.

The articles have been written by Peter Jenkins for Critical Therapy Antidote and Genspect. Taken together, they form a damning exposé of WPATH and its malign influence on therapy in the UK.

WPATH 8 Standards of Care: Greasing the slipway to medical transition

“Get them on treatment!” WPATH and the long reach of gender ideology into UK healthcare

Suing for medical transition: The case against considering WPATH as a competent reasonable body of expert opinion

On 6th November 2023, James Esses launched the Declaration for Biological Reality.

Its purpose is to demonstrate to those in power the strength of feeling that exists across the UK about the detrimental impact of gender identity ideology.

The Declaration is broken down into four themes:

• Child Protection;
• Women’s Rights;
• Freedom of Speech; and
• LGB Without The ‘T’.

Thoughtful Therapists are happy to join the other signatory organisations representing concerned professionals from across the fields of medicine, therapy, social work, law, academia, teaching, as well as campaigners and parents. There is also a significant number of individual signatories, including a range of politicians from across the political spectrum.

If you agree that it is time for the biological reality to return to our public bodies please read, sign and share.

Thank you

James Esses is fighting a campaign following his summary expulsion from his training institute simply for organising the petition to safeguard evidence based medicine. Please follow this link to obtain the details of his case and to donate to his fighting fund if at all possible: https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/expelled-university-free-speech/