What does it mean that anyone can call themselves a therapist?

You might have heard it on the news, people talking more and more about the fact that, here in the UK, anyone can call themselves a therapist / counsellor / psychotherapist.

In February this year (2025) The Economist Newspaper wrote a news-worthy article (you can find it with the link below) about the horrific affects of this entitled - "Anybody in Britain can call themselves a therapist that opens the door to abuse".

No laws are broken to say you are, even if you're not - I know it sounds confusing, but I will explain in a moment - but the impacts can be criminal and, as the Economist shows, can lead to abuse.

But first, let's ask, what does it mean that anybody can call themselves a therapist?

Let me start with explaining a little bit about the situation here in the UK. When people say that anybody can call themselves a therapist, it is literally quite true. Any person no matter their past experience or training (or lack of) can use for themselves the title "therapist" or "counsellor". They can do this and there are zero legal repercussions.

It's not against the law. You can earn money from being a therapist or a counsellor, and, to

a certain extent, it's no problem. Nobody can stop you from using this word against a about yourself or stop you from earning money.

This is because counselling and psychotherapy is not a protected profession. A protected profession is one that's protected by law - meaning where it's against the law to call yourself this job title unless you've been officially granted permission to. This permission is something I'm coming to as well.

So, for example, a psychologist is a protected profession. A policeman, a lawyer and a financial advisor are all protected professions (just to name a few examples). Importantly, if somebody said that they were a financial advisor or a lawyer or a psychologist, then they would be breaking the law! Trust is needed to work in these professions, and experience, qualifications and training that must be done - by law! - in order to be called these professions.

What does it mean that anyone can call themselves a therapist?

Counselling and psychotherapy is different, however, because it's unprotected. Anybody can call themselves a psychotherapist or a counsellor - no laws are broken.

Of course, this is a major problem! Because there are thousands of people in the UK - 1 in 4 people, in fact - who want help from a therapist to look at what they're going through. People are looking to speak to somebody who is able to understand what the going through psychologically and use experience-based therapies and methods to support them, in ways that are ethical and legal.

Falling into the wrong hands of someone calling themselves a therapist or a counsellor, but who has had zero training, zero qualifications, zero supervision, and are not abiding by any kind of ethical framework or core competencies is dangerous work.

The risks range from wildly dangerous to mildly problematic in comparison. At one end of the extreme is to put your feelings, and potentially your life in the hands of someone who might take advantage, behave unethically or be abusive and criminal through misuse and trust and power that people naturally give to therapists. On the other end of the extreme is the unprofessional "therapist" doesn't intentionally do any harm, but they do! Because they don't know what they're they're doing. Feelings are hurt, trust is broken, faith in the system is lost, time and money are wasted.

Even if someone has got the very best intentions and they call themselves a therapist, nonetheless, they still might unintentionally do harm because they don't know what they're doing.

Back in 2020, The BBC highlighted the harmful impacts of therapy and counselling being unprotected professions and stated that "cheap online courses allow you to cheat to complete them, meaning qualifications are often meaningless" (you can find this as well with the link below).

As a trained and licensed therapist, the mention of qualifications can make my blood heat up and I could talk for days about what the BCC say! It's true that there are lots of cheap and nasty counselling courses in the UK. But not are meaningless, and there are ways to verify this.

Make sure your therapist is legitimate!

The way is to do is to make sure they have trained, is experienced and qualified, has a supervisor watching over them and keeping them on track, and abides by an ethical framework.

If it sounds like a lot to check, don't worry because it's not.

You can check in two ways...

If you're direct and bold, you can simply ask them straight up where they trained, what qualifications and experience they have. This isn't uncommon, my clients ask me this all the time!
Another way is to ask if the are a member of a governing body, like the BACP. You'll know because they have a unique badge - like mine below. The BACP ensures that therapists are legitimate. They do all the checking on your behalf.

If you're worried that this badge may be stolen or fake, you can check on the BACP website by searching for the members and your therapist's name. Do that by following this link...

https://www.bacp.co.uk/search/Register

You can see me "Lily Llewellyn" and see that I work from the M28 postcode in Manchester.

Being a therapist and talking to a therapist needs to be done by a professional who has had training, who is qualified and experienced, and who is a part of an ethical framework and abiding by the core competencies.

Unfortunately, psychotherapy and counselling is an unprotected profession, which means

anybody can call themselves a therapist or a counsellor. But this is likely to change at some point soon because it's a needed and necessary thing to keep everybody safe. And there are ways to make sure you're in good, safe and qualified hands.