Our Ethos

The values and commitments guiding BCTP as a professional body — serving clients, practitioners, and the integrity of therapeutic work.

As experienced therapists, we’ve seen professional bodies sometimes lose sight of what matters most: the client.

The British Council for Therapeutic Professionals was founded to protect the integrity of therapeutic practice and to ensure therapy remains agenda-free, client-sovereign, and grounded in demonstrable professional responsibility.

We commit to building a professional body grounded in ethical clarity, transparent governance, and a clear path toward future Professional Standards Authority (PSA) accreditation.

— The BCTP Founding Team

Guiding Values

The core commitments that shape our standards, governance, and professional expectations.

• Credibility
  Standards rooted in real clinical experience and a clear route toward PSA recognition.
• Neutrality
  Attentive, unbiased engagement with the client’s experience — without presuming ideology, politics, or predefined narratives.
• Transparency
  Clear standards, a living Code of Practice, and openly defined membership pathways.
• Community
  A professional home fostering collegiality, reflection, and principled support.

What We Stand For

The standards and responsibilities that define ethical professional membership.

BCTP stands for therapeutic work that is grounded, accountable, and responsive to the lived realities of clients. Professional integrity is demonstrated through consistent conduct, not rhetorical performance or ideological alignment.

We support therapists in maintaining professional independence while holding clear standards around competence, supervision, and responsibility to those they serve.

Professional Independence

How BCTP upholds ethical standards without prescribing belief, language, or ideology.

BCTP does not require members to adopt prescribed belief systems, political stances, or ideological language. We do not judge therapists on how persuasively they express such viewpoints.

Instead, membership recognises ethical practice where a practitioner’s work, over time, demonstrates professional responsibility, clinical competence, and care for clients — supported through supervision and professional accountability.

A Principled Alternative

BCTP provides a principled alternative, placing the therapeutic relationship, client sovereignty, and professional integrity above ideological trends or institutional convenience.

This ultimately serves the people who matter most: clients seeking safe, competent, and accountable therapeutic care.

As BCTP evolves, this ethos will continue guiding our standards, governance, and adoption of emerging technologies — without compromising human judgement or quality of care.