Are UK health bodies barring Christians from counselling?
from Christian Concern:
Dr Mike Davidson, director of Core Issues Trust, comments on how Christian pastors and counsellors are at risk of being barred from offering legitimate help, guidance and counselling for unwanted sexual attractions.
I find the story of how Jesus touched the leper (Mark 1:4-45) inspiring. It appears to be the only example in Mark’s gospel of when Jesus heals out of pity. By touching the leper, Jesus signalled to all around him that the leper was no longer ‘unclean’ as tradition held. This counter-cultural act is instructive. It speaks to the church about those considered ‘unclean’ and how we should respond to those rejected and shamed in our world. It links further to another of Jesus’ statements in Mark: “Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.” (Mark 7:15)
So when, in 2012, Core Issues Trust held a conference inviting local churches to consider ‘The Lepers Among Us’, we were referring to the mission that those experiencing undesired same-sex attractions and gender confusion represents. But of course, this was all the ammunition our detractors needed to accuse us of calling LGBT folks ‘lepers’ and to accuse us of saying that those with same-sex or gender issues are diseased. Our focus was on dispelling church culture at the time, that conveyed to the world that Christians were unwilling to welcome those who struggled with sexual sin. Our critics taught us a lesson that day…
Barred from my studies
It was this that I explained on ‘Sunday Sequence’ and the podcasts are there for all to hear. [1] Following this first interview, I was again invited back to ‘Sunday Sequence’, this time to be faced with a range of critics, including the Head of the United Kingdom Council of Psychotherapists (UKCP), who, at the time, was Dr Andrew Samuels.
At the time, I was in my third year of study with the British Psychodrama Association, which was supervised by the UKCP.
At the end of the programme, I received an email to say that I was under investigation and that my training status was temporarily suspended. My status was permanently revoked not long after and following a tribunal and appeal, I was denied the opportunity to complete my studies.
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