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In January 1993 the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy was established as the national umbrella body for psychotherapy. It emerged after many hard years of work, initially through the Rugby Conferences, then since 1989 through the United Kingdom Standing Conference for Psychotherapy. One of the aims of having a national organisation was to be able to provide the public with a Register of Psychotherapists. This Register was launched in May at the Houses of Parliament in the presence of representatives of the Department of Health and the Under-Secretary of State, Timothy Yeo. Many other significant political figures attended, including the opposition spokesperson for health, David Blunkett MP, Graham Bright MP who introduced the 1981 Psychotherapy Bill to Parliament, and Lord Clinton-Davies who has supported us from the outset.
Consistent efforts on the part of the delegates of UKCP's 70 organisations have finally come to fruition. Complex issues of inclusion and exclusion have had to be tackled in the process. Agreements have had to be reached about appropriate standards for the many psychotherapeutic approaches represented.
UKCP now has a set of general entry and training criteria for organisations, an ethical code, a code of practice and a complaints procedure. In addition all organisations must abide by the criteria of their Section. These separate Section criteria allow for adjustment to the individual differences between various psychotherapeutic approaches, although all must adhere to the minimum standards agreed across the Council as a whole.
The first Register will hold the names of the practitioner members of current organisations, put forward by those organisations meeting the agreed standards. After this initial process of grandparenting only approved training and accrediting organisations will be able to add names to the Register. Because of this there has been some concern that not all qualified psychotherapists will have access to the Register. A pro