We’re committed to being a fully inclusive organisation for transgender (trans), non-binary, and gender questioning people (TNBGQ), across our roles as an employer, membership body and charity. Guided by lived experience, we work to remove barriers and strengthen the inclusivity of our services, guidance and resources.

Our position is that gender and experiences of gender are diverse. Everyone’s experience and views of gender are valid and should be respected.

We recognise the wider therapeutic field has historically not shown sufficient respect to, or validated, the TNBGQ communities. We acknowledge our own role in failing to serve the needs of, and demonstrate allyship to, the trans community. We’d like to thank all those who over the years have highlighted these inequalities to us. While we’ve made positive steps towards increased inclusion, there are still many gaps to be addressed. We’re committed to listening to, and learning directly from, those with lived experience to further improve to support and safeguard marginalised groups.

Psychological therapy should be available for all who need it, including those who are TNBGQ.

Putting the client first

We know that every member will bring with them their own characteristics, unique lived experiences and intersectionality. With it being so large, our membership will hold many different beliefs and opinions. Our Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions clearly says that our members must put clients first, and so personal beliefs mustn’t interfere with a member’s client work.

Each therapist must use their own clinical and ethical judgement and the ethical principles, values and personal moral qualities outlined in the Ethical Framework, to make decisions about whether they are competent to work with a person, and how they work with that person. They must be prepared to justify that work and the decisions made if called upon to do so.

We must ensure that as a profession we listen to each other, respect one another, practise inclusivity and cause no harm. Discrimination, prejudice or bias of any kind is unacceptable and has no place in our society. This includes, but is not limited to, racism, sexism, ableism, ageism, homophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia and antisemitism.

We acknowledge that some of our membership may hold gender-critical beliefs, which qualify for protection under the Equality Act 2010. This protects the rights of the individual not to be discriminated against or harassed due to these beliefs. We work in line with the Equality Act 2010 to ensure fairness for everyone.

Training and practice

It’s a sad reality that there are barriers for TNBGQ people seeking to enter and thrive in the profession. We’re committed to building diverse counselling professions to ensure that our membership is representative of the communities we work with. We want therapy to be inclusive and will strive to remove these barriers.

TNBGQ-inclusion must be embedded in teaching practice. Following an EDI review, we developed new criteria for our accredited courses. This embeds anti-oppressive, inclusive and culturally attuned practice into all elements of the scheme. The criteria support core training courses that we accredit to increase accessibility for marginalised and disadvantaged students and raise standards for working with diverse client groups. We’re creating comprehensive guidance documents on how these criteria should be embedded across the training providers, which will pave the way for their implementation later in 2026.

We undertake scheduled reviews of all of our resources, including GPiA 001 on Gender, Sexuality and Relationship Diversity (GSRD), to ensure that changes in legislation and best practice are reflected and will be exploring what other resources may be needed to support our member’s work relating to GSRD. This work will be developed with direct input and knowledge of people with lived experience. We’d invite any members looking to or working with TNBGQ clients, to read our resource on Gender, Sexuality and Relationship Diversity (GSRD).

It’s essential that members undertake relevant CPD training and have appropriate supervision in place to ensure competence for working safely and ethically with TNBGQ clients.

Children and young people

We acknowledge there are differences of opinion on the best approach to working with children and young people who are experiencing gender incongruence or exploring their gender in some way. It’s essential that psychological therapy is available for all young people, including those who are TNBGQ. In these instances, a client-led approach must always prevail.

There’s broad agreement that psychological interventions should be used to support adults and young TNBGQ people, including a blend of supportive, affirmative and exploratory approaches.

Conversion therapy

We’re fundamentally opposed to any misuse of therapy to try to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity and believe conversion therapy is unethical and harmful.

We stand by the MoU on Conversion Therapy in endorsing the task of therapeutic exploration for clients seeking help with their sexuality or gender identity.

Anyone accessing therapy should be able to do so without fear of judgement or the threat of being pressured to change a fundamental aspect of who they are.

Any future ban on conversion therapy must be workable and must not lead to unintended consequences on the delivery of ethical therapeutic practices for people who wish to explore issues of sexuality and gender with trained professional therapists.

We need to protect all individuals and communities who are at risk of harm from conversion therapy.