March 2024: GP, Reference No: 00605906 Registrant ID: 45778
March 2024: Gillian Pady , Reference No: 00605906 Registrant ID:45778
Outcome Details
Consensual Disposal
Reasons
1. Gillian Pady, a BACP individual member agrees to the following outcome of the investigation into a complaint of a failure to meet the Professional Standards under reference PCP/[…].
Background
2. Gillian Pady has been a BACP member since […].
3. The Member works as a counsellor in private practice.
4. In Year 4 a complaint was made about the Member’s conduct by […] (the Complainant). In summary the Complainant states:
1) he and his ex-partner had two sessions of therapy with the Member on 24 May Year 2 and on 14 June Year 2.
2) following these sessions, the Member in March Year 2 wrote a letter in support of the Complainant’s ex-partner without the Complainant’s consent.
3) he is unhappy about the contents of the letter, which he said:
a. He became aware of on 16 March Year 4.
b. Was written without his consent.
4) Further, the letter was headed “To whom it may concern", and was not therefore specifically written for the […], but despite this, it has been added into the evidence bundle for a […].
5) The Complainant further states that he:
a. Did not know that the letter was being written.
b. Was not sent a copy of the letter by the Member.
c. Considers that the letter is unprofessional in that it uses unprofessional language and shows a strong bias in favour of his ex-partner.
d. Considers that the Member breached the confidentiality aspects of the counselling contract.
6) The Complainant considers that the letter makes statements of opinion that are factually incorrect and outside of the purpose of the counselling sessions and as such the Member has breached his trust.
Admissions
The Member makes the following admissions, which the BACP accepts, that:
1) Having provided couples therapy to the Complainant and his ex-partner, the member then wrote a letter to support the Complainant's ex-partner without the consent of the Complainant.
2) At the time of writing the letter of support to the Complainant’s ex-partner, in March Year 2, the Member failed to maintain her own physical and psychological health in a way that led to her writing the letter without taking sufficient care.
Mitigation
5. The Member puts forward the following in mitigation, which has been taken into account by the IAC in deciding the appropriate outcome:
a) she wrote a report, giving some information about the Complainant and their […]/[…]. She states that:
She should not have agreed to write the report; it was an error on her part for which she apologised unreservedly to the complainant.
She was aware that the letter might be used in the context of a dispute between the Complainant and his ex-partner but not that it would be used in […].
b) The Member agrees that she should have reflected further before sending her response of the 17 March Year 4 to the Complainant. She has since spoken to her supervisor and an ethics adviser at BACP.
c) The Member says that she did not see the Complainant’s second email of 23 April Year 4 in which the Complainant asked the Member to retract the email. Had she done so she would have apologised for sending the letter and would have been willing to retract it if possible.
d) The Member states that she is very sorry and would be willing to write to withdraw the contents of her letter.
e) The Member states that she has taken the following steps:
• Heightened her awareness to ensure that she prioritises self-care at emotionally difficult times.
• Revisited training she completed in April Year 1 relating to GDPR and Confidentiality.
• Completing a one-hundred-hour Online Supervision Training course and she has been revisiting GDPR and confidentiality modules to fully remind herself of these processes again.
• Made clear in her contract that: “In the event of any request for me to write a letter of support/report, for […] to use in […] etc., please be informed that this is NOT A SERVICE I provide, as I am not qualified to do so, nor is it my area of expertise.
Conclusion
6. The issues identified and admitted by the Member amount to breaches of the professional standards reasonably expected of the Member having regard to the Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions 2018, and in particular the following paragraphs as identified in the admissions above:
Paragraph 55: We will protect the confidentiality and privacy of clients by:
a. actively protecting information about clients from unauthorised access or disclosure.
b. informing clients about how the use of personal data and information that they share with us will be used and who is within the circle of confidentiality, particularly with access to personally identifiable information.
c. requiring that all recipients of personally identifiable information have agreed to treat such information as confidential in accordance with any legal requirements and what has been agreed with the client at the time of disclosure.
e. taking care that all contractual requirements concerning the management and communication of client information are mutually compatible.
f. ensuring that disclosure of personally identifiable information about clients is authorised by client consent or that there is a legally and ethically recognised justification.
Paragraph 91. We will take responsibility for our own wellbeing as essential to sustaining good practice with our clients by:
b. monitoring and maintaining our own psychological and physical health, particularly that we are sufficiently resilient and resourceful to undertake our work in ways that satisfy professional standards and / or
Paragraph 18. We will maintain our own physical and psychological health at a level that enables us to work effectively with our clients.
7. One of the aims of the Professional Conduct Procedure is to protect members of the public. The IAC in considering the appropriate outcome and sanction for the admitted breaches in this case have taken into account the interests of public protection and determined that it is reasonable and proportionate to conclude it by agreement on the terms set out below.
8. In relation to the finding above the IAC considers it appropriate that the Member should:
1. Within 6 weeks of receipt of this letter, provide to BACP.
a) a reflective piece addressing the issues of confidentiality and self-care and setting out:
• what training she has done with regard to the issue of confidentiality and how this has informed her practice going forward
• her understanding of the importance of self-care in her practice and
• what she has done with regard to monitoring and managing her self-care since the events raised in the complaint.
Having completed and reflected on the above, the Member is required to write:
b) a genuine and adequate letter of apology addressed to the Complainant addressing:
• the Complainant’s concerns about the letter written by the Complainant as set out in the complaint and
• the impact of the Member’s actions on the Complainant.
• the impact of her actions on BACP and the profession in general
9. The Member agrees that this Agreement will be published by the BACP in line with the Publication Policy and that it will be disclosed to the Complainant.
10. The Member agrees that she will not act in any way inconsistent with this agreement such as, for example, by denying the admission(s) in paragraph 5 above.
11. If the Member fails, without good reason, to comply with the sanction set out above or acts in a way which is inconsistent with this Agreement the matter will be referred to a sanction panel for consideration. A sanction panel may determine that it will terminate her membership. Such a decision will be published.
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