This Charter reflects the standards every Pink Therapy member is asked to read, understand and agree to when they join or renew their membership.
Pink Therapy is the home of inclusive therapy, and our mission is to improve access to, and the quality of, specialist, ethical and affirmative therapeutic care for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer+ (LGBTQ+) people and those across the full range of the Gender, Sex and Relationship Diverse (GSRD) communities.
Membership of Pink Therapy represents a dedication to excellence and ethics, an achievement of training and a dedication to professional standards. A membership of Pink Therapy highlights those as specialists in affirmative LGBTQ+ and GSRD therapy.
Our Membership Charter is informed by Pink Therapy's Seven Core Components of GSRD Therapy. These recognise that effective, affirmative GSRD therapy involves more than simply acceptance of LGBTQ+ or GSRD lives, it requires an understanding, and commitment to, the social, cultural, historical, psychological, and political contexts in which our clients, and us as practitioners, live.
As such, membership of Pink Therapy reflects a commitment to providing ethical, informed, and affirming care to LGBTQIA+ and gender, sex, and relationship diverse communities. Members are asked to self-certify that they meet, agree to, and will continue to uphold the guiding principles and professional standards outlined below throughout the duration of their membership.
I commit to providing therapy which is respectful and affirming of the identities, relationships, lived experiences, emotions, view and autonomy of all those with whom I work.
I recognise that affirmative practice does not mean making assumptions about a client based upon their identity, nor does it mean avoiding appropriate therapeutic exploration nor enforcing a belief or identity upon someone. I accept, and affirm, the right of individuals to make sense of their own experiences and identities, and do so with respect and compassion.
As part of my affirmative and non-judgmental practice, I recognise this must spread beyond gender, sex and relationship diversity, and be respectful and inclusive of people across all marginalised and protected identities and experiences. This includes, but is not limited to, those relating to race and ethnicity, gender identity, disability (including learning differences, chronic illness and whether a disability may be visible or non-visible) and neurodivergence, age, class, culture, religious beliefs and other protected and important characteristics.
The full Seven Core Components can be viewed here, but include:
I acknowledge that commitment to ethical and affirmative practice is not based solely upon personal lived experience or intention alone, and that while at least the latter is essential, they are not exclusively demonstrations of commitment or specialist status.
I commit to maintaining and developing my competence through appropriate Continued Professional Development (CPD), including a proportionate percentage of my annual CPD to be focused upon inclusive therapy practices, including LGBTQ+ and GSRD communities and other marginalised identities and experiences.
I shall practice cultural humility by recognising that my own lived identity and experiences, while important, does not infer specialist status or knowledge of everyone within the communities I work with, no matter how many intersections of identity we may share.
I recognise and understand the nuance that peoples' experiences of gender, sex and relationships, along with other characteristics such as race, culture and disability, cannot be separated from the wider contexts of their lives, and should not be pathologised. As part of this, I understand that no single experience or aspect of identity should be assumed to be more, or less, significant, valid or deserving of attention than another, and that each person's experience is unique and deserving of respect and consideration.
I will seek to understand and remain culturally curious and sensitive to the intersection of identities, and how they affect the phenomenological experience of those I work with.
I acknowledge that all people can simultaneously hold experiences of both marginalisation and privilege, and that power and difference can also exist within the therapeutic relationship. As such, I acknowledge that therapeutic work sits within broader socio-political constructs and systems of power, and I will actively seek to name, dismantle and share these in my work, in the service of the therapeutic process.
I shall not knowingly engage in discriminatory practice, including but not limited to being racist, sexist, ableist, islamophobic, antisemitic, homophobic, lesbophobic, biphobic, queerphobic, or transphobic. I also acknowledge that all can unknowingly be enacted in the therapeutic space and unknowingly offend. Should this occur in therapeutic work, I commit to remaining open to feedback, engaging in appropriate education and supervision, and taking ownership of my actions. I recognise that learning is an ongoing process, and when I make mistakes, I will approach them with humility, reflection, and a commitment to improvement whilst doing no harm. In addition, I also commit to hold myself compassionately during this time and experience, taking a reflective and understanding stance which is neither permissive nor punitive.
Pink Therapy was one of the original founding members of the Memorandum of Understanding against Conversion Practices. As such, I will not practice, promote, facilitate or refer on to any intervention which seeks to change, suppress, remove or eliminate any person's sexual identity nor gender identity.
I recognise and understand the distinction between conversion practices (where one identity is held up as preferable to another and promoted as achievable), and open-ended, explorative therapeutic work. Within therapy, the free and open exploration of identity, including distress or uncertainty, should be facilitated by a therapist without the predetermination of outcome made, or advocated for, by the therapist or other person of power (for example, a parent or carer, when working with children and young people).
“I will not practice, promote, facilitate or refer on to any intervention which seeks to change, suppress, remove or eliminate any person's sexual identity nor gender identity.”
I recognise that those we work with are often vulnerable, and as such I commit to ethical and accountable practice. This includes maintaining the appropriate membership and registration or accreditation with the appropriate professional body relevant to my therapeutic practice and specialism. For example, this may be, but not limited to, the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) for counsellors and psychotherapists, the College of Sexual and Relationship Therapists (COSRT) for psychosexual therapists and clinical sexologists, the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP) for Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapists, or the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) for practitioner psychologists. I commit to abiding by their professional code of conduct as well as this membership charter, and recognise that membership of a professional body of appropriate standard is mandatory to all practicing therapist members of Pink Therapy.
If I become subject to a formal professional complaint, investigation, restriction, suspension, sanction, removal or any other disciplinary action from a professional register or body, I will inform Pink Therapy promptly by contacting directory@pinktherapy.com.
Commitment to ethical and accountable practice also applies to the business and administrative elements of private practice. As such, I confirm that I hold all relevant insurances, licenses, and checks required of me, as well as a commitment to client confidentiality, privacy and clear terms of practice, such as fee and terms of labour transparency.
I shall only offer therapeutic support which I am appropriately and adequately trained, experienced, competent, insured and legally allowed to provide.
I recognise that my own identity and lived experiences do not automatically infer specialist knowledge in all elements of LGBTQ+, GSRD or inclusive practice.
Where a theme of work, or a client's needs, fall outside of my competence, I shall seek appropriate supervision, further additional training and support and, when necessary, facilitate the appropriate onward referral for the client.
I pledge for clear and accurate representation of my professional title, training and qualifications, specialist knowledge and areas of expertise at all times.
I pledge to only refer to myself as a specialist in GSRD therapy if I have completed a relevant Pink Therapy diploma, or other relevant training conferring eligibility to use this title, and had my accreditation approved.
I accept that, if requested, I must provide evidence of these to clients or Pink Therapy.
I recognise that minoritised communities may sometimes be socially interconnected, and that living and working within smaller communities may present more opportunities for overlap of lives, and so commit to maintaining appropriate professional boundaries and safeguarding practices, as required of me by law, by professional bodies and also required in protection of, and respect for, both the minoritised communities I work with, and the reputation of our professional field. However, I am entitled to a life, and existence, which is full and congruent with my identities and communities, and hold to navigate these overlapping spaces with integrity and consideration for self and others.
I recognise, acknowledge and respect that clients are the experts in their own identities, and lived experiences. As such, I shall avoid imposing my own values, beliefs, identities and political, ideological, religious or cultural beliefs upon those with whom I work. I respect the client's right to determine and define, or not define, their own identity and experience of gender, sexuality and relationships using language and values which have meaning and congruence for them.
“I recognise, acknowledge and respect that clients are the experts in their own identities, and lived experiences.”
Along with the requirements asked of me by my professional body, I commit to maintaining regular appropriate supervision on matters of LGBTQ+ and GSRD identities and experiences. Supervision, and healthy challenge within, is essential to reflective practice.
Reflective practice also vitally requires curiosity, personal challenge, humility and reflection. Being committed to reflective practice, and the values throughout this Pink Therapy charter, are not guarantees against mistakes, nor do they erase unconscious biases or assumptions.
As such, I shall remain open to feedback and challenge, meeting them with a non-defensive stance, seeking to understand and enable a professional and constructive response which may include ownership, accountability, repair, supervision and further learning.
I understand that empowering those I work with to challenge me, and offering them the opportunity for healthy, non-combative rupture and repair, may be a part of the therapeutic process.
I recognise that membership of Pink Therapy does not confer, or infer, knowledge of all identities and experiences, but instead represents an ongoing commitment to learning, inclusion, humility, ethical practice and a belief in the transformative power of respectful, affirmative specialist mental health care.
Similarly, I uphold that I will behave in a manner befitting that of a professional therapist, recognising that being of a marginalised or stigmatised identity does not give anyone the right or permission to marginalise or stigmatise others, nor for the bullied to become the bully. I commit to engage in a respectful and appropriate manner towards colleagues, clients and the general public.
By joining, or renewing, my membership of Pink Therapy, I:
To see everything membership includes alongside these commitments, take a look at our Benefits of Joining page.
Ready to Commit?
GSRD-affirmative practitioners
Specialist CPD and mentoring
Community and professional support
