In the last 25 years since I set up Pink Therapy, I have co-edited five leading therapy textbooks. We have just submitted a proposal to co-edit one more – a textbook on the theory and application of GSRD Therapy – a new modality several other therapists and I have created. We have outlined the core elements of GSRD Therapy in 20 other languages to assist queer people and their therapists in having some guidance on what affirmative-exploratory therapy would look like.
We’ve promoted the term Gender, Sex and Relationship Diversity, and it’s been translated into several other languages as a more expansive term than LGBTQIA. This seems to have been adopted within much of the mental health field, which is where we wished to influence. Individual people are still using their preferred identity labels (i.e. queer man, dyke, trans woman etc).
We have founded the Directory of Pink Therapists, where GSRD clients can find non-pathologising therapists across various modalities and identities.
As a result, hundreds of therapists have been able to make a living working with the LGBTQIA+ communities.
We also have a team of clinical associates across most therapy schools and lived identities. These highly experienced therapists have all significantly contributed to the field – often through writing articles and training others.
We’ve developed one-year and two-year accredited therapy training in GSRD Therapy and a series of CPD self-study courses. The National Council for Integrative Therapy accredits our Diplomas. Our CPD courses are quality-checked by the National Counselling and Psychotherapy Society.
We have an accreditation scheme to encourage therapists to undertake further training and to help queer clients find experienced practitioners. We also have set up a Course Endorsement scheme, and so far, two courses have received our endorsement as safe and GSRD-inclusive programmes. We also have a team of volunteer mentors supporting GSRD trainee therapists.
Over the years, I’ve programmed 12 Pink Therapy Conferences. Since Covid, we have offered this as a hybrid (online and in-person) to enable our colleagues who have long distances to travel or those with concerns about their health to be able to attend. They are sold out every year. We also professionally record the keynote presentations and have normally shared these for free on our YouTube channel. I have also programmed conferences for UKCP, BACP and ConferUK over the years.
Speaking of YouTube videos, our 2nd-year Advanced Specialist Diploma students all have to make a short lecture about an issue they feel colleagues might need to know about. Several of our first-year Student papers were published in Journals. I’m immensely proud of our student’s contribution to the field and of the faculty teaching on our programmes.
Finally, I’ve been honoured to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018 by the Sexual Freedom Awards. In 2021 I was listed as one of 50 gold medallists as Gender and Sexual Revolutionaries by Minnesota School of Public Health Human Sexuality Programme under the chairmanship of Professor Eli Coleman. I was one of two UK medallists, and to see my name recognised alongside such influential people as Rosemary Basson, Aaron Devor, Peggy Kleinplatz, Betty Dodson, and Billy Porter was such an incredible confidence boost.
It’s been a thrill to list some of the things I’ve been involved with in the past 25 years. I hope to be involved in Pink Therapy for a few more years, but I am also mindful of the legacy created and plan to hand some of the work over. I am grateful to my PA Anya Stang, who has worked with me for the past decade Jo Russell, who manages the Accreditation scheme; Nat Creighton, who manages the Directory; Jacqueline Jones, who supports our mentors/mentees and finally, Henry Strick who has worked tirelessly behind the scenes to keep Pink Therapy afloat on the internet and ensure the Directory remains of use to our communities.
If you’ve been involved in supporting Pink Therapy and me over the past quarter of a century, please come and celebrate with us on 6th April at our 25th Birthday Bash in London.
