Lesley Pilkington was effectively barred from her professional register after attempting to convert a homosexual man in a therapy session at her home.So now Mrs Pilkington is the victim and wants professional recognition and approval to practice her brand of psychotherapy, which has been shown to be destructive in some cases and ineffective over all.
Her patient turned out to be a gay rights journalist, who had secretly recorded the sessions and then reported her to her professional body. Mrs Pilkington, a committed Christian, was subsequently found guilty of professional misconduct.
The therapy practised by Mrs Pilkington had been described as "absurd" by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and roundly condemned by the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
But ahead of her appeal against the BACP ruling, Mrs Pilkington has received backing from the Rt Rev Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury.
In a letter to her professional body, Lord Carey – along with a number of senior figures – suggests Mrs Pilkington is herself a victim of entrapment whose therapy should be supported.
Amongst the co-signers of the letter are Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the former Bishop of Rochester and the Rt Rev Wallace Benn, the Bishop of Lewes. You may recall that Bishop Benn compared the campaign for women bishops in the Church of England to the storm clouds gathering over Europe in 1939.
In the course of the type of psychotherapy practiced by Mrs Pilkington and her cohorts:
Homosexual men are sent on weekends away with heterosexual men to "encourage their masculinity" and "in time to develop healthy relationships with women", said Mrs Pilkington.When will Lord Carey cease his foolishness and fade away into the quiet retirement he so justly deserves?
Picture from Wikipedia.
Thanks to Lapin for the the link to the Telegraph.
