EQUITY, DIVERSITY, INCLUSION AND ANTI-DISCRIMINATION POLICY
EQUITY, DIVERSITY, INCLUSION AND ANTI-DISCRIMINATION POLICY
Version: 001
Effective from: 20th July 2026
Last reviewed: 20th July 2026
PURPOSE
This policy sets out my commitment to equity, diversity, inclusion, dignity and anti-discriminatory practice within my online psychotherapy, counselling and coaching service.
It applies to:
Prospective clients.
Current clients.
Former clients.
Website visitors.
People attending discovery calls.
People making enquiries or complaints.
Transactional Analysis trainees receiving personal therapy.
People accessing my public resources.
I aim to provide services in a way that respects human difference, recognises unequal social conditions and does not require people to erase important aspects of themselves in order to be treated with dignity.
LEGAL AND PROFESSIONAL CONTEXT
I seek to work in accordance with applicable equality and human-rights law, including the Equality Act 2010, and with the ethical and professional responsibilities associated with my UKCP registration and professional memberships.
This policy does not attempt to reproduce the complete law.
Nothing in it reduces any legal right, professional obligation or right to raise a concern or complaint.
CORE PRINCIPLES
My practice is guided by the following principles:
Every person has inherent worth and dignity.
Difference is not evidence of inferiority.
Equal treatment does not always require identical treatment.
Some people need different conditions, processes or adjustments to have meaningful access.
People should not be required to mask, assimilate or abandon their identity as the price of receiving respectful professional support.
Social, cultural, economic, relational and institutional conditions affect psychological experience.
Discrimination and exclusion can cause real emotional, interpersonal, occupational and material harm.
A person’s distress should not automatically be interpreted as an individual defect where oppressive or inaccessible conditions are relevant.
Clients remain complex individuals and should not be reduced to a diagnosis, identity category or demographic characteristic.
Good intentions do not make a practitioner immune from bias, misunderstanding or harmful impact.
Feedback, reflection, accountability and repair are important parts of ethical practice.
PROTECTED CHARACTERISTICS
I do not unlawfully discriminate against a person because of:
Age.
Disability.
Gender reassignment.
Marriage or civil partnership, where applicable under the law.
Pregnancy or maternity.
Race, including colour, nationality, ethnic origin or national origin.
Religion or belief.
Sex.
Sexual orientation.
I also aim to provide respectful services regardless of characteristics and circumstances that may not always constitute a separate protected characteristic, including:
Neurodivergence.
Autism, ADHD, AuDHD and other cognitive differences.
Self-identification or absence of formal diagnosis.
Gender identity and gender expression.
Relationship structure.
Socioeconomic background.
Class.
Educational history.
Employment status.
Body size or appearance.
Communication style.
Literacy.
First language.
Migration or refugee experience.
Caring responsibilities.
Physical or mental-health history.
Later identification of disability or neurodivergence.
Political or philosophical perspectives, within the boundaries required for safe and lawful practice.
NEURODIVERSITY-AFFIRMING PRACTICE
My practice has a particular commitment to neurodivergent adults.
I am autistic and ADHD myself, and my practice is informed by both professional knowledge and lived experience.
I do not approach autism, ADHD, AuDHD or other neurodivergence as evidence that a person is defective, less human or entitled only to a lesser life.
I do not assume that neurodivergent people should:
Have smaller aspirations.
Abandon meaningful ambitions.
Accept avoidable exclusion.
Conform to neuronormative standards at any personal cost.
Suppress natural communication or self-regulation merely to make others more comfortable.
Interpret every difficulty as a personal deficit.
I recognise that neurodivergent people may seek therapy or coaching in order to:
Understand themselves.
Pursue ambitions.
Meet chosen or unavoidable obligations.
Create workable processes.
Develop relationships.
Address trauma or distress.
Negotiate environments.
Build a sustainable life.
Recover from masking or burnout.
Find ways of acting that respect their whole personhood.
Neurodiversity-affirming practice does not mean denying difficulty, disability, conflict, responsibility or the need for change.
It means approaching change without presuming that neuronormativity is the standard by which a person’s humanity, competence or progress should be judged.
MUTUAL ACCESS NEEDS
Accessibility within my practice is not based on an assumption that the practitioner has no access needs and the client is the only person requiring adjustment.
I am autistic and ADHD and have disability-related conditions that enable me to practise effectively.
For example, I require visual access during sessions and cannot provide telephone, audio-only or camera-off work.
A client may have a different and equally valid access requirement that is incompatible with mine.
Where this occurs, it does not mean that either person’s need is less legitimate.
It means that the service may not be a workable match.
I will consider requests for reasonable adjustments in good faith while also maintaining the conditions I require to practise safely and effectively.
PRESUMED COMPETENCE AND CLIENT AUTONOMY
I aim to presume competence while remaining attentive to each person’s actual circumstances and support needs.
I will not assume that a client lacks intelligence, insight, autonomy or decision-making ability because of:
Diagnosis.
Communication style.
Speech pattern.
Processing time.
Eye contact.
Movement.
Emotional expression.
Use of assistive technology.
Need for clarification.
Need for reasonable adjustments.
Difficulty with a particular task.
Variable capacity.
Clients remain entitled to make decisions about their own lives, subject to the ordinary limits of law, safety and professional practice.
My role is not to impose a preferred life, identity, relationship, career or value system.
COMMUNICATION DIFFERENCE
I do not treat conventional eye contact, stillness, immediate verbal response, particular facial expressions or normative body language as universal measures of engagement, respect or honesty.
Silence, looking away, movement, changes in expression and different communication rhythms may have many meanings.
Where something is unclear, I aim to ask rather than assume.
A client should not be required to perform a conventional social style in order to be regarded as cooperative or engaged.
I also recognise that my own autistic communication and use of silence may differ from that of a non-autistic practitioner.
Differences in communication can be explored collaboratively rather than automatically assigned to one person’s deficiency.
INTERSECTIONALITY
People may experience several identities, forms of advantage and forms of marginalisation at the same time.
For example, neurodivergence may interact with:
Race and racism.
Gender.
Sexuality.
Disability.
Class.
Poverty.
Migration.
Religion.
Age.
Physical health.
Mental health.
Caring responsibilities.
Employment or unemployment.
These experiences cannot always be understood by considering one identity in isolation.
I aim to remain curious about how different aspects of a client’s life and social position interact, rather than assuming that one framework explains everything.
CULTURAL HUMILITY
I cannot possess complete knowledge of every culture, community, identity or lived experience.
I aim to practise cultural humility by:
Recognising the limits of my knowledge.
Avoiding assumptions based on stereotypes.
Listening to how a client describes their own experience.
Being willing to ask respectful questions where relevant.
Distinguishing curiosity from entitlement to personal information.
Reflecting on power within the professional relationship.
Seeking supervision, consultation or learning where appropriate.
Acknowledging and attempting to repair misunderstandings or harm.
A client is not responsible for providing me with a complete education about their community or identity.
LANGUAGE, NAMES AND PRONOUNS
I aim to use a person’s stated name, pronouns and respectful identity language.
I recognise that language preferences vary between people and communities.
For example, one person may prefer identity-first language, while another may prefer person-first language.
I will try to follow the client’s preference where it is known and reasonably practicable.
An accidental mistake may occur.
Where it does, I aim to correct it without making the client responsible for managing my feelings.
I will not deliberately use demeaning, pathologising or hostile language about a client’s protected characteristic or identity.
RELIGION, BELIEF AND NON-BELIEF
Clients are welcome regardless of religion, spiritual belief, philosophical belief or absence of religious belief.
I will not attempt to convert a client to my own beliefs or require agreement with my personal worldview.
A client’s belief system may be explored where it is relevant to the work and where the client wishes to do so.
Respect for a belief does not require me to endorse conduct that is unlawful, abusive, threatening or incompatible with the safety and rights of another person.
SEX, GENDER AND SEXUALITY
I aim to treat clients with dignity regardless of sex, gender reassignment, gender identity, gender expression or sexual orientation.
I do not regard LGBTQ+ identities as disorders requiring correction.
I do not provide conversion practices intended to change or suppress a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
Sex, gender, embodiment, transition, sexuality, relationships and identity may be explored without presuming a predetermined conclusion.
Where questions involve legal, medical or specialist assessment outside my competence, I may encourage the client to obtain appropriate specialist advice.
RACE, ETHNICITY AND RACISM
I recognise that racism may be interpersonal, institutional, structural and internalised.
Experiences of racism should not automatically be reframed as cognitive distortion, excessive sensitivity or purely intrapsychic difficulty.
I aim to remain attentive to:
Racialised power.
Cultural difference.
Migration and displacement.
Colonial histories.
Whiteness.
Language and accent.
Religious or ethnic discrimination.
The interaction between racism and neurodivergence or disability.
I will seek supervision or further learning where limitations in my understanding become relevant.
DISABILITY AND REASONABLE ADJUSTMENTS
I welcome disabled clients and recognise disability through both lived experience and social context.
I will consider requests for reasonable adjustments individually.
The detailed process appears in my Accessibility and Reasonable Adjustments Statement:
https://www.counsellingtherapyonline.com/accessibility-and-reasonable-adjustments-statement
Reasonable adjustment does not require every person to receive an identical process.
It may require a different process where that is reasonable, effective and practicable.
My status as a sole practitioner, available resources, my own disability and access needs, professional safety, confidentiality and the effect on other clients may all be relevant to what is reasonable.
Some core conditions of the service cannot be removed through adjustment, including:
The use of video with cameras on during active sessions.
The prohibition on recording or transcription.
The absence of telephone-only appointments.
The requirement to use WriteUpp for variable self-booking.
The requirement that sessions are safe, private and professionally workable.
Where a client’s access need is incompatible with one of these core conditions, the service may not be suitable for that person.
COMFORT AND PARTICIPATION
Clients are not expected to present as though attending a conventional business meeting.
Subject to safety, privacy and the session remaining workable, clients may:
Wear comfortable clothing.
Sit on a bed, sofa, floor or another comfortable place.
Use a blanket.
Move or walk around.
Use sensory or regulation objects.
Look away from the screen.
Close their eyes briefly.
Pause before speaking.
Write things down.
Have an animal in the room.
Take a short toilet, water or regulation break.
The client must remain appropriately clothed, must not drink alcohol during the session and must not attend while intoxicated.
The client must not drive, operate machinery or remain responsible for a child who requires active care during the session.
Comfort and authenticity are encouraged where appropriate, but they are not imposed as another standard the client must perform.
SOCIOECONOMIC CIRCUMSTANCES
I recognise that financial resources affect access to psychotherapy and coaching.
I publish my standard fees and may offer a limited number of concessionary arrangements.
Concessions are subject to availability and individual agreement.
I will not shame or demean a person because of income, employment, debt, housing, benefits or educational history.
However, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to offer a fee within every person’s budget.
TRANSACTIONAL ANALYSIS TRAINEES
Transactional Analysis trainees are entitled to the same dignity, confidentiality and anti-discriminatory practice as other clients.
Personal therapy for a trainee remains therapy.
It is not:
Training or supervision.
Examination.
Performance management.
A course assessment.
A means of reporting private therapy content to a training institute.
Trainees are responsible for verifying that I meet the requirements of their training route and that their attended therapy hours can be counted.
I will not discriminate against a trainee because they require clarification, reasonable adjustments or a non-neuronormative way of participating in therapy.
FAIR ACCESS AND SUITABILITY DECISIONS
I do not guarantee that I can offer a service to every person who enquires.
I may decline, pause or end a service for legitimate reasons, including:
Lack of availability.
Needs outside my competence.
A conflict of interest.
Insurance or territorial restrictions.
Online work being unsuitable.
The need for emergency, medical, diagnostic or multidisciplinary support.
An incompatibility between the client’s essential access requirements and the essential conditions under which I can practise.
Serious boundary or safety concerns.
My health or capacity.
A service request falling outside what I offer.
A decision not to offer a service should be based on the suitability and practicability of the work, not on unlawful prejudice.
Where practicable, I will explain the general professional, access or service reason for declining, although I may not be able to provide a detailed assessment or referral.
BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS ME
This commitment to inclusion applies within a reciprocal professional relationship.
Clients and enquirers must not direct harassment, threats, abuse or discriminatory conduct towards me.
Disagreement, distress, anger, direct communication or criticism are not automatically harassment.
I will consider context, communication differences, disability and the possibility of misunderstanding.
However, persistent or serious conduct that threatens safety or dignity may lead to:
A boundary discussion.
A pause in communication.
A requirement to use a particular contact method.
Suspension or ending of the service.
Appropriate protective or legal action.
This provision must not be used to silence a good-faith complaint, expression of dissatisfaction or attempt to discuss harm within the professional relationship.
HARASSMENT, VICTIMISATION AND RETALIATION
I do not accept harassment or victimisation connected with a protected characteristic.
A person will not be treated adversely merely because they:
Requested a reasonable adjustment.
Raised a discrimination concern.
Made a complaint.
Supported another person’s complaint.
Contacted a professional or regulatory body.
Exercised a legal right.
This does not prevent legitimate action concerning unrelated non-payment, safety, suitability or serious boundary breaches.
CONFIDENTIALITY AND IDENTITY INFORMATION
Information about identity, disability, health, religion, sexuality, gender, race or other personal characteristics may constitute sensitive personal information.
I will handle such information in accordance with my Privacy Notice and professional responsibilities.
I will not ordinarily disclose a client’s identity information to another person without a lawful and professionally justified reason.
Confidentiality is not absolute.
The limits are explained in the Terms of Service, Privacy Notice and Therapy and Counselling Agreement or Coaching Agreement.
REPRESENTATION IN PUBLIC AND EDUCATIONAL CONTENT
I may write or speak publicly about psychotherapy, neurodivergence and related subjects.
I will not knowingly identify a client in public educational content without their explicit and appropriately informed agreement.
Where clinical experience informs educational material, I will take steps intended to protect confidentiality, which may include:
Removing identifying details.
Changing contextual details.
Combining elements from multiple experiences.
Using hypothetical or fictionalised illustrations.
Avoiding material where disguise would be insufficient.
Public educational material is not intended to stereotype a group or portray one person’s experience as universal.
RECORDING AND TRANSCRIPTION
Recording, transcription, screenshots and other capture of sessions are prohibited.
This applies to all clients and is not waived as an adjustment.
The prohibition includes:
Audio recording.
Video recording.
Screen recording.
Screenshots.
Photography.
Manual or automated transcription.
Artificial-intelligence meeting assistants.
Artificial-intelligence note-generation tools.
Recording through another device.
Recording by a person outside the camera’s view.
This boundary exists for privacy, safety and professional reasons.
A person who requires recorded or transcribed sessions will not be able to use this service.
FEEDBACK, RUPTURE AND REPAIR
Clients may tell me if:
They believe I have misunderstood an important aspect of their identity or experience.
My language has been hurtful or excluding.
A process creates an unnecessary barrier.
They believe bias or discrimination may be affecting the work.
An agreed adjustment is not working.
I cannot guarantee that every disagreement will be resolved to the client’s satisfaction.
I will seek to take concerns seriously, consider my impact and use supervision or consultation where appropriate.
Discussing a possible rupture can be part of therapy, but a client is not required to use therapy as the only route for raising a formal complaint.
RAISING A CONCERN OR COMPLAINT
A person may raise an informal concern or make a formal complaint.
My Complaints Procedure is available at:
https://www.counsellingtherapyonline.com/complaints-procedure
A complaint may concern:
Discrimination.
Harassment.
Failure to consider a reasonable adjustment.
Language or conduct.
Access to the service.
Professional boundaries.
Another aspect of the service.
Nothing in this policy prevents a person from contacting UKCP, or UKATA, the Equality Advisory and Support Service, the Information Commissioner’s Office, Citizens Advice, a court or another body where they are entitled to do so.
RESPONSIBILITY FOR IMPLEMENTATION
As a sole practitioner, I am responsible for implementing and reviewing this policy.
I do not routinely have administrative or support staff.
I may occasionally obtain appropriate professional, administrative or technical assistance.
Any access to personal information will be limited and managed in accordance with my Privacy Notice and professional responsibilities.
I will seek to:
Review my website and service procedures.
Consider accessibility barriers.
Use professional supervision.
Undertake relevant learning.
Reflect on feedback and complaints.
Update the policy when law, professional guidance or my services change.
LIMITS OF THIS POLICY
This policy is a statement of values, intentions and practice commitments.
It does not promise that:
I will never make a mistake.
Every client will experience every interaction in the same way.
Every requested service or adjustment can be provided.
Every disagreement will be resolved.
I possess complete knowledge of every identity or community.
Where mistakes or limitations arise, my responsibility is to respond with appropriate openness, reflection and action rather than claim immunity from error.
REVIEW
This policy will be reviewed periodically and when there is a significant change to:
My services.
Equality law.
Professional guidance.
My booking or accessibility arrangements.
My own access requirements.
Relevant feedback or complaints.