Ethics & Clinical Standards

The Ethics of Desire in Psychoanalytic Practice

Clinical ethics are the central pillar of the clinic.

As a clinic, our philosophical and clinical orientation is psychoanalytic, and especially informed by Lacanian thought. With that comes a commitment to what Lacan called the ethics of desire.

This means that we are not guided by a simple idea of adaptation, normalisation or external authority. We are not interested in forcing a person toward an ideal image of how they should live, feel, speak or function. We are concerned with the singularity of each subject, and with supporting a space in which something of that singularity may begin to be heard.

Psychotherapy is not the application of advice to a problem. It is a clinical relationship in which speech, suffering, repetition, desire, history and the unconscious may come into question.

Therapist Standards

Therapists practising at the Other clinic are expected to meet clear professional standards.

This includes:

1. Holding a master’s level qualification in psychotherapy, counselling psychology, psychoanalysis, counselling or a closely related clinical discipline, or an equivalent recognised clinical training.
2. Maintaining up-to-date and comprehensive professional indemnity and public liability insurance.
3. Holding membership, accreditation or pre-accreditation with a relevant professional body, where applicable. These may include PSI, IFPP, ICP, IACP, APPI or other appropriate professional organisations.
4. Having at least five years of relevant experience.
5. Maintaining appropriate clinical supervision and continuing professional development.
6. Have undertaken, or be engaged in, serious and sustained personal therapy.

Please note that trainee therapists may not already hold a masters degree. 

Independent Clinical Practice

Each therapist practising at the Other clinic is an independent clinician. Therapists are not employees of the clinic, and each therapist remains responsible for their own clinical work, professional judgement, supervision, record keeping, insurance and ethical obligations.

At the same time, the clinic takes seriously the conditions under which clinical work takes place here. Therapists practising at the clinic are expected to have appropriate professional training, clinical experience, supervision, professional indemnity insurance, and membership or accreditation with a relevant professional body where applicable.

These may include organisations such as PSI, IFPP, ICP, IACP, APPI or other appropriate professional bodies.

Professional Responsibility

Each therapist is expected to work within the limits of their training, competence, ethical code and professional registration or membership.

This includes responsibility for:

• Confidentiality and its limits.
• Professional boundaries.
• Clinical supervision.
• Continuing professional development.
• Data protection responsibilities.
• Safeguarding obligations.
• Working within their scope of competence.
• Seeking additional consultation or referral where needed.

The clinic does not direct the therapeutic work or interfere with the clinical relationship. The space between therapist and client must be preserved, because it is in that space that something singular can emerge.

However, preserving the clinical relationship does not mean abandoning standards. The clinic aims to provide a serious, responsible and ethically coherent setting for psychotherapy and counselling.

Confidentiality

Confidentiality is central to psychotherapy.

Clients must be able to speak in a setting where privacy is taken seriously. Therapists practising at the clinic are expected to uphold confidentiality in line with their professional codes, ethical obligations, data protection law and the requirements of safe clinical practice.

There are limits to confidentiality. These may include situations involving serious risk of harm, child protection concerns, vulnerable adult safeguarding concerns, legal obligations, or other circumstances where disclosure is necessary for safety or required by law.

Suitability and Limits of the Clinic

The Other Clinic provides psychotherapy and counselling. We are not an emergency mental health service, psychiatric hospital, crisis intervention team or residential treatment centre.

In some circumstances, a person may need urgent medical, psychiatric, safeguarding or crisis support rather than, or alongside, psychotherapy. Where the clinic or an individual therapist believes another form of support may be more appropriate, the person may be advised to contact their GP, emergency services, a psychiatrist, a specialist service or another appropriate support.

Therapy can be important, but it is not always the only form of help required.

Supervision and Continuing Formation

Ongoing supervision is a central part of responsible psychotherapy practice.

Therapists practising at the clinic are expected to maintain appropriate clinical supervision in line with their modality, experience, professional body requirements and clinical caseload.

Supervision is not simply administrative oversight. It is a space where clinical work can be thought about carefully, including questions of transference, risk, boundaries, diagnosis, ethics and the direction of the work.

Therapists are also expected to remain engaged in continuing professional development, further study, reading, seminars, training or other forms of clinical formation relevant to their practice, such as personal therapy. 

The Clinical Space

Our role as a clinic is to provide the conditions for serious clinical work to take place.

This includes a private, quiet and respectful setting, clear administrative communication, careful handling of enquiries, appropriate referral pathways, and a commitment to maintaining a professional environment.

A psychotherapy room is not simply a rented space. It is part of the frame of the work.

Final Statement

The ethics of psychotherapy cannot be reduced to rules alone. But without standards, safeguarding is at risk.

At the Other clinic, we aim to hold both: a respect for the singularity of each person, and a commitment to the professional responsibilities that make serious clinical work possible.

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