February 2025: JP, Reference No 00554652, Registrant ID 51537

February 2025: Julie Pittock, Reference No 00554652, Registrant ID 51537

Outcome Details

Consensual Disposal

Reasons

1. Julie Pittock a Â鶹ԭ´´ individual member agrees to the following outcome of the investigation into a complaint of a failure to meet the Professional Standards under reference PCP[…].

Background

2. Ms Pittock has been a Â鶹ԭ´´ member since […].

3. The Member works in […].

4. On 27 September Year 1 a complaint was made about the Member’s conduct, in summary alleging that in accepting her as a client, the Member had not adequately assessed the conflict between the service which the Complainant was receiving from the […] and the therapeutic service she was seeking from the Member.

Admissions

5. The Member makes the following admissions which the Â鶹ԭ´´ accepts:

1.1 The Member failed to contract appropriately with the Complainant at the start of the relationship in that she:

a) Did not adequately consider the conflict between the services the Complainant was receiving from the […] and the services the Member was offering;

1.2 The Member thereby failed to meet professional standards, including in particular by acting in a way which was inconsistent with the following paragraph of ‘Good Practice’ in the Ethical Framework for the Counselling Professions 2018:

Para 30 (We will usually provide clients with the information they ought to know in advance in order to make an informed decision about the services they want to receive, how these services will be delivered and how information or data about them will be protected. Where the urgency or seriousness of the situation requires us to intervene before providing such information, we will do so at the first appropriate opportunity).

Mitigation

6. The Member puts forward the following in mitigation, which has been taken into account by the IAC in deciding the appropriate outcome:

• She has reflected comprehensively on what went wrong in this case and has made changes to her contracting process and her practice to address these concerns.

• She has undertaken significant training to increase her understanding of dealing with ethical issues.

• She now makes greater use of Â鶹ԭ´´ guidance and ethical decision making tools and has reflected on the importance of regular supervision.

• She fully acknowledges the distress caused to the Complainant by her actions.

Conclusion

7. The issues identified and admitted by the Member amount to breaches of the professional standards reasonably expected of the Member having regard to the Ethical Framework Ethical Framework for Good Practice in Counselling and Psychotherapy 2018 in particular paragraph 30 as identified in the admissions above.

8. One of the aims of the Professional Conduct Procedure is to protect members of the public. The IAC in considering the appropriate outcome and sanction for the admitted breaches in this case have taken into account the interests of public protection and determined that it is reasonable and proportionate to conclude it by agreement on the terms set out below.

9. In relation to the finding above the IAC considers it appropriate that the Member is required, within four weeks of the date of this agreement, to send to Â鶹ԭ´´ a genuine and sincere letter of apology addressed to the Complainant, which addresses what went wrong in this case and acknowledges the distress caused to the Complainant by her actions.

10. The Member agrees that this Agreement will be published by the Â鶹ԭ´´ in line with the Publication Policy and that it will be disclosed to the complainant.

11. The Member agrees that she will not act in any way inconsistent with this agreement such as, for example, by denying the admission(s) in paragraph 5 above.

12. If the Member fails, without good reason, to comply with the sanction set out above or acts in a way which is inconsistent with this Agreement the matter will be referred to a sanction panel for consideration. A sanction panel may determine that it will terminate her membership. Such a decision will be published.

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