growing problem<\/a>, and there are mounting calls for formal oversight of the profession.<\/p>\nIn a statement read at the sentencing, the victim said: \u201c[Peck] caused profound and lasting damage to my mental and physical health, and to every part of my life. More than five years later, I still experience terrifying flashbacks that feel as though I am back in that room with him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have lived these past five years with constant worry that other women are likely still being harmed by him.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement given to the police in 2021, the victim described how a friend had recommended Peck when she was seeking help for depression and anxiety.<\/p>\n
Peck encouraged her to attend sessions multiple times a week, with some lasting several hours, she said. The so-called therapy included removing clothing, as skin-to-skin contact \u201chelps soothe nervous systems\u201d, and telling her that her inner baby \u201cneeded to suckle\u201d, which would turn into kissing.<\/p>\n
The sessions progressively involved more nudity and touching, she said. On several occasions, he penetrated her with his finger to \u201cheal [her] birth trauma\u201d. On another occasion, he gave her oral sex and attempted to persuade her to have sex as a \u201cform of energy release\u201d.<\/p>\n
The victim first reported to the police in February 2021, and although it resulted in an arrest, the case was dropped two months later after receiving advice from the Crown Prosecution Service that there was insufficient evidence for a prosecution.<\/p>\n
In June, a barrister working on behalf of the Centre for Women\u2019s Justice asked for the case to be reviewed, noting that the complaint had not considered how the woman and Peck did not have a \u201cnormal relationship, rather a relationship of therapist or carer and client or patient\u201d.<\/p>\n
In September, the police reopened the case, which was referred to the CPS the following year. But by January 2024, with no further progress, the victim submitted a formal police complaint, and in August, the Centre for Women\u2019s Justice wrote a legal letter warning that the delays were in breach of her human rights, and noting that the victim was \u201cclose to dropping her support for the case\u201d.<\/p>\n
The woman told the Guardian that she had continued to pursue the matter because she wanted the therapist \u201cto be stopped from manipulating and sexually abusing other women\u201d, and that she hoped it might strengthen the case for a law banning therapists from having sex with clients.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe really seemed to believe he could get away with it,\u201d she said. \u201cThere wasn\u2019t a way to stop him in terms of getting him struck off.\u201d<\/p>\n
She recalled how she had \u201cassumed he was registered somewhere\u201d, but only later found he had been previously disbarred. \u201cIt was very easy for him to lie about that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even after her case was re-opened, she felt that \u201cthe can was just kicked down the road over and over again for years \u2026 with lots of different detectives and lawyers picking it up along the way, but not really knowing what to do with it\u201d.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cThere just wasn\u2019t a recognition of that power imbalance inherent in a therapy relationship. The first CPS lawyer who looked at it, I just think they went: \u2018Oh, you\u2019re just two consenting adults doing some kind of alternative woo-woo therapy.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cThe long police investigation and eventually having the trial was probably as traumatic as the actual abuse,\u201d she said, adding: \u201cI don\u2019t know if I would recommend it to someone else; it was hellish.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nogah Ofer, a lawyer at the Centre for Women\u2019s Justice who supported the victim, said it was \u201ccompletely outrageous how difficult it\u2019s been to get this case to court\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is really dangerous is that there are these therapists out there, and they\u2019re convincing clients that sexual contact is going to help them, when in fact it\u2019s incredibly damaging,\u201d she said. \u201cThe lack of regulation of therapists is really concerning for vulnerable people who could end up with quacks. And you wouldn\u2019t expect that if you go to a doctor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Catriona Rubens, a human rights solicitor at Leigh Day, said that since working with Ella Janneh, who won damages after accusing her therapist of raping her and waived her right to anonymity to campaign on the issue, said she had been contacted by about three people a month reporting sexual and emotional abuse from therapists.<\/p>\n
However, she said there were often \u201cfew options for redress\u201d, with police struggling to \u201cgrasp the dynamics and imbalance of power in therapy settings\u201d. She urged UK therapy and counselling membership bodies to back Janneh\u2019s campaign for mandatory regulation to prevent harm to the public.<\/p>\n
Sojan Joseph, the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on mental health, said: \u201cI would completely support any measures put forward by the government to strengthen safeguards against this sort of practice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, or 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org\/rcip\/internl.html<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A therapist who claimed he could heal birth trauma through sexual touching and oral sex has been sentenced…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":471968,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-471967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/471968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}