Counselling magazine removes article about Jewish trauma over backlash fears

The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) has stood by its decision to remove a column about Jewish trauma over 7 October from its latest magazine because of fears of a possible backlash.

The professional body pulled the piece by mental health practitioner Dr Sandi Mann from the January issue of its Counselling At Work magazine.

In it, Dr Mann told how Jews in Manchester are struggling to come to terms with the Hamas massacre in southern Israel. This month’s issue will be the first in 10 years that does not include her regular column, entitled Workplace Matters.

The scrapped column, headlined ‘A community in traumatic stress’, describes the trauma of the city’s Jews in the aftermath of the Hamas massacre of more than 1,200 people in southern Israel. It was apparently scrapped on deadline because of concerns about possible ramifications.

The piece also looks at how mental health professionals are managing support for the traumatised community, how the charity Jewish Action for Mental Health (JAMH) set up a response unit to cope with the crisis and the lessons that can be learned for supporting other traumatised communities across the UK.

Dr Mann, who wrote a similar piece for the magazine after the Manchester arena terrorist attack in 2017, told Jewish News: “While I totally understand the BACP pulled this article in order to protect its staff, it is very distressing that they felt that an article about the Jewish community’s trauma following the worse massacre of Jews since the Holocaust might lead to such severe ramifications that they felt the need to cancel it.

“We are increasingly living in a culture of fear, threats and intimidation towards Jews but when this culture leads to the silencing of the Jewish voice, especially within the professional or academic context, then Jews risk being marginalised and othered. More must be done to ensure that our institutions are not afraid to give the Jewish community a platform.”

A BACP spokesman told Jewish News: “We’re truly shocked and saddened by the horrific events in Israel and Gaza. Our thoughts are with all those affected by this, particularly families who have lost loved ones. We also recognise the impact the situation in Israel and Gaza is having on communities in the UK. Racism, discrimination, threats and violence are unacceptable. The trauma of war can have long-term consequences on mental health and wellbeing and can reach far beyond the immediate war zone.

“Since 7 October 2023 we’ve been contacted by BACP members with a variety of strongly held viewpoints who wish to write or create content for us about this war and the impact it is having on themselves, others and on the work they do. We understand the depth of feeling on these issues, but as a membership body and a registered charity we have to navigate very carefully how we share our members’ perspectives in our journals or other content.”