LOUGHTON: Arts therapist struck off
11:15am Tuesday 2nd June 2009
Comments (11)AN arts therapist who fell asleep during sessions with patients, swore at them and suggested one take advantage of “unlimited sex” has been struck off.
Derek Gale, who practiced at the Gale Centre, in Whitakers Way, Loughton, also smoked cannabis in front of patients, made a number of them help rebuild his practice, and wrote to one signing himself “daddy”.
The Health Professions Council’s Conduct and Competence Committee has been hearing evidence against Mr Gale since March with four former patients making allegations against him.
Among allegations upheld by the HPC are that he read one patient, JB, a bedtime story while playing with her hair and pinging her bra strap.
During a one-to-one therapy sessions with the same client he told her he was writing a novel in which the main character was a therapist who “Gets f***** in every way” and “gets f***** by the client.”
Mr Gale also admitted he told the patient a fantasy he had of dropping his trousers in front of his ex-wife.
He asked another client, GD, to cut his hair for free, and told other members to help him re-build the Gale Centre.
During the hearing Mr Gale described himself as “A ‘non-mainstream’ practitioner who adopts a confrontational and provocative position in relation to his clients in both individual and group settings”.
The committee heard that Mr Gale often went on holiday with another client, broke another patient’s confidentiality by telling his group she was self-harming, and failed to keep full notes.
Its report summary states: “The Panel has come to the firm view that he has a cavalier attitude towards the needs of clients and the requirement to follow guidelines.
“Mr Gale’s current fitness to practise is impaired because a person who is capable of adopting this attitude represents a significant risk to clients who may come his way, and that there is this risk with some potential clients is not negated by the acknowledged fact that he has helped people.”
Mr Gale has been struck off the HPC’s register.
Speaking to The Guardian after the hearing, one former client, who asked not to be named, said: “It was what we were hoping for. It was a long and difficult case and they did their job admirably.
“I don’t think he’s fully aware of the damage that he does, and it’s a concern. I think we all survive these things but it’s taken a long time to come to terms with the fact and impact it’s had on my life. The HPC verdict has offered a certain amount of closure but it’s a concern that he continues to practice.”
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Below are some comments that are sadly not unlike those discussions we have all witnessed taking place on the blogs, online forums, and websites surrounding Christopher Hansard. For those who were not victims themselves who maintain friendships it is hard to believe that their “friend” can be equally manipulative and predatory as he can be “kind” and seemingly “generous”.
However the reality remains. A reality severely and possibly irreparably distorted for those lost in Hansard’s world of “Spirituality, Self-help, and Self Knowledge”
LOUGHTON: Arts therapist struck off
11:15am Tuesday 2nd June 2009
AN arts therapist who fell asleep during sessions with patients, swore at them and suggested one take advantage of “unlimited sex” has been struck off.
Derek Gale, who practiced at the Gale Centre, in Whitakers Way, Loughton, also smoked cannabis in front of patients, made a number of them help rebuild his practice, and wrote to one signing himself “daddy”.
The Health Professions Council’s Conduct and Competence Committee has been hearing evidence against Mr Gale since March with four former patients making allegations against him.
Among allegations upheld by the HPC are that he read one patient, JB, a bedtime story while playing with her hair and pinging her bra strap.
During a one-to-one therapy sessions with the same client he told her he was writing a novel in which the main character was a therapist who “Gets f***** in every way” and “gets f***** by the client.”
Mr Gale also admitted he told the patient a fantasy he had of dropping his trousers in front of his ex-wife.
He asked another client, GD, to cut his hair for free, and told other members to help him re-build the Gale Centre.
During the hearing Mr Gale described himself as “A ‘non-mainstream’ practitioner who adopts a confrontational and provocative position in relation to his clients in both individual and group settings”.
The committee heard that Mr Gale often went on holiday with another client, broke another patient’s confidentiality by telling his group she was self-harming, and failed to keep full notes.
Its report summary states: “The Panel has come to the firm view that he has a cavalier attitude towards the needs of clients and the requirement to follow guidelines.
“Mr Gale’s current fitness to practise is impaired because a person who is capable of adopting this attitude represents a significant risk to clients who may come his way, and that there is this risk with some potential clients is not negated by the acknowledged fact that he has helped people.”
Mr Gale has been struck off the HPC’s register.
Speaking to The Guardian after the hearing, one former client, who asked not to be named, said: “It was what we were hoping for. It was a long and difficult case and they did their job admirably.
“I don’t think he’s fully aware of the damage that he does, and it’s a concern. I think we all survive these things but it’s taken a long time to come to terms with the fact and impact it’s had on my life. The HPC verdict has offered a certain amount of closure but it’s a concern that he continues to practice.”
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galefriend, loughton says…
7:22pm Tue 2 Jun 09Having read the news with great sadness regarding Mr Gale, I would like to respond on behalf of the hundreds of clients that he helped over the years that did not come out of the hate filled woodwork that plotted against him. I have known him for 35 years, our children grew up together and at no stage have I percieved any wrongdoing.Mr Gale was not perfect and was also a little unconventional but why keep returning for sessions, paying for them and then complaining about his approach and quite frankly some of the allegations were bizarre to say the least. At no stage of the reporting has there been a balanced view it was a witch-hunt by a group of people who should have gone for a more conventional route to deal with their therapy needs and perhaps accepted what was being said to them. I hope you are all happy with the result, I know a very kind, very loyal, very sympathetic man in Loughton who isnot this evening. Rock on HDG_______
Galecult, Loughton says…
10:20pm Tue 2 Jun 09Those who are defining themselves as friends of Gale should also note that the panel of the HPC also acknowledged that Mr Gale had helped people in the past but overwhelmingly accepted that his cavalier attitude to good practise is a risk to his clients – afterall how would you feel if you’re GP doctor told you that it would be good for you if you both got naked and went on holiday together? How would you feel if your GP made those type of suggestions to your wife or daughter and charges you large amounts of money for the privelege?
