How about vouchers for child therapy?

I was reading the NSPCC’s claim that there are simply not enough providers of therapy to offer help to all the children who suffer sexual abuse – and a light went on in my mind (about time too, I hear you say).

Why not allow people to access counsellors working in private practice who have the skill and training necessary? I do, for a start, and many others will, I’m sure.

Apparently, many of the roughly-500 services identified in the report were so overstretched that they were being forced to close their books, leaving around 88,000 children with no help. When this sort of situation develops, there needs to be wider thinking about how to solve it. Especially when it appears that rural areas in particular are in need.

So we’d have to start a system similar to the one that used to be in place for nursery schools (no idea if it still is). Carers or social workers would be given vouchers that could be translated into therapy hours for these children. I think hospitals have also outsourced operations to private organisations using a similar system. Why not therapy? It would be easy enough for social workers and others to check the qualifications of the private therapists to ensure safe practice.

I’m waiting for someone to point out why it can’t be done. There’s always a reason why something obvious can’t be done. We need to adopt a “can do” approach before things get worse.