In my October 2025 op-ed for The Inquirer, ‘Conversion Therapy’ Is Antithetical to Responsible Psychological Counseling I argue that this pseudoscientific practice is fundamentally antithetical to ethical mental health treatment. The distinction is clear: Ethical therapy offers acceptance; malpractice promises an impossible cure.

I, along with my fellow mental health professionals, have a duty to educate the public about what it is that we do. The recent oral arguments at the Supreme Court around Colorado’s ban on conversion “therapy” with youth exposed a gaping hole in the public understanding of ethical psychotherapy. The Supreme Court Justices seem confused, so clearly we have a huge problem and need to set the record straight.

When professionals validate the harmful, prejudiced notion that a client’s natural, nonpathological sexual or gender identity is a curable defect, they are operating against scientific evidence. The debate before the Supreme Court is not about free speech; it is about protecting the public—especially vulnerable minors—from emotional violence perpetrated under the guise of professional care.