Seeking Muslim Counsellors

CAAGe, the Campaign Against Adult Grooming, is looking for several new counsellors/counselling psychologists for us to refer to.

We particularly want to recruit from Muslim communities who can help us make awareness and services more accessible to others. We are conscious that Muslim communities have specific life experiences that may differ from our own.

We believe that Islamic counselling and Muslim counsellors are a vital part of the healing journey for Muslim victims: we are seeking counsellors or therapists who are aware of Muslim culture, lifestyle and religious beliefs. Anecdotally, we are aware that some Muslims are reluctant to seek help because of the unfair media association of ‘grooming gangs’ with ‘Muslim’, and because for many an understanding of the Quran and the sunnah is essential.

We believe that we need both a male and a female counsellor, ideally more than just one of each, in order to to serve anyone in the Muslim community, with its particular needs, well.

Role requirements:

  • Fully qualified and with at least two years experience;

  • Capacity to take on additional counselling clients;

  • Prepared to invest time in understanding why grooming requires a different approach to other types of counselling;

  • A passion for involvement in CAAGe and its aims of raising awareness of, and campaigning against, adult grooming, some of which should clearly be criminalised, some of which is a case of raising awareness, and some of which is already criminal;

  • Prepared to work as a team and help other team members better understand issues facing the Muslim community specifically;

  • You will be prepared to help us with the direction that CAAGe takes in future.

We expect to be offering training courses for counsellors in the near future. You will be offered this training free, as well as being able to contribute should you choose. We would expect you to help us look at the course from a Muslim perspective.

There are some very specific issues that are tough waters to navigate, but ones that deserve our attention head on - marriage, the roles of Imams, Salah, Dua, Supplication - things that we are conscious need a real understanding of the Muslim faith in order for the people we want to help to be able to trust their counsellor. We are aware, for example, that stories in the Quran and the Sunnah are important, and that many don’t seek help because they fear counselling will be at odds with their religion, when in reality there is an emphasis on mental health in the Islamic sources. Many of the teachings of Islam are therapeutic by nature.

Nice to have:

  • Be of the Muslim faith and understand the wider context of being Muslim ie beyond their own experience (for example being Sunni, Shia or Alawite)

  • Experience of (adult) grooming or understanding of a related part of grooming - such as elder abuse, cults, modern day slavery, clergy abuse, human trafficking;

  • Experience of campaigning organisations;

  • Awareness of gender issues and rights;

  • May optionally undertake work as as a spokesperson for the organisation.

That's a big list - and we absolutely don't expect anyone to have it ALL.

How we work with counsellors

At present we are not registered as a charity - we are primarily here to listen, signpost help, research and raise awareness.

We plan to become a charity in future, but at the moment we have no income sources. We are looking at ways of raising funds ourselves to help sponsor the counselling we offer, but at the moment must charge.

CAAGe does not take any money from counsellors in exchange for referrals, but ask instead that you offer us some time to guide our direction and check over relevant materials that we are going to issue publicly.

To find out more, contact CAAGe