Exclusive | Leading UK psychotherapy training institute sued by five former staffers over alleged racism
"It’s surviving daily microaggressions, the comments, the almost constant need to justify why you’re here, why you deserve to be here,” Dr Eiman Hussein told Black Current News
Dr Eiman Hussein and four former colleagues have accused one of the UK’s leading psychotherapy training providers of institutional racism, as they prepare to take the organisation to an Employment Tribunal.
The Metanoia Institute in West London, which trains around 1,500 students across undergraduate, postgraduate and research programmes, is facing claims of victimisation, whistleblowing and constructive dismissal.
The case, E Hussein and Others v The Metanoia Institute, will be heard virtually at London Central Employment Tribunal from 24 February to 19 March 2026.
Speaking exclusively to Black Current News, Dr Eiman said what she experienced amounted to institutional racism, not isolated incidents.
“It’s insidious,” she said. “It’s surviving daily microaggressions, the subtle comments, the almost constant need to justify why you’re here, why you deserve to be here.
“Sometimes it’s so subtle you end up questioning yourself. Did that really happen? Am I overreacting?”
The claimants - Dr Eiman, Dr Maya Mukamel, Dr Malgorzata Milewicz, Dr Jane Hunt and Cathy Lasher - are psychological therapists, researchers and trainers.
A separate racial discrimination claim was ruled out of time at a preliminary hearing after the claimants initially lacked expert representation.
Dr Eiman, who’s a Black woman of Sudanese heritage, also pointed to what she described as a culture of dismissal when concerns were raised internally about practices they “believed and experienced as harmful to students and staff of colour”.
This ultimately led the group to pursue legal action, she explained.
“We went through all the processes, grievances and formal routes. In the end, we were not listened to,” she said.
“There was denial and silencing.”
The institute states on its website that it delivers “relational, high quality” training in counselling, psychotherapy and counselling psychology.
Many of its graduates go on to work in NHS services.
The case has drawn attention within the psychotherapy profession, particularly because of its potential implications for the pipeline of Black and Asian therapists entering the field.
Zita Holbourne, chair and co-founder of BARAC UK, which is supporting the claimants alongside the Psychotherapy and Counselling Union and the Black, African and Asian Therapy Network (BAATN), described the case as part of a wider issue.
“This case is about more,” Zita said.
“It is about putting psychotherapy training organisations on notice that we will not allow them to create discriminatory and hostile environments for students and workers and they must be accountable and take urgent action to root out and prevent harmful discriminatory practices.”
Dr Malgorzata Milewicz, who identifies as white, stressed the role of allyship within the group, which is mostly comprised of white or white-presenting people.
“Standing alongside our Black, Brown and colleagues of colour is an ethical obligation grounded in anti-oppressive practice,” she said, adding that white professionals must examine power, confront their “own complicity” and “listen when harm is named without defensiveness or retreating into neutrality”.
Dr Eiman echoed that view when asked about this by Black Current News.
“It’s not only up to Black or Brown individuals to speak about racism,” she said.
“It’s everyone’s responsibility. Allyship means taking that responsibility seriously and doing the work.”
She placed the case within a broader UK context, pointing to official reports into racism within public institutions, including policing and the fire service.
“The classroom is a microcosm of the wider society,” she said. “What’s outside comes inside. Structural racism doesn’t stop at the door of a psychotherapy institute.”
The claimants argue that if training institutions fail to address racism, the consequences extend beyond staff.
“If racism is not named or challenged in training,” Dr Eiman said, “students learn implicitly what is acceptable. That harm doesn’t stay in the classroom. It follows them into their work with vulnerable clients.”
A crowdfunding campaign to support the legal challenge has raised over £30,000 towards a £60,000 target.
Dr Eiman described the response as “phenomenal”.
“It’s the beauty within the ugly,” she said.
“Yes, this is painful. But the solidarity, the collective action, the sense that people are showing up in whatever way they can, that feels like we’ve already won something.”
The hearing will be held virtually and is open to the public.
For the claimants, the case is about more than personal redress.
“What does justice look like?” Dr Eiman said.
“It looks like refusing erasure. It looks like institutions being held accountable. It looks like making it harder for this kind of harm to happen again. Being anti-racist is not optional. It’s an ethical responsibility.”
The case follows an independent investigation commissioned by Protect Black Women (PBW), a Black feminist movement established in 2024, which appointed barrister Elaine Banton to examine allegations of racism at the institute through interviews and survey evidence from current and former students and staff.
The report, seen by this news platform, was finalised in February 2025 and concluded there was “clear, compelling and consistent evidence of race discrimination and harassment” and circumstances “wholly consistent with institutional racism”.
It detailed accounts of race discussions being shut down when white students expressed discomfort, Black students feeling pressured to recount trauma and one participant being asked to remain in a room “as we need a Black person in the picture”.
The report also noted at least one separate ongoing race discrimination claim against the institute, outside the scope of its investigation.
Read our breakdown of the probe’s findings and importance here.
A Metanoia Institute spokesperson told Black Current News: “We are aware of the forthcoming employment tribunal hearing involving a small number of former staff.
“As the matter is before the tribunal, it would not be appropriate to comment on the detail at this stage.
“We take our responsibilities as an employer seriously, we dispute all the claims, and we are engaging fully with the legal process.”
Got a news tip or story idea? Submit it via this form. Reader feedback and corrections are welcomed separately here.