Where should you look for your hypnotherapist?

Currently the use of hypnosis for therapeutic purposes is unregulated. The prospective practitioner can choose from a wide number of establishments that offer training, but the courses can vary markedly in quality and duration and the client can face a bewildering choice of therapists to choose from.

Training

As a client it is important to ask questions of the therapist to find out about the nature and depth of the training he or she has received, and more importantly what ongoing supervision, or mentoring, the therapist receives in order that he or she is kept abreast of new developments in the field.

Training at Blue Sky Hypnotherapy has been undertaken at the National College of Hypnosis and Psychotherapy, which was founded in 1977, and has been providing professional training and career development to practising hypno-psychotherapists, running courses in Liverpool, London, Glasgow and Northern Ireland. The College's courses and training standards are independently accredited by the British Accreditation Council for Independent Further and Higher Education (BAC) and the College is a member of the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP).

Professional Body

Together with the training of the practitioner, the second most important consideration for somebody seeking hypnotherapy, is the professional body to which the therapist belongs.

Following Department of Health guidelines that each complementary and alternative medical profession should have a single, central Register of Practitioners, the General Hypnotherapy Register (GHR) was set up. The register is comprised of hypnotherapists that satisfy the criteria as set out by the General Hypnotherapy Standards Council (GHSC) which oversees its work. The GHSC is made up of renowned and experienced practitioners, together with representatives from numerous professional Hypnotherapy organisations. Additionally the GHSC sets the criteria by which practitioners and training organisations are accredited.

Membership of the General Hypnotherapy Register requires:

• Ongoing supervision (for newly qualified practitioners) or peer-to-peer supervision to discuss hypnotherapeutic issues surrounding client-care and ensure standards of treatment and efficacy are maintained

• Continuous Professional Development of the practitioner to ensure that the practitioner's training is kept up to date with new developments in the field

• Feedback to a research project to prove the success of hypnotherapy which will be submitted to the Department of Health for their consideration.

• Strict adherence to a Code of Ethics in all dealings with members of the general public.

These principals have made the General Hypnotherapy Register and General Hypnotherapy Standards Council respected bodies in the field of hypnotherapy and will see its practitioners well placed should regulation of hypnotherapy occur.

National College of Hypnosis and Psychotherapy	British Accreditation Council for Independent Further and Higher Education	General Hypnotherapy Register	National College of Hypnosis and Psychotherapy