FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQs) 

INDEX to FAQS

Q1         How can I get news of your courses?
Q.2           Do you supply a complete catalogue of all courses?
Q.3           What is the legal status of your certificates and diplomas?
Q.4           What is the difference between a certificate and a diploma?
Q.5           What is an Advanced Diploma?
Q.6           Are your courses recognised?
Q.7           Will I be able to join a professional society or professional register of practitioners?
Q.8           Will I be able to get professional insurance?
Q.9           Do I need to buy textbooks?
Q.10         Will I receive a printed diploma and will I be able to use letters after my name?
Q.11         What is required to practise counselling, life coaching or psychotherapy in the UK?
Q.12         Do you provide distance learning courses in hypnotherapy?
Q.13      Will my qualifications be recognised abroad?
Q.14         Do you provide a job placement service?
Q.15         How do students on therapy-related courses get experience and practical training?
Q.16         Do you offer "A" levels, ASET, or NVQ courses?
Q.17         Do you offer payment plans?
Q.18         Can I study with you if I do not use a computer and/or the Internet?
Q.19         Where do I get textbooks for the courses?
Q.20      Do you have scholarships or is financial assistance available?
Q.21         Can you put me in contact with other students?
Q.22         How can you help students with disabilities?
Q.23         Do you have local representatives abroad?
Q.24         Does the UK College of Holistic Training have a campus?
Q.25         Can I obtain an Apostille for my certificate or diploma?
Q.26      Do I have to use your school's initials UKCHT in front of my certificate or diploma letters?
Q.27        What advantage is there in studying the course if I can just read the textbook(s)?

OVERSEAS STUDENTS - Please pay attention to the following questions:  9, 13, 19, 23, 25.

Q. 1         How can I get news of your courses      

A. 1         Please subscribe to our opt-in newsletter using the following link: Subscribe to our newsletter

Q. 2         Do you supply a complete catalogue of all courses 

A. 2         Due to both environmental and cost considerations, we are no longer supplying a complete catalogue by post. The last year we had a printed catalogue was in 2008 but requests for it were very few so it was discontinued. Since then, the cost of postage has risen astronomically. Details of all the courses we offer are on this website. More and more people are using the internet to browse information and details of all available courses are on this website. We do not offer a downloadable catalogue because we are making frequent updates and additions to our range of courses.

Q.3         What is the legal status of your certificates and diplomas

A.3         In the UK - unlike many other countries - private certificates and diplomas (but not degrees) are automatically legal.  A college does not need permission from any government authority to award a valid certificate or diploma in most subjects.  Thus, every UK College of Holistic Training Certificate or Diploma is a genuine British qualification.  Most UK education in the fields of complementary and alternative medicine, personal growth, counselling and hypnotherapy, is run by private colleges, and private schools are to be found offering many other subjects. The UK has a long tradition of private, independent education in many fields.

The name "UK College of Holistic Training" and our former name "Kadmon Academy" are fully owned trading names of our Principal, Morris Berg. There is no government requirement to register the names of private non-limited adult educational colleges.

However, we have been registered on the UK Register of Learning Providers database under UK Provider Reference Number 10028354.  Registration on this list is voluntary. Though this is not an accreditation it is an official acknowledgement that our existence as an education provider has been confirmed by a government agency and our details verified.

From May 2013 we are enrolling people on certain nationally accredited courses with NCFE and QCF recognition. the actual materials and tutorial service are being provided by a trusted, nationally-accredited academic partner.

Q.4           What is the difference between a certificate and a diploma

A.4       The title "diploma" is used widely in the UK for courses which in the US might be called Certificates.  In the UK and most other English-speaking countries (except the USA), a Diploma can mean a course that is more advanced than a Certificate in the same subject, or it can mean a specialised or professional course.  There is no hard and fast rule about what is a Certificate and what is a Diploma, and it will vary depending on the course provider, the field of study, the accrediting body (if any) and other factors. The length of the course may not be a useful indicator of Certificate or Diploma status and one cannot automatically assume that either a Diploma is higher than a Certificate or vice versa. Sometimes, a Certificate from one college will even be a better course than a Diploma from another. Private colleges as well as state education providers issue certificates and diplomas of many kinds in the UK, and the issue of certificates and diplomas for courses of study (and sometimes for professional society memberships) is not regulated.

If you are in the US, or in another country where the word "diploma" is not used or is confusing, we may be able to alter the wording of your award to suit your needs - please enquire.

Q.5        What is an Advanced Diploma

A. 5      A UKCHT course that is called an "Advanced Diploma" typically has much more material than the average diploma offered through UKCHT or similar home study colleges.  Advanced Diplomas are for those who are really dedicated to studying their subject for an extended period.  At least 5 textbooks will normally be used.  Advanced Diplomas also allow people who have gained a Certificate or Diploma at another college to study the subject further. Some subjects will have both Diploma and Advanced Diploma courses offered by UKCHT.  (NB - There is no universally recognised standard for the length or content of private Diplomas or Advanced Diplomas, and the use of the title "Advanced Diploma" is not regulated in the UK.)

Q.6       Are your courses recognised

A.6       This is a common query, though it is hard to answer without specifically asking if a course is recognised by a specific body.  There is no such thing as universal "recognition" of qualifications, and to ensure a course meets your needs, you may need to make enquiries with the bodies or authorities you want the course to satisfy. For details of recognition and links to professional associations, please see our Societies page.

Our college is accredited by the International Association for Distance Learning and most of our therapy-related courses are accredited or approved by the Institute for Meridian Psychotherapy.

Otherwise, if the particular body you are interested in is not mentioned in the course web page, then the course is not accredited by that body.

From May 2013 we are featuring a range of nationally-accredited courses with NCFE or QCF accreditation. Only the specific awards in this range will have those accreditations and the certificates will be issued direct by the national bodies. Any certificates issued by UKCHT will not have NCFE or QCF accreditations. You might therefore get both a nationally-accredited award certificate plus a private UKCHT certificate for the same course. See individual course description pages for the exact awards given in each case.  All NCFE or QCF awards will have their status prominently displayed on the relevant course pages.

If you are outside the UK and wish to use one of our courses for private practice, it is your responsibility to contact the appropriate authorities or professional bodies in your country to see which types of training they will accept.  We cannot do this for you. In many cases there will be specific local requirements.

Q.7     Will I be able to join a professional society or professional register of practitioners

A.7     We have built a special societies page for more information. Please read that page and also the specific course website.

Q.8     Will I be able to get professional insurance

A.8   There are several insurance companies or intermediaries in the UK who handle applications for professional indemnity insurance from complementary therapists, life coaches, etc., and we will give you further information on request.  Contrary to what some training schools say, in most cases it is not necessary to be trained by a particular school or to belong to a particular professional body to get insurance.  The insurance industry does cater for independent therapists. You may also join the insurance scheme of whatever professional society you already belong to, or ask if they will extend your insurance to cover further therapies.

Q.9     Do I need to buy textbooks 

(STUDENTS OUTSIDE THE UK PLEASE READ THIS)

A.9     Up to May 2013, most of our courses required textbooks. It is essential to read the course description on the website to see how many books are needed. Shorter courses may need one or two books. Longer courses may need 6 books or more.

UK students get one free textbook with most shorter courses, but they will need to buy all the necessary books for longer courses.  Students outside the UK do not get any free books and must buy all necessary textbooks. We do not sell books and students should be able to buy from one of the major Internet bookstores such as Amazon.com  Please budget for the cost of books, plus the cost of airmail postage depending where you are. Students in developing countries in particular will need to be very careful to ensure they have sufficient funds for course fees, books and airmail postage.

Please read each course description in this website carefully to see whether there is a free book entitlement. We reserve the right to make changes at any time - information on this website will sometimes be more up to date than information appearing on third-party databases where we advertise our courses, since it takes time to publish any changes on all the internet directories where we advertise our courses.

When deciding if a student is regarded as "in the UK" for free book purposes, what counts is where the student is physically present when he/she enrols for the course. The student's nationality, country of permanent residence or permission to stay in the UK are not taken into account. In other words, we ask ourselves, "Can we ship the book to a UK address using inland post"?  The Channel Islands and the Isle of Man count as parts of the UK. BFPO addresses also count as part of the UK.

From May 2013 we are launching access to a range of entirely self-contained, nationally accredited courses that do not require you to buy any books. Details of those courses will appear on our site over time.

Q.10    Will I receive a printed diploma and will I be able to use letters after my name

A.10   All UK College of Holistic Training graduates will receive a handsomely printed certificate or diploma suitable for framing.  Most courses will have designatory letters which can be used after the student's name, for example Dip. S.M.R. for the Diploma in Stress Management and Relaxation.  If you subsequently join a professional association,  you will be able to use whatever letters are permitted by the association for your grade of membership.

Our new range of nationally accredited courses will have their own printed certificates.

Q.11     What is required to practise counselling, life coaching or psychotherapy in the UK

A.11    In the UK, there is no compulsory government regulation of the professions of counselling, psychotherapy, stress management, life coaching or hypnotherapy. In theory, people can practise those professions with no formal qualifications at all, but that would not be wise and you have a moral obligation to have training if you are working as a professional. There are several major bodies who claim to be the most prestigious and well-recognised professional associations in the field. To take a training accredited by one of those bodies takes years, involves classroom attendance and extensive personal therapy, and is very expensive in terms of time and money.  Many people drop out because they cannot afford to continue, and so those prestigious trainings are more and more restricted to an elite who have the wherewithal to stay in training, or who are lucky enough to obtain very scarce funding. 

However, due to the unique educational freedom that exists in the UK for therapy training, there are hundreds of private training bodies linked with dozens of smaller professional associations in all areas of the country, that provide professional courses in counselling and psychotherapy in different formats. Part of this market comprises the schools who offer distance learning in counselling and psychotherapy.  Distance learning in those fields is well-established and UKCHT is proud to be one of the providers in this area.  Our distance learning counselling/therapy courses are ideally aimed at people who have some formal or informal experience of counselling or helping: there are nurses, teachers and mental health workers amongst our students.  The courses can also be taken for personal interest.  To get practical experience, we suggest that students contact local volunteer and self-help groups who often have places for volunteer counsellors. Such groups will often offer additional specialised training.

The insurance industry has not insisted on qualifications from particular schools for indemnity insurance purposes, giving the clearest indication of all that there is no extra risk of malpractice at the hands of someone trained by one school as opposed to another.  The insurance industry also does not insist on insured counsellors and therapists being supervised. This is information that probably no other teaching institution will tell you. Please read the conditions of your insurance policy and/or the guidelines on your insurance application very carefully and if you have any queries about them please ask your insurance provider.

For further information see our Societies page.

Q.12    Do you provide distance learning courses in hypnotherapy

A.12    In the hypnotherapy field, we have decided to concentrate on certain advanced courses for qualified and experienced hypnotherapists. However we are pleased to introduce one or more distance learning hypnotherapy trainings from well-established trainers in the USA, and these will be featured in our E-learning section.

Q.13     Will my qualifications be recognised abroad

(STUDENTS OUTSIDE THE UK PLEASE READ THIS)

A.13     Unlike school-leaving qualifications and accredited university degrees, many professional qualifications and trades are not easily transferable from one country to another, even if they are from the most prestigious UK institutions.  Due to the tradition of professional freedom that still exists in the UK, people with counselling and psychotherapy qualifications from all over the world can practise in the UK, especially privately, but UK-trained therapists might find that their training is not as portable abroad.

If you already have adequate qualifications to work in a non-UK country, or if there is no particular control in your state over the field in which you wish to practise, you may use our qualifications abroad.  In all other cases, we suggest you obtain local advice in the country and/or state in which you wish to practise.  In the USA, Canada and Australia, you should check with the state authorities as regulations can differ considerably from state to state, and you could be allowed to practice lawfully in one state but not in the next one.  State regulations can also change from time to time.

Our general advice is to always make extensive regional enquiries if you are considering practising abroad, and talk to local practitioners and professional associations to find out what you may need.

UKCHT qualifications are not accredited by any government-approved body giving automatic recognition outside the UK.  However, like all other UK qualifications, our courses attract interest internationally, and many students take our courses because they already meet the conditions for practice in their own country, and they wish to study with us for further or specialist education.

From May 2013 we are providing access to nationally-recognised courses accredited by the NCFE or QCF.  Courses in that range will lead to the award of special NCFE or QCF qualifications which will be respected abroad in cases where a UKCHT qualification alone might not.  Students from any country may enrol on these nationally accredited programmes that we are allowed to offer by agreement.

Q.14     Do you provide a job placement service

A.14     The UK College of Holistic Training does not have a job placement service.  Our qualifications are mainly for self-employed professionals and may also be taken for personal interest and professional development.  Employers who are interested in our graduates are welcome to contact us with view to placing a vacancy announcement on our website or in our newsletter.

Q.15    How do students on therapy-related courses get experience and practical training

A.15    Many students are already practising some form of counselling, therapy or helping and take our courses to further their professional knowledge and gain professional qualifications.  Ways of practising certain techniques taught in our courses can include practice on family and friends and becoming a volunteer counsellor or helper with a local self-help or voluntary counselling service such as (in the UK), Mind, Victim Support, The Samaritans, a self-help group for a particular illness or condition, a church-related counselling service, or a hospital patient support group.  Often, groups will make arrangements for further specialist training or skills courses.  We do not arrange placements with such services: we suggest that students make local enquiries.

Q.16    Do you offer "A" levels, ASET, NCFE or NVQ accredited courses

A.16    The UKCHT does not offer Advanced Level tuition or National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) courses.

In 2013 we are beginning to offer some NCFE and QCF accredited courses. Details of these will appear on our website as they are available. In the meantime , unless a course description specifically says that it is NCFE or QCF accredited, it does not have that accreditation. These national accreditations will NOT be given retrospectively to any existing private UKCHT courses. Those accreditations do not belong to us per se but to the course developers of the specific programmes.

Q.17    Do you offer payment plans

A.17    From April 2013, we have made the decision to no longer offer any payment plans for the foreseeable future. If applicants need credit, we suggest that applicants arrange their own credit by paying by card which we can arrange through PayPal or Google Wallet.

Also see Question 20 below.

Q.18   Can I study with you if I do not use a computer and/or the Internet

A.18   In most cases, yes if you are doing one of UKCHT's own courses.  Study may be carried out entirely by correspondence provided the course does not use multimedia material.  However you will need to buy books for certain courses so you should be able to arrange to purchase these from a bookshop. We might charge extra fees for manual delivery of certain courses especially to overseas due to high postage costs. We can also quote you for shipping textbooks for your course to your address. If we do that we will need to charge a handling fee as we do not make any profit or commission on sale of books.

If you are enrolling for an NCFE or QCF-accredited qualification, you will need a computer to access the Internet and receive email.

Q.19    Where do I get textbooks for the courses

You will need textbooks if you are doing a course developed by UKCHT.  If you are doing one of the NCFE or QCF-accredited courses that we are offering from 2013, the course will be self-contained and you will not need to buy books.

(STUDENTS OUTSIDE THE UK PLEASE READ THIS)

A.19    The College does not normally sell books.   If you have access to the Internet it is easy to buy books from amazon.co.uk in the UK or amazon.com in the US.

We are now giving links on the course description page to amazon.co.uk and amazon.com for the required course books and also for some other suggested reading.

Books can often be obtained second-hand from www.abebooks.co.uk or www.abebooks.com We will also give advice on finding second-hand copies or where to get any title that is hard to obtain. 

NB - some shorter courses come complete with textbooks for UK students (overseas students will need to buy the books separately).

International Internet bookstore - The BOOK DEPOSITORY -  www.bookdepository.co.uk offers FREE air mail shipping for books to most countries of the world. Visit their website to see if they can ship books to your country.

We recommend the following international on-line bookstores for our overseas distance learning students:

INDIA ON-LINE BOOKSTORES - www.firstandsecond.com

AUSTRALIA ON-LINE BOOKSTORES - www.booktopia.com.au,  www.svb.com.au, www.holisticpage.com.au, www.bookworm.com.au , www.dymocks.com.au www.buyaustralian.com  www.biblioz.com 

GERMANY - www.amazon.de

JAPAN - www.amazon.jp

USA - www.amazon.com  (also www.abebooks.com for used books)

SOUTH AFRICA INTERNET BOOKSTORE / ON-LINE BOOKSTORE  - RED PEPPER BOOKS http://www.redpepperbooks.co.za/

Q.20     Do you have scholarships or is financial assistance available

A.20     We regret that we have no scholarships and that UKCHT courses are not participants in any government grants or funding of any kind, due to the amount of red tape that would involve.

It is the student's responsibility to ensure that he or she has the means to pay for the course.  To avoid the waste of your time and ours, please only send an application form or contact us if you know that you can pay for the course.

Q.21    Can you put me in contact with other students

A.21    Most private distance learning colleges do not have facilities for student contact.  The stringent requirements of UK and EU Data Protection legislation prevent us from giving you details of other students without their permission. We do not ask people to volunteer to be contactable, as the volume of enquiries they would get could quickly become a nuisance, and incidents of harassment could not be ruled out.  We do not provide an on-line forum where the public could chat to students, because such a facility would be open to all sorts of spam and abuse and we would have to spend valuable time monitoring it, thus increasing the cost of fees. So, although in an ideal world we would like to provide contact with students, the legal and practical limitations, plus safety and ethical considerations, make such a service unfeasible at present. 

Q.22    How can you help students with disabilities

A.22    How we can help depends on the individual case. Most courses use textbooks published by mainstream publishers and provided students can read the books or obtain assistance with reading them, we can assist by supplying our instructions in large print, accepting assignments recorded in mp3 format, or co-operating with a helper who writes/records the work for the student.  We can provide feedback and tutorial support by the most suitable means at our disposal. We will make allowances for dyslexia and suggest alternative assessment methods where appropriate.  We have had deaf and partially-sighted students as well as those with dyslexia.  No attendance is required at any time so difficulties with travel are not a problem.  Where a student has a helper or carer to assist with learning activities, we are prepared to offer a free place on the course to the helper/carer so that both he/she and the disabled person receive the qualification.  (However, one place must be paid for.)

The inability of publishers to provide versions of their books and materials suitable for the blind and partially-sighted is an industry-wide problem, and most educational texts and other serious books are only available in visual form.  Using software that can read printed text aloud may help some students.

Q.23    Do you have local representatives abroad 

(STUDENTS OUTSIDE THE UK PLEASE READ THIS)

A.23    The UK College of Holistic Training is being advertised internationally on the Internet, where people all over the world can find us.  All our distance learning is administered from the UK. At present we do not have any representatives or agents overseas and we are not seeking such representation.  Any possible representatives in the future will be recruited from amongst our own students who have first-hand knowledge of how we operate, and who are able to assist in tutorial work.  We cannot, at this time, promise that such positions will become available.

If you find anyone outside the UK claiming to offer UKCHT courses, please check with us first and let us know their full details!

Q.24    Does the UK College of Holistic Training have a campus

A.24    Like many other private schools providing tuition in therapy, alternative  and social-science related fields, the UKCHT does not have a campus.  Our Central London address (which we have used for many years) handles our mail and our telephone and fax communications are based in London.  All communications are routed to the Principal and/or tutors as necessary. 

In the UK, even many institutions that provide classroom training in alternative and complementary therapies do not have their own college building or campus. Typically, they hire rooms in universities and other venues to conduct their classes.

Q.25    Can I obtain an Apostille for my certificate or diploma 

(STUDENTS OUTSIDE THE UK PLEASE READ THIS)

A.25    The Apostille is a government seal that, in the UK, is given to notarised documents to certify that they are legal in any country that subscribes to the Hague Convention.  (The Hague Convention is an international agreement for recognition of foreign documents.)  The Apostille can also be used in other countries where it might help to establish that the document is legal.  In the UK, Apostilles are issued by the Foreign and Commonwealth office of the British government.

In principle, it is possible to obtain an Apostille for your UK College of Holistic Training certificate or diploma and we can recommend a private agency who will arrange for notarisation and Apostille.

However, this process can be very expensive and can cost more than your diploma tuition fees!  The document first has to be notarised by a Notary Public.  Notarial fees, and the associated courier and Apostille costs, are very expensive in the UK and Ireland. If you want the service, expect to pay several hundred pounds.

Also, although the Apostille indicates that the document is genuine and legal, it is still necessary for you to check what qualifications you need in the country you wish to practise in.  Having an Apostille for a certificate does not mean you can automatically set up a practice anywhere outside the UK.  Local laws in other countries and states may make you obtain extra qualifications, licenses and permissions before you can practise your chosen therapy.  It is essential to get local expert advice about what qualifications or permissions you need. 

Q.26     Do I have to use your school's initials (UKCHT) in front of my certificate or diploma letters?

A.26     Some of our main competitors award qualifying letters for their courses that include the initials of the school. We believe that using the school's initials in this way has disadvantages. In most cases, it tells everyone instantly that you have a distance learning qualification, and if you have several diplomas from the same school, the initials of all of them can look rather silly - imagine putting UKCHT Dip. ABC, UKCHT Dip.XYZ, UKCHT Cert.CDE, and so on after your name. Our practice is to avoid this "alphabet soup" and just use simpler designations for our qualifications.

Asking you to use your school's initials on your business card, in your advertising, etc. is essentially asking you to give free advertising for the school. It is a marketing strategy, plain and simple. We could use it if we wanted, but we prefer other ways of marketing that don't require graduates to use our "logo" every time they list their qualifications from us. We are always happy, of course, for people to say that they gained their qualifications from UKCHT, and we are even happier when our graduates recommend other students to us. And we are delighted when practitioners display our certificates on the walls of their consulting rooms.

Even if you are advised by another school that your diploma letters include the initials of the school, you do not have to use them. You can simply say that you have a Certificate or Diploma in the subject, or even leave out the school's initials - there is no law that says you have to include them. Certificate or Diploma initials in the private sector are mostly unregulated in the UK, though you should take reasonable care not to make it appear that you have some prestigious qualification - to give an extreme example, nobody would use the initials M.D. for a marketing diploma because those initials might indicate Doctor of Medicine.

Q.27        What advantage is there in studying the course if I can just read the textbook(s)?  

A.27         Surprisingly, we do get this question from time to time.  Perhaps some people think that a textbook-based course will not be stimulating or challenging, or perhaps they expect a course always to have its own customised material.  Some courses do have their own specially written texts, but that is no guarantee - unless the provider is a college like the Open University - that the materials will be any better than the content of a carefully selected textbook. In many cases, a well-written and clear textbook can often provide much more than a paraphrase compiled by an in-house course author, no matter who accredits the course.  We know that because we have seen a lot of course materials from many different providers!

The advantages of  taking a course of study rather than just reading are in the mental stimulation that formal study provides, and the satisfaction of  earning a tangible certificate marking the achievement.  Many people who are not interested in a professional qualification come back to us for course after course because they enjoy studying for its own sake.

We all have books on our shelves that we have never read.  Doing a course linked to a book is like having coaching to encourage you to actually study the textbook and relate the information to your life or your practice. The certification acts as your reward for finishing the task as well as a permanent proof of achievement. Some people ask us whether we can create diplomas for books that they already have!  We can consider doing this if we approve of the book, if it is in print and if we think the course is suitable for the UK and international markets. 

The new nationally-accredited NCFE and QCF range of courses that we are offering from 2013 are self-contained so you do not need to buy books. However the best students in any discipline are always well read, so though not required, extra reading will enhance your knowledge and enable you to impress your tutors!