Professional Society Membership
for
UKCHT Graduates

This page explains the background to professional registration of private therapists in the UK and gives details of the societies that our graduates may apply to join.

Introduction

The UK has remarkable common-law freedom when it comes to the talking therapies and many other complementary therapies. Basically, unless you are actually working with the body or giving remedies, anyone may practise legally as a therapist, as long as you are not diagnosing or giving medical advice. UK colleges in the private sector offering therapy and personal development courses are often linked to just one professional register or society. Frequently, this society or register is not independent and is owned by the school or founded by its principal. This means that graduates of other schools are not allowed to join the society.  The result is an ever increasing number of professional societies which is confusing to the general public. Health and New Age magazines and media often focus on a few societies and ignore the rest, giving the misleading impression that only the societies they list (or advertise) are available.  Attempts at setting up profession-wide registration bodies or umbrella bodies have only added further to the confusion as there are quite a few such bodies competing against each other, each claiming an important role in establishing a definitive public register.

There are several government-accredited awarding schemes for vocational qualifications including NVQ, NCFE and ASET and there are also "National Occupational Standards".  However though these are commendable there is no universal agreement on their acceptance by the professions themselves, and they are ignored by the top therapy organisations whose training courses are lengthy and expensive and cannot be done by distance learning.  They also tend to be ignored by the National Health Service when it comes to recruiting therapists.  Moreover, sometimes these vocational qualifications are not specifically designed for admission to independent professional societies, which still leaves schools with the need to set up their own associations or to find associations to join! 

For years there has been debate about more regulation of complementary therapies within the UK. However though certain physical therapies have or are becoming regulated, there is widespread professional opposition from all levels of the talking-therapy professions to state regulation and it is a very contentious issue. The current coalition government appears to have no plans to regulate the talking therapies. We will publish reports from time to time but the latest assessment is that freedom of practice for talking therapies will probably continue in the UK for the foreseeable future.

Certain disciplines are likely to stay outside any regulatory framework whatever may happen politically, and these include NLP, Life Coaching, Stress Management, Relaxation Therapy and Emotional Freedom Techniques. Those disciplines tend to be unregulated overseas too, and are good choices for those who wish to use talking therapies with people in countries that have strict control over the traditional "labels" of counselling, psychotherapy and sometimes hypnotherapy.  

Our own linked professional association - The Institute for Meridian Psychotherapy and Associated Complementary Therapies (Inst. M.P.)

The Inst.M.P. was originally totally independent from us, and was founded by Dr. Antony Edwards, ND, MD(MA), PhD, Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, in 2003.  Our Principal, Morris Berg, joined the Institute and became a Life Fellow. Morris Berg subsequently applied for the accreditation of the UKCHT's course in EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) by the Inst.M.P.  That accreditation was granted. Then the opportunity arose for the Institute to change hands and it was acquired by Morris Berg, who is now its Director of Studies, in 2011. All therapy-related UKCHT courses have been grandfathered into accreditation or approval by the Inst.M.P. at appropriate membership grades, which strengthens the courses that UKCHT offers.

The Inst.M.P. is unlike other societies linked to a school through common ownership. The Institute has amalgamated with another association and will consider applications from people trained at other schools. Various divisions are being set up enabling the Institute to have members practising a wide range of therapies. At least one other major UK distance learning complementary medicine college recommends its students to the Institute under a pre-existing agreement.

At the time this website was launched (June 2011), the new Inst.M.P. website at http://www.holliance.org/imp/ is still being developed, and more information will be available there soon.

Some UKCHT courses, which are not in themselves therapy qualifications, are accredited or approved by Inst.M.P. for professional development purposes. If you see that wording in a course description, it means that the Inst.M.P. recognises the educational merit of the course, but course graduates will be considered for Inst.M.P. Licentiateship or full membership provided they also have a practitioner qualification in a relevant discipline.

Other professional societies

As well as potential membership of the Inst.M.P., we believe in giving our students and graduates the opportunity to apply to other professional bodies that can take into account not only their training with us but their whole background in relevant skills and qualifications.

Our Principal, Morris Berg, is a member or fellow of various professional bodies and can advise on applications to the following:

Counselling (a registered UK charity) http://www.counselling.ltd.uk (UK only)

Counselling is an organisation that offers UK residents the chance to register as counsellors if they have any counselling-related certificate, from introductory standard onwards, that is acceptable to the organisation. Counselling has no connection with The National Counselling Society (see below).  Any of our qualifications bearing the word "counselling" in the title may be used to apply to Counselling for membership.  This is an ideal step onto the professional recognition ladder if you are beginning your formal counselling practice, whether voluntary or in a paid capacity. Counselling has a code of professional ethics and can recommend a professional indemnity insurance scheme. A certificate of registration is also available.

The National Counselling Society (UK and also overseas subject to restrictions) http://www.nationalcounsellingsociety.com 

The National Counselling Society is a prestigious private UK body for independent counsellors and psychotherapists from diverse backgrounds.  The NCS will consider all relevant qualifications from any suitable college towards eventual accredited counsellor status and you will be advised what further education to take to meet the required standards.

The National Hypnotherapy Society  (UK and also overseas subject to restrictions) http://www.nationalhypnotherapysociety.com  

Although we do not offer a basic professional qualification in hypnotherapy at present, we encourage hypnotherapists from any background to apply to the HS. The HS will consider all relevant qualifications from any suitable college towards eventual accredited hypnotherapist status and you will be advised what further education to take to meet the required standards.  The HS does not accredit any of our courses at present because it only accredits courses with a substantial component of classroom study. However our courses (especially our professional development courses) can be included in your portfolio of qualifications when applying to the HS. (Note: the initials HS here are used as an abbreviaton for the National Hypnotherapy Society.

The Association for Transpersonal Hypnotherapy

We regret to inform visitors to this site that the Association for Transpersonal Hypnotherapy has now closed.

Certain professional organisations (for example the National Guild of Hypnotists, USA) will accept a wide range of certificates for their continuing education requirements, and our course certificates and diplomas in psychological, personal growth and therapy-related fields may be submitted for such purposes.

Our courses are recognised for degree credit, via Calamus Extension College Ltd., by Calamus International University (an overseas university), which offers distance degrees - please visit http://www.unicalamus.org  (CIU is a non-UK, non-government-accredited, distance learning university).

In Ireland, our business-related courses are recognised by the Institute of General Management and  by the Institute of Hospitality Management Ireland Ltd.  These bodies accept international members: please ask us if you are interested in membership and we will give you further details.

Register of Trauma Specialists  http://www.traumaregister.co.uk/

"The Register of Trauma Specialists (RTS) exists to promote the services of trauma support workers and therapists with a special interest in assisting with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and trauma related conditions and syndromes." (RTS home page)

We recommend that any therapist with relevant expertise and experience considers applying for membership of the RTS.

Further specialist professional organisations you should know about

The societies below do not accredit or approve any UKCHT courses at this time but they are recommended for helpers with appropriate qualifications and/or expertise. In particular, we recommend that any person providing intuitive or psychic services consider joining the SWA, which will consider applicants with a wide variety of backgrounds on their merits.

The Spiritual Workers Association http://www.theswa.org.uk/

"The Spiritual Workers Association is a UK based Guild of Spiritual Workers and Spiritualistic Service Providers as well as an international umbrella group for all spiritual minded people." (SWA home page).

We recommend that anyone providing spiritual, intuitive or psychic services join the SWA or at least browse their website for important information on UK consumer protection regulations. The SWA can also offer a professional indemnity insurance scheme for suitable practitioners.

Statement

UK College of Holistic Training is a private distance learning school of further and adult education and is not within the UK state education system. It does not itself teach national or government-recognised qualifications but instead caters for independent professionals, workers in the private sector and other students world-wide seeking distance learning for professional and personal development. In the UK, there is no compulsory recognition, accreditation or licensing system for private adult education. UKCHT/Kadmon certificates and diplomas are fully legal and 100% genuine United Kingdom qualifications. Our independence means that we are able to offer courses in unconventional subjects.  

From May 2013 our collaboration with a major developer of nationally accredited qualifications means that we are starting to offer a range of NCFE and QCF-accredited courses to our students. Further details are appearing on this site as courses become available.

If you are intending to use one of our qualifications outside the UK, you must make local enquiries regarding appropriate qualifications and any necessary licences and types of accreditation needed. Regulations differ from country to country and it is necessary to enquire with authorities and professional bodies in the country or state where you want to work. We cannot make these enquiries on your behalf and we cannot maintain accurate details of all worldwide requirements for all fields of study that we offer. 

This page last updated May 2013

Broken links? Please report to kadcourses@tiscali.co.uk .