In the United Kingdom there are several hypnotherapy organizations. Each organisation has a Code of Ethics and Practise seeking to protect the public and maintain professional standards. Over the years the number of hypnotherapy organisations has proliferated, often associated with particular training schools. There has been a notable lack of co-operation between organisations in coming up with any agreed public standard of training and code of practice for the hypnotherapy profession as a whole. However, progress is now being made in this area.
Distinctions can be made between hypnotherapy bodies affiliated to training colleges and those not affiliated - and between commercially operated organisations and professional membership associations or societies that are "not-for-profit" and are owned and operated by the members - and are required to publish accounts - and between those that are owned and operated by individuals (sole traders).
In addition distinctions can be made between training level requirements. Some organisations will only train those who already have a medical or psychological qualification - e.g. doctors, psychologists, nurses, dentists - and believe that it is unethical to practice if one has only been trained in hypnosis. Length of training is also important, some associations accredit members or training courses based on 7 days of classroom training, others accredit distance learning, others require 120 hours of classroom training.
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Since 2010 the Health Professions Council in the UK has regulated the practice of, amongst others, medicine, psychology, speech therapy, and occupational therapy. They ensure that practitioners are genuine, registered, and meet national standards. There are move for psychotherapists and counsellors to be regulated by the HPC in the near future. Hypnotherapy is not covered by HPC regulation.
Hypnotherapy is currently unregulated in the UK. However, following recommendations made by the House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology (1999), discussions have taken place into the voluntary self-regulation (VSR) of hypnotherapy. This process was originally overseen by The Prince's Foundation for Integrated Health, which closed down permanently in May 2010. The Prince's Foundation supported the endeavours of the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council who have been involved in discussion with UKCHO and WGHR over the voluntary self-regulation of hypnotherapy in the UK. It is claimed by WGHR that in a survey they conducted it determined that only 7% of the profession want to see VSR via the CNHC and that the majority of hypnotherapists do not see themselves as "complementary therapists" and want to see discrete regulation for the profession. WGHR has not published the survey. UKCHO has conducted no such survey, but is a democratic body that represents the views and policies of its constituent organisations.
Major concerns are raised over hypnotherapy entering the CNHC. Notable among them is that hypnotherapy is a talking therapy such as counselling rather than a complementary therapy like reflexology. The CHNC also has been widely criticised for registering therapies and therapists without reference to the evidence base for their practice. In addition, the CNHC complaints procedure would allow for hypnotherapists to be complained about by other hypnotherapists, irrespective of whether the complaint relates to actual therapy with a client, and that this complaint could then be made public. Finally, many hypnotherapists question the validity of "VSR" arguing that if it's voluntary, it offers no public protection.
Various grades are used across the organisations to indicate the level of training, qualifications and experience of hypnotherapy practitioners. Because different standards are used by different registers it is difficult to compare practitioners. Usually terms such as Licensed, Registered and Accredited signify that the practitioner meets the requirements of the Register. Terms such as Associate or Affiliate may be used in various ways. The Hypnotherapy Society uses "Associate" to distinguish members who are not considered ready to practice and Licentiate, Member and Accredited Member for those who are. Only professional members are listed on the website. For example NCH uses "Associate Membership" for anyone with an interest in Hypnotherapy, but you are not listed as practitioner or are able to use the NCH name, logo or any membership grade letters. By comparison GHR Affiliate Grade (available at Foundation Course level of 50 hours) does confer use of GHR logo, membership grade letters and, critically, a listing in the Registered Hypnotherapist directory pages of the GHR.
Note: Probably the essential point for the public is whether an organisation lists a therapist in their public directory of registered, practising hypnotherapists or not - rather than whether the grade is Licentiate, Affiliate, Accredited etc.
'National Occupational Standards'[1]
In 2002, the Department for Education and Skills developed National Occupational Standards for hypnotherapy linked to National Vocational Qualification based on National Qualifications Framework under The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority. And thus hypnotherapy was approved as a stand-alone therapy in UK. There are now many training schools which claim that their qualifications are "nationally recognised" or "conform to national occupational standards" but there is no way of independently verifying this. In 2010, NOS were revised via Skills for Health and the HRF. Present at the meetings for NOS revisions was Liz McGelligot, who is also Membership Officer for the Hypnotherapy Society, albeit acting in her capacity as a member of the Forum. The new revised standards are much smaller than the previous set.
Claims to be "the largest" professional hypnotherapy body can lead to perceived market leadership, increased status with hypnotherapists and even influence the future direction of hypnotherapy regulation. For example the GHR claims to be the largest hypnotherapy organisation with 3,000+ registered hypnotherapists - however does that mean paying members or merely practitioners on its database? Indeed claimed numbers have changed considerably over the years for this organisation.
| Year | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2010 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claimed GHR practitioner Numbers (source: GHR website homepage) | 3,500 [2] | 7,000 [3] | 8,000 [4] | 3,000+ [5] |
There appears to be no way to verify these numbers or indeed those of any of the organisations (with the exception possibly of NCH who have published their accounts in the NCH Journal and so paid memberships can be calculated, and the Hypnotherapy Society whose accounts are logged at Companies House).
For example the Hypnotherapy Society claims to have over 2,000 members. Accounts logged at Companies House confirm an income of £104,889 in 2010 up from £98,548 in 2009. This is independently verifiable via Companies House. (no reference provided). With existing membership fees at £80 per annum this indicates a membership of 1,311 members. However, a large percentage of HS members only pay £20 per year because of the long standing nature of their membership (student member grades) or cooperation agreements with other organisations. The Hypnotherapy Society's claims to approximately 2,000 members, given its publicly verifiable turnover, are thus reasonable. All HS members listed on the website are full professional practitioner grade members. The Society requires all accredited training schools with over 20 students per year to register those students as members on graduation.
As claims to large membership numbers give representatives of professional bodies seats around the table in claiming to represent the industry when talking to, for example, the Department of Health - and therefore directing the future of hypnotherapy regulation it is important that these claims are verifiable. Being a stakeholder in this field does not rely on membership number claims alone but on a balanced overall view of the organisation taken by relevant Government Departments and NGO's.
It is notable that many hypnotherapy organisations have little transparency - especially with regard to board members, trustees, controlling interests, Annual General Meetings, election of officers and use of funds.
For example The Hypnotherapy Society claims income in excess of £104,000 per annum. Yet there are no published accounts to show what the income is used for. The General Hypnotherapy Register has unpublished income - however if one is to believe the claim of 3,000 members then income is above £220,000 per year. The costs of the GHR are likely to be minimal with a simple website, a monochrome 4 page quarterly newsletter and a home office run by the owner, William Broom. (However this is a commercial for-profit entity.) The NCH, by comparison, has been publishing its accounts (since under new leadership) in the NCH quarterly journal. To achieve greater transparency published accounts could be published on their website.)
The General Hypnotherapy Register (GHR) is a non-affiliated commercial sector (for-profit) agency, operated under a legal partnership agreement (and therefore is not a Limited Company registered at Companies House). It is VAT registered with VAT No. 875802005. It describes itself as "the Administrating Agency for The General Hypnotherapy Standards Council (GHSC)".[6] It claims to have 3000+ individual practitioners on its register (as well as an unspecified number of non-practitioners in "preliminary registration") and so claims to be the largest professional register for practising hypnotherapists in the UK. As a commercial operation under partnership status it is not required to publish its accounts. Annual Membership Fees are £70-£80 per annum for practitioners as well as a one time joining fee of £15 and an optional £15 for a printed display certificate. Student membership is offered free during training.[7]
Note on relationship between GHSC & GHR: GHSC and GHR appear to be intrinsically linked to each other and do not appear to operate independently. GHSC [8] is the advisory arm of the GHR providing an essential role assessing and validating the courses of training for external course providers. The validation of courses and training by GHSC is utilised exclusively by the GHR as part of the GHR's membership criteria. GHSC also issues awards exclusively to GHR members, which GHR promotes as one of the benefits of membership. GHSC makes no charges to colleges and training schools who have their courses and training validated by the GHSC - however GHSC states that:
“Although there is NO FEE payable for GHSC Training Course Assessment & Validation, participating organisations are expected to advise all graduate students to consider individual Registration with the GHR.It is anticipated that a minimum of five such graduates will take up Registration each year. Additionally, all participating organisations are expected to utilise the GHR/GHSC Logos within their printed material and to include an active link to the GHR/GHSC websitesfrom their own site.” [9]
It is of note that the Registrar of both GHR and GHSC is the same individual, William Broom.
The National Council of Hypnotherapy (NCH) is a non-affiliated members association and a not-for-profit body with 1800 members. It is registered with Companies House as a private company limited by members' guarantee with no share capital, incorporated in 1996 (Company No. 03195906). It also claims to be the largest hypnotherapy association/society in the United Kingdom (this in contrast to privately owned bodies, which cannot use the term association or society). It is required to file accounts with Companies House and recently published accounts in its quarterly journal. Annual Membership fees are £70/year, student membership is free for one year. Published accounts showed annual income to be £64,000 per annum.[10]
The British Society of Clinical Hypnosis (BSCH) Is a body representing professional hypnotherapists in the UK who are trained to a known and verifiable standard (UKCP accreditation or University accreditation. Currently accepting members from 4 training institutions in the UK that meet its educational and accreditation requirements but this number may soon grow as training standards continue to improve.[11]
The Hypnotherapy Society is a non-affiliated learned society and a not-for-profit body incorporated in 1999, Company Registration No. 03739912[12] Annual Membership fees are £80/annum. The Hypnotherapy Society states in its constitution that "The Society shall maintain a Strategic Alliance with the General Hypnotherapy Standards Council and the General Hypnotherapy Register". [13] It has a cooperation agreement with the Royal Society for Public Health. The Hypnotherapy Society states is not affiliated with any particular training school although the principal also runs Chrysalis Hypnotherapy Training and the Counselling Society
The British Society of Clinical and Academic Hypnosis (BSCAH) is a non-affiliated professional membership organisation. It is a non-profit making registered charity (charity number 1012806) and a company limited by guarantee (number 5120862). BSCAH is a constituent society of both the European Society of Hypnosis and International Society of Hypnosis. It requires that members are already professionally qualified in a recognised caring profession - for example doctors, dentists, nurses, psychologists etc.[14]
The Association for Professional Hypnosis and Psychotherapy (APHP) is a non-affiliated not-for-profit membership organisation. It is a registered company in England (Company registration no. 4135568) and was incorporated in 2001. It has in excess of 600 members Worldwide. Annual Membership fees are £70/annum.[15] The chair/founder, Terence Watts, is also Principal of the Essex Institute of Clinical Hypnosis and graduates form the bulk of members.
The Scottish Hypnotherapy Society is a very new society, founded on 10th October 2011 by two qualified hypnotherapists, Sarah Bartlett & Ingibergur Thorkelsson. [16] It is not-for-profit, awaiting charity status. It is based in Scotland for qualified hypnotherapists working in Scotland. The aims of the society include bringing internationally renowned speakers, trainers and hypnotherapists to Scotland. [17]
| Name | Affiliated? | Ownership Status? | Membership numbers | Full Membership Annual Fees/Joining Fees | Minimum Requirements for Registration/Listing as a Practising Hypnotherapist (No. of classroom/contact hours, NVQs etc.) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| APHP | Affiliated to EICH | Members Association | 600+ Worldwide (unverified) | £70/annum | 120 classroom instruction or equivalent (600 hours total) |
| BSCAH | Affiliated to ESH and ISH | Members Association | 200+ | £60/annum | Prior training in a health profession (e.g. doctor, dentist, psychologist) + hypnosis training |
| BSCH | Not Affiliated | Members Association | 1000 (unverified) | One time only fee (unspecified) | Unknown |
| GHR | Not Affiliated | Commercial Sector | 3000+ (unverified) | £70-80/annum + £15 joining fee + £15 certificate fee (optional) | 50 classroom/contact hours (Affiliate level), NOS compliant |
| Hypnotherapy Society | Affiliated to Chrysalis (strategic alliance with GHR)[18] | Members Association/Learned Society | 2000 (1700 professional members listed on website [19]) | £80/annum, no joining fee, no certificate fee | 150 classroom/contact hours, NVQ Level IV or equivalent plus qualitative assessment. |
| NCH | Not Affiliated | Members Association | 1800 (unverified) | £70/annum, no joining fee, no certificate fee | 120 classroom/contact hours, NVQ Level IV |
| The Scottish Hypnotherapy Society | Not Affiliated | Learned Society/ | under 100 | No joining fee at this time | Diploma in Hypnosis/Hypnotherapy or equivalent, Agree to undertake CPD as per guidelines, Agree to take Supervision & Support as per guidelines, Hold Professional Indemnity and Public Liability insurance before practicing. [20] |