In the last few days hypnotherapy has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. A trial is underway in Scotland where a hypnotherapist has been accused of assaulti
ng a client during a session and a victim of a man who assaulted her while she was under hypnosis has spoken out about her experiences. There are horrific situations and the National Council for Hypnotherapy’s board of directors is deeply saddened by these shocking events. The NCH is the UK’s leading not-for-profit hypnotherapy professional association, representing close to 2,000 professional hypnotherapists.
Complementary therapy, from counselling to mindfulness in the UK is largely unregulated; anyone who chooses to can call themselves a therapist or coach without any training or background checks. The NCH was established in 1973 to bring unity to this unregulated environment. All hypnotherapists who are members of the NCH have completed training which meets National Occupational Standards (NOS) for the field. They also agree to adhere to a code of conduct and ethics in which they agree to keep high standards of personal conduction and not to do anything that would adversely affect someone’s treatment or confidence in them. In addition to this, all members are required to have comprehensive Public Liability & Professional Indemnity Insurance, undertake regular continuing professional development training, and attend supervision.
All members of the NCH meet the requirements laid out for registration with the Complementary & Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC) – a council set up by the government to protect the public. Whether our members have chosen to join the CNHC, they have voluntarily agreed to meet these standards because they are committed to providing a high level of care to their clients within stringent ethical boundaries.
The NCH provides a Complaints & Disciplinary Procedure which ensures that clients receive the highest possible quality of treatment from hypnotherapists who are members of their organisation. As the NCH, we can only minimise risk, like any other professional association, in any other field. We will always be reliant on well trained, caring, decent people following our regulations. We set a level of standard to join our organisation, and we have to trust that with the criteria met; training ongoing CPD and Supervision, that people are inherently ‘good’ and are therapists because they want the best for their patients/clients.
Hypnotherapy can be helpful for many different problems from mental health difficulties including anxiety, depression and stress to physical issues such as insomnia, weight management, or skin conditions. Several NHS trusts have introduced hypnobirthing as part of their antenatal classes and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends hypnotherapy to treat IBS.
To ensure that you are working with a trained, insured and registered hypnotherapist, please use our therapist finder, our therapists are located all over the UK so you’re sure to find someone near you.