The Health and Social Care Act 2012, as amending the Health Care Professions Act 2002, provides for the Professional Standards Authority to accredit Registers of health and social care practitioners which meet the Authority's standards.
The National Hypnotherapy Society holds the first and only current hypnotherapy register to be accredited by the Professional Standards Authority under its Accredited Registers programme. An Accredited Register is the result of the programme set up by the Department of Health, and administered by the Professional Standards Authority who are an independent body, accountable to Parliament.
The Professional Standards Authority accredits registers of people working in a variety of health and social care occupations. The Authority also oversees statutory registers such as the General Medical Council and Nursing and Midwifery Council.
The AR programme was set up to provide assurance on the standards of voluntary registers, and is the best way to promote quality within the field of Hypnotherapy.
Being accredited under the AR programme offers enhanced protection to anyone looking for Hypnotherapy services which includes:
- Members of the public seeking a Registered Hypnotherapist
- Qualified Hypnotherapists seeking to become Registrants
- Hypnotherapists on our register, also known as registrants, will be able to display the AR quality mark, as a sign that they belong to a register which meets the Authority's rigorous standards.
Members of the public will, from now on, be encouraged to choose a practitioner who belongs to a register which has been vetted and approved by the Authority. The AR programme was set up by the Department of Health to ensure that the public are able to choose safe, ethical and competent professionals for their health and social care needs.
The Society's position on standards
Hypnotherapy is a modality of psychotherapy or counselling.
The Society's official position is that hypnotherapy should be considered as part of psychotherapy and counselling. Without a hypnotherapist having a knowledge of psychotherapeutic or counselling practice, skills, development, ethics, boundaries and diagnostic skills, there could be the potential for an increased risk to public health due to a lack of knowledge of mental or emotional illness.
We therefore campaign for hypnotherapy to be seen, not in isolation, but as a form of psychotherapy and counselling.
National Recognition
The Society's standards of entry to the Register are benchmarked against Ofqual levels, where a Level 4 Diploma is required for entry to the Register and further training is required for progression in membership. By benchmarking against Ofqual Levels the Society is demonstrating our commitment to ensuring that hypnotherapy training is independently verifiable as meeting national standards.
In addition, standards are benchmarked against Skills for Health National Occupational Standards.
History of the Society's involvement in Regulation
Before becoming the first hypnotherapy register accredited by the Authority, the Society has been represented at numerous meetings over the years including at the Prince's Foundation for Integrated Health, Skills for Health and others. We co-founded the Working Group for Hypnotherapy Regulation and were central to the establishment of National Occupational Standards. We also have a cooperation agreement with the Royal Society for Public Health.
Page reviewed: 05/05/2021
Next Review: 05/05/2022