The
inaugural meeting of the Council of Clinical Hypnotherapy
HypnosisAustralia,
November 2006
By
Dr Tracie O'Keefe DCH, Clinical Hypnotherapist, Psychotherapist &
Counsellor
Editorial Director of HypnosisAustralia Online.
In 2004 a
body calling itself the Council of Clinical Hypnotherapists put in a document
to the government claiming to be an umbrella group seeking to represent
the interests of hypnotherapists in Australia. The document claimed to
collectively represent the Australian Hypnotherapists Association, Australian
Society of Clinical Hypnosis, Australian Clinical Hypnotherapists Association,
Australian Academy of Hypnotic Sciences, Australian Association of Clinical
Hypnotherapists and Psychotherapists.
Two years
later the CCH says on its website that it has had its inaugural general
meeting in Victoria and that it has changed its modus operandi to representing
hypnotherapists in general. Apparently the associations did not want to
give up their sovreignty to join together to have the CCH represent them
all collectively. This is no surprise since many hypnotherapy organisations
are often alumini associations attached loosely to financially profitable
schools and fear that loss of control equals loss of profit.
The CCH welcomes
members of other associations to apply to be members and even hypnotherapists
who have never been members of associations. They do not state what the
standard of education or practice they require and one gets the impression
that anyone calling themselves a hypnotherapist may join. While this might
not be true if an association does not clearly publicly state its standards
then they basically mean very little to anyone reading their website.
The CCH says
on its website:
"The goals of the CCH are to unify the profession and ensure that
hypnotherapy is represented by hypnotherapists for hypnotherapists.
The Council
of Clinical Hypnotherapists membership consists of Clinical Hypnotherapists
who have an interest in maintaining high standards of practice and seeing
the profession unite with one voice.
Many of the
hypnotherapists who have joined the CCH have continued to maintain their
membership of their existing associations. Some have joined the CCH having
belonged to other societies in the past, and some have joined who have
never been a member of any hypnotherapy association."
When clicking
on the website one can not view the CCH's code of ethics, requirements
for further ongoing professional development, supervision requirements,
minimum insurance details, complaints procedures or a list of board members
with their curriculum vitae. It does not give the articles of memorandum
of the association or whether there will be a prohibition on stage hypnotists
joining. There are also no proposals on how to elect future board members.
If this association
proposes to represent the hypnotherapy industries it may need to do improve
its current procedures. Many hypnotherapists are highly qualified and
will not want to be members of an association that is not up to speed
and has not fully got to grips with the fundamentals for running a health-related
professional association. For two months Hypnosis Australia Online Journal
tried to get the CCH to answer questions about its association but we
received no responses, either by email, fax or phone. Whilst the CCH is
an excellent idea a national hypnotherapists' association will need to
be far more evolved with higher standards before it will seriously be
considered worth joining by the mass of hypnotherapists.
©HypnosisAustralia,
November 2006
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