Australian Hypnotherapists Going To Work in the UK

HypnosisAustralia, May 2007

By Dr Tracie O'Keefe DCH, Clinical Hypnotherapist, Psychotherapist & Counsellor
Editorial Director of HypnosisAustralia Online.

At the moment there is no legal requirement for counsellors, psychotherapists or hypnotherapists working in the UK to apply to be registered with the government. This, however, this could very soon change because the government is considering bringing in a registration system for such therapists probably within the not too distant future. Although the issues surrounding hypnotherapy being involved in that registration process are still very confused, the case for registration of counsellors and psychotherapists has become very clear over the past few years.

Traditionally many Australians often visit and may live in the UK a few years of their lives as what is termed the European experience. Many Australians may also have relatives in the UK who they might need to take care of for a few years like grandparents or parents. They may also need to work as therapists whilst they are in the UK because therapists have to eat too.

For those who are psychologists they can apply to the British Psychological Society (BPS) and of course must by register by law. For those who are psychiatrists they need to be members of the Royal College of Psychiatry (RCP).

It is difficult to work successfully and make a good living in the UK as a therapist, if one is not a psychologist or psychiatrist, without being a member or certain industry organisations. The two major ones are the British Association of Counselling & Psychotherapy (BACP) and the United Kingdom Council of Psychotherapists (UKCP), both of which have hypnotherapists as members. There are of course many other hypnotherapy organisations in the UK that may be very fine organisations specifically for hypnotherapists but the real numbers game belongs to the two majors.

There are huge advantages in being members of the major two. They are both recognised by the RCP and BPS and thereby their members or registrants are accepted by the medical professions. This means more referrals from GPs and there is a large recognition of these organisations by the general public even though they often engage in political rivalry. Some therapists even belong to both of them although that is not really necessary.

The second windfall that benefits therapists who do belong to these organisations is being able to see patients under the National Heath Service (NHS) which is equivalent to the Australian Medicare. That is, however, only through a referral from a GP and sometimes health authorities take rather a long time to pay the therapist but eventually remuneration does finally arrive. For those also trained as a counsellor or a psychotherapist this is generally the referral that the doctor will give because hypnotherapy itself is not generally billable in the NHS.

To apply to the BACP you have to provide details of your training, numbers of years of practice, practice hours and supervision history. You can apply to be registered as an individual practitioner straight onto their register. It is quite similar to the Australian Counselling Association (ACA) but much larger. It is wise to apply months before you leave Australia because they can be a very slow-moving organisation. What is in their favour, however, is that they are open to therapists trained outside the UK provided they can produce their credentials.

The UKCP is differently organised and requires therapists from abroard to initially register with one of its members originations and then in turn that member organisation may put the therapist forward for registration on the UKCP register. This operates very much the same way as the Psychotherapy And Counselling Federation of Australia (PACFA) does in Australia but again much larger because they have over 5000 therapists on the UKCP register. Entry on the UKCP is only at postgraduate level and training requirements are higher than many trainings accepted in Australia, conforming the European standards.

Whilst the UKCP register is much-respected, the organisation the UKCP has a long reputation of being unwelcoming to therapists trained and registered abroad; and unlike PACFA they are much less friendly to foreign therapists. Many of those member organisations have often been closed shops and would not admit members unless they pay for training courses with associated profit-making schools. Although this is against UKCP policy they have often turned blind eye to this practice and give very poor information to foreign applicants about their procedures or rights of passage.

Of course for working solely in private practice as a hypnotherapist you only need to join one of the smaller hypnotherapy organisations but that is necessary in order to get public liability insurance as many brokers will not get you public liability insurance otherwise. Many of those smaller hypnotherapy organisations are, however, often quite friendly and the staff who run them can be very helpful. There are well respected organisations like the British Association of Medical Hypnosis (BAMH) or the National Register of Hypnotherapists & Psychotherapists. Again therapists must be cautious around issues of closed shops as some associations in the UK will only admit members who have trained at certain UK schools.

With around 70 million people in the UK, which is a fraction of the geographical size of Australia, there is a busier market in the therapy world but of course there are more therapists. For Australian therapists who want to work in the UK it is probably a good idea to start to get your accreditation with a UK professional organisation started at least a good six months before departure.

©HypnosisAustralia, May 2007