Will CoAG And DHA Require the Hypnotherapy Profession to Account For Itself?

HypnosisAustralia, November 2007

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

There can be little doubt that things are on the move for the non-government registered health professionals in Australia, which will ultimately include hypnotherapy. The question at hand at this point is can hypnotherapists sufficiently organise themselves to gain proper recognition? Government regulation or self-regulation of the industry - no matter which - hypnotherapists will need to belong to appropriate bodies in the future to be able to practise effectively.

In fact, because states are moving towards hearing complaints about non-government registered service providers, if you are not in a recognised hypnotherapy association you run the risk of financial ruin should at any time you become subject to litigation from a client. If you have not kept up your appropriate memberships your insurance company may not honour its policy in the event of litigation.

The Coalition of Australian Governments (CoAG) is attempting to move the states towards a position that means that each allied health profession would be self-regulated by its own profession, probably a singular body. Then each body, for each profession, would be either regulated or required to follow certain guidelines. This would lead to a less regulated position with the government having fulfilled a duty to protect the public without getting bogged down with having to regulate the individual professional.

In a parallel move the Department of Health and Ageing (DHA), because of the advent of the Health Insurance Act, is now trying to assess feedback from the different professions in relation to quality assurance requirements for all privately insured services. This is all to do with standards when professional bodies put members forward to health insurance companies as service providers, and the professional standards of those service providers.

The DHA appears to be following CoAG closely and are enthusiastic about seeing a Complementary Health Board set up, just as CoAG wants for allied health professions. For hypnotherapy, as a free standing profession, to be considered under this umbrella, the profession would have to pull together collectively and fast, creating agreed national standards of training and practice. The down side of this situation is that if the profession does not do that soon, then hypnotherapy, as a free standing profession, may be relegated to the auspice of fortune-tellers and soothsayers with only other qualified mental health professionals carrying out hypnosis as an adjunct to their disciplines.

The good news is that in a recent document, the DHA mentioned the Australian Hypnotherapists Association (AHA) as a peak body. The President of AHA, Bruni Brewin, however, informed the DHA in winter 2007 that the AHA is working with a national committee that is attempting to make a singular peak body for the profession.

©HypnosisAustralia, November 2007