Interview with Judith Bowler

HypnosisAustralia, November 2007

Judith Bowler , compliance and education manager at the Australian College of Hypnotherapy, talks with Dr Tracie O'Keefe DCH, Clinical Hypnotherapist, Psychotherapist & Counsellor
Editorial Director of HypnosisAustralia Online.

TOK: Tell me about your college.

JB: The college is based in Sydney and has been established over 12 years and for the last two years it has been a registered training organisation (RTO). So it delivers government-accredited training in hypnotherapy and Neurolinguistic programming (NLP).

TOK: Accredited by whom?

JB: By the Vocational Education Training Board (VETAB) in NSW. I'm the compliance and education manager.

TO: What is your background?

JB: Primarily for the last 20 years I've worked as an educator but I have also been working as a hypnotherapist, part time. My academic background is that I have Bachelor's degree in Arts and Education, a Master's in Adult Education, an accredited Diploma in Clinical Hypnotherapy, and an Advanced Diploma in Community Welfare Management. In other words I have quite a broad academic background.

TOK: What are the teaching aims that the college is trying to achieve?

JB: The college would say it is trying to turn out exceptional hypnotherapists and because it uses an accredited programmed it is a guarantee to clients the students have achieved a minimum standard. The school undergoes regular audits as to the quality of its education.

TOK: To what levels do you teach and want to teach at the college?

JB: The college at the moment has the highest level of qualification at the Diploma level, but hopefully next year will be presenting a government-accredited vocational Post-Graduate Diploma in Clinical Hypnotherapy, Psychotherapy and NLP. The post-graduate qualification would come in just under a Master's. The Diploma that we teach now is above Certificate IV and would still be considered an undergraduate qualification. Students who have got the Diploma can articulate that at a university and get credits for probably one year off their undergraduate degree.

TOK: Do your students have to do Certificate IV before they can do the Diploma?

JB: No. Students can come in and if they wish to exit at a Certificate IV they can, but we don't specifically teach a certificate VI.

TOK: So how many hours would a student study for the Certificate IV?

JB: I think it is around 830 and that is face-to-face tuition but they would also have to do clinical supervision. For the Diploma it is two semesters, which is 1100 hours that would run over 12 to 14 months but not all of that is face to face. It starts with an eight-day intensive and then there is a weekly tutorial, sometimes done face to face, sometimes on line, depends where students are. The second semester starts with an eight-day intensive and a repeat of the same process and the work online is in real time. Then at the end part of the whole process is a two-day integration, which is basically two days of a practical assessment. Some of the assessment is simulated but sometimes live clients are used in the assessment.

TOK: What kind of supervision do you require to take students to Diploma?

JB: There is 50 hours of clinical supervision and a student would have to do 31 case studies.

TOK: Could you talk about the main theoretical guidelines you teach within hypnotic work?

JB: The school's basic philosophy is Ericksonian supported by the works of clinicians like Michael Yapko and Steven Gilligan, and although we teach in all major schools, in truth our thrust is Ericksonian. We would also teach a lot of NLP as part of the repertoire. We do also teach the Elman technique and all students can do a rapid induction.

TOK: Where do you want the profession to go?

JB: Hypnotherapy is a wonderfully gentle highly effective therapy and I would really like to see true professional recognition. I think for that to happen educational requirements need to be at a minimum level and I would like to see that there was a degree offered in hypnotherapy. I think maybe it might be hypnotherapy and counselling but there is enough of a body of knowledge now for it to be explored at that level.

TOK: What do you see as the obstacles for the profession?

JB: Traditionally there has been a very wide variety of standards excepted and a wide variety of ways people have developed their skills and there has not been a common requirement. I think the imposition of a common standards will be quite difficult and I it will be problematic within the profession. However, the Australian Qualification Framework is going to require, at some stage in the not too distant future, the setting of a national curriculum and I do think that will liberate the profession to grow the way it should.

TOK: Who are your hypnotic heroes and heroines?

JB: The man himself. Milton Erickson was magic. I mean really he had both the art and the science. He was a remarkable man. When you look at him on video it is quite hard to understand him because he is so subtle when you think how he did that. Every time you look at it you just get more and more each viewing. He was just amazing.

TOK: What are your thoughts on regulation?

JB: I would like to see the industry self-regulated but I would like to see registration required so that clients would know that to be a hypnotherapist, on the national register, would be a guarantee that the practitioner operated a minimum national standard. It would also help bind therapists to codes of conduct via peer review. If it is left to others to step in and impose regulations they will not understand the subtlety of the profession so we need to do something. I think probably the minimum standards for the register should be a Diploma level, with clinical supervision and a minimum number of clients treated.

For more information on courses held at the Australian College of Hypnotherapy, phone (02) 9550 9673. The Academy's website is at www.careerinhypnosis.com.au

©HypnosisAustralia, November 2007