Membership Criteria

If you are a practising therapist you can join Complementary Health Professionals as long as you trained with a school that met the National Occupational Standards and Core Curriculum of each therapy and have up to date CPD. If your course was before the current standards were published, we can still accept you if you can evidence CPD in that therapy to keep yourself updated and current. We do have some bridging courses if you need to upgrade.

If you have trained with one of our accredited training providers, we will be able to accept you straight into membership as we have already checked their syllabus for quality assurance against the required standards for the therapies they teach. Some therapies may not have NOS, but they will be checked for their curriculum and quality and all therapists need to have an anatomy and physiology diploma at level 3.

The current national core curricula are held by our voluntary self-regulatory body - the Complementary & Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC). If you would like to view these then here is the link: https://www.cnhc.org.uk/cnhc-core-curricula

01

I have trained to a recognised standard

You can apply to join immediately and need to complete the application form. We will need you to email a copy of your diploma(s), which you can scan in or photograph as long as the details are clear, along with your application form. By submitting the application, you confirm that you will abide by our Code of Ethics and Disciplinary Procedures and will undertake the required CPD each year. You can send in the appropriate fee via Paypal. Go to the membership page and click on the category of membership you decide to have.

What qualifications do you accept for membership?

We accept automatically all applicants who have trained with one of our accredited course providers.

We can also accept any qualification that meets the CNHC core curriculum for the 17 therapies it regulates.

We can accept these VTCT/ITEC courses:

VTCT (ITEC) Level 3 Diploma in Complementary Therapy Treatments: 603/4090/3, 600/4895/5, 500/5497/1

VTCT (ITEC) Level 3 Diploma in Massage: 603/4092/7, 600/5503/0, 500/6067/3

VTCT (ITEC) Level 3 Diploma in Reflexology for the Complementary Therapist: 603/4094/0, 600/5504/2, 500/6499/X

VTCT (ITEC) Level 3 Diploma in Aromatherapy for the Complementary Therapist: 603/4098/8, 600/5505/4, 500/6500/2

We also accept the City & Guilds qualification - Complementary Therapies (7607)

Other ITEC/VTCT courses may be able to apply, but not if they were part of the beauty sector, which has a different set of national standards to that of complementary therapies.

For Aromatherapy, we are happy to accept qualifications that are/were accredited by the IFA and IFPA. We will also accept our own accredited courses, including those that were under our previous name (AAPA).

For Reflexology, we can accept qualifications accredited by ourselves and the AOR, BRA and Professional Reflexology

For Massage, we accept qualifications accredited by us, as well as ABMT, MTI, SMA and SMTO.

For Sports Massage, we will accept level 3 qualifications but for CNHC registration, you really need a level 5 qualification (see our list of accredited training providers for 2 schools that offer this, which are the Jing Advanced Massage level 6 qualification and the NLSSM level 5). We will accept courses accredited by the SMA, the SMTO, and MTI. We accept the Level 3 Focus Awards qualification with the QAN/QRN 610/2324/3 but not the level 4 &5 at this time. Will we also accept L3 qualifications from Active IQ with a view to upgrading clinical skills to level 4/5 with an accepted provider.

For Reiki, we will accept qualifications that have been delivered by a school listed on ours and the Reiki Council website or one that is accredited by The Reiki Association, the Reiki Connection, The Reiki Guild and the UK Reiki Federation. We can offer reiki upgrade courses for reiki qualifications that are not accredited.

We can accept kinesiology qualifications accredited the KF and for craniosacral therapy, by the CSTA. We can also accept Bowen qualifications accredited by BAUK and BTPA.

As a multi-disciplinary association, we are able to look at a whole range of complementary therapies and these above are just the most common ones we see. For all other therapies, please do email us for guidance.

02

I trained many years ago

You may still be able to join as long as you have kept records of your Continuing Professional Development. We accept anyone's CPD and not just our own. Please complete the application form and email in your scanned certificates and list of CPD undertaken.

03

My training was not at the recognised standard

We will be able to help you. If you can send us details of the course you have studied and we will identify any gaps in your knowledge from the current core curricula for you and be able to support you in deciding the best course of action, and what to do next. You can do the extra training you need to bring you up to the required industry standard and do a refresher practical workshop. Please email us your details along with the application form and we won't take any membership fee from you until you can join us.

04

I trained abroad

Again, we will be able to help you. We can assess the training you have done and cross-reference it with the appropriate UK standards. If there are any shortfalls, we can direct you on how to obtain training to gain additional evidence Please complete the application form and we won't take any membership fee from you until you can register.

05

I have been practicing without being a member of any association

If you have been trained at the appropriate standards originally but have been practising without being a member of a professional association for a number of years, having sorted your own insurance and now want to be a part of Complementary Health Professionals, this is still possible. You may not have done any formal CPD but we can interview you on the phone to see how your knowledge has improved as you will have done CPD as a practitioner in your practice. Please complete the application form and we will be in touch. It is possible that we may ask you to do some coursework in the way of case studies so that we can assess your currency and give you support (which will also count as CPD).

06

My training was online only

We can sometimes accept courses completed online where there has been a personal tutor that you have interacted with and your course did not require any bodywork training. All courses must include assessments and case studies, which are individually marked and quality assessed. A good example is our essential oil diploma. We cannot accept any new bodywork diploma that has been completed online only. This is becuase our profession has agreed that these courses need to be done in-class under tutor supervision. The CNHC holds the current core curriculum for 18 therapies, including massage, aromatherapy, sports massage, reflexology, reiki, bowen therapy etc. and the in-class hours requirement can be viewed there. See https://www.cnhc.org.uk/cnhc-core-curricula#gsc.tab=0

For CPD, online courses are often accepted. Only where you are learning a new bodywork technique would we insist on the training being done in person. In-class learning is always so useful as not only can a tutor correct and improve your technical skills, but the interaction with others enhaances your learning experience. Ultimately, it is all about being able to provide the best possible service to your clients.