Positive Health Online

Ever since I first qualified in complementary therapies way back in 1993 (massage therapy was my first qualification), I have belonged to a professional association and have done so ever since. I never even considered not being a member as it was a sign that I was properly qualified to my clients and showed my professionalism and status as a practitioner. I liked having letters after my name too! I now manage a professional association, Complementary Health Professionals (CHP) with two wonderful colleagues who have also always been members of a professional association, Julie Quinn who like me qualified in the early 1990s and Dan Stephens who first qualified around 10 years ago.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=563405389121269&set=pb.100063554377764.-2207520000&type=3

Left to Right: Dan Stephens, Julie Quinn, and Carole Preen

My first course was accredited by the Association of Natural Medicine (ANM). I went on to train in both aromatherapy and reflexology with them, working in liaison with what was then the Anglia Polytechnic University, now Anglia Ruskin. This gave us university credits alongside our diplomas at level 4 and 5. After practising for a few years, people kept telling me that I should teach. Apparently, I explained things well and there was certainly a demand for aromatherapy training then (my true love!), so I went and completed a teacher training and assessing qualification and became a recognised trainer for the ANM. As I got more involved with the association, I was invited to become a Council member and represented the ANM on other Councils, such as the Aromatherapy Organisation Council (AOC) as it was back then. I ended up being voted onto the executive committee of the AOC and eventually ran the office, doing all the marketing and basically being the face of Aromatherapy. All because I had belonged to a professional association. In 2002, they awarded me with a Fellowship.

Logos Association Natural Medicine and Aromatherapy Organization Council

As part of the Aromatherapy Council, I got to work on the regulatory working group for aromatherapy and represented my profession on the Price of Wales’s (now King Charles II) Foundation for Integrated Health. I even got to meet his Royal Majesty and as part of the parliamentary group at that time, got to speak in the Parliament building. Who’s have thought it?!

Later in the 2000s I was asked to become the Vice Chair of another association, which was called the Aromatherapy & Allied Practitioners Association. I ended up being made a Fellow of that one too as well as an Honorary member of the Internation Federation of Aromatherapists (IFA) due to how I supported them during a difficult time. I am very proud of these honours. The AAPA was taken over by me and my colleagues in 2016 when we renamed and relaunched it as Complementary Health Professionals. The new name better represented the wide range of therapies our members practised.

https://www.complementaryhealthprofessionals.co.uk/

Logo Complementary Health Professionals

Well, that is my story of why belonging to a professional association worked for me! I have always said that you get back what you give and should not sit back on your laurels and just expect your association to just work for you. However, I often hear people say “Oh I belonged to an association, and they didn’t really do anything for me. It was a waste of my money, and I can practise and get reasonably priced insurance without bothering”. I can see how some people might think that. There are associations that are not worth bothering with and only take your money once a year. However, then you have the conscientious and industrious ethical associations who are working hard for their members behind the scenes and remember, usually we all do this additional Council work for free because we are passionate about our profession.

Professional associations do not make a fortune and ours even gives free entry to members to our annual conference, and fully caters it as a way of giving back to the membership. The money we do make from your subscriptions goes to pay for the usual office requirements of rent, light and heating as well as internet and phone. We pay a small fee to whoever is manning the office and reimburse travel expenses if we need to attend Council meetings. A lot of meetings these days takes place on zoom instead of trapsing into central London, but they are usually in the evenings. I attend the GCMT meetings for CHP and that is the Council for Soft Tissue Therapies. We are now meeting up in person again for the main Council meetings, which is great, but we do the sub-committee meetings via zoom. The aim of the GCMT is to set standards for soft tissue therapists, which include massage, sports massage and aromatherapy now and to continually move the profession forward. I love working with people from other associations as it is great to share knowledge, information and networking. My colleagues attend other therapy Council meetings and Julie was instrumental in the Reflexology Forum.

https://www.cnhc.org.uk/#gsc.tab=0

Logo Complementary & Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC)

Our association also works to support the UK’s voluntary self-regulatory body called the Complementary & Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC). This body’s register is accredited by the Professions Standards Authority (PSA), which is the same as all the statutory healthcare professions such as nurses and physios etc. and is answerable to Parliament. It was launched in 2008 after we had concluded all the regulatory work as individual therapy groups.

Professional associations usually have a great deal for you on insurance and other goods as well as discounts on CPD courses. Of course, people who don’t bother to be an active part of their profession and don’t belong to an association smugly tell me that they don’t have to bother doing CPD. If you don’t know, CPD stands for Continuing Professional Development. I cannot understand why anyone would not want to advance their skills every 12 months and yet, as registrar now for CHP, I have people who trained 20 years ago who have never updated their skills but have carried on performing the same routine all those years. I do find that baffling. As a practitioner, I was always looking at ways I could enhance my skills and knowledge so that I could help my clients more. After a new course, I couldn’t wait to use those news skills in my practise. My clients always knew when I had been away training!

Having standards is the way we progress our profession. We do have a national core curriculum for the main therapies that the CNHC holds. The GCMT is also in the process of laying out what a syllabus should look like for each main touch therapy and popular CPD courses. We all agree that online courses for new touch therapies is unacceptable, and I have written about this in the past. The NHS opened to us once we had the CNHC. Usually, any jobs, either paid or voluntary that become available within the NHS require CNHC Registration. In turn, as just a regulatory and not membership body for therapists, the CNHC prefers that its registrants belong to a recognised professional association (it has a list on its website that includes CHP). Private healthcare providers also recognise CNHC Registrants. So, when jobs appear and people who have never belonged to a professional association, never done any CPD, and their school from 25 years ago is no longer in existence, how can they evidence their qualifications to meet current CNHC standards for registration and/or professional association membership? It is a nightmare! When we explain that we cannot help without evidence via further training, people get very angry with us! We are not the ones who didn’t bother!

As a kind and considerate association we as therapists and teachers want to help everyone, so we have created bridging courses but sometimes, these are not enough. The CHP website has a link to these if you are interested.

So, to conclude, what does a reputable professional association do for you. Let’s take a look at our list of benefits for premier membership:

• Discounted insurance scheme. Not all schemes are equal and ours has been especially created for the complementary therapist. It covers you for £5,000,000 malpractice and public indemnity, libel and slander, jury service compensation and legal defence costs in the event of a claim against you. It has lots of other extras including a counselling service and 24-hour legal advice line.
• Free ticket to our Annual Conference. This is help in March each year in Croydon and is fully catered too. It may be a trek for some people but hey – its free! There is a Premier Inn 2 minutes’ walk away from the venue and it is right by East Croydon station.
• Use of the CHP logo. This can be used on your website and marketing materials.
• Free lapel badge and then you can purchase extras for £4.00. These are great to wear on your tunic to display that you are working professionally.
• Discounts of therapy products; essential oils, therapy equipment and other useful products
• Discounts on CPD courses; including First Aid courses
• Income Protection Scheme with PGMutual;
• Free processing for CNHC registration, which means we do all your qualification verification work without charge and send it to the CNHC for you to be a registrant. You will then pay the CNHC their annual registration fees.
• Use of MCHP after your name. This stands for Member of CHP.
• Directory for public referral; we do not publish this but encourage the public to ask us via email. We then check the register and provide names, numbers and where available, website addresses to the enquirer when we are satisfied that they are genuine.
• London Special Treatment Licence exemption: this means that our London-based members do not have to pay the special treatment licence to offer massage therapy services in most of the London boroughs. We can offer this because we are compliant with the highest standards.
• Full support in the event of a complaint; this is one of the times you really need your professional association’s support.
• Access to documents and guides in the members area of our website. We have loads of free support guides to help you and your practice grow.
• Regular e-newsletter embedded into a free digital copy of Holistic Therapist Magazine worth £6 a copy.
• Access to Enhanced DBS checks, necessary if you are working with children and/or vulnerable adults.
• Unlimited expert advice on the phone and/or via email from experienced therapists and tutors.
• Free review of your marketing materials and website, checking that you are keeping within advertising standards guidelines
• Kept up to date with information affecting our industry that may affect your practice with reports from the various Council meetings

We also have a Facebook and Instagram page where we can quickly let you know about jobs and events as well as a Facebook forum where you can ask for help or share useful information (not marketing).

Can you afford not to bother?