National Occupational Standards in Therapy

All our members are contracted by their membership terms and conditions to adhere to the appropriate National Occupational Standards (NOS) for therapies offered. The NOS are the officially set professional standards in the UK.

NOS are set nationally, and are the official standards of good practice and competence for their subject. For example, if someone is using Reiki Healing, they should adhere to the Reiki NOS, since they are the standards that define how Reiki should be provided professionally.

There are no financial costs to the therapist in adhering to NOS, they are simply standards that should be met. Failure to adhere to NOS means you are not meeting the standard that is agreed to be appropriate in your professional.

The NOS have been developed (with more underway) by ENTO and Skills For Health on behalf of the QCA, SQA and NQF. This process involves appropriate consultation with industry sources. This means in practice that experts in each field have been involved in the creation of NOS, ensuring appropriate and high standards.

At this time (March 2007) there are NOS for a range of therapies, including Hypnotherapy, Counselling, Kinesiology, Healing, Nutritional Advice, Reiki and many more. There are also general NOS for therapy that apply if the profession is not specifically covered. Because of the general NOS, ALL therapists and healer should adhere at least to the general NOS.

As part of their membership agreement with the SHTC, all our members are committed to adhering to the NOS, and keeping abreast of, and adhering to new NOS as they are developed.

By the end of 2007, it is expected that further NOS will be complete for "psychological therapies" including psychology, psychotherapy and counselling. this will lead to regulation of these therapies under an umbrella body within a few years. The SHTC supports this in principle. However since our members are holistic therapy and training / coaching based, these NOS, and associated regulation will not apply to us. Therefore we will primarily adhere to healing NOS and other specific NOS relating to our primary fields.

It should be noted however that although these new regulations will not apply to "holistic therapists", "life coaches" and "teaching therapists", any therapist who calls themself a "psychotherapist", "counsellor" or "psychologist" will have to adhere to them and obey the new legislation and regulations once active.

Further information can be found off-site, via our links section.