Ursula James, FBAMH
Vice Principal, LCCH

As most hypnotherapy professionals are aware, the LCCH has always maintained that hypnotherapy should best be practised as an adjunct to mainstream medicine. Orthodox medicine has its pharmocopia and surgery, while clinical hypnosis can, inter alia, provide patients with a personalized tool for recovery which uses their own knowledge of themselves, i.e. the feeling of enjoying a degree of control over their own healing process. Over the last five years, I have been driving a project to get clinical hypnosis into the undergraduate medical programmes throughout the UK. It has taken time and a great deal of persistence, but in the last two years the LCCH has finally made the breakthrough into mainstream medical education.

The first course, for 4th year medical students, was presented at Oxford University Medical School (John Radcliff) in February 2002 and is being repeated this May. The University of Exeter Medical School was the second University to accept our programme. (See Christa Mackinnon, page 14). Next came St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, Royal London Hospital and Queen Mary College Medical School (See Peter Mabbutt, page 5). Courses at four other Medical Schools are due to start in the autumn with more set for the spring of next year.

The attendees themselves started as profound sceptics and ended, in most cases, as evangelists, clearly seeing the benefits for their (future) patients. Once graduated as medical practitioners, these individuals will be able to refer patients for hypnotherapy with a comprehension of what clinical hypnosis can and cannot provide. As more and more medical students learn about - and some even practise - hypnotherapy, both the profile of the profession and the prestige of the LCCH and its graduates in particuar will be greatly enhanced.

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EXTERNAL TUTORS / CLINICAL SUPERVISORS

Please note that applications for the above positions can now only be accepted from holders of the Practitioner Diploma.
(Contact: avy.joseph@lcch.co.uk).

The LCCH and the BSCH are pleased to report that the proposed changes to the BSCH Constitution (Codes of Ethics and Practice and Membership Criteria) are overwhelmingly supported by the BSCH members. The votes were as follows:

286 votes for the changes to the Code of Ethics.
2 votes against the changes to the Code of Ethics.

275 votes for the new method of gaining full membership.
16 votes against the new method of gaining full
membership.

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