whether they offer value in return or not. Often training

groups with this business ethic advertise using excessive

and fanciful claims, run a few short courses and then

disappear, perhaps to re-emerge later using a different

All members should

have received a

registration reminder

I am provoked into giving my personal opinions after recently

for the 2005 - 2006

receiving a flyer from just such a training 'school'.

year by the time you

are reading this.

Many in the business will remember the problems caused a

However mail does go

couple of years ago when a group called Practice Builders

astray! If you haven't received a reminder (or the spring

moved into the UK with the intention of teaching people to

newsletter which accompanies it) please contact the

become 'qualified' hypnotherapists in a four-day training

secretary. Details can be found at the end of this section.

course. In this four-day training course two days were

training in how to exploit the market and two days were

hypnotherapy training. It seems that Practice Builders

quickly retired from these shores, after a combination of

pressure from the Advertising Standards Authority, a BBC

Members should be on the look out for a large brown

investigative team and combined pressure from various

envelope arriving in their mail with a letter assuring them

ethical professional organisations.

they face a £5000 fine if they do not immediately send a

cheque to a company called the 'Data Protection

Even though the retreat of Practice Builders was speedy

Enforcement Agency'. There is no connection between this

they still managed to leave behind cells of poorly trained

company and the real Data Protection Agency.

hypnotherapists which are causing public complaint and

disillusionment about hypnotherapy to this day.

The last time this type of scam did the rounds was in 2002

and the names used then were the 'Data Protection

It seems this new type of financial exploitation is not

Notification Service' and the 'Data Protection Enforcement

instigated by skilled and qualified hypnotherapists but by

Service'.

marketing entrepreneurs and in some cases even nightclub

entertainers. I personally believe that this type of quick buck

Members are advised to send any suspicious adverts or

training represents the positive possibility of real damage to

demands to:

the profession and to the years which good people have

Andrew Kenyon

spent working to increase the visibility and respectability of

Misleading Advertising Section

hypnotherapy. Ironically the more work that is done to

Office of Fair Trading

solidify the profession by conscientious practitioners, the

Fleetbank House

more it seems a valuable commodity to exploit.

2-6 Salisbury Square

London EC4Y 8JX.

The leaflet I received was supposed to offer training to

improve the financial lot of people who are already trained

Thanks to member, Paul Goodall, for supplying the above

hypnotherapists. When I voiced my concerns about the

address. Details about the real Data Protection Agency can

dubious quality of this type of training to a colleague, his

be had from www.dpr.gov.uk and they have a helpline on

reply was "it won't be a problem. I don't think a

01625 545 740.

hypnotherapist with any sense would be taken in by this kind

of hyperbole". I do agree with this but the thing that worries

me is that I doubt the purveyors of these training courses

are interested in properly vetting the people they train. They

A prime concern of a society like the British Society of

will without conscience take a person off the street,

Clinical Hypnosis is that the standard employed in the

regardless of their qualifications or mental state, sell them a

selection of membership is representative of good quality

two-day training course and encourage them into business

training and high standards of ethical practise. I believe this

to practise 'hypnotherapy'. This is a danger.

should be the priority of any society, association or training

institution that intends to provide qualified practitioners to

I recently contacted one of these trainers and asked his

work with the general public. Naturally there is healthy

opinion on my views; the reply was "what I'm doing might

competition among these organisations to increase and

not be right but it isn't illegal and you can't stop us doing it".

maintain these standards. In this there is no danger.

I think this is the problem in a nutshell.

Recently, though, there has been an upsurge of various

Why isn't there something we can do about it? How is it

courses in the field of hypnotherapy from organisations

possible that a person can 'set up shop' and claim to be a

which might not share the ideal of competent and ethical

hypnotherapist without the requirement of specific

practise. In fact it sometimes seems that the goal of these

qualifications, training or membership of a bona fide

new businesses is not to develop the profession of

professional association? Surely the 'powers that be' are not

hypnotherapy or to train competent practitioners but to

satisfied that this is a correct state of affairs?

quickly extract as much cash from the market as they can,