ETHICS

What does it mean when a therapist says they belong to a professional body and adheres to their code of ethics.

Professional bodies

Professional bodies are properly constituted and accountable organisations which, amongst other things, lay down rules which their members must obey. This should include a code of ethics.

Ethics

Essentially a code of ethics is a set of rules of behaviour that lays out what is and is not acceptable behaviour between a therapist and their client. The aim is to protect both client and therapist. Professional ethics are very simple - treating other people the way that you would like to be treated yourself. The rules for ensuring this happens are laid out in a code and therapists who belong to that professional body are judged against this code - and punished if they disobey it.

Duty of care

The main aim of an ethical framework is to ensure that the therapist discharges their ‘duty of care’ to yo,u the client, at every step in the professional relationship.

Duty of care means that your therapist must always act with your best interest in mind at all times.

Sometimes this duty of care means that therapists may refer you onto another therapist fo a different kind of therapy. This is why during the initial consultation a quite a detailed personal history is taken and you are given plenty of opportunities to ask questions and clarify things. Hypnotherapy is a very effective therapy applied properly in the right circumstances.

The therapist will be able to use their experience and knowledge, combined with the information that you provide to help you to understand how hypnotherapy may be able to help you.

Your protection

Membership of a reputable professional body, for which the therapist pays an annual fee, often quite substantial, is a strong indicator that he or she wishes to abide by a code of ethics and is prepared to submit to disciplinary procedings if he or she fails to do so.