IAPH Accreditation

The ‘Successful Hypnotherapy Diploma Course’, is ‘recognised’ by almost every Hypnotherapy organisation and register that there is – including the largest in the world: The National Guild of Hypnotists (Based in the U.S.A.).  With our Diploma (and providing you meet any other Membership criteria) you can join just about any other Hypnotherapy organisation/association that there is. Most of these other organisations though are not much more than ‘registers’ of therapists: you pay a fee, and your details get put on their register.  In the UK there are five or six of these registers/associations all with grandiose titles which suggest that THEY are the voice of the people, and THEY are the association which will lead you through the murky waters of hypnotherapy regulation (still years away), and THEY represent your best interests.....  So, the field of hypnotherapy, surprise surprise, is no different to any other ‘market’ - lots of different organisations offering to support and promote your needs as a therapist, for one small annual fee.

I suppose, that actually hypnotherapists in the UK get a better deal because of the number of different registers/organisations that exist: think of it as the battle between Asda, Tesco’s, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons...  With these stores fighting for your custom, they cut their prices, give rewards packages, offer special deals, open late and on Sundays etc and you, the consumer, get a better deal because of this.

In the (UK) hypnotherapy world, the reality is, that none of these organisations/organisations/registers have any precedence over any other – regardless of how grandiose and important-sounding their chosen name is – as there are no recognised qualifications in hypnosis or hypnotherapy in the UK, none at all. (Which is why I have put ‘recognised’ in inverted commas, when referring to our course)  There are no accredited qualifications, or accredited courses either – though most trainers and organisations will try and convince you otherwise.  Where schools and organisations use terms such as ‘recognised’ or ‘accredited by’, they are merely stating that they have some sort of reciprocal alliance with one of the many hypnotherapy registers. E.g Jimmy Bloggs Hypnotherapy School is ‘recognised and accredited’ by the National Association of Hypnotherapists, and the National Association of Hypnotherapists highly recommends the Jimmy Bloggs Hypnotherapy School.  I suppose, much like the High St Store analogy above, this is what happens in all areas of business, so it shouldn’t be too frowned upon here.

The difficulty is, is does send a slightly misleading and ambiguous message to the general public:  ‘Oh I’ll go and see so and so – they must be good, they have a ‘recognised’ qualification’

The above aside, one of the genuine and real problems in hypnotherapy (in the UK and abroad), is the lack of continuity , consistency and support between the training providers, and the associations/registers that you join once you have completed your training.   There isn’t just one type of hypnotherapy. There isn’t just one understanding of how hypnotherapy works. Hypnotherapy can be as simple as telling someone that they WILL EASILY PASS THEIR DRIVING TEST, or as intricate and involved as a full course of psychotherapy.  For most students of hypnotherapy, you pay thousands of pounds to take a training course, you pass your Diploma, then you are dropped like a hot stone – the training school has made their money out of you so they wash their hands of you! (This is one of the most common reasons why already-trained-hypnotherapists join the IAPH – because they offer support and mentoring far in advance of what other organisations do)  This means you are now out on your own: freshly printed Diploma in your shiny new briefcase, ready to cure the world of all its ill’s...   But you don’t know where to even start!  No-one to speak to for help. No colleagues just a phone call away. No online support forum to turn to...

FACT 1: Most students of hypnotherapy don’t even get as far as setting up in practice – they get so bewildered and lost after they have finished there training course, that they go back to their previous job!

FACT 2: Over half that do ‘make it’ to the point of actually having a practice and seeing clients, disappear of out of sight, within about six months. They weren’t mentored, they weren’t supported. They weren’t really prepared for private practice. They were presented with clients that they didn’t have the skills (or support) to help. (Go to you local library, where they keep back copies of Yellow Pages, pick any area of the Country, and look at the hypnotherapist listings for the last three or four years..)

Do not despair though – it’s not all doom and gloom!

The IAPH, The International Association or Pure Hypnoanalysts, is different to every other organisation in the UK (and most abroad) - it is the ONLY organisation that (effectively) trains its own Members from scratch, then supports them throughout their career.
It was set up in 1984 by ex students of the Successful Hypnotherapy Diploma Course, and the then Course Director, Neil French.    

Students were finishing their training course, and attempting to start up their practice, but were not getting any decent help from any of the other organisations ‘out there’.
They set up the IAPH to specifically  represent THEIR views and to meet THEIR needs, to provide on-going training in THEIR type of therapy in a common language that they all understood. Its Membership was  (and still is!) drawn ONLY from students of the Successful Hypnotherapy Diploma Course – the course offered on this website.  There was, and still is, no other organisation like the IAPH.

So, you successfully complete your training course, and the same day that you are awarded your Diploma, you are offered Membership of the IAPH. This seamless transition from student, to ‘supported therapist’ is what makes the IAPH so special.  The nice, supportive people you met at the training seminars and workshops are not lost forever – they are still with you.

The lecturers who taught you all about hypnosis, personality, neurosis and the psyche have not disappeared into oblivion – they are still there, but now they are teaching you advanced subjects, more in-depth techniques, and more detailed case histories.
The online support forum (the only one of its kind) is very similar – it just says ‘Member’ at the top, instead of ‘Student’

Essentially, ‘Successful Hypnotherapy’ – the training school run by Rob Kelly FIAPH, is the training wing of the IAPH. Nobody gets to join the IAPH unless they have passed the Successful Hypnotherapy Diploma Course.  This means that everyone speaks the same language, and everyone has the same high standard of training.

Through every single aspect of your training, and every single aspect of your hypnotherapy career, you are supported, advised and mentored by experienced, professional, (and, almost more importantly) successful, fellow therapists.

The IAPH itself has changed and adapted over the years...  It started out as the IAH  - The Institute of Analytical Hypnotherapists, and as it started to grow with more and more Members overseas it became The International Association of Hypno-analysts. Only in 2006 was the name changed again to the IAPH – the International Association of Pure Hypnoanalysts, to reflect more the uniqueness of the therapy that its Members practice.  (The name ‘hypnoanalysis’ had become a very generic term, and hence had lost some of its meaning)

The IAPH is run on a day to day basis, by a democratically elected Council of Management, and administered by Rob Kelly.

It is a professional, honest and ethical organisation, that is accessible and transparent – both to its Membership, and the general public.

It is a non profit-making organisation that completely reflects the views of its Membership, and is passionate about hypnotherapy.  No other hypnotherapy organisation does more for its Members.

Remember:  The Successful Hypnotherapy Diploma Course is the only training course in the world, that teaches ‘Pure Hypnoanalysis’.  The IAPH is the only professional hypnotherapy organisation that supports and promotes ‘Pure Hypnoanalysis’