GHR & NCH: options to join

Background and history

The National Council of Hypnotherapy (NCH) and The General Hypnotherapy Register (GHR) have been at the forefront of raising and agreeing standards within the profession.

Our Live Webcast (and previously live-in-person) Diploma training programme together with the qualification (Level 4 Diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy or Level 5 Higher Diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy) enable you to join both NCH and GHR as professional members.

Criteria for joining NCH or GHR include a Core Curriculum and 120 Contact Hours (simultaneous presence of trainer and learner).
The Live Webcast Diploma meets all these criteria.
The Online Diploma does not meet the criteria for 120 Contact Hours.
However after qualifying you can “top up” your contact hours with additional courses and events.

Contact Hours definition expanded during the Covid-19 Pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic moved all training online and the 120 contact hours requirement for both GHR and NCH ( and CNHC ) was expanded to include “electronic simultaneous presence” of trainer and learner – via such platforms as Zoom live meetings.

So ‘contact hours' now includes all of the following when they take place via Zoom or another webcast platform:

• live training/lectures,
• 1-to-1 coaching,
• practice sessions with other trainees facilitated by a trainer,
• live webinars and live Q&A with trainer/s,
• and any live CPD courses or sessions, offered by the same training school as your main hypnotherapy training.

However, in addition several training schools and organisations have been looking carefully at the strict necessity of the 120 contact hours compared to more asynchronous learning formats and a modern understanding of “Contact Hours”.

A key concern has been that the 120 contact hours, while essential for a profession like massage therapy, may be an unnecessary requirement for hypnotherapy. And while some amount of contact time and simultaneous learning between trainer and learner is essential – the full 120 hours may actually be both restrictive and possibly discriminatory against those who, for example, care for others (parents, carers etc.) and do not have the time or means to train through 120 hours of ‘simultaneous electronic presence'.

Update: unfortunately CNHC have reverted to the pre-pandemic requirement for in person training. We consider this utterly misinformed and also discriminatory. They did not talk to any of the training schools who have been training and qualifying hypnotherapists during the pandemic. One of the hidden gains from the pandemic was that training, previously not available to those with disabilities, carers, mothers etc became available due to Zoom and Online Training.

A Modern Understanding of Contact Hours

A more modern view of ‘contact time' is for example: “Contact time refers to any series of structured, integrated, scaffolding, tutor-designed learning activities that enable students to meet learning outcomes within specific times frames.” 

Therefore, well-designed training programmes can, for example, allow for students to watch lectures in their own time – and then ask questions later in a dedicated tutoring session.  Rather than a trainer observing perhaps 8 pairs of students doing a practical exercise – a student can record a practical exercise with a volunteer and then review that recording with their trainer in a focused 1-to-1 tutoring session. Thus the actual “contact time” can be concentrated and a far more tailored and focused learning experience can occur.