Prohibited Modalities
Accepted & Prohibited Modalities
A MESSAGE TO THE PUBLIC
Adjunctive (Alternative) Therapies and Services
We wish to be clear to the public that there are boundaries between what the NCIP supports on its Register and what it does not support. Here we try to clarify the areas that are covered, what is not covered, and what is expected of our members regarding these areas.
We define PSYCHOTHERAPY as healing the mind with talking therapy. The word 'PSYCHOTHERAPY' covers many different modalities/methods of doing this work. NCIP holds a Register of evidence-based psychotherapy practitioners that use different models of therapy in an integrative way and multi-modal way. There are clear limits to the types of therapy represented on the NCIP Register.
We cover Psychotherapy, Hypnotherapy, and Counselling. As stated, our members are largely integrative or multi-modal psychotherapists, which means they are likely to be qualified in more than one model of psychotherapy, hypnotherapy, and/or counselling.
The following methods are NOT covered by NCIP
The most serious category is PROHIBITED SERVICES. These would be considered a risk to public safety and therefore in breach of the NCIP Code of Ethics. These services would include:
- Psychologically focused debriefing therapy methods such as Trauma Debriefing Therapy and Flooding Trauma Treatment. Under NICE guidance, “evidence of psychologically focused debriefing shows no benefit and some suggestion of worse outcomes than having no treatment” (NICE guidance, 1.6.5 [NG116])
- Conversion Therapy - This type of therapy is used to attempt to try and change a person’s sexual orientation or suppress their gender identity. The UK Government, alongside those in the EU, is committed to banning this harmful practice and this is currently in process (Aug 2023).
- Any method that is prohibited by NICE and any legislation that would cause a breach of the NCIP existing Code of Ethics at the time.
- NCIP does not cover coaching delivered for business or other non-health contexts or the use of NLP for professional development. We cover both when for health and well-being.
- Any other treatment method that risks harm to the patient/client without clear research evidence to suggest positive treatment outcomes.
- Any service that would bring the NCIP and Psychotherapy in general into disrepute. This ban includes Rapid Transformation Therapy.
ADJUNCTIVE SERVICES
These are methods not covered by NCIP, but which are not considered an explicit danger to public safety. These in turn fall into two distinct categories:
CATEGORY 1
Therapy methods that are perfectly reputable but are not covered by NCIP. This might include massage, nutrition, and other complementary therapies.
As a member of the public, you should expect any services not covered by the NCIP to be covered and insured by a professional association with a Code of Ethical behaviour that your practitioner adheres to.
We advise our members they do not need to fully separate these services from those covered by their NCIP registration but must ensure that marketing materials, including websites, make it completely clear who registers them for which therapy.
We recommend to our members that they have a qualification page or equivalent to clearly state the different models of therapy offered and which professional body they are registered with for each.
CATEGORY 2
Methods considered less reputable from a clinical perspective might be provided by alternative practitioners. These might include past-life regression hypnosis, angel cards, or other forms of divination.
This category is those therapies that are very alternative and must not be connected in any way to NCIP marketing materials. NCIP does not prohibit members from using these alternatives but must be marketed as a separate service. The NCIP does not tolerate any implication whatsoever that it allows or covers alternative, un-researched, and un-evidenced alternative therapies.
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