Principles and Purpose

Holistic Therapists Australia Inc. is established to provide the public with a reliable source of professionally trained therapists who work within an holistic framework.

Principles

The aim of this Association is to provide a community of professional therapists who:

· Have a commitment to the primary importance of the relationship between client and therapist in psychotherapy and counselling

· Hold as central to the therapeutic endeavour the client’s actualizing process and experience.

· Embody in their work an understanding that counselling involves the physical, imaginative, cognitive, emotional, interpersonal and spiritual dimensions of the client’s experience.

· Have a commitment to an understanding of both clients and therapists as persons, who are at the same time individuals and in relationship with others and their diverse environments and cultures

· Have an openness to the development and elaboration of holistic and transpersonal theory in the light of current and future practice and research.

Purpose

  • To be a reliable source of professional counsellors, art therapists and psychotherapists who possess the theoretical knowledge, practical skills and self-awareness to maintain client safety while employing holistic and transpersonal healing modalities.
  • To provide professional accreditation for graduates of approved training courses that meet defined standards of face to face experiential training that is consistent with person-centred principles
  • To be a powerful voice in support of high quality vocational education and training in the holistic and transpersonal psychotherapies
  • To maintain and promote a public register of practitioners who meet the standards necessary for safe and effective practice as holistic/transpersonal psychotherapists
  • To maintain a Code of Practice for member practitioners that is both consistent with any generic National Code and provides a framework for a therapeutic relationship that is ethical, safe and effective.
  • To provide a mechanism for handling complaints against members who may have breached the Code of Practice
  • To provide self-regulatory policy settings that require practicing members to participate in ongoing professional development that includes a balance between (a) improving theoretical or practical skills and (b) deepening self awareness and the quality/effectiveness of the therapeutic encounter
  • Through advertisement and sponsorship to promote holistic and transpersonal practitioners and their methods to the public and potential employer organizations
  • To provide a forum for networking among members across metropolitan, regional and rural areas.