Practicing in Florida (or a similar state)

[steveinbiot]

I have just moved back to Florida after living in Europe for the past eight years. While there, I did a three-year program for psychotherapy (non-University) which included Life Coaching, NLP, Hypnosis, and I also did a Master Prac in NLP in Canada.

I’m getting the feeling that the laws here (especially in Florida) are a little different and I would want to be operating within the law. So far, I’ve understood that without a state-recognized degree, we cannot use the term “therapy” (and need to use the term “hypnotist”) and of course cannot diagnose or treat disease (which was the same in Europe). However, I’ve also seen things limiting what we can do – for example we cannot help with phobias (which was a substantial portion of my clients in Europe) and have to be careful with helping with pain, etc.

I’m just wondering exactly what we can or cannot do (especially in Florida) and how we can advertise ourselves here to not be targeted for dubious practices. I also read that there were some practitioners arrested a few years ago in south Florida.

Thanks in advance for any help and recommendations.
Steve

[MissPiggy]

Where in Europe did you work? Just curious because you say you were allowed to treat phobias. Here it's not allowed.

[Poodle]

You need to separate your hypnosis practice from your NLP practice. There are no laws on NLP - period the end. You are free to treat, cure, phobia cure or whatever your little heart desires.

Hypnosis on the other hand is regulated by some States by some degree. Florida is a regulated State. You will need to join The National Guild of Hypnotists to find our what the rules are where you live. There should also be a local chapter near you. You can contact NGH by phone 603-429-9438 or you can e them at ngh@ngh.net and they have an application form on line if you can scan your diplomas. In Florida, you are a Certified Hypnotist. We also have The American Board of Hypnotherapy 702-456-3267. There is also The Professional Board of Hypnotherapy (based in Canada) and the International Hypnosis Association (Washington State).

As for NLP, the biggies are The Society of NLP (Bandler) -- just a different person doing it in Europe than here and also ABNLP. ABNLP is definitely Tad James and may also include Matt James' people. I don't know. The office staff are human friendly so feel free to check with them. Links to Dr. Matt should be at the bottom of this Forum.

Jerry Kein (Omni Hypnosis Training Center) has been operating in DeLand, Florida for many, many years and Jerry is just a super wonderful guy and I know he can answer your questions regarding hypnosis.

Welcome to the USA and welcome to our Forum. We are ever so glad you "dropped" in. Pood :)

[Poodle]

One cannot treat phobias with NLP in Germany?

[steveinbiot]

Actually I was in France (sorry, I should have specified). There we are completely free to practice as long as we don't treat or diagnose disease. It's true that for phobias I normally used NLP, but I would generaly end the session with hypnosis to do the futurization, etc. Thanks for the advice.

[steveinbiot]

Hi Pooldle,

Thanks for taking the time to respond and for the warm welcome. It was very helpful.

It's good to know that NLP is not regulated. I found that in my practice I would generally only use hypnosis towards the end to allow the person to more easily integrate the positive changes that they want to make, so in effect, it's true that it wouldn't have a huge impact on what I normally do (but change can be good, eh?)

Also in France I learned Sophrolgy, which is kind of related to hypnosis, but the terms are completely different. For example, there is no "trance" but a sophro-liminal state (which in reality is like a trance).

I am a Master Prac with the Society of NLP and will definately look into joining the NGH (I'm currently a member of the ABH). I've also heard good things about the Omni Hypnosis Training Center and would like to do a course with them as well.

I guess the main thing that I'll need to do is to find a way to get around the marketing aspect of hypnosis. People seem to have an interest in hypnosis, but I'm not sure they've heard of NLP and probably not at all Sophrology.

Thanks again !
Steve

[Poodle]

you will just have to do it the NLP way and future pace.

In March I met a young man from Paris at NLP Trainer's Training. He told me NLP and hypnosis were not popular in France and I believe he was thinking of working in Austria.

[MissPiggy]

@Poodle


One cannot treat phobias with NLP in Germany?


If somebody is only afraid of something you can work with them. If it's a phobia you're only allowed if you're a doctor, psychologist, Heilpraktiker or something like that. Whether you use NLP, hypnosis or something else doesn't matter.

[steveinbiot]

Ah, so there are in fact limits as to what we can do, even with NLP?

[steveinbiot]

OK, but I'm not even allowed to use Hypnosis for futurizations?

Also it's true that with the French, hypnosis and NLP were not that popular, but I worked with mostly British/American clients (of which there are quite a few in the South of France ;-)

[Poodle]

I don't understand your word "futurizations". Do you mean that if you are working with a weight loss client and you would like that client to visualize herself 6 months into the future while in trance? Yes you can! We are allowed regression and progression. AGAIN, THERE ARE NO LIMITS ON NLP IN THE USA. Please contact NGH as they are the ones that make the rules.

I forgot to ask? Are you a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist? If so, then rules change. You will be able to prove that you deserve that title due to the extensive time you studied hypnosis. In the USA you would need to pass a State of Florida exam.

Pood

[Merlin]

Get an MD's referral.
Hypnosis is OK with a referral.

[devon]

good morning steve, welcome to so florida! ... my wife and i are recently certified (ACHE, IACT) and are setting up a hypnosis practice here (stuart--aprx 100mi n of miami) also ... we have been investigating the gov/legal environment and find there is little real info ... mostly it's how the state constitution and statutes are interpreted ... and that doesn't happen until there's trouble! ... at a hypno conf last weekend in miami i attended a lawyer panel with 2 lawyers, both hypnotherapists and a phd in psych ... the lawyers were from nj and louisiana ... their primary recommendation was check with your own atty, don't run afoul of the medical world and run your own practice legally and ethically ... you can find the statutes on-line and decide what you believe they're doing to 'protect the public' ... we have chosen to not use any wording about therapy or therapeutic ... we would not use the word phobia because it is a 'diagnosis'--- fears not 'phobias' ... we can work with sleep problems but not 'insomnia' ... we dropped the 'wellness' from our original name,etc ... we are treasure coast hypnosis center ... if i think of anything else i'll let you know ... good luck and stay in touch ...

[Don]

Florida has an explicit hypnosis law, Chapter 485 (this number was assigned in 2000, replacing a previous statute number Ch. 456), which restricts the use of hypnosis for therapeutic purposes to persons licensed as medical or mental health practitioners. This law also restricts which licensed professionals can refer persons to hypnotists (medical problems can only be referred by a medical practitioner [broadly defined] while psychological problems can be referred by a mental health practitioner only).

While hypnotists do not qualify to independently work with clients under Chapter 456, Chapters 490 and 491 had explicitly allowed the use of hypnotism by hypnotists for non-therapeutic purposes. Unfortunately, "non-therapeutic" for many years was not defined, and in October 26, 1996 the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration attempted to use Ch. 456 to close down a hypnotist's smoking and weight loss practice. In March 1998, the Florida Department of Health assumed regulatory responsibility for these statutes and created a definition by excepting certain practices from the regulated scope of Ch. 485. The definition is created in Rule #64B4-7.002, regulating the qualifications necessary for social workers, marriage and family therapists and mental health counselors to practice hypnosis. In this rule the non-therapeutic use of hypnosis is defined as "stress management, self-hypnosis, guided imagery, (and) relaxation."

Therefore, it is necessary for Florida hypnotists to be very careful about how the describe their services to the public. They must carefully avoid using the language of health care professionals (such as depression, anxiety, compulsion, phobia, etc.) and use common-language equivalents instead (sadness, upset or worry, drivenness, fear, etc.). They must also clearly indicate that any services they render for mental or medical conditions are done only on referral from a licensed professional. All independent work, regardless of the purpose of that work must be held out to the public as hypnotism for some form of stress-management, self-hypnosis instruction, guided imagery or relaxation.

The NGH (who have been criticized elsewhere) believes this is sufficiently broad as to able to include every hypnotic technique used by a hypnotist practicing under their standards. While not explicitly required by the law, it would probably be wise for Florida colleagues to use the term "hypnotist" to describe themselves and the word "hypnotism" to describe what they do. The word "hypnotherapy" is clearly identified with the licensed practice of health care in Florida and unlicensed persons should avoid it.

In the 1997 session the legislature passed HB 329 which amends the mental health license laws to explicitly include hypnosis or hypnotherapy as within the scope of practice of the various mental health professions. This act also modified Chapter 490 and Chapter 491 and it removes the explicit exemption for non-clinical hypnotism that had previously existed in Ch. 490 (the psychology law). However, another proposed law under consideration in 1998, HB 1463 (a change to the social worker and mental health counselors act), makes use of this language and explicitly contains the exemption in the modifications it makes to 491.114 (section 1) and .491.0141 (section 16). The 1998 session legislation included a resubmission of HB 329 and another bill, HB 3227 which affects hypnotists only in the sense of clarifying that they may not do substance abuse counseling.

One interpretation of the changes to Ch. 490 is that non-clinical hypnosis has been removed from the psychology law, but does not forbid the practice of non-clinical hypnotism so long as the hypnotist is careful to make it clear to the public that he or she is not a psychologist. The changes to Ch 491 leave the explicit exemption intact in the counseling and social work laws, requiring only that the hypnotist does not represent him or herself to the public using a protected title, or as doing work that is the same as that done by a licensed mental health professional as mentioned above, and observes Rule #64B4-7.002.

Another Florida regulation, 64B4-7.003, stipulates that persons wishing to do training for hypnotherapy for therapeutic purposes must do 200 hours of training in hypnosis from an organization approved by the Florida Board of Professional Regulation.

In 2000 a law regulating the practice of naturopathic medicine was passed. This law bans "suggestionology" which sounds like hypnosis. It actually is not. Suggestionology is the naturopedic practice of giving a patient a placebo while telling the patient that it is effective medication. Hypnotists do not do this. However, this law raises the penalty for the unlicensed practice of medicine to a felony.

In 2001 private investigators representing the Florida Office of Investigative Services were actually raiding the offices of some hypnotists and interrupting sessions. The hypnotists being interfered with we all practicing in violation of the Recommended Standards for Practice of the National Guild of Hypnotists. The Investigators agreed that the Recommended Standards do constitute lawful practice and hypnotists following them have been treated with courtesy by the investigators and left alone.

In 2002 a number of Cease and Desist Orders were issued by the Florida Office of Investigative Services, now renamed the Bureau of Unlicensed Activities. No practitioner who has used the hypnotist title and who has followed Guild Standards for a State on Guild Standard has been cited. However, in communication with the office the Chief Investigator refused to offer any assurances and stated that in his opinion “all hypnosis is therapeutic.” A request for an opinion from the Attorney General was made. The opinion found that:

1. It is lawful for unlicensed persons in Florida to engage in nontherapeutic hypnosis provided they do not hold themselves out as licensed practitioners.
2. It is lawful for unlicensed persons in Florida to engage in therapeutic hypnosis under referral of an appropriately licensed professional.
3. The Bureau of Unlicensed Activities has no legal grounds to maintain that all hypnosis is therapeutic in nature.
4. The Bureau of Unlicensed Activities had no legal right to direct unlicensed persons to cease and desist from all practice of hypnosis. The Bureau can only order unlicensed persons to cease and desist from engaging in the independent practice of hypnosis for therapeutic purposes. Such persons retain the lawful right to independently practice hypnosis for nontherapeutic purposes or for therapeutic purposes on referral.

A Cease and Desist Letter to the Bureau of Unlicensed Affairs was delivered, closing the matter.

The above was based on a post by Scot Giles, of the NGH

[Poodle]

I've received an e from the Pres. of a well known school that has started giving out Certs. for 3 day trainings as Clinical Hypnotherapists. Insists Gil Boyne doesn't make the rules and he can do as he wants. Where does this place his graduates? Some actually think they are Certified Clinical Hypnotherapists and do not understand it is the Guild that "certifies". What the Guild certifies is what one is. They have not studied eliminating pain or hypnodontics, HypnoBirthing not to mention a league of medical problems; however, they throw the title out for all so see. This is also the same person that got in BIG TROUBLE with The Society of NLP for passing out "certs" as only Bandler can do that.

so... EXACTLY WHAT CONSTITUTES A CERTIFIED CLINICAL HYPNOTHERAPIST???? Comments please!

[Connie]

"3 day trainings..." That sounds pretty bizarre. My suggestion is that you don't recommend this acquaintance of yours or his/her school. Here's pieces of a previous conversation here on this topic of titles:

http://www.hypnosisforum.com/showthread.php?t=4448

It would be nice to have a set of uniform standards, as Skip suggests in the thread above--but I don't see that happening any time soon, either. As far as this particular school's graduates, what are you suggesting? That their diplomas be revoked? Or that they simply be made to recognize that they are lower class than the "truly trained?" Unless they are doing ill in the world, it hardly seems your concern. Why do you presume to know the extent of their trainings, anyway? People that are serious don't take only one training and call it "good to go." Some people, like me for instance, consider it a life-long process of learning.

[Poodle]

CCHt training is 400 or 500 HOURS in just hypnosis, no NLP, no TLT. The National Guild offers "Medical Hypnotist" training which I believe is a 12 or 13 month enrollment. The title granted by the National Guild is still CH or in your state CHt. The National Guild has stressed that if one uses CHt, they had better be able to back it up; but that is not the case in the State of Washington as legislation in Washington State allows for CHt. However, CHt does not equal CCHt.

We do have rules to some extent - NGH = 100 hours of training
ABH = 3 days or all the way to a Doctorate
ACHE = 400-500 hours
PHB = depends on your entry level
IHA = none

I am under the impression that ACHE may be investigating the non 400-500 hour certs in "Clincal Hypnotherapy".