PEEL based hypnotherapists Xavier and Mary Nathan of Setanta Hypnotherapy Clinic have become among the first in the UK to achieve a new national standard of excellence for clinical hypnotherapy and psychotherapy.

And they have been registered by the Complementary & Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC), the UK regulator for complementary healthcare.

This recognition has placed them at the forefront of a national drive to provide a benchmark for standards and safety for the public. Practitioners registered with the CNHC must meet national occupational standards and abide by a rigorous code of conduct, performance and ethics.

Xavier and Mary are both members of the Institute of Clinical Hypnotherapy and Psychotherapy (ICHP) in Ireland and the National Council for Hypnotherapy (NCH) in the UK. As well as their university degrees they both hold diplomas and advanced diplomas in Clinical Hypnotherapy and Psychotherapy.

Xavier said: ‘Achieving registration is not only great news for us and our clients, but a vital step for hypnotherapy.’

They use a combination of hypnotherapy and psychotherapy with the aim of helping people to overcome conditions, which they say include depression, insomnia, post traumatic stress and lack of confidence.

Mary also offers a hypno-birthing course that is aimed at teaching women how to relax and enjoy their pregnancy and ‘experience pain-free labour and birth’.

Hypnotherapy is one of 11 disciplines now recognised by the CNHC. Members of the public can search the CNHC register to find practitioners. More than 40,000 searches were carried out last year.

By providing a verification of standards, the CNHC allows GPs, hospitals, private healthcare providers and insurance companies to refer patients to hypnotherapy practitioners or to make hypnotherapy more readily available in health centres, clinics, doctors’ surgeries and hospitals