Legal Notice and Codes and Ethics

Codes and Ethics of Member Associations

All member associations must be committed to the role of the Energy Healers Organisation as the body working with SAQA, QCTO, and HWSETA on the occupational qualification of Natural Energy Healing Practitioner, SAQA  qualification ID number 118806. All member associations or training organisations in the Energy Healers Organisation must always support this South African government process and continue to work together with this in mind.

All member associations must not take any action that may sabotage this process in any way.
Membership of the Energy Healers Organisation is open to all associations concerned with the occupational qualification of Natural Energy Healing Practitioner, SAQA  qualification ID number 118806.

All associations belonging to the Energy Healers Organisation work on an equal footing and with agreed aims.

To be eligible to be part of the Energy Healers Organisation, an association must:
   1.  Represent people who have been trained in one or more of the following modalities, in alphabetical order: Access the Bars, Body Talk, Crystal Healing, EFT Tapping, Heart Resonance, Kinesiology, Metaphysics, and Reiki.
   2. Commit to training according to the curriculum as agreed between member associations/organisations in the Energy Healers Organisations, SAQA, HWSETA, and QCTO.
   3.  Have been an existing member association in the Energy Healers Organisation government process since inception, and whose membership of the Energy Healers Organisation has remained unbroken since then.
   4. If not an existing member with unbroken membership, the association or training organisation applying for membership must undergo a process of approval by existing member associations of the Energy Healers Organisation.
   5. Abide by the Energy Healers Organisation disciplinary and complaints procedure.
   6. Have a constitution, a code of ethics, and disciplinary procedures, be accountable to its member self-help healers, working practitioners, and trainers, and ensure they meet the curriculum standards, as well as the codes and ethics below.

Codes and Ethics All Member Association Members Must Abide By
   • Confidentiality: The practitioner must adhere to client confidentiality (keeping a client’s secrets), unless a child is being seriously abused (such as sexually) or someone’s life is in danger (for example, if the client said they intend to kill their spouse that night). Personal details such as phone numbers, email addresses and addresses of clients are privileged information may not be sold or given out to marketing companies. Any details of the client session/s are also confidential, and written permission from the client is required before using the information in an article or case study. Client details need to be stored securely under lock and key. If these details are on a computer, they need to be accessed with an alphanumeric password, which must also be securely placed. Client details need to be stored for a minimum of 7 years, in case they are needed for legal reasons. The client’s doctor may only be contacted with the client’s written permission.
   • Competence: Practitioner must not practice in return for payment, or in a formal voluntary role (for example, working as a volunteer practitioner in a mental health or cancer charity), or in a free marketing or customer service role (for example, during a free talk) any modality in which they have not received formal training to practitioner level. If the practitioner wishes to practice without any financial or commercial reward a modality in which they have not received practitioner-level training, they must make it totally clear to their client that they do not have the appropriate training, be sure that they have permission from the client to do so, and must limit this practice to very close family and friends only. An exception to this is where the practitioner is doing case studies or work experience under strict supervision, and according to the instruction of their trainer, whilst doing their professional-level training.
   • Sessions: Sessions should take place in a safe and comfortable place. A client needs to be given session/s with the utmost respect and non-judgment, even if what they are saying goes contrary to the practitioner’s way of thinking, without prejudice. A Practitioner is in a position of trust and must never cross inappropriate boundaries. This includes the touching of private parts and requests to disrobe. Children may be seen with the parent’s written permission. If the parents leave the child alone with the practitioner, it is recommended that the practitioner get an indemnity signed to cover for personal injury in cases where the child is a self-harming patient. Practitioners must never promise a cure for any problem. The doctor's care takes precedence over the complementary practitioners' care and it must never be recommended that they leave this care. With energy healing, we are addressing the underlying energetic patterns with the goal of bringing balance and harmony within the energetic field of the person, and when the body’s energy field is balanced and flowing without disruption, the body can naturally heal itself. This does not replace medical or psychological care. There are instances where energy healing is not the most appropriate immediate or other action, particularly where the client is needing urgent hospitalization (medical emergency, such as heart attack), a danger to themselves (about to commit suicide) or others (some extreme psychiatric cases), but rather medical emergency services.
   • Supplements: Unless the practitioner is also a qualified nutritionist, dietician, or other suitably qualified medical or allied health practitioner, they may not prescribe supplements or advise on nutrition. They may, however, recommend one of these professionals in appropriate circumstances.
   • Pre-session/s agreement between the practitioner and client: It is important to fully inform the client. They need to know about the possibility of the risk of an abreaction and allow them to have the opportunity to exit at this point and not have the session/s if that is their wish. At no point must we bully or force the client to continue.
   • Upholding the Energy Healers Organisation: There also needs to be the following agreement regarding the Energy Healers Organisation to always represent the energy healing techniques as per the Natural Remedy Consultant occupational qualification and taught or trained by providers approved of by the Energy Healers Organisation.
   • Not to take action that will be slanderous to the Energy Healers Organisation or any of its member associations. Should there be genuine wrong-doing, the procedure is that it must be reported to the member association or the Energy Healers Organisation committee, who will then decide upon appropriate action, after due process of the disciplinary action..
   • Protection for the Energy Healing Practitioner with regard to online, phone, and distant work: As part of the pre-session/s agreement, the practitioner will make the client aware of legal disclaimers. This is particularly pertinent when the session is conducted online, by telephone, or via distant healing (if appropriate). The client must understand the risks, benefits and alternatives to online, phone, and distant work, for example, differing laws across country or state borders. And that every effort will be made to keep information confidential. However no internet or phone communication can be completely free from those that hack, but the practitioner undertakes to keep information secure on his/her side. The client needs to do the same. And the practitioner’s qualifications must be openly shared, with agreement to work together under this knowledge.

The Disciplinary Procedure For Misconduct of a Member Association

The main concerns in the rare occurrence of disciplinary action are to protect the government process, the public, and uphold the reputation of the Energy Healers Organisation and all its other member associations who abide by its Codes and Ethics.

Structure of the Energy Healers Organisation Disciplinary Procedure

Warnings
   • Verbal warnings for minor transgressions.
   • Written warnings for more serious or consistent misconduct (Including email).
   • Final warnings for persistent misconduct (including email).
   • Immediate suspension for gross misconduct, pending investigation: Gross misconduct includes sabotaging the government qualification process that the very hard-working member associations have been working for, as well as the more obvious matters such as knowingly not abiding by the curriculum in training its members or being found to be running any kind of pyramid or Ponzi scheme.

How to use the Procedure

• Expulsion should be considered as a last resort.
• Any misconduct is to be discussed at a forthcoming Energy Healers Organisation committee meeting consisting of representatives from each association, to ensure fairness.
• Either before or after this meeting, depending upon the seriousness of the misconduct, a committee member shall communicate in writing (such as by email) the breach to the member association in breach of the Codes and Ethics in this document and ask them to make amends where possible (for example, if the association concerned has overly-political one-sided opinion on their website, they can be asked to remove it).
• The member association is then given 14 days to take the necessary action, or to respond in defence of an allegation. If the committee finds that this is an unsuitable action or response, this is escalated to either a final warning, or, preferably, a meeting with the committee in order to explain themselves and for the member association in breach of the Codes and Ethics and the Energy Healers Organisation committee to find a mutually-agreed solution. The member association is then given 14 days to carry out this solution. If this does not happen, the committee may have to expel the member association. If the breach is very serious, the committee reserves the right to expel the member association at any stage necessary to protect the public.
• In the event of an on-going investigation, the committee may suspend the member association in breach of the Codes and Ethics for as long as is necessary for the findings of the investigation, before deciding upon expulsion or to fully re-instate the member association in question.
• If the member association under investigation is found not to be in contravention of the Codes and Ethics, that member association and the complainant/s will be given feedback.

The complaints process is confidential and not to be discussed or disclosed outside the decision-making process.
Full electronic records of each decision will be kept and maintained.