>> Open Letter to Naturopathic and Herbal Practitioners from ARONAH (pdf)
I am a naturopath and don’t have a Bachelor degree. Does this mean I won’t be registered?
Bachelor level education in naturopathy and herbal medicine is still quite a recent development in Australia and currently only 43% of Australian naturopaths have this level of qualification. The register will acknowledge that there are practitioners who trained before the development of these courses and have extensive knowledge gained through practical experience and other methods of professional development. Appropriate grandparenting mechanisms will be enacted to acknowledge these practitioners on the register.
What will this mean for my professional association?
Professional associations will always have a valid and essential role to play in the promotion and continued development of the naturopathic and herbal medicine professions. This register is designed only to ensure minimum standards of education and practice in practitioners and will not advocate on behalf of the professions it registers. . Many professional associations look forward to relinquishing the role of accreditation of practitioners as it will free up more resources to promote their modality and members, and provide more extensive membership services.
Is this the same as statutory regulation?
No, this is not the same as statutory regulation. As the register is independent and is not underpinned by government legislation it cannot enforce requirements such as protection of title or barring people who have committed serious breaches from practice. However, practitioners who act unethically can be removed from the register. The steering committee and board of the register will be advocating for statutory registration and the register will be designed to be subsumed by the government’s national registration process for health practitioners. The development of the register is designed to mirror statutory regulation processes.