Become Properly Credentialed
Proper Credentials Help You Do Three Critical Things:
1. Practice lawfully, professionally, responsibly, ethically and morally correctly.
2. Use a properly constructed informed consent form.
3. Empower your clients to make their own decisions.
Practice Lawfully
Practicing lawfully means that you know and understand the laws that pertain to you and you follow those laws whether you agree with them or not. It means having a business license if that is required. It means having a professional license if that is required. It means being certified if that is required.
Remember that all governments have laws that affect you. The vast majority of federal governments have agencies that oversee healthcare. These agencies usually require you to be properly certified in your profession unless your state, district or provincial government requires you to be licensed. Contact your local license board for more information about becoming licensed.
If licensing is not available in your location for your profession, then you must be property certified.
Lawful Certification Credentials
Lawful Spiritual Healer License Credentials
Practice Professionally
Being professional means you look like, speak like and act like a professional at all times. It means you know what you're doing and you're doing it professionally. It means you know what you're talking about and you do it professionally. It means you are an expert in whatever you do.
Being professional requires you to become properly trained in everything you do. Proper training includes how to work with clients. Proper training includes the basics, but it also includes all of the intermediate and advanced training needed to become an expert in your profession.
Being professional means to obtain proper credentials in your specialty. Then use your credentials and knowledge to become an expert in your profession.
Practice Responsibly
More than anything this means you take responsibility for what you say and do; and you require your clients to take responsibility for every facet of their own lives. This includes taking care of their own health and nutrition. You are not responsible for your client's health and nutrition. Your clients are. You are responsible for what you say and do. Your clients are not responsible for what you say or do.
Practicing responsibly also means practicing according to the informed consent form you require every client to sign before you interact with them professionally. For more information about informed consent forms we refer you to the Natural Therapies Coach Workshops Network of outstanding facilitators and an excellent curriculum:
Practice Ethically
Practicing ethically means you take care of your clients to the best of your ability. That means you refer them to licensed professionals when asked or when you believe it's a good idea. It also means you refer your clients to experts in the health field your clients ask about. These referrals can be to any alternative, holistic or natural health professional. It also means you refer your clients to licensed spiritual healers when asked.
Practicing ethically means you honor and respect your clients, their rights, needs and wants to the best of your ability. You keep everything confidential except when the law demands that you report certain things to certain government officials. You do the things a reasonably prudent person would do. You serve your client and you avoid self-serving practices.
Practice Morally Correctly
Practicing morally correctly means you do not allow politics, religion or sex to be an issue between you and your clients. It means you treat each and every client with respect and you keep good boundaries between you and them. It means you do not inappropriately touch your clients in any way. It also means you do not make any suggestive comments or inappropriate jokes.
Morally correct conduct is a way of protecting your client's privacy and making your clients feel comfortable around you. Morally correct conduct builds trust and trust is an important part of any healing process. One must trust the process and the provider. Morally correct conduct is also about keeping everything legal, professional and ethical between you and your clients.
Use a Properly Constructed Informed Consent Form
We refer you to the NTCW Network of qualified instructors to learn how to properly construct an empowering and protective informed consent form. Your form needs to be tightly constructed, enforceable, professional, ethical and legal. It must be a binding contract between you and your client. Anything less will not serve you well.
Properly using an informed consent form means you review the form with your client to make certain he or she understands everything in the form. It means you watch her or him sign the form and you give him or her a copy of the signed form -- or you have your client sign two forms and keep one for her/himself. You keep a signed copy in your client file.
A properly constructed informed consent form is an extension of you. It sounds like the things you would say in the way you would say them. While it is a legal document, it is easy to read and understand -- just like you. It lists in a conversational manner the things you do. Write the form from your client's point of view, not yours. Start the first sentence with "I understand" and the last sentence in each paragraph with "I further understand." Start any sentences in between with "I also understand."
The logical way to construct an informed consent form is to write one paragraph about the following things: 1) any licenses you have in your chosen healthcare profession, 2) your main certification, 3) the services you provide, 4) client confidentiality, 5) your client's responsibility, 6) your fees, and 7) anything else you want to cover in your form. Keep it simple, understandable and express yourself.
Whatever you do, do not use a canned informed consent form created by somebody else that does not express who you are and the way you communicate with your clients. Avoid using a disclaimer of any kind in your informed consent forms. Disclaimers are often hotly disputed and eventually become the basis for disallowing an informed consent form to be used as evidence. Without an informed consent form as evidence on their behalf, defendants are usually convicted if their case goes to court.
If your informed consent form is disallowed, our advise is to negotiate a settlement as soon as possible. Never put yourself in the position where you need to negotiate a settlement -- use a properly constructed informed consent form and only do that your form says you will do.
Empower Your Clients to Make Their Own Decisions
Empowering your clients is best done by coaching them. Any attempt to diagnose, analyze, evaluate or examine your client requires a license that permits these things. Any attempt to suggest, recommend, counsel or prescribe what your client should or should not take or do requires a license that allows these things.
Coaching empowers your clients to make their own decisions. They diagnose themselves and they decide what they will do to heal themselves. You are their facilitator and their coach. The Natural Therapies Coach Workshops Network is a network of coach instructors with an excellent track record and reputation.
Other Things to Consider:
In our experience we believe it pays to become certified or become licensed as a spiritual healer if that helps describe who you are; and join a professional association that offers great benefits and professional liability insurance for a reasonable fee.
Consider Becoming Certified in Your Profession
Consider Becoming Licensed as a Spiritual Healer
Consider Joining a Professional Association
Legal Notice:
The material presented on this page above this legal notice is copyrighted. You have our permission to use any portion or the complete article for your own purposes as long as you agree 1) not to edit any portion of this paper though you may add editorial notes if added within parenthesis and labeled as such, 2) to give credit to NTCRS as the source of this material, and 3) include our web address http://www.ntcrs.com someplace in the material you copy and use.