Reiki..........The Way Of The Universe

Voluntary Self-Regulation for Reiki

Reiki Regulatory Work Group

The Reiki Regulatory Work Group was set up to represent the Reiki community in the process of self-regulation for Reiki. The Government has agreed to allow every complementary therapy to develop it's own standards and codes of conduct for both practitioners and teachers. The Government will only work with one body for each therapy, so the relevant associations for each therapy were formed into Regulatory Work Groups for their particular therapy. The Reiki Regulatory Work Group is made up of representatives of as many of the Reiki associations and Reiki styles that were interested in participating (as long as they had more than 100 members) along with lay members (interested members of the public). 

The stated aims of the RRWG are:

• To work towards Voluntary Self-Regulation (VSR)

• To develop standards for all Reiki groups, allowing for differences in styles

• To arrive at a definition of Reiki acceptable to all

• Prepare a safe code of professional practice of Reiki, to include disciplinary and complaints procedures

• To develop Minimum Standards

• To set up a national register of Reiki Practitioners and Teachers

National Occupational Standards Committee

The stated aim of this project is to develop National Occupational Standards in Reiki. The NOS committee is made up of representatives of the main Reiki associations and Reiki styles along with representatives of the Prince of Wales Foundation for Integrated Health.  The project is funded, managed and facilitated by project managers from Skills for Health.  I am on the NOS committee.

Skills for Health was established in April 2002 and is supported by the four UK health departments, the independent and voluntary health sectors and staff organisations. Skills for Health is the Sector Skills Council for health. 

The NOS committee has been meeting regularly since the early part of 2004. Our purpose was to develop standards of practice for Reiki that are acceptable to all the committee members.  The standards are in the form of competencies and the underpinning knowledge associated with each competency.  From these competencies and knowledge templates the Educational Sub Group will develop the core curriculum and qualification and assessment structure for Reiki. We used the standard templates developed by Skills for Health and adjusted them to fit with the committee members perceptions of good Reiki practice.  This has proved to be quite challenging at times!  Trying to define good practice and be inclusive of all the different styles of Reiki was difficult, but we did manage it.         

In October 2004 the draft National Occupational Standards were circulated for consultation amongst the Reiki community. Roadshows were held around the country and the documents were put on various websites. The feedback was collated and we had the final review meeting in early February 2005 to discuss and agree the final draft, taking into account the feedback we had received.   

As a member of the committee, and especially as a Reiki healer and teacher, I must say I am disappointed with the end result.  We have managed to create standards, but these are minimum standards. I had hoped that we could take this opportunity to adopt best practice from across the range of Reiki styles and formulate professional standards, instead we have set the standard way below the level I wanted. I know Reiki is a wonderful system for both healing and self-development, and I wanted to ensure that all practitioners have the knowledge and competence to use Reiki in the most effective and professional way.  

The level of knowledge and competence we teach is far higher than that set by the NOS committee.  We teach a core syllabus that exceeds that determined by the NOS for both  knowledge and understanding and for practice, whether private or in a health care environment. We ensure our students are knowledgeable and professional, whether they are treating fee paying clients or friends and family. 

Educational Sub Group

The Educational Sub Group was set up to develop a draft core curriculum alongside Reiki National Occupational Standards (NOS). The core curriculum will be made available for a consultative process with all UK Reiki professionals.

Updates

We are in the process of developing our Reiki courses into NVQ levels.  We are planning to keep the courses as they are as much as possible, and only introduce more modules where needed to bring them in line with the higher NVQ levels. This way we can have a nationally recognized qualification structure for Reiki that is based on competence and knowledge and allows existing practitioners to migrate into the structure easily.

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