COVID-19: Statement from the General Hypnotherapy Register

I received some official advice from the General Hypnotherapy Register this morning:

"We have set out below our advice to Practitioners during this difficult time:

Whereas the Government has not yet issued any notice that professionals in private practice should cease seeing clients on a face to face basis, it might yet come to that and even if such a notice is not forthcoming, there will be those (i.e. practitioners and both their current and potential clients) who will arrive at that decision for themselves.

In any event, practitioners should certainly contact all their respective current clients with instructions not to attend in person should they either be displaying symptoms of the virus themselves or if they may have been in contact with anyone who is or has been.

For those clients who do attend, there should be no physical contact at all, including hand shaking, and the physical distance between client and therapist during sessions should be set at a minimum of two meters.

If possible, a facility for client hand cleansing, both before and after each session, should be available.

Practitioners should remember to wash their own hands thoroughly after each client, especially where documents (e.g. completed client intake forms etc.) have been handed to the Practitioner by the client.

As it has been reported that the virus can live for up to 72 hours on certain surfaces (which may include clothing or furniture), it is advisable to use antibiotic [sic] cleansing surface wipes on any chair or other surface that the client has had contact with.

The above is not an exclusive list and there may yet be further forthcoming advise from Government that Practitioners would do well to heed."