The Healing & Acupuncture College 6 Month Course
DATES
Weekend 2012 Course will start in January Sat/Sun.
Dates for 2012. Jan 28/29 Feb 4/5/18/19 Mar 3/4/17/18/31 Apr 1/14/15/28/29 May 13/20/27 June 10
All days are from 9.30 - 5.00pm. click here for syllabus and more details.
Venue The Conygre Hall, North Road, Timsbury, Bath, BA2 0JQ.
Costs: The fee for the whole course is under £2000, for full details, terms and payment schedule: click here
FAQ's
How can you possibly learn to be an acupuncturist in this time scale? This is usually a question asked by people who studied for 3 years and need to find justification rather than by prospective students. I believe there is ample evidence to show that this is quite possible and am always happy to debate this point. Our graduates are living proof that you can learn to be an effective practitioner in 6 months so long as you are committed and apply yourself to it.
Who can do the course? Most of our students have already done some study and work as a therapist of some kind. Students need to be over 20 and have some life/work experience, but our basic policy is to be open to all wherever possible. If in doubt please ask or come to an open day, we will see what we can do for you.
Are you planning any weekend courses/weekday courses/courses in other places like London/Scotland/Ireland/Spain etc? Probably not but feel free to ask if you have a proposal. Obviously if you came and asked for a weekend course in the South West and had a group of 6-10 people waiting we would take that very seriously. But sadly its impossible to please everybody.
Is the course accredited? No, The accreditation bodies are all independent and set their own standards so there is no "standard" for acupuncture. Some of them are good and work well to set and raise standards, others are not so good or have their own agenda. But of course they all charge for their services increasing the costs which are then passed on to students. We issue our own certificate of competence to practice and have our own register of practitioner members who hold current insurance to practice and abide by our code of conduct. Graduates use the designatory letters CertAc AHPR and insure themselves through Balens.
Do you offer a diploma? No, I suppose we could but a diploma only really means something if the public can recognise the validation body. This course is about acupuncture in practice and not over concerned with documentation. There is no nationally or internationally recognised validation body for acupuncture. So safe practice, good ethical standards and current public liability insurance are the things that matter to us.
Can you send me a prospectus? This is it! One of the ways in which we keep costs down is by not spending a lot of money on publicity material. Hopefully all you need is on this website, but if not Jamie is always ready to talk and answer any questions you may have. Prospective students are also welcome to attend an open day, this is an informal meeting a few weeks before the courses start.
Can you provide any references? What our students say click here
Is the course recognised by the NHS or in any official way by the government or in law? No, and nor are any of the other courses available with the possible exception of one, a short course recognised by the NHS and open only to doctors.
Will it be illegal to practice acupuncture without a degree or BAcC membership soon? No. On 16th Feb 2011 the Secretary of state for Health said: I am confident that acupuncturists have their own voluntary regulatory measures in place which are sufficiently robust. Additionally, local authorities in England have powers to regulate the hygiene of the practice of acupuncture to protect against the risk of transmission of certain infectious diseases. Similar measures are also in place in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Is there any grant or funding available? Not as far as we know.
How do you cover all the material in only 20 days? The HAC course is not attempting to compete with or bear direct comparison to the 3 year degree courses. We are offering an alternative where we cover what is directly relevant to daily practice (see syllabus). Our course includes less theoretical material, no western medicine theory and fewer points. But it still gives a thorough grounding in the subject and includes the all important health and safety training to the same standard as any other course available in the UK. We focus on skills, practice and common sense to bring you to a point where you can practice safely and with confidence and competence. Of course that is still the beginning since you never stop learning and we always encourage our graduates to do further study. In fact we often lay on optional extra classes for our students.
I cant do all those dates but still want to do the course, what can I do? It is possible to miss a couple of days but any more than that is not realistic on a 20 day course. So if you need to miss more than 2 days (or the first 2) we can arrange catch up days where we catch you up on a day missed in half a day so as to keep you consistent through the course. But it is expensive because we have to schedule time and resources especially for you. Cost is £200 per catch up day, so if you had missed 2 days you would attend one day at a cost of £400. If there are two people its significantly cheaper, £125 per catch up day. In larger groups participants will pay less than that. However, now that we have the online+5 course running there is an alternative way to catch up. Students who miss days (and all days will have to be paid for) will be offered free access to the relevant material online.
Will I get a job as an acupuncturist in the NHS or elsewhere? You can earn a good living as an acupuncturist but it is unwise to assume that this will happen automatically when you qualify because that's when the work begins. Some people do work in the NHS but this is rare and usually happens when they have existing contacts or expertise. You need to build your own practice and we encourage students to bring their own patients to the college clinic where possible. This encourages them to start to actually build a practice before they graduate.