Professional bodies confusion

Hi Abij,

Who to join. well that is tough question! If you have any special powers to see into the future it would help, and if you get the answer then let me and everyone else know;).

Can I ask where you are studying and is the course endorsed by any of the organisations that you have listed?

You could hedge your bets and join the SST and the STO and go for registration with the CNHC then come what may you could be in a good position. Could be costly this way and you would have to select insurance wisely.

Personally speaking I would join the STO and get registered with the CNHC and avoid the SST.......but then again I am bitter and twisted:rolleyes:.

I am sure none of this has been any help but good luck anyway:).

I'm currently doing a Sports Therapy HND and it was mentioned that we might want to join the Society of Sports Therapists (SST) but before doing so I remember reading on here that there are various organisations representing Sports Therapists and I've been getting totally lost looking at all their websites.

I have a few questions....

• are you limited to joining just one body, or is it recommended to only join one? This is up to you (see below)
• why join them? I'm guessing this is mainly for insurance and access to and discount on CPD courses - yes, they are the main reasons
• Does it even matter which you join or are they all basically the same? (see below)
• If not what would influence your decision to go with one over another? (ditto)
• Does it effect my position in terms of the eventual hpc registration, i.e. do some exclude you from being about to register? (HPC dont regulate sports therapy, CNHC regulate sports therapy under a voluntary system.
• How are the all related, my understanding is that there is the HPC, 'under' that is the Sports and Remedial Therapies Council with the rest being 'under' this...is that right? You have CNHC regulator, then SRTC comprising most of the PAs under them.

Sorry - I realise that's a lot of questions! Hopefully someone can help me because right now it's as clear as mud!

From reading old posts on here the organisations I've come up with are:

Society of Sports Therapists (SST)
Sports Therapy Organisation (STO)
Institute of Sports and Remedial Massage (ISRM)
Federation of holistic therapists (FHT)
CThA
Sports Massage Organisation (SMO) (Sports Massage Association (SMA) )
Sports and remedial therapies Council (SRTC)

Many therapists feel they should join as many associations as they can, however, research them all and find out what they cost, how much insurance they can offer, what benefits they give and if they are recognised by CNHC, and then pick the one which suits you best.

Be aware that some of the massage PAs dont accept sports therapy members, but it doesnt harm you to email them to check.

SRTC is the sports therapy lead body, comprising 4 Professional Associations, so you cant actually join them.

Thank you both for your replies.
AspireST - I'm studying at the City of Glasgow College, Riverside campus (i.e. the former Glasgow Nautical College). I'm only in 1st year so plenty of time to work these things out I guess! As far as I know the course is endorsed by the SST as they are the body that has been mentioned. It's an HND though so fulfills the requirements of the SQA framework.
Do the individual PAs only accept members from courses that they endorse?

Thank you both for your replies.
AspireST - I'm studying at the City of Glasgow College, Riverside campus (i.e. the former Glasgow Nautical College). I'm only in 1st year so plenty of time to work these things out I guess! As far as I know the course is endorsed by the SST as they are the body that has been mentioned. It's an HND though so fulfills the requirements of the SQA framework.
Do the individual PAs only accept members from courses that they endorse?[/quote]

No it was purely out of interest. Makes sense that it is endorsed by SST as in the same city. Good luck, have you had your ' Sports Therapy will be statutory regulated by 2012' talk yet?

Thank you both for your replies.
AspireST - I'm studying at the City of Glasgow College, Riverside campus (i.e. the former Glasgow Nautical College). I'm only in 1st year so plenty of time to work these things out I guess! As far as I know the course is endorsed by the SST as they are the body that has been mentioned. It's an HND though so fulfills the requirements of the SQA framework.
Do the individual PAs only accept members from courses that they endorse?[/quote]

No it was purely out of interest. Makes sense that it is endorsed by SST as in the same city. Good luck, have you had your ' Sports Therapy will be statutory regulated by 2012' talk yet?

I had the 'it will be regulated by 2011' talk during my latter days at university, then as we all know it moved to 2012, now, who knows? As far as I could tell it may have been on course with a labour government-but since the white paper it has ben put back until.....

I am a society member, and from what I can see they are trying to up their ideas, but its a wait and see type thing.

Good on you Abij for looking now, and best of luck for the course.

TT

I had the 'it will be regulated by 2011' talk during my latter days at university, then as we all know it moved to 2012, now, who knows? As far as I could tell it may have been on course with a labour government-but since the white paper it has ben put back until.....

I am a society member, and from what I can see they are trying to up their ideas, but its a wait and see type thing.

Good on you Abij for looking now, and best of luck for the course.

TT

Hi TT,

Yes, I have noted that they seem to be pushing other quals as stated before, Foundations, HNDs (possibly the same, as both are two year courses). Maybe the penny has dropped and they now know that regulation at the level they wanted isn't going to happen. Doubtful though that they will ever admit that.

AspireST

AspireST - not had the talk yet, there's been no mention of it so far (only been in classes for three weeks though). The only reason I know anything about it is that I've read about it on here! I still don't really know what it will mean for me as I would qualify in 2012, but then I guess no-one really does yet? I'm hoping I don't have to go straight ahead and get a degree and I'd like get straight into practice.

TotalTherapy - thanks!

AspireST - not had the talk yet, there's been no mention of it so far (only been in classes for three weeks though). The only reason I know anything about it is that I've read about it on here! I still don't really know what it will mean for me as I would qualify in 2012, but then I guess no-one really does yet? I'm hoping I don't have to go straight ahead and get a degree and I'd like get straight into practice.

TotalTherapy - thanks!

The fact is that SST will "market" their top up degree to you, you really need 2 years clinical experience to gain entry however recent events demonstrate they use their diploma courses as a way of feeding their Top up programmes. You will probably get student membership from SST, but I suggest you look around at the cometition for your insurance and membership if you want to save yourself a couple of hundred quid a year and get increased insurance cover to boot.

Ironically SST still say that degree is the preferred entry route for STs, yet seem to be running increasing amounts of diploma courses, perhaps realisation that £27k for their degree then the recommendation of a years unpaid internship to gain experience isnt very appealling after all.
regards
BGFL

Thanks for your replies - another quick question, I know that the degree or not question has been asked a thousand times on here but what does it do in terms of the actual difference it makes to the work you can do as a therapist?
What I mean is does not having a degree restrict you? The only thing I've heard about this so far is that you can't take insurance work 9though this could well just be people speculating at college).

The thing I'm unsure about too is see as I'm due to graduate (HND) just when the regulation comes into effect I'll have had no chance to build up the 2 years practice for the grandfather route so does this mean I'll pretty much be forced to do the degree? (assuming of course that the statutary regulation doesn't get put back).

Sorry if this has been covered before!

Thanks for your replies - another quick question, I know that the degree or not question has been asked a thousand times on here but what does it do in terms of the actual difference it makes to the work you can do as a therapist?
What I mean is does not having a degree restrict you? The only thing I've heard about this so far is that you can't take insurance work 9though this could well just be people speculating at college).

The thing I'm unsure about too is see as I'm due to graduate (HND) just when the regulation comes into effect I'll have had no chance to build up the 2 years practice for the grandfather route so does this mean I'll pretty much be forced to do the degree? (assuming of course that the statutary regulation doesn't get put back).

Sorry if this has been covered before!

Hi,
diploma or degree makes no difference in the grand scheme of things, yes there may vacancies open to degree grads only, but then the same can be said for certain diploma graduates too, its employers choice (not that theres a huge amount of job, most work is freelance self employed).

You will find that STO members clients can get their treatments covered by some health insurers, and a degree doesnt come into the equation.

Who has told you that regulation is coming into effect in 2 years? It just isnt true. In Feb of this year the government issued a white paper on statutory regulation, and it quotes that there will be no more stat regs. Training providers and professional associations need to be very careful about stating that stat regs is happening, in an attempt to market their own courses and membership etc....its mis-selling, and if the evidence is there, it will be reported.

In my opinion the sports therapy degrees are going to diminish, one, due to cost, and two, due to the fact that stat regs isnt happening, and having a sports therapy degree doesnt give you a head start in this profession.

There are also a number of colleges and uni's working on new top-up degrees, which will be far more cost effective, if someone does want a BSc.

The thing I'm unsure about too is see as I'm due to graduate (HND) just when the regulation comes into effect I'll have had no chance to build up the 2 years practice for the grandfather route so does this mean I'll pretty much be forced to do the degree? (assuming of course that the statutary regulation doesn't get put back).

Sorry if this has been covered before!

could you please clarify if you have been told recently by your training provider, that STAT Regs is happening , if so what timescale?

BGFL

sorry if I've confused things myself here - my training provider hasn't said statutory regulation is coming into effect. It's just my own information is a bit out of date I guess. Before I applied for the course i looked into the job/industry and the statutory regulation was something that kept cropping up online. This was before February though so the stuff I was reading is now outdated I guess. Sorry!

No need to apologise, there has been much confusion over the issue for the past 10 years. I have a bulging box file relating to it in my office!

Thanks, I've enquired about the student membership at the STO for now. Hopefully by the time I graduate and get a bit of experience in the industry I'll have a better understanding of the PAs and the politics behind it!
One of the local universities appears to do the one/two year top up degree here but it's not listed on their website, I only found it because another student mentioned it so I search direct on google. Right now though my thinking is I'd rather get some experience in industry and do CDP courses in the specific areas I'm interested in rather than go straight into another full time course.

Thanks, I've enquired about the student membership at the STO for now. Hopefully by the time I graduate and get a bit of experience in the industry I'll have a better understanding of the PAs and the politics behind it!
One of the local universities appears to do the one/two year top up degree here but it's not listed on their website, I only found it because another student mentioned it so I search direct on google. Right now though my thinking is I'd rather get some experience in industry and do CDP courses in the specific areas I'm interested in rather than go straight into another full time course.[/quote]

Hi Abij,

I think that is the best way to look at your progression for the future. That way you can add to/improve the skills you already have and it will probably be considerably cheaper. I suspect that is the way the experienced and successful practitioners today went about their training in the past. If it ain't broke..........:)