March 2006
Certificate IV and Diploma in Reiki Treatment Practice?
The system of Reiki is one of the fastest growing energy therapies worldwide. In Australia, it is already available in some hospitals, palliative care units, and other community settings.
The growth of the system is also reflected by the increase in Reiki association membership along with the growing number of training organisations that now include the system of Reiki in their curriculum.
What is Reiki?
The system of Reiki was developed by Mikao Usui in the early 1900s in Japan. It is comprised of a number of elements that promote healing in the body on physical, mental, emotional and spiritual levels. This energy is called ‘Reiki’ which translated from Japanese means ‘Spiritual Energy’ and in the West is more commonly known as ‘Universal Life Force’.
Reiki Treatment
One who has studied the system of Reiki is called a Reiki practitioner. During a treatment a practitioner consciously offers energy through the hands using hand positions on, or just above the body, to support healing in the body. Practitioners also work with Reiki on themselves.
The Effect of Reiki
This energy therapy may aid everything from stress and simple skin rashes to migraine headaches and cancer pain.
A Certificate IV and Diploma in Reiki?
In July 2005 the Community Services and Health Industry Skills Council (CS&HISC) issued Draft 1 qualifications for a Certificate IV in Reiki Treatment Practice. These qualifications, if implemented, will lead to a Certificate IV and Diploma training for Reiki practitioners who wish to work in the fields where communication between Reiki and other practitioners (complementary as well as orthodox healthcare) would be required.
Draft 2 of the qualifications was issued in February of this year, with the last draft, Draft 3, to be made available later this year.
A change of name in relation to the Certificate IV in Reiki Treatment Practice has been submitted as feedback in the validation process. The suggested name would be a Certificate IV in Reiki Treatment Practice in Community Services and Health Care Settings, which it is felt more accurately reflects the draft's contents.
Who is the CS&HISC?
The CS&HISC is a Government funded body whose role is to support, develop, implement and continuously improve the quality of nationally recognised products and services, including Training Packages.
Its role is to ensure appropriateness of Vocational Education & Training (VET) to meet the skills and knowledge of the industry workforce and it is currently conducting a review of the Health Training Package. Part of this package review is the inclusion of a new qualification for Reiki Treatment Practice in Community Services and Health Care Settings.
What do these Qualifications entail?
The draft qualifications are made up of units of competencies. In the Reiki Certificate IV package there are currently 16 competency units. This is comprised of 15 compulsory units and one elective.
Nine of these are Common Units and six are specialised Reiki Units and one is an elective unit.
The draft qualifications can be downloaded from the CS&HISC website www.cshisc.com.au. Follow the link Health Training Package HLTO2 Review. If you have difficulty downloading the units contact project co-ordinator sarah.fuller@cshsc.com.au who will arrange to post a CD Rom of the units to you.
Who will be able to study the Certificate IV and Diploma?
People who wish to learn Reiki will still be able to do so with whomever they wish. It is after they receive their Reiki training that they may decide to attain a Certificate IV or Diploma in Reiki Treatment Practice in Community Services and Health Care Settings.
Reiki is unique as an energy therapy in that it is both a healing art and a spiritual practice. It has been an important aim of the qualification design to support and preserve the personal spiritual practice by keeping Reiki I, Reiki II and Master training outside the scope of the qualification. The spiritual aspect of Reiki training is not part of these draft qualifications and will remain the Reiki teacher’s responsibility.
The focus of the qualification is on appropriate treatment delivery in a professional environment such as a clinic, hospice, or hospital. To that end, part of the Health Training Package, which Reiki will become a subset of, deals with such things as being able to interpret simple medical terminology, basic anatomy and physiology, hygiene, taking case histories etc. For practitioners who may be dealing with orthodox medicos and working in clinic type environments such knowledge and skills are important.
If these draft Cert IV and Diploma qualifications are endorsed, they will become the nationally recognised standard for Reiki practitioners who wish to work in community services or health care settings in Australia. Participation in the validation of the Draft qualifications by stakeholders such as Reiki practitioners, and potential employers and associations, is vital to ensure broad industry acceptance of qualifications.
The National Reiki Reference Group
On the 12th of November 2005 a number of Reiki industry representatives developed a working party calling itself the National Reiki Reference Group (NRRG). The NRRG is liaising with the CS&HISC in the creation of the Certificate IV in Reiki Treatment Practice in Community Services and Health Care Settings. Their aim is to ensure that the standards of competency for Reiki training are equitable, inclusive, sound, comprehensive, appropriate and accessible.
Please visit the NRRG website www.nrrg.org.au where there are News Updates, Meeting Histories, a current NRRG Membership List and more.
The Creation of a National Reiki Umbrella Group
Looking to the future, the NRRG has agreed in principle to support the formation of a national Reiki umbrella group, encompassing Reiki organisations throughout Australia. This body would work in conjunction with government bodies and provide self-regulation of the Reiki treatment industry.
Validation Period – Have YOUR Say
If you would like to have your say about Draft 2, it will be available at the end of February, 2006 on the CS&HISC website. Following this a validation period will be held by the CS&HISC where feedback on the draft will be welcomed for possible input.
To keep yourself up to date on matters pertaining to the Health Training Package you can also subscribe to the CS&HISC newsletter via the website www.cshisc.com.au.
January 2006
Certificate IV Reiki Treatment Practice
In July, 2005 Draft 1 of a Certificate IV in Reiki Treatment Practice was presented by the Community Services and Health Industry Skills Council (CSHISC) for validation by the Australian Reiki community. As a consequence validation meetings were held around Australia from August to September in 2005 to receive input from the Australian Reiki community.
All written feedback to the draft was requested by September 23rd, 2005.
In October 2005, Reiki stakeholders were invited to a meeting with the CSHISC to discuss and express any issues concerning the draft. As a result of that meeting, Reiki stakeholders formed the National Reiki Reference Group in November 2005 to continue discussion.
In February 2006, Draft 2 of the Certificate IV Reiki Treatment Practice will be available via the CSHISC website for the Australian Reiki community to respond to.
You can currently view the latest news about the draft on the CSHISC website at http://www.cshisc.com.au.
