Statement from UK College A number of Associations claim to be the Professional Association representing the interest of a particular therapy or discipline.
Some Associations recognise or 'accredit' schools and even tutors.
A majority of schools will have an alliance with one particular Association, and on qualifying, students will automatically apply to that Association. For each therapy discipline there can be up to eight or more Associations representing a particular discipline. For example, there are at least 8 Professional Associations in Aromatherapy, all of whom subscribe to an 'umbrella' association, The Aromatherapy Organisations Council. Most therapies are being encouraged to work towards this model. It is true to say that, at the time of writing, and particularly for the less established therapies, no one Association is recognised as 'the best' or by government bodies as being the one most recognised to represent a particular discipline.