How to become a complementary health associate professional
Official title: Complementary health associate professionals
Also called: Complementary therapist, Complementary health practitioner, Complementary medicine practitioner, Reiki healer, Reiki master, Bowen therapist, Reiki therapist, Intuitive healer, Spiritual healer, Colour therapist, Ayurvedic masseur, Massage therapist
Complementary health associate professionals use non-mainstream treatments in support of conventional medical treatments.
Main tasks
- Advises and prescribes in areas of complementary and alternative medicine
- Prescribes and prepares homeopathic remedies
- Manipulates and massages patient to discover the cause of pain, relieve discomfort, restore function and mobility and to correct irregularities in body structure
- Uses colour therapy to help with people’s mental and physical problems
- Administers aromatic herbs and oils and massages body to relieve pain and restore health
- Massages reflex points in the hands and feet to relieve pain and promote healing in other parts of the body
- Uses hypnotherapy to relieve or treat health conditions and to change habits
How to become one
Entry requirements vary in different fields. Some employers require a degree level qualification. Professional qualifications are available, and membership of professional bodies is mandatory in some areas.
Ways in
- Apprenticeship (England): Health play specialist (level 5). England. Typically 24 months. Skills England standard ST0829.
- Apprenticeship (England): Wellbeing and holistic therapist (level 3). England. Typically 20 months. Skills England standard ST0685.
- University: Medicine & Dentistry degrees, Offered by 21 universities in the UK
- University: Nursing & Midwifery degrees, Offered by 16 universities in the UK
Pay · Outlook
- Median full-time pay: £27,888 a year
- About 42,600 people work in this job now, and about 46,900 are projected by 2035. (+10%)
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Questions people ask
How do I become a complementary health associate professional?
Entry requirements vary in different fields. Some employers require a degree level qualification. Professional qualifications are available, and membership of professional bodies is mandatory in some areas.
How much does a complementary health associate professional earn in the UK?
Median full-time pay is £27,888 a year (Office for National Statistics).
Is a complementary health associate professional a growing career in the UK?
Yes. Employment is projected to grow 10% by 2035, from about 42,600 to about 46,900 people (Department for Education).
Do you need a degree to become a complementary health associate professional?
Not always. 38% of people in this job hold a bachelor's degree or higher. Ways in include: Medicine & Dentistry degrees; Nursing & Midwifery degrees; Health play specialist (level 5).
Sources
- Office for National Statistics: Annual Population Survey: employment by occupation (April 2025 to March 2026), OGL v3.0, retrieved 2026-10-03
- Office for National Statistics: SOC 2020 Volume 1: structure and descriptions (2026-08-27 edition), OGL v3.0, retrieved 2026-10-03
- Department for Education: Skills Imperative 2035: employment projections by occupation (2021 to 2035 (Warwick IER / Cambridge Econometrics)), OGL v3.0, retrieved 2026-10-03
- Office for National Statistics: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14 (2025 provisional), OGL v3.0, retrieved 2026-10-03
Updated 2026-10-03
Graduate outcomes: Discover Uni dataset, HESA (www.hesa.ac.uk), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0). Aggregated by subject and adapted by Peernovo.