December 2013
| Business World Magazine | 189
Other studies revealed that consumers were
annually spending more than a billion dol-
lars on alternative medicines and treatments,
and quite often, as Riddell asserts, they were
paying for these services behind the back of
their personal physicians. Over the years that
have followed, the American Medical Asso-
ciation has often imparted a mixed, if not
seemingly contradictory message in both
advocating toward research and exploration
of these methodologies while also commu-
nicating against patients’ reliance on services
fulfilled by practitioners outside of the pur-
view of modern health facilities. That said,
numerous hospitals today have increasingly
incorporated holistic methodologies into
their delivery of healthcare, and while these
techniques are often so ancient as to defy de-
scription of being new, in terms of public and
professional recognition that these therapies
genuinely impact beneficial well-being, that
is new.
What is also new is the fact that the
Ontario government is establishing a regu-
latory body called the College of Registered
Psychotherapists. Comparable to the same
institutional infrastructure governing the
credentialing of nurses, dentists, physicians
and surgeons, this framework will serve to
develop the professional standards and man-
datory minimum education requirements
necessary to secure certification. In addition
to providing greater assurance of safety and
security to consumers who seek out such
services, Riddell says the move will aug-
ment Transformational Arts’ positioning as
a leader in the education of future registered
psychotherapists. “We’re very excited by the
new regulatory college as this will help en-
sure our graduates have the necessary quali-
fications to apply for registration which will
be essential as they apply for jobs,” says Rid-
dell.
In fact, many students of the college
