Alternative Health Practitioners provide unconventional method of treatment to cure physical or mental disorder of the people. They may specialize in acupuncture, homeopathy, reflexology, aromatherapy, herbal therapy, naturopathy, massage therapy hypnotherapy, yoga, meditation etc. They utilize their domain of healthcare to focus upon the fitness and health of the patient. In some cases, they explore the interconnection between the mind, body, and spirit to promote good health.
Alternative Health Practitioners put more weight to ancient traditions and anecdotes over biological science and clinical trials. They use natural products such as herbs or essential oils instead of pharmaceuticals unless no alternatives remain.
Alternative Health Practitioners meet the patients directly, evaluate their problems and develop the healing strategies accordingly. They work in medical office settings, private clinics or even make house calls.
Educational Requirements:
To become an Alternative Health Practitioner, the aspiring candidates need to possess different kinds of academic qualification, training and license as per the type of the practice they wish to pursue. For instance, an herbalist can earn a required certificate in less than one year, but no formal education or licensing is required for aroma-therapists; an acupuncturist needs a master’s degree while a chiropractor requires at least 4 years of professional study besides a 4-year undergraduate course.
However, Alternative Health Practitioners study common course of Anatomy, Physiology, Clinical skills and Patient care etc. along with their special subjects.
Skill Set:
The aspiring Alternative Health Practitioners must possess effective communications and interpersonal skills, creative thinking, ability to work with compassion, understand and manage the crisis situation, convince the people, keep accurate records etc.
Salary & Job Outlook:
The job outlook for an Alternative Health Practitioner is very positive across the USA, as more people are now inclining towards alternative medicine. The salary of Alternative Health Practitioners differs according to their specialty. For instance, the annual average salary of massage therapists was $ 35,970 in 2012 while Chiropractors earned an average salary of $66,160 in the same year.