About Us
The New Zealand Charter of Health Practitioners Incorporated is Australasia’s largest professional body of HealthCare practitioners representing 80% of the natural HealthCare profession. The Charter’s framework embraces several modalities including acupuncture, herbalism, homeopathy, naturopathy, nutrition, massage therapy, reiki, shiatsu, and, Bowen therapy. 
The ‘Charter’ was formed in 1993 as a non-for-profit incorporated society with the New Zealand Incorporated Societies Act 1908 (ABN 46 002 844 233).
As the premier leading natural healthcare practitioner register in New Zealand and the largest natural healthcare organisation in the Southern Hemisphere we provide practitioners with the highest qualifications obtainable in their chosen field of expertise who can meet the healthcare needs of your entire family. Unlike conventional (allopathic medicine) our individual practitioners utilise the natural holistic (whole body) approach to healthcare with an emphasis on treating the whole person. Our practitioners provide a full range of natural healthcare therapies to assist with many health conditions.
The ‘Charter’ is a non-for-profit organisation established to facilitate and defend the practitioners’ right to practice freely in their chosen health field and the consumers’ right to freely access healthcare of their own choice.
We fully support the individual's basic human right to make their own educated decisions and their own freedom of choice from all available science, treatments and therapies in order to maintain or reestablish a desirable level of health and well-being.
Mission Statement
Our Mission is to promote an optimal healthcare model for the benefit of all New Zealanders, embracing continuing education and research by qualified, registered, natural healthcare practitioners, providing safe effective preventative and restorative therapies for achieving and maintaining health and wellbeing.
Objectives
The main objectives of the New Zealand Charter of Health Practitioners are listed in the Memorandum Document:
1. To encourage in its members the highest ideals of professionalism in respect of the health care.
2. To promote and encourage the study of natural and traditional medicine in its many specialties including acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine, herbal medicine, homeopathy, iridology, nutrition, natural fertility, natural vision improvement, naturopathy, chiropractic, osteopathy, aromatherapy, integration therapy, reflexology, remedial massage, remedial therapies, shiatsu and other natural or traditional medicines or therapies.
3. To promote public awareness of natural and traditional medicine.
4. To fix from time to time minimum standards for the teaching of Natural and Traditional Medicine.
5. To accredit courses taught by colleges of natural and traditional medicine as complying with the minimum standards agree by the Society.
6. To identify colleges that teach to the minimum standards of natural and traditional medicine and to oversee the conduct of those colleges by recognising, withholding recognition or withdrawing recognition of individual colleges.
7. To provide for provisional recognition of individual colleges of natural and traditional medicine whilst the Society enquires into whether that college teaches to the minimum standards fixed by the Society.
8. To represent fairly and equally the diverse areas of the profession of natural and traditional medicine and health care.
9. To promote and encourage the right of different specialist areas of Natural and Traditional Medicine to be allowed the right to train and to practice as specialist colleges and to give specialist practitioner services.
10. To provide a Code of Ethics for the practice of natural and traditional medicine.
11. To encourage all colleges recognised by the Society to monitor the standards (academic or otherwise) and the ethics and professionalism of its own graduates.
Structure
The Charter is an umbrella organisation created to represent a number of affiliated associations of natural healthcare professionals in diverse fields. These are divided broadly into the following four professions:
» Traditional Chinese Profession
» Traditional Maori Profession
» Natural Therapies Profession
» Natural Medicine
The Charter organisation consists of an Executive Board, Registration Board and a Combined Governing Council.
The Executive Board oversees the operation of the incorporated society and consists of six members elected annually at the Annual General Meeting of the ‘Affiliate Signatories’.
The Registration Board consists of six elected members from the Affiliate Signatories who hold this position for an elected term of three years and is responsible for maintaining the professional standards of the ‘Affiliate Signatories’, also ensuring that the professional ‘Chartered’ members comply with the continuing education requirements as ratified by their relevant modality.
The Combined Governing Council is made up of representatives from each of the four professions represented by the Charter. The Combined Governing Council approves new affiliate applications and ratifies the standards being presented by these affiliates.
"Bridging the gap between mind, body and spirit is your ultimate key to true happiness"
