As with any professional qualification, the skin, body and nail care industry is no different in that you need to keep up to date with the trends, developments and thought leadership within your chosen field. If you didn’t know that beauty therapy has Continuous Professional Development (CPD) requirements, now you do. In a fast growing, ever changing, highly competitive market it is important that South African Association of Health & Skincare Professionals (SAAHSP) registered practitioners demonstrate their competitiveness through the ongoing participation in CPD. This should become a way of life.
Here is what you need to know about SAAHSP and CPD:
SAAHSP was appointed as a non-statutory professional body since March 2013, providing its members with professional registration and designations. This means that you can now register yourself as a Nail Technician, Beauty Technologist, Beauty Therapist or Somatologist with the stamp of approval from a professional body.
Being a member of a professional body is invaluable to the industry because it standardises skills levels, which means that everyone who is a SAAHSP member will be skilled to a specific professional standard. This type of personal self- regulation means that standards of excellence have been established and maintained and that growth of the credibility and professionalism within the industry is promoted.
Maintaining your high standards by being a member means that you need to participate in CPD programmes. These can be gained from attending workshops, seminars, exhibitions, reading professional magazines and undergoing new courses. SAAHSP also has an online CPD portal called Skillzbook which will help you to connect to training and workshop sessions that interest you. In the current CPD programme, professional therapists need to accumulate a minimum of 50 points in a one year cycle.
Continuous Professional Development is the way to a fulfilled career in the beauty industry. Click here to learn more about SAAHSP, its role as a Professional Body and how you can ensure your professional qualification works for you by visiting the SAAHSP website.