On 28 October 2021, during the FEDE’s General Assembly, the FEDE and the FÉdération française des Écoles de NAturopathie (FÉNA) signed an educational memorandum of understanding . It addresses, in particular, skills and other requirements for professional practice in the naturopathy and well-being sector.
We spoke to Dr Alioune Diaw, President of the FENA
- The FENA has, for over 30 years, worked to promote and increase recognition of naturopathy in France, particularly through the accreditation of institutions and the certification of naturopaths. The FEDE and the FENA wish to work together to develop an institutional structure for the sector and advance its legal regulation. Could you provide a brief overview of your sector?
Naturopathy is a discipline that focuses on how we can improve our lives: stress, sleep problems and the regulation of emotions are major concerns and have become even more pressing during the COVID-19 pandemic. People want to improve their physical fitness and their well-being; healthy eating is another important aspect.
Most naturopaths work in a private consultation room, but this is changing: some are now being hired by companies, which are starting to get interested in naturopathy.
I’ve focused on the situation in France, since that is where I work.
- One of the main goals of the memorandum of understanding between the FEDE and the FENA is to improve quality control in institutions that offer programmes in subject area 06 (Sport, Health, Society and Education). How do you think the FEDE and the FENA could increase connections with companies in the naturopathy sector and ensure alignment between educational programmes and the skills needed on the job?
Developing a career as a naturopath requires various strategies; but it also requires, first and foremost, a specific skill: business administration. This is sometimes overlooked, or even repudiated, by practitioners working in non-conventional healthcare. However, being a naturopath does not simply mean opening up a consultation room and giving out appointments. Successful naturopaths also need to be able to manage their accounts and to put in place communications and prospecting strategies to increase their visibility and attract enough clients to ensure a regular and sufficient income. The FEDE is an expert in developing teaching guidelines containing crosscutting skills. It will therefore be able to help actors in the sector develop some important professional competencies.
- During the FEDE’s General Assembly, you gave several examples of careers in naturopathy. Could you tell us about some job roles in the sector that you consider to have good prospects in terms of future employability and the development of our societies?
There are a range of careers opportunities in naturopathy. These include jobs at fitness centres, thalassotherapy centres, and spas; in holiday and leisure facilities; in events venues (courses, seminars, retreats); at sports clubs and federations; at birthing centres; at health-food shops; in nutritional supplement laboratories; and in care and retirement homes. There are especially promising prospects for naturopaths working in the following sectors:
- Companies and public administration
Businesses of all sizes – not just large corporations – are showing more and more interest in the well-being of their staff. In 2020, 55% of French people said they were stressed at work. The well-being at work index (Ibet) shows that the cost associated with the disengagement and unavailability of a staff member in the private sector stands at around €14,310 per year. More and more employers are organising relaxation activities, particularly during the lunchbreak or after work. They are also organising courses lasting from a few hours to a whole day, along with one-hour workshops during seminars. [The Global Wellness Institute (https://globalwellnessinstitute.org/) has international data that could be interesting for a number of FEDE institutions. In France, where I work, the GWI estimates that 12 million people took part in such activities during 2018, which adds up to an expenditure of around €2 billion.] In order to access this market, which still has few actors, naturopaths need to contact companies directly via their staff committees or ‘life quality at work’ reps; they can also get in touch with specialised platforms that offer well-being services to companies.
- Pharmacies
More and more pharmacies want their dispensers to be trained in naturopathy. They also sometimes invite naturopaths into the store to advise their customers on dietary supplements, essential oils and healthy living. Naturopaths can also get in touch with yoga teachers, dance and martial arts instructors, sophrologists, hypnotherapists, reflexologists, and massage and shiatsu practitioners; this will enable them to reach a larger audience interested in improving its well-being.
Sources
- Bpifrance creation, ‘Devenir naturopathe’, September 2021
- ACCOR, ‘It’s a Wellness World: The Global Shift Shaking Up Our Business’, white paper, 2019
- ADP Research Institute, ‘Workforce View 2020: une étude mondiale’, January 2020
- Global Wellness Institute, ‘Europe Wellness Economy Monitor,’ study, October 2018
- Information collected by Bpifrance from Alexandra Attalauziti, President of the SPN, May 2021
- Le Magazine Thermal, ‘La naturopathie en cure thermale’, 7 March 2018
- Mozart Consulting for APICIL, ‘L’Ibet©, un indice pour mesurer le capital santé des collaborateurs’, 16 October 2020
Claude Vivier Le Got, Chairwoman of the FEDE
How did you meet Dr Diaw, and why naturopathy?
I met Dr Alioune Diaw during the FEDE’s GA. I love our GAs because they are a great networking opportunity and help build connections quickly. We got talking and began a very lively discussion about Dr Diaw’s sector. I have been interested in well-being for a long time and I consider that the sector has a lot of promising career prospects. I myself practise week-long fasting – I’ve done this once or twice a year for many years now, in specialised centres that are often run by naturopaths. At these centres I have met some genuine professionals but also some people who mistake a genuine desire to help others with professional competency. Dr Diaw had already worked with the FEDE: he had us accredit his bachelor’s-level programmes. I was very interested in his wish to build professionally oriented, well-structured and scientific programmes for naturopaths, given that the sector does sometimes attract amateurs without rigorous training.
Why are you keen to build links between the FEDE and trade associations?
The FEDE aims to provide young people with professional skills and to help educational institutions implement their teaching programmes. My role at the FEDE is to drive excellence, in terms both of the FEDE’s image and the quality of our course guidelines. Here at the FEDE we craft our learners’ future careers, and in doing so we are guided by a 360° approach to quality control. We can only innovate, anticipate and build future-oriented skills if we have close relations with trade associations, be they national, European or international. We need them, and vice versa. As you know, human relations really help to advance a project. Consequently, when I discovered that Dr Diaw is Chairman of the FENA, I immediately suggested that we work together. The FEDE has institutional connections and can provide expertise with regard to cross-cutting skills. The FENA, on the other hand, is an expert in naturopathy and course content in this field. In short, the FEDE has a crosscutting approach to a range of sectors, whereas the FENA – just like Geopa-Copa for agriculture in Europe, or the FNIH for the hospitality and tourism sector in Morocco, with which we have also signed partnership agreements – has a vertical, expert approach towards a specific sector. We can only gain through working together.
