Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

Continuing Professional Development

All professional members are required to complete 20 years of CPD every two years to retain professional membership. In addition a current First Aid certifcate is required. Whilst it is 'only' november and membership renewal is still five months away the EC want to signal to our professional members this will be strictly followed up in 2026. With the change of EC and at lot of backend functions to sort out the current EC did not make it a priority this year- yes we gave you some grace. Over the last 18 months the EC has offered a 2 day conference, an online workshop with Mark Webb and several oil nights. These can all be used towards your CPD. When you renew in March 2026 you will be required to submit proof of 20 hours of CPD- see the form in the members area as well as a copy of your first aid Cert. These will have to be emailed and we will remind you nearer the time.

What counts as CPD?

The following is the list from the CPD policy which has been adaptated slightly as we no longer have a NZROHA library. You will see that CPD hours can be collected via any number of ways and with the huge number of online, and often free events, it is not hard to do. 

. 1. Self-directed learning (maximum 6 hours claimable when accompanied by a short overview of the learning outcomes) 

2. Correspondence training courses

3. Write a book review for this blog post (2 hours) and if you would like to research and write a full blog post that is 3 hours!

4. oils nights/gatherings with aromatherapists (no limit)
5. Attending the AGM of NZROHA

6. Attending any health related workshop, conference, seminar, course (no limit)

7. Giving a lecture, workshop or conference presentation or having article accepted for publication (max 10 hours claimable)

8. Giving or receiving professional supervision or mentoring  (maximum 10 hours claimable)

9. Conducting research into essential oils (no limit on hours)

10. Online courses related to privacy, cultural safety- see below for ideas

here are some places you can do some FREE online courses to upskill and support your professional aromatherapy practice

E-learning with the NZ Privacy Commissioner

Cultural Safety

Ministry for Ethnic Communities free e learning for working with Ethnic Communities (Intercultural Capabilities)

Also have a look at Coursera for courses on public health

The Alliance of International Aromatherapists Research Academy has free courses about research funded by the Gattefosse Foundation

Particpate in the upcoming AromaShowcase as an audience member and vote . This year the Aromashow case will be December 10- more details will be posted.

Maybe you want to brush up on some other related topics then check out the free courses at Southland Institute of Technology

And if you are in the market for some more technical aromatherapy training look at the offerings in microcredentials by Aroma Science Training and courses by The Tisserand Institute, and the courses run through perfect Potion (Sal Battaglia) through the Aromatree Academy

Attendance at any of the online content at ICAN International Clinical Aromatherapy Network also counts

Finally if you would like to enrol in a PG special topic with Wendy to undertake a research project at the University of Canterbury then check it out here- Wendy works with health professionals and guides them in their research* (note a Bachelors Degree is required)

So there are no excuses, no barriers to upskilling with free and paid for online learning