complementary therapist
Complementary therapists use a range of complementary and alternative therapies to work simultaneously with the clients` body, mind, and spirit in a holistic approach. They offer practices and services for holistic wellbeing, health maintenance, health education, health promotion and prevention of illness, along with the sustainable treatment of certain illnesses, especially chronic illnesses. Their practices include but are not limited to acupuncture, aromatherapy, banotherapy, homeopathy, and herbal medicine.
complementary therapist complementary therapists use a range of complementary and alternative therapies to work simultaneously with the clients` body, mind, and spirit in a holistic approach. The role shows moderate AI exposure (0.45 on a 0-1 scale) — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. The most in-demand skills for the role include human physiology, human anatomy, develop therapeutic relationships, follow-up on healthcare users' treatment, carry out preventative internal medicine interventions.
Pay in the UK
UK: median £27,888 a year for Complementary health associate professionals (ONS ASHE 2025, full-time)
UK jobs are grouped differently; this is the closest UK occupation group (ONS SOC 2020 3214). ONS publishes this estimate without a precision measure. 2025 provisional figures; ONS revises them a year later. Source: ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (Open Government Licence)
Pay in India (occupation group)
Average monthly earnings of salaried employees in the occupation group “Professionals” in India, from the Government of India's Periodic Labour Force Survey (January–December 2025). It covers everyone in this group, not only complementary therapist, and it is not US pay converted to rupees.
Source: MoSPI (Government of India), Periodic Labour Force Survey Annual Report 2025, Table 51 — average wage/salary earnings of regular wage/salaried employees, NCO-2015 division 2. Official India data gives one average per occupation group: there are no official India figures for single careers, experience levels or cities. Read the report
Top skills
Knowledge you'll build
- Customer and Personal Service
- Therapy and Counseling
- English Language
- Education and Training
- Psychology
- Medicine and Dentistry
- Computers and Electronics
- Biology
What you'd actually do
- Instruct, motivate, safeguard, and assist patients as they practice exercises or functional activities.
- Document patient information, such as notes on their progress.
- Observe patients during treatments to compile and evaluate data on their responses and progress and provide results to physical therapist in person or through progress notes.
- Instruct patients in proper body mechanics and in ways to improve functional mobility, such as aquatic exercise.
- Secure patients into or onto therapy equipment.
- Confer with physical therapy staff or others to discuss and evaluate patient information for planning, modifying, or coordinating treatment.
Tools & technology you'd use
Frequently asked questions
What does complementary therapist do?
Complementary therapists use a range of complementary and alternative therapies to work simultaneously with the clients` body, mind, and spirit in a holistic approach. They offer practices and services for holistic wellbeing, health maintenance, health education, health promotion and prevention of illness, along with the sustainable treatment of certain illnesses, especially chronic illnesses.
What skills does complementary therapist need?
The most in-demand skills for this role include human physiology, human anatomy, develop therapeutic relationships, follow-up on healthcare users' treatment, carry out preventative internal medicine interventions, ensure safety of healthcare users. These are the skills O*NET identifies as most important for competent performance.
Will AI replace complementary therapist?
Our AI-durability model gives complementary therapist a score of 0.45 on a 0-1 scale (higher = more exposure). That places it at moderate AI exposure — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. Learning to work with AI tools rather than against them is the path forward.