How I treat a client

My first contact with you is normally through an email, either sent directly from a business card, the National Hypnotherapy Society, NCPS's recommend a therapist online service or White Lodge Therapy practice, or a phone call. 

I will normally get back to you within 24 hours. We have a 10 minute conversation on the phone and then a one hour consultation is arranged. I will send you an information sheet on hypnotherapy if appropriate and a contract. Attached to the contract is a questionnaire which you should print off and fill in - please bring this with you to the initial consultation. Please pay for the first session at least 72 hours before if possible, ideally via BACS. If I do not receive payment I will cancel the appointment and contact you to reschedule another.

The initial assessment is our first face to face and gives you a chance to speak about the issues you are wanting help with. I will listen actively and ask clarifying questions so I can have a clearer understanding of you and the presenting issues you are seeking help with. I use suggestion and regression as part of my methodology and practice.

I normally schedule your first treatment within a few days unless I feel that another type of therapy is applicable. I will research your presenting issue and put together a treatment plan - this could involve three or four sessions - some clients need regular sessions until the issues start to resolve. Hypnotherapy is different to psychotherapy in that it attempts to find reasonably short timescales to address presenting issues. If I feel long term therapy and counselling is more suited to your needs I will let you know within two or three sessions; I am qualified to provide both.

One issue I want to address is the idea that hypnotherapy is mind control - it is not. All hypnosis is essentially self hypnosis - my role as your therapist is to use my skills to facilitate your self hypnosis. If you are overly anxious and fear letting go, the treatment I offer may not be as successful as you would want. Cooperation in the therapy is essential - resistance is self defeating. Most clients I see are strongly motivated to change, but occasionally one will attempt to derail the therapy with a negative attitude - "it's all in the mind" could be seen as a dismissal or a perceptive statement of fact!