How do you know when you’ve just met a solution-focused (SF) hypnotherapist? The smile, the confidence and they way they can’t wait to tell you what they do. They will try and tell you how amazing the brain is…they may draw you pictures.  Don’t worry though, they aren’t mad, they are just loving life because they know they can help so many more people live happy and fulfilled lives.  Here are 10 reasons they love their careers, as told by our friends, colleagues and CPHT graduates.

1: You’ll feel like a superhero, because you change lives every day.  What you do, as a solution-focused hypnotherapist, is important; you help people get their lives back on track. By changing their world you are changing the world. You make a positive difference.

2: Your therapy is based around hard evidence that is updated every year. People in the medical profession train for a career as a solution-focused hypnotherapist because this is one of the few forms of hypnotherapy that is truly evidence based, has a research programme to support its findings and is  underpinned by the latest findings in neuroscience.

3: You get to choose when and how much you work. You get flexibility and freedom.  No more being fed up with working for other people, doing a job that isn’t important or being stopped from doing what’s right in a job that is important.

4: It is simple.  Solution-focused hypnotherapy is a modern form of hypnotherapy that is simple for your clients to understand and because they ‘get it’ they move forward quickly.  Simple means that what seemed like overwhelming issues, for your clients, can be overcome by making consistent small changes.  It makes the impossible, possible.

5: You can work from home.  Although many SF hypnotherapists work in clinics, many also work from a dedicated therapy room in their home.  Quite often their children have moved out and they have space to use, or convert a garage or summerhouse into a therapy room.  Wherever you decide to work, it is up to you.

6: It is safe.  Solution-focused hypnotherapy is safe for you and safe for your clients because we don’t use potentially damaging, old fashioned or out of date therapy.  We know that, in order to resolve the past it is NOT necessary to do delve into it. Your clients enjoy it more and, because we explain how the brain works, feel in control and empowered when they are working with you.

7: Variety is the spice of life.  In the morning you might be helping someone who suffers with depression, then a smoker finally kick the habit, a teenager pass their test or a young mum regain her confidence to go back to work. You’ll never be bored because every day is different and you always end the day knowing you’ve made a positive difference.

8: It is fun.  It is no wonder solution-focused hypnotherapists love their career; in solution-focused hypnotherapy we encourage our clients to enjoy their sessions, laughter is helpful and we can laugh with them.  Our clients look forward to their sessions and feel better after each one.

9: You have control of your career and your finances. Hypnotherapy is currently the fastest growing industry in the UK and solution-focused hypnotherapy is recognised as one of the most successful and reputable forms of hypnotherapy that delivers consistent and measurable results for clients.

10: Learning never stops.  Every day we are discovering more about how the brain works and the field of neuroscience based therapies is growing quickly.  Rather than relying on outmoded thinking we find out what the best of the best of therapy has to offer and use that to keep you up to date in your learning.

Bonus 11: Solution-focused hypnotherapists trust the quality of their training.  Your training is independently assessed, has a nationally recognised qualification and gives you the opportunity to go on to train for the most advanced approved hypnotherapy level training in the UK.  CPHT is highly respected within the hypnotherapy community and the founder, David Newton, has been interviewed for Radio 4 among others and spoken at the largest hypnotherapy conference in the UK.

You’d not believe that this is even a topic of conversation; whether a chair or a couch is better for your hypnotherapy room, but it is! It’s almost laughable but, as well as “when to start charging?”, “how much you are going to charge?”, whether to have your photo on your business cards, how often you need to see your clients and where to advertise, and all the other questions we hope to answer for you during your training, this will be a BIG deal when you are a student.

When we decided to write this article, we thought our hypnotherapist friends from all over the world would have strong opinions, so we asked them and the results can be found at the end of the article.  In the meantime, let us explore the question further.

As hypnosis can ultimately be done standing up (think about the street hypnotists and stage hypnotists having their ‘subjects’ walking and talking and engaging in all sorts of activities) why do we even bother trying to make it comfortable for our clients when they come to see us?

And this is where it gets a little more serious, because our clients are coming to us for therapy not to be entertained or entertain. They are coming to us for help, most often to overcome something unwanted or painful and to get back to a happier, more engaged and productive version of themselves. Hypnotherapy is one of the fastest growing careers in the UK, and there is growing understanding and a huge body of evidence to support the value of working directly with the subconscious during therapy, to effect positive change.

If you train with CPHT you’ll find, as a newly qualified Solution-Focused Hypnotherapist, you’ll still meet people who are a little nervous of coming to see you, simply because their only experience of hypnosis is via entertainment, which means your job as a helping professional, is to put them at ease.  You’ll learn to create a welcoming, calming space that shows they are in the hands of a well-trained, confident and safe therapist.

Turns out our hypnotherapy friends aren’t fussed at all. Emma, from Inspired To Change Winkleigh summed up the general feeling “As long as the client is comfy and so are you, it’s going to be fab.”

The considerations to make when choosing what your clients will relax on, is more to do with how physically supported they will feel, whether it is accessible for most clients, weight bearing level of the chair or couch and what room you have in your clinic. Ultimately, you’ll want your clients to feel comfortable in and out of trance. You will often have a blanket for comfort and because our temperature drops slightly in trance, perhaps a foot rest or a cushion for added support. There are no hard and fast rules so choose whatever suits you.

Students and clients ask – Does Hypnotherapy Work?

As a hypnotherapist you’ll be asked many times whilst you’re in training and throughout your career, ‘Does Hypnotherapy Work?’ and you must find a way to answer it positively.

At first you too might even be a little sceptical; you’ll not be the first student to sign up without being 100% sure that what you’re signing up to isn’t smoke and mirrors.  Before beginning your training, many haven’t even had hypnotherapy, so truly don’t know the answer to the question, does hypnotherapy work?

When you start learning, you’ll know that not only does it work but it works very well!  If the hundreds of previous CPHT students are anything to go by you’ll get hooked and, because at CPHT we expect you to start seeing people straight away for simple relaxation, you’ll start trying to explain it.

Many of your friends and family might not believe you, but that’s only because they don’t know that hypnotherapy has hundreds if not thousands of research papers pointing to its efficacy in treating many issues.  They certainly won’t know that CPHT has been conducting its own research programme, now associated with Bristol University, for almost 10 years, with data from solution-focused Hypnotherapists all over the UK.

From frustration, righteous indignation, pity, outrage, evangelical zeal, face palming and disdain for the unenlightened…you’ll experience a rollercoaster of emotions as you try to convince them that hypnotherapy works.

However, as you go through your training, gain experience in practice and gather evidence and experience of your own, you will learn how to answer the question more confidently.  The huge benefit of working as a solution-focused Hypnotherapist is that you’ll learn to answer the question sooner, because your training is backed up by the latest findings in neuroscience and you practice a measurable and reliable form of hypnotherapy that uses the best of the best in modern therapy, explained in a way that makes sense to your clients.

We know that potential clients respond to science and proof so much more readily because we live in an age when long held questions are being answered.  CPHT is the only school in the UK to be using brain imaging equipment in the classroom, so you’ll soon be able to watch it yourself – the ultimate proof.

When people around you start seeing results, experiencing results and talking about your results, the question of whether hypnotherapy works stops coming up so often, but on occasion you will still be asked – does hypnotherapy work?

At this point you will smile confidently and say ‘Yes! of course, hypnotherapy works, here are my testimonials to prove it… and when would you like to book?’

Many people suffer with PTSD, but we normally think of those things as something that happens to members of the armed forces, or people who have suffered violence towards them. Keira Knightley, the award winning, globally recognised actress of stage and screen isn’t an obvious sufferer, but in an interview for the ‘Awards Chatter’ Podcast, she revealed her early experiences with the paparazzi.

“Being followed around by twenty guys who were deeply misogynistic…I’d never experienced that level of hatred. Suddenly there was a level of violence in the air that is not a thing that anyone would react to well.”

She submerged herself in her work, delivering a string of successful films, working back to back, but shared that like anyone, eventually these things catch up with you. At the age of 22, the already seasoned actress had a break down and was diagnosed with PTSD, going deep into therapy to help make sense of and heal from what had been a relentless five years in the limelight.

When she was nominated for a Bafta she hadn’t been out of the house for three months. She used hypnotherapy so she could stand on the red carpet at the Baftas without having a panic attack. She acknowledged hypnotherapy worked. It was right after that she took a year off; travelling to Paris and learning French, travelling through Bali and Malaysia, time with friends and family all helped her rebuild herself and go back into acting.

As hypnotherapists we often meet people who have suffered the same symptoms as Keira Knightley, PTSD is more common than we think, with around 8% of Americans suffering PTSD some time in their lives. Panic attack sufferers account for a little over 5% of the American population – numbers in the UK are usually fairly similar.

The symptoms of PTSD can vary from feeling numb, isolated or disassociated, work and relationship struggles, depression and withdrawal or avoidance, anger, anxiety attacks, substance abuse, self destructive or high risk behaviour, nightmares, flashbacks, insomnia, mood swings and erratic emotions.

PTSD occurs when someone is involved in or witnesses traumatic events of a life threatening nature, but can also occur if you hear of someone significant to you being involved or witnessing a traumatic or life threatening event or if you are continually exposed to graphic elements of of life threatening trauma, such as first responders.

PTSD can start at any age and, in addition to the more commonly recognised triggers for PTSD, can be from childhood violence, bullying or neglect, life trauma such as serious accident, fire, or attack, tragic life events such as a diagnosis of a terminal illness, miscarriage or traumatic birth can also trigger PTSD.

What we recognise is that not everyone exposed to such triggers will go on to suffer from PTSD.  Current thinking is that the level of stress and distress in someone’s life prior to the incident(s) is one of the markers that predetermines development of PTSD symptoms.  If someone was already under pressure, with any mental wellness challenges, they will be more likely to go on to develop PTSD.

For those that do develop PTSD, early support and disclosure, the earlier the better, also seems to have a preventative effect when dealing with trauma.  Simply put, telling loved ones what happened, positive support from significant people, a positive attitude towards recovery, such as seeing yourself as a survivor rather than victim and the use of positive emotions such as laughter.

Research continues to help the with the care, recovery and prevention of PTSD, but one thing we know already is that solution-focused hypnotherapy has been used to help people recover from trauma and PTSD successfully, by supporting them to release and resolve the stuck trauma and then create a positive, stress resilient, future.