How Long Does It Take To Become A Hypnotherapist?
One question often asked by people interested in training to become a hypnotherapist is: how long will it be until I can start practising? The answer is – fairly quickly! Our guide helps you to understand how much time you need to commit to train to become a hypnotherapist.
Career Progression
- Trainee Practitioner
- Hypnotherapy in Practice Diploma
- Continuing professional development courses
- Develop a specialism
- Advanced Hypnotherapy Diploma
- Hypnotherapy Supervisor
How to train as a hypnotherapist: what training do you need?
While there are no specific qualifications needed, the best way to train in hypnotherapy is through an accredited training school.
Find accredited training
You should look for a hypnotherapy school that is accredited by professional hypnotherapy associations, such as the National Council for Hypnotherapy. This guarantees that the school satisfies a certain quality and fulfils specific criteria, such as offering a minimum of 120 hours of classroom training to become a hypnotherapist. It also reassures you that the trainers have been assessed as competent and experienced hypnotherapy practitioners.
Check the qualification offered
The content of different schools’ training courses could look similar. However, you should look into what qualification you will be awarded upon completion. Check whether it is externally verified and accredited by a government regulated body or a professional hypnotherapy association, like the NCFE, the Complementary & Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC) or the Association for Solution Focused Hypnotherapy (AfSFH).
Training schools accredited by the National Council for Hypnotherapy will offer a Hypnotherapy in Practice Diploma. This is a credible, externally validated diploma that consolidates your learning, enhances your professional status among peers and allows clients to verify your qualifications easily.
Can you train to become a hypnotherapist part-time?
One reason many people are attracted to a career in hypnotherapy is the flexibility and control you can have as a self-employed hypnotherapist. From full-time employees who want to change careers to full-time parents looking to return to the world of work, everyone’s lives are busy. Those who already work in a therapy or medical field, but are looking to expand their skill set are also attracted to hypnotherapy training.
As a result, some hypnotherapy training schools offer similar flexibility to people while they are training to become a hypnotherapist. CPHT’s hypnotherapy course training takes place one weekend a month (some schools offer limited weekday training), while the coursework enables you to fit all the training around your current work and life commitments. This means it’s perfect for those who want to train to become a hypnotherapist part-time.
How much time should I expect to dedicate while I train?
In addition to being in the classroom for one weekend each month, on CPHT’s Hypnotherapy in Practice Diploma course you’ll also see case study clients in between. You are asked to meet with a minimum of 5 case studies per week. You will see them on an ongoing basis, so that doesn’t mean you need 5 new case study clients every week.
You will also need to complete a portfolio of work. This can take weeks or sometimes months to prepare. It will depend on your focus and what time you have available to complete the questions and case studies.
From month 1 you will be able to confidently practise relaxation on the couch with family and friends as a student practitioner.
By the end of month 3, you will be helping people with stress and mild to moderate anxiety.
Each module builds more knowledge that you can practise outside the teaching room. So, as we add weight management or phobias, helping people with depression, OCD, PTSD or smoking cessation, you will be able to go and practise that with your appreciative volunteers.
You will also learn psychotherapy skills – you will soon see that it’s not all about what happens on the couch. No swinging watches or old-fashioned stage induction tricks here. Instead, we use modern, up-to-date research and evidence-based psychology tools. You will learn the best ways to support people with all of these on our course.
Once you’ve completed key tasks and been approved by your tutors, you can start to charge half price to your clients as a student practitioner.
Find out more about how much you can earn as a hypnotherapist.
Becoming a qualified hypnotherapist
During your training, CPHT provides individual support as needed, both on teaching weekends and between weekends. Once you have graduated and become a hypnotherapist, we offer individual supervision and continuing professional development courses to support your growth as a practitioner. We even show you how to measure client outcomes, which is great to build confidence for both you and your clients.
By the time you complete CPHT’s Hypnotherapy Diploma course, you will have had lots of practice over the 10 months of training. You will have seen the results working with your volunteers, and you may have already started to get word-of-mouth referrals.
As a result, your business can be up and running by the time the course is completed, ready to launch your career in hypnotherapy.