Looking for a new career? Have you considered hypnotherapy? It is one of the fastest growing careers in the UK and here is why.

1 in 4 of us will suffer from some form of mental health issue in 2016. The pressures of our moderns lives means stress, anxiety and depression are on the rise and our National Health Service is struggling to keep up.

4 years ago I was one of those 1 in 4. A diagnosis of M.E. (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) had seen me go from someone who ran twice a week, swam twice a week and worked just as hard in a very successful career to someone who struggled to put one foot in front of another and string together a decent sentence.

The uncertainty during the 2 years it took to get a diagnosis sent my anxiety rocketing and my confidence plummeting and, what had started out as a physical health issue spiralled into a mental health issue too.

I’m pleased to say I am no longer one of the 1 in 4 – I’m now one of the 1 in 36,000. I’m one of the growing body of professional hypnotherapists who are leading the way in the mental health arena, helping those 1 in 4 overcome their stress, anxiety or depression, building their confidence and self-esteem so they can move forward with their lives.

Hypnotherapy helped me get my life back on track. I recognised that the high stress work environment I had thrived in before was no longer doing me any favours. I was so inspired by how hypnotherapy had helped me that I rather rashly decided the solution was to retrain as a hypnotherapist myself.

It sounded great as I imagined it in my mind – how lovely it would be to help others every day, to choose the hours I wanted to work, to ditch the daily commute. What a fulfilling life I would have! But then reality hit, I couldn’t just give up work and retrain and set up a new business – I had a mortgage to pay!

My hypnotherapist recommended I contact CPHT as they provided the best qualification in the UK – if you’re going to do something you’ve got to do it properly right! I had a mixture of excitement and disappointment swirling around my mind as I picked up the phone to them – I’d read about their diploma course and it sounded amazing but I couldn’t see how I could find the time or the money to retrain. So I was delighted to learn that I could do the course at weekends and pay for it in monthly instalments! So there really was nothing holding me back.

Three and a half years on from making that phone call I don’t have to imagine how lovely it is to help others every day, I don’t have to imagine what it’s like to choose when I want to work.

I don’t have to imagine what my life would be like without the daily commute and the stressful work environment. I live that fulfilling life every day on the other side of the 1 in 4 – as part of the solution, not feeling stuck in the problem.