I was recently asked why I enjoy teaching others so much. I have been involved in adult teaching, supervision and lecturing for so many years and am so passionate about it yet have never really stopped to work out why, and then it came to me. I thrive on the thrill of watching people learn, develop skills and succeed in meeting their own goals and dreams as well as on finding just the right way to support each individual to do so. What is wonderful is that I am yet to find a Clifton Practice Hypnotherapy Training Senior Lecturer who feels no different. Furthermore, the Hypnotherapy Practitioners Diploma (HPD) is written and delivered with this ethos at its core, both in terms of our students and their future customers. 

Support on Course

The supportive ethos is first evident right from weekend one of the HPD course. Our students come from many different walks of life, some with no experience of the therapy world at all, some who are moving across from a different approach. Regardless of background, age and experience, we know that working with real live customers with real live emotional and mental health needs can be more than a little daunting at first and often the thought of setting up in private practice as a self-employed therapist is even more so. We layer our teaching as a result – teaching the basics first in class, both at a theoretical and practical level. We then ask you to practice just this first step with friends and family at home, with access to us as your senior lecturers when you need us. Each weekend we lead group discussions where our students feel very comfortable in sharing their experiences with customers since the last teaching weekend, allowing us as lecturers to provide additional support, ideas and different ways of thinking.  It also allows the students to learn from and support each other – invariably someone asks the question another student perhaps didn’t feel ready to ask. Teaching then adds another layer of technique and research, time on the course to practice, and then off our students go again to refine their skills at home with real customers as time moves on and of course with us on hand if needed.  And so it continues. 

As lecturers, we take the opportunity to quietly and unobtrusively observe students in their practical work on the course and our first intervention if we feel a student is having difficulty is always to provide support, explanation and demonstration. At CPHT, we have specific training as supervisors to do this with a high level of skill.

Support Post-Qualification

Lasting friendships and professional relationships are made on CPHT Training courses. The ethos of support is so engrained in the training that our graduates take it with them into their practice and their ongoing interactions with colleagues. Even years after qualifying a CPHT graduate is never isolated from the support of colleagues whether in person, by phone or online. 

CPHT Graduates have optional membership access to a wide variety of professional bodies, all of which require levels of regular ongoing supervision. The Clifton Practice Hypnotherapy Training model takes this so seriously that it has its own supervisors’ training course, externally accredited by the NCFE as a level 5 diploma. This ensures that CPHT graduates have an army of supervisors to choose from, all of them ready to support them throughout their careers.    

There is great wisdom in the notion that an experienced therapist who does not participate in ongoing training, supervision and reflective practice is likely to be as effective as a new graduate. I’d argue less so. Clifton Practice Hypnotherapy Training has an ongoing programme of CPD (Continual Professional Development) courses and regularly updates them and new ones in accordance with recent research findings. 

From the first morning that students first walk into a CPHT training room to the day they graduate and every day of their career thereafter, CPHT support is always available in one form or another. That really does take some beating!