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 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 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 48 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.

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!