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Why become a hypnotherapist?

why become a hypnotherapist

Do you want to become a hypnotherapist?

Hypnotherapy is nothing new, in fact it has been around for a very long time (hundreds of years). However, in recent years it has been growing in popularity with the proliferation of search engines, social media and the ability to get information instantly online.

Why might someone want to become a hypnotherapist as opposed to learning a different kind of therapy, or getting a ‘regular’ 9-5 job? Well, there are a number of reasons that someone might choose to become a hypnotherapist.

If you’re considering taking up a new career as a hypnotherapist, or adding a hypnotherapy to your pre-existing toolbox, then read on…

Are you starting from scratch?

Some people who are considering becoming hypnotherapists, have absolutely zero previous experience doing hypnosis or therapy whatsoever (which is fine). There can be many reasons that hypnotherapy is an attractive career option, however, different people will have their own motivations.

Some may want to become a hypnotherapist to help others, some may be interested in making money, some may have had hypnotherapy themselves and decided that it would just be a ‘good fit’, others may just ‘want a change’.

Do you want to become a hypnotherapist to help others?

Working within a profession where you are able to help other people, can be highly rewarding. It nourishes the soul to know that you are making a difference and helping people to reach their goals and move past their problems (sometimes life-long problems).

There are many different areas in which a hypnotherapist can help people. When people think of ‘therapy’, they often imagine therapists spend most of their time working with clients who have issues such as depression and anxiety, and sure, hypnotherapy can be very helpful when working with those conditions.

However, as well as that, when you become a hypnotherapist you may see clients who have a range of issues/goals that wouldn’t ordinarily come to mind when thinking about therapy.

For example, hypnotherapy can help with sports performance, physical conditions, fertility and the birth process, fears and phobias, developing assertiveness, dentistry and surgeries, improving creativity, skin conditions, building confidence, sexual issues, insomnia, giving best man speeches, and much more!

So, if you’re looking for a career where you can make a serious difference in the lives of others, and where you have the flexibility to work with a plethora of different issues and goals, then hypnotherapy is certainly a great avenue to consider.

Become a hypnotherapist - two hands reaching towards each other.

A quick point on using hypnotherapy to help people; do keep in mind, that contrary to what you may have seen in the media, hypnotherapy is not about ‘controlling’ others or ‘making’ them change (that’s a common myth).

As with any other type of talking therapy, hypnotherapy is a collaborative process, so you won’t learn to wave a ‘magic wand’ and fix people (metaphorically speaking).

However, you will learn all of the tools that you need in order to help people change, and to help them learn how to help themselves, and sometimes this change process can happen so quickly that it almost seems magical (more on that in a bit).

Do you want to become a hypnotherapist to make money?

Hypnotherapy can be a fantastically rewarding career financially, as well as emotionally. There are many hypnotherapists out there that work part-time hours and bring home a decent full-time wage.

This is great, because as well as being able to earn really good money, you’re also able to create more ‘free time’ in your life, to do other things that you enjoy, such as hobbies, spending time with your family and going out and having fun whilst other people are working a 40+ hour week!

The key thing to consider with making money as a hypnotherapist, is that you have to have a ‘business mindset’ as well as a ‘helping others mindset’.

It’s all well and good charging £250 for a 1.5 hour smoking cessation hypnotherapy session (and yes, that’s an average fee for such a session – some therapists charge a LOT more in fact!), however you need to be able to get clients, which is why you need to learn to run the business side of your business as well as the therapy side. This is something that we teach on our own Hypnotherapy Diploma course, as it’s an integral part of becoming a successful hypnotherapist.

So, when you choose your own training route, ensure that you factor that in, and learn about how to run a therapy business as well as doing the therapy itself. As a lot of people wonder about the money side of being a hypnotherapist, we actually wrote a whole blog on the topic, which is worth checking out too.

Do you want to become a hypnotherapist because you had hypnotherapy yourself?

This is actually a very common reason that people become hypnotherapists. They have seen first-hand how life changing hypnotherapy can be. This is an amazing position from which to start your career as a hypnotherapist, because your enthusiasm will be contagious.

You will be able to give your clients the benefits of your own knowledge that hypnotherapy works, it has worked for you and it can work for them. Also, when considering having hypnotherapy yourself, most hypnotherapy diploma courses will teach you ‘self-hypnosis’, which is something that can be applied not just to your clients, but to yourself as well.

Self-hypnosis is a powerful self-development tool, and you’ll be able to use your hypnotherapy skills to improve your own life, whilst improving the lives of others! Definitely a win-win!

 

Become a hypnotherapist - man with eyes closed.

Do you want to become a hypnotherapist for a ‘change of scenery’?

Hypnotherapy is quite different to other kinds of therapy, and there aren’t many other jobs out there like it. If you’re thinking about becoming a hypnotherapist, but unsure due to the fact that you’ve never worked in the therapy world before, and have only got experience in a completely unrelated industry, then we say do it anyway!

Having no experience is fine, because you can learn. Sure, someone who already knows about other types of therapy may have a little more profession-specific knowledge, but that won’t automatically make them a better hypnotherapist than someone that comes in as a ‘blank canvas’ (in fact sometimes it can work out the other way).

We have had people successfully complete our Hypnotherapy Diploma course from a variety of non-therapy backgrounds. We’ve taught lorry drivers, students, accountants, web-designers, nurses, doctors, artists, personal trainers, and many other people who’ve had no previous experience, who’re now out there helping other people, and if they can do it, so can anyone else!

What if you’re already a therapist? Can you become a hypnotherapist as well?

If you’re already working as a therapist or in a medical/complimentary health field, you may be considering branching out into hypnotherapy to offer it alongside your current therapy practice/modality.

For example, some of our past students who have incorporated hypnotherapy into their pre-existing therapy practices included massage therapists, reflexologists, reiki and aromatherapy practitioners, and also doctors, nurses and dentists. So, it’s entirely possible to do this (and you can actually create a nice niche for yourself in doing so).

However, we’ve also had many counsellors, psychologists and other talking therapists who had initially intended to do both their chosen therapy AND hypnotherapy, but ended up doing more hypnotherapy with their clients than anything else!

Perhaps, for whatever reason, you’d like to become a hypnotherapist and do hypnotherapy full-time, totally replacing your current therapy modality (which is most common, we find, with massage therapists and reflexologists who’re struggling with the physical aspects of their work, as it can be really tough on the hands)!

Either way, there are a number of reasons that hypnotherapy may be a good fit for you if you’re already practising as a therapist or healthcare professional…

Do you want to become a hypnotherapist for the ‘results’?

Hypnotherapy works really well, that’s a fact. It is a highly effective way of engaging clients and getting them out of their own way in order to make long-lasting changes happen.

The key difference between hypnotherapy and other therapy approaches is the hypnosis part of the session. Hypnotherapy, when broken down, is simply hypnosis + therapy approaches. We draw from various different areas of therapy (behavioural, cognitive, analytical and regression) as well as different therapy modalities (psychology, CBT, REBT, mindfulness, counselling, NLP, etc.), and all of these approaches are used with a client who is in hypnosis.

When hypnotised, a client is less consciously critical and more open to sharing information and changing on a deeper level. This openness to change dramatically increases the uptake of ‘change work suggestions’, meaning clients are often able to make changes happen easier than if they were in a standard talking therapy session.

 

Become a hypnotherapist - man on a couch and woman with clipboard

Do you want to become a hypnotherapist for the ‘speed’?

Hypnotherapy is a brief strategic solution-focused therapy. The idea is to see the client for as few sessions as is required, and to help a client change as quickly as they are able to, whilst ensuring it’s a sustainable long-term change.

A client can have a single session and be rid of a life-long habit, a crippling phobia, a long-held negative belief, and many other things.

Sure, sometimes it can take a little longer, but the majority of hypnotherapy clients only tend to have between 1-4 sessions with a hypnotherapist before achieving their desired goal.

This rapid therapeutic process is certainly desirable for clients, as it means they get what they want sooner, and with less time-investment overall.

Do you want to become a hypnotherapist for the flexibility?

As well as financial flexibility and flexibility of working hours, with hypnotherapy you also have flexibility in terms of your chosen approach. As mentioned above, hypnotherapists are often taught a variety of therapeutic approaches to use within the hypnotherapy session.

When you become a hypnotherapist, you’re not limited to sticking to a script or following a specific/linear protocol, in fact, you’ll likely begin to tailor your therapy sessions to your clients individually. For example, with our Hypnotherapy Diploma students, as well as teaching various behavioural, cognitive, analytical and regression approaches that can be used as appropriate with each client, we also teach a ‘three phase treatment plan’, which involves getting the client prepared for therapy, working on the issue/goal, then giving the client the tools with which to maintain their progress after the therapy session(s).

This process, paired with a thorough case-history/intake process, means no two hypnotherapy clients will receive the same session, because all clients are individuals and their therapy needs to be bespoke to them.

This is an area where hypnotherapy often surpasses therapies that rely on clients following ‘linear protocols’, such as CBT, as it is a lot more flexible and can easily be adapted to the speed at which the client is progressing (that said, we personally teach some elements of CBT/REBT on our hypnotherapy course too, because they can be made even more effective when used within the hypnotherapy session)!

Conclusion

So, as you can see, whether you’re a therapist already, or you’re coming into the hypnotherapy world with no experience whatsoever, hypnotherapy is definitely a great career option.

There are many different resources to help you get started if you seriously want to become a hypnotherapist, or even if you’d like to learn a little more about the subject before you make your decision. Firstly, we have a vast number of blogs on the topics of becoming a hypnotherapist, what types of courses are out there, which hypnotherapy training company is best, what accreditation you need, and many more!

After that, there are a number of other resources to set you on the right path.  A great thing to do to build your knowledge/skills before you sign up to a live hypnotherapy training course is to take an online hypnotherapy course.

Our Hypnotherapy 101 online course is designed for exactly this reason, to teach you all the basics of hypnotherapy, to give you enough information to get you started and so you can learn whether hypnotherapy is right for you before taking it further.

Also, the added benefit of online courses, is that you can see whether a trainer is a good fit for you, before you sign up to a full hypnotherapy diploma course!

 

Become a hypnotherapist - image of two hands and a circle and the sky

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When you’re ready to commit to becoming a professional hypnotherapist, it’s time to join a practitioner-level hypnotherapy course. Our own Hypnotherapy Diploma course is among the best in the world, and contains everything you need to become a hypnotherapist – from hypnotising to waking up, client intake to business management, we cover everything you need in order to get started as a practising hypnotherapist. For full details of everything included on the course, as well as prices and upcoming dates, visit the course page.

Hypnotherapy Training London Course hypnotc ngh course hypnotherapy diploma

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We hope that this blog has answered the question ‘why become a hypnotherapist?‘ If you have any questions about this topic or anything else for that matter, do please get in touch, because we’re always happy to help!

 

– written by the HypnoTC team

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