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Becoming a hypnotherapist could be the start of a new you!
Are you reading this before, during or after work? Maybe you are thinking about what it would be like to have a career that is truly rewarding, both financially and emotionally? Perhaps you’d like to get up each morning knowing that you are going to spend your days helping people make positive changes in their lives?
Well, rather than give you a whole load of facts you can get from looking at hypnotherapy training websites, this blog is going to tell you the stories of Jack and Selena, two people who, like you, wanted to become hypnotherapists and were searching for hypnotherapy training. Here you can find out how they ended up finding the perfect training for them.
The story of a future hypnotherapist: Jack
Jack was an accountant. He had spent the last three years going to work thinking there must be more to life that the traditional 9am-5pm job. This is partly because Jack always felt he was at his best, work-wise, in the afternoons and evenings; a definite night owl! It was also partly that, although he was a well-trained and capable accountant, he just didn’t find his work rewarding anymore. It was an endless cycle, because as soon as one year’s accounts were completed, the work started all over again for the following year.
The part of Jack’s job that he liked the most was his role as a mentor, and he really liked the chats he had with junior staff about their challenges and problems. He was a good listener, able to pick out the key points in their issues and then, instead of telling them what to do, he loved the challenge of helping them find their own answers. Whilst he didn’t always get the recognition for solving their problems, he found they were always able to own their solutions, and were more confident as a result of him helping them.
Jack’s life changed the moment he got a new accountancy client, a local hypnotherapist in his home city of Nottingham. He had some paperwork for her to sign and dropped by her consulting room to deliver it, as it was on his way home from the office. Straight away, once inside, he felt at home in the relaxing yet professional hypnotherapy setting. The hypnotherapist, Selena, offered Jack a cup of tea and, sitting down in the comfortable consulting room, they got talking about how Selena got started as a hypnotherapist and developed her now thriving hypnotherapy practice.
Selena explained that she had once worked as a researcher for a press office, but it just didn’t suit her personality, as she liked interacting with people personally, rather than over emails (as was the case with most of her press office work), and she had also always liked the idea of working for herself and deciding how and when she would work. So, she decided to take life by the horns, and began looking at what she actually wanted to do, what her options were and what was realistically achievable. At aged 42, she felt that it was perhaps a little late to start training as a doctor to then become a psychiatrist; yet she did find the mind fascinating.
This led her towards talking therapies. Some required many years of training though. To become a psychologist, she would need to do a Bachelors, Masters and then a Doctorate. In addition, jobs in this field were scarce and she would likely still be employed and somewhat restricted in what she was able to do. Even training to be a counsellor would take several years and, for her, seemed a bit too passive for her personality. Eventually she found hypnotherapy, which seemed like a much better fit, especially considering that most hypnotherapy courses, she discovered, take less than a year to complete! She rather liked the idea of becoming a hypnotherapist.
She explained to Jack that she did an initial ‘rough check’, where she looked at every hypnotherapy course she could find. She found there were ‘how to’ books, online videos and courses, and in-person courses. As a very practical person, she much preferred the idea of in-person training. With that decided, she thought about what she wanted from a hypnotherapy course and created a list which included great teachers, excellent quality content with a thorough and relevant course syllabus, the right blend of theory and practical work, a good venue (might as well be comfy when learning) and the right size class; not so small she wouldn’t have enough people to practice with, but not so big that she would be lost in the crowd.
She created a spreadsheet, using those well-honed researcher skills again, and did her research on all her prospective hypnotherapy training providers, schools and companies. She also contacted other hypnotherapists near to her local area and asked them where they had trained, what they liked about their own training and what they wish they had also been taught (if anything). Common threads were that many wished they had learned the business and marketing side of being a hypnotherapist, and not just the actual hypnotherapy part. Also, many of them wished that they had been taught how to work without needing to rely on hypnotherapy scripts, or at least how to adapt them. Selena heard that many hypnotherapy schools simply gave students scripts and told them to read those to their clients. All of this information enabled Selena to assess each provider according to her own selection criteria and expected standards.
Unsurprisingly, the course that scored highest was not the cheapest on her list, in fact it was one of the more expensive. The top hypnotherapy training company was also based in London, so would require a bit of travelling from her home Nottingham, but she had clear evidence, from her formal, objective assessment, that this course would be the very best to meet her needs. She then looked into her top three training options and explored the more subjective aspects, such as reviews and testimonials from past graduates. Her top choice seemed to have a good number of reviews which said similar things, including the depth of training and quality of the teaching, whilst one of her other two options had reviews talking mostly about the course being fun and the third option had lots of testimonials that mentioned they like the lecturing style of teaching and the big classes.
Her research didn’t stop there. To be absolutely sure, she phoned her top choice and had a chat with the trainers. She liked their training philosophy and even the option to attend a free taster day if she wanted to. This was enough for her and she signed up that very evening.
She told Jack that this was the best decision she had made in years. She loved the course from that very first day, meeting her fellow students and all starting from the same point, through to the excitement of exams and the award ceremony where she received her certificates. Jack was fascinated by all of this, after all, he’d never even met a hypnotherapist before, so he asked Selena lots of questions about the course. Selena made him another cup of tea and continued to tell him about her experience.
Each of the ten training weekends had a different theme which made it easy to understand the context of where the material sat. The first two weekends were all about getting started and developing those core skills they would need to be able to hypnotise. Then, they started to learn the different approaches, from behavioural (habit change) and cognitive (working with beliefs) through to analytical (getting insight) and even regression (working with past memories and experiences).
As well as this, she learned about a wide range of conditions and ‘therapy goals’ that clients present with – not just the most common ones, such as weight management, anxiety, stress and smoking cessation, but also some fascinating topics, such as psychosexual issues, working with children and even sport hypnosis and how to help athletes towards optimal performance!
It was at this point Jack jumped in and asked Selena how she remembered it all. He wondered whether seeing a demonstration of a technique and even practicing it in class would be enough. Fortunately, the course Selena had attended provided video tutorials to support each practical technique she learned, as well as giving more information about key theory topics. He had to laugh at Selena’s recounting of her experiences with one particular hypnosis technique, a ‘rapid induction’, where she hypnotised someone so fast that she could hardly believe it had worked!
It had looked so simple in class and she had done it well enough in practice, but it was only when she replayed the training video over and over again, that she noticed the small nuances that took her performance to another level. Then, when she used the technique again, she was thrilled to not only feel more positive and confident in her approach, but also received some glowing feedback from her fellow student who she easily and quickly hypnotised!
Jack was getting more and more drawn in to Selena’s description of her training experience, to the point where he was considering following Selena’s lead and joining the course himself! Yet, he was still a little apprehensive, as he was worried about exams. He had hated each and every one of his accountancy exams. Remembering dates, and legislation and dry facts had never been easy for him. However, when Selena started talking about the exams, he was shocked to find that she actually enjoyed the process!
She laughed and said that she used to hate them too. Luckily though, her course had included several mock exams, so not only did they get opportunities to develop their exam technique, they also found out about the exam format. This was useful as they then knew how and what to revise. She did say though that the absolute best part of the whole process was when she got the fantastic news that she had passed her exams and was now a qualified professional hypnotherapist!
It was at this point that both Selena and Jack realised what the time was, and drew the meeting to a close. Jack asked for the name and contact details of the hypnotherapy training company that Selena had found so beneficial. Selena gave him the information and suggested that he let her know how he got on, and that she would chat with him as he went through his training, as the training company had a forum that was useful for keeping in contact with fellow students and past graduates!
Jack then went home and spent a thoughtful evening replicating some of Selena’s searches. Interestingly, his top three were slightly different. He had the same top choice, but his second and third choices were not the same, because his training preference was more weighted towards professional recognition. An important element for Jack was that the training met the UK Core Curriculum for Hypnotherapy.
He learned that these standards indicate the minimum practical skills and theoretical knowledge that are needed to be a hypnotherapist. His top choice of hypnotherapy training company offered their own Diploma which not only met but far exceeded the Core Curriculum!
Although Selena was only interested in working as a hypnotherapist in the UK, Jack decided that he wanted the option to be able to travel, and perhaps work internationally. As such, he needed qualifications and accreditations that were recognised in the UK, such as the Level 4 Hypnotherapy in Practice Diploma (HPD) as well as an internationally recognised qualification, such as the National Guild of Hypnotists (NGH) Certification.
Reflecting on his chat with Selena, he decided that he knew his top choice was right for him, just as it was for her. That night, he signed up, put all the training dates in his diary and even booked his train and hotel tickets. The next morning, he set off with a new bounce in his step, thoroughly excited about the new direction his life would soon be taking.
Over the next year, Jack remained in his accountancy job and attended the hypnotherapy training. He also used started to start to set up his own therapy practice. It amused him to know that all his accountancy training and knowledge of legislation would actually be helpful, to some extent, for his new business. It even gave him fresh motivation when helping his existing accountancy clients. As a business owner he developed a new empathy for their experiences and challenges. He had lots of opportunities for practice amongst his colleagues and they started referring their friends and family to him as well.
By the time he qualified, he was already working part-time as a hypnotherapist. Over the next couple of years, he transitioned to part-time accountancy work, then some consultancy work as he continued to grow his therapy practice. The day he finally became a full-time therapist he invited Selena to his consulting rooms and made her a cup of tea. He even splashed out for a celebratory cake and a big bunch of flowers to thank her for that initial chat (and ongoing support through training and at the start of his therapy career).
Become a hypnotherapist – Get professional hypnotherapy training
If you would like to follow in the footsteps of Jack and Selena, and become a professional hypnotherapist, check out our own Hypnotherapy Diploma Course, which, having read the story above, you may already be familiar with…
We hope you enjoyed this blog on becoming 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 Dr Kate Beaven-Marks
(HypnoTC Director)
