Why hypnotherapy?… when there’s counselling out there!
A friend has just qualified as a counsellor. Within weeks of getting her name listed on the official directory, she has been so inundated with therapy enquiries, she cannot take on any more clients. She says one of the biggest reasons is GPs will refer people to ‘therapists’ and the minute you type this in as a search, up come the directories for counsellors – not hypnotherapists. The directory pours a lot of money into making sure of this! Hypnotherapy on the other hand, comes into the ‘quack’ category; people can do little more than a long weekend course and call themselves a hypnotherapist. Hypnotherapists are unregulated because we are not officially recognised, we often choose to train ourselves, but are under no obligation to do so and we do not even have to have (or pay for) a supervisor – like a counsellor or psychotherapist must. And then, to top it all, we don’t even have to go through hours of self-therapy!
As a hypnotherapist, I feel like so much more than someone who treats people with phobias or smoking habits – even if that’s what hypnotherapists are best known for. In fact, around 90% of the clients I see come to me with issues like stress, overwhelm, anxiety, depression, and a lack of self confidence and self esteem. This is classic ‘counselling’ territory, yet here I am, helping them in far fewer sessions that they would have with a psychotherapist or counsellor. And funnily enough, about 90% of my clients have previously seen a counsellor or psychotherapist (many have had CPD via the GP).
The reason I can help them is simple: while I’m not obliged as a hypnotherapist to do the training and continual training of a counsellor, I choose to do it anyway. Whether it’s because I want to better help a client or because I’m simply curious, I am always reading books on the mind and methodology, following ‘leaders’ in the field such as Gabor Mate and Richard Schwartz, putting myself on workshops and courses, seeking my own therapy, and adopting more experienced therapists to be my supervisor.
When I complained to my friends that by virtue of a directory she now has solid work for two years, while I will go wildly up and down with the number of clients (sometimes) due to my quick turnaround and due to having no directory, she pointed out the year-long training, the supervising, the therapy, the directory fees and the ongoing need for training. And I realised while I choose to do all those things too, I actually have something she doesn’t have – freedom and THAT is something I value.
In hypnotherapy, I can read what I want, apply what I want and do whatever I think will help – and it really does.
So don’t be afraid to ask when you are looking to work with someone – not just what they ‘are’ but what else they’ve done, who they have treated ‘like you’ and how they did it. If someone has read widely, trained in various disciplines, done therapy themselves and has a supervisor/mentor to discuss their clients with, then maybe, just maybe, they are not so ‘quack’ after all! And maybe, you will be in therapy for just a few months instead of years!