Choosing a therapist

Choosing a therapist

HOW CAN I CHOOSE A SUITABLY QUALIFIED PERSON TO CONSULT FOR HYPNOSIS?

It is highly recommended that your hypnotherapist would at least have an Advanced Diploma in Clinical Hypnotherapy from a recognised training school with an outside examination body. The ICHP is one such organisation and can be a source of suitable information on hypnosis and also a register of suitably qualified therapists in your area at www.hypnotherapyassociation.ie
Most of the larger professional bodies require their members to have a supervisor. This doesn't mean that the therapist is inexperienced, though. The purpose of supervision is so that therapists of all levels have someone who acts as a mentor, provides support and advice as well as encouraging them to evaluate their work so that they can continue to use best practice when working with clients. All professional therapists will be in supervision themselves.

Here are some guidelines I would recommend that you use when choosing a hypnotherapist:

- Do not see anyone who makes extravagant claims like lose a stone in 4 sessions, shift depression in one session , or who says they can guarantee particular results .

- Make sure the person is a therapist qualified and experienced in the use of hypnosis, and belonging to a professional body with a code of conduct and a complaints procedure.

- When booking an appointment or making an initial enquiry make sure you speak to the therapist yourself as many commercial hypnotists who are not therapists use call centre answering where the receptionist answers for many companies and answers questions from a pre-prepared script with absolutely no specific knowledge of hypnosis or therapy.

- Speak to your therapist on the phone before making an appointment and trust your intuition or gut feeling . The same advice follows when meeting your therapist for your first session.

- It's important to remember though- that you need to feel at ease and able to talk to your therapist. For hypnotherapy to be successful there needs to be a good level of rapport between you and your therapist. Hypnotherapy is very much a two-way process and is not something that is done to you but with you.

- Beware of the hypnotherapist with the one-size-fits-all approach; rather, look for someone that treats you as an individual, with warmth and respect

- Hypnotherapists should be open and trustworthy. They should be able to put you at your ease within minutes of meeting them. The hypnotherapist should be the sort of person to whom you might be prepared to confide anything. You should find the hypnotherapist easy to talk to, even if you are a person of few words.