Steve's Approach to Hypnotherapy

Before you arrange your first hypnotherapy session with Steve, it's reassuring to know what to expect.

Below is an outline of Steve’s usual approach - although the exact structure and content of each session is unique to you the client.

Click on any of the headings shown below to reveal the full content for that section.

Q. Is hypnotherapy for you?
In order to get the most out of a programme of hypnotherapy with Steve it’s best that you are completely committed to transforming the particular problem area in your life and that you are open to changes happening within you to achieve the result you want.

If you’re not sufficiently committed or open to change right now, please be patient with yourself. When the time is right and you’re ready to move forward, contact Steve to arrange your initial consultation.

Q. Is Steve able to work with you?
Whilst hypnotherapy is suitable for most people and for a wide range of personal, emotional or habit-related problems, there are a number of circumstances in which Steve will either be unable to work with you or you will need to take action prior to working with him:-

1. Contraindicated Conditions

A cautious approach is taken, and therefore Steve will unfortunately not be able to accept you as a client if you currently have any of following conditions, or if you’ve been diagnosed with any of them during the previous 2 years:-

  • Alcohol or drug psychosis
  • Bipolar disorder
  • Dementia
  • Dissociative Disorders
  • Epilepsy
  • Narcolepsy
  • Non-Epileptic Seizures
  • Pathological personalities/personality disorders
  • Psychotic disorders/episodes
  • Schizophrenia
  • Serious Heart Condition
2. Client Capabilities

Steve conducts his hypnotherapy sessions in English, so a good grasp of the spoken language is essential, at least equivalent to a typical 8 year-old whose first language is English and who has no significant hearing difficulties.

Having the ability to sit and focus your mind for significant parts of each session is also needed.

Online Sessions: Clients need to be comfortable using the basic features of either Zoom or FaceTime.

Face-to-Face Appointments: The main therapy rooms that Steve uses are located on the 1st or 2nd floor with stair-only access, so clients need to have reasonable physical mobility.

Steve works with Adult (18 years+) clients only.

3. Other Health Issues or Pregnancy

If you have any physical or mental health issues (including suicidal thoughts or the urge to self-harm), please check that your GP, Dentist, or other primary healthcare professional for the condition/s has no objections to you receiving hypnotherapy.

The same guidance applies if you are in the 1st, 2nd or 3rd trimester of a pregnancy.

If you have one or more symptoms of concern for which you have not received a formal diagnosis from a qualified medical professional, please see your GP at the earliest opportunity and certainly prior to considering hypnotherapy.

Where your health circumstances are particularly complex or your symptoms are especially severe, Steve may ask that you give him permission to liaise with your wider healthcare team. However, in the majority of cases this will not be required.

Q. How will I know that Steve is the right hypnotherapist for me?
Choosing the best hypnotherapist to help you address your specific issue is clearly a highly personal decision.

If you’re like many people, you will probably want your decision to be based on logical reasons as well as feeling that your choice is intuitively right too:-

Steve holds the widely-recognised Hypnotherapy Practitioner Diploma (HPD) qualification.

He is a full member of The National Council for Hypnotherapy (NCH) and is bound by their comprehensive code of conduct, performance & ethics. (The NCH is one of the largest professional associations for hypnotherapists in the UK and currently represents over 1,800 members).

People’s comments about Steve include “kind and honest”, “someone you can trust”, “thoughtful, intelligent and insightful”.

Probably two of the most important factors to keep in mind when choosing a hypnotherapist are:-

  • When you see and listen to them do you feel at ease?
  • Would you be completely comfortable working with them to address highly personal matters?
If you haven’t watched Steve’s short introductory video you may like to do so now, by clicking here.
Q. How many hypnotherapy sessions will I need?
At your initial 30 minute consultation, which is free of charge, you have the opportunity to explain to Steve what your issue is and what you would like to achieve as a result of your hypnotherapy sessions.

Typically Steve will ask you a number of follow-up questions about your problem and your general circumstances in order to assess how many hypnotherapy sessions are likely to be required to address your specific issue.

For certain problems 3-5 sessions may be sufficient, although if you have an issue that has deeper emotional roots a programme of 6-8 sessions is more likely to be needed.

Hypnotherapy sessions with Steve are usually 80 or 110 minutes in length, as mutually agreed. However in certain circumstances a longer session can be beneficial, and where this is the case this will be flagged with you.

Meeting with Steve

One option is to book your free consultation as a separate phone appointment and then after this meeting you can arrange your first hypnotherapy session. If you choose this option, your hypnotherapy programme may not start for a week or two depending on appointment availability.

Alternatively…
You can opt for a combined 30 minute consultation and 50 minute hypnotherapy session with a view to addressing your issue as soon as possible.

By choosing a combined consultation and 1st session you will usually benefit from a significant financial saving and be able to more easily safeguard a convenient time slot for your further sessions with Steve.

Q. What will happen in my first hypnotherapy session?
At your first hypnotherapy session, Steve will ask you to talk in more detail about your specific problem and anything else in your life that you feel may be relevant.

The very act of talking in detail about the issue in a safe space (online or at a face-to-face clinic) with someone who is there to support you make progress can be a powerful event in itself.

Steve uses a style of questioning and communication that helps you describe your problem and your related thoughts and feelings about it in increasingly rich terms.

The words that you use are likely to reveal important aspects of your inner world and this process helps to build a bridge to your subconscious mind.

Science looks at the workings of the human brain and mind in increasingly complex ways. However, for the purposes of a hypnotherapy session it’s more useful to talk in somewhat simpler terms.

Steve introduces the following model of the mind to help each client become even more relaxed and comfortable about the prospect of hypnosis and hypnotherapy.

Pyramid Mental Model

Pyramid Model of The Mind

The workings of the mind can be pictured as a sort of pyramid.

Studies have shown that the conscious mind can only handle 6 or 7 bits of information at any one time, with the subconscious mind handling pretty much everything else.

The conscious and subconscious minds aren’t really two separate entities but they often do seem like two distinct ‘personalities’.

One moment it can feel like the subconscious mind is determined to undermine what is the ‘will’ of the conscious mind. At other times the conscious mind may consider an event in a reasonably positive way and yet the subconscious mind creates an experience full of negative emotion.

For many people the relationship between their conscious mind and their subconscious mind could be greatly improved. This forms a large part of what Steve supports people to accomplish through hypnotherapy.

Once the initial questioning has been completed and the mental model has been discussed, Steve will work with you to frame statements that sum up what you want to have happen to address your specific issue.

By doing this consciously, the wordings can be checked to make sure that they are both powerful and sit well with your most firmly-held beliefs and values.

At this point Steve will recommend what he considers needs to be covered next in your initial session of hypnotherapy. It could be quite general, if this is your first experience of hypnosis, or deal specifically with giving you the hand-crafted suggestions that have been created.

In some cases it may also include an element of exploratory hypnotherapy, usually with a view to revealing hidden material not immediately available to your conscious mind.

This form of hypnotherapy is designed to help you release any emotional charge that is linked to past experiences that you find troublesome, and can assist you to re-frame these memories in much more positive terms.

Prior to you experiencing hypnosis Steve may ask you to do some warm up exercises and then the core part of the session will begin. Once this has been completed Steve will review things with you and the next step will be agreed.

Sometimes sessions will include more than one period of formal hypnosis and Steve may ask you to take a small number of actions between sessions to help you maximise your progress.

As with all forms of therapy - the precise results achieved may vary from person to person.

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