Retraining to Become a Cognitive Hypnotherapist.

I have worked in my current job for over 11 years. I love working as a Teaching Assistant, but since I completed my Degree in 2013 I have had my eye out for my next step. I knew that it would present itself to me. I just had to be patient. I was looking for something that would stretch my mind, be rewarding and at the same time be about giving back, helping other people. I wanted to find something that would inspire me. The solution came, as these things tend to do, out of the blue. Cognitive Hypnotherapy is my future and it found me by taking away my fear.

I had been more and more fearful of a certain situation and had decided to visit a friend of mine who is in practice as a Hypnotherapist. In one session she changed my life, or at least she enabled me to change my life. My fear was gone, no longer debilitating and I felt inspired to study hypnotherapy myself. How wonderful, to be able to help people live life as they want to live it, without fear.

I started to research courses and discovered that in the UK there is no one governing body for hypnotherapists. It is still seen as outside of the mainstream. However, I was drawn again and again to one place - an institute that is proud of its cutting edge approach to Cognitive Hypnotherapy. When I have completed my course I will share with you more, but for now I am going to keep that titbit of information private! I hope you don't mind! It will give me a reason to write again about my course, because if it continues the way it has started I am going to be raving about it!

I had my first study weekend last week and I don't think I have ever felt so positive,so inspired or excited. The weekend was fantastic from start to finish - the organisation and communication, the support given by our trainers and assistants. I learnt so much in two days. By Saturday night my mind felt like it was about explode. But in a good way. If there is a good way for your head to explode!! I went home excited and full of enthusiasm. The second day was, if anything, even better, and this time my mind felt relaxed and open. We were taught theory and then two techniques which we practised. And I can tell you .... they work like magic. Magic!

So now I have to wait a month before our next study weekend. This month is going to be spent reading and practising the techniques I have learnt. My youngest son has so far avoided my attempts at relaxation therapy or anchoring, but my eldest son has proved a brilliant subject! I have started close to home, but am gradually branching out to friends and neighbours in the quest to hone my hypnotherapy skills!

It is a little bit like being a magician. To watch someone go from being awake, nervous and unsettled to being relaxed totally and then back out the other side, awake and alert yet refreshed and calm, is truly wonderful. I have so much to learn, but the learning is awe inspiring. To be able, at the age of 51, to retrain in something which I can continue for the rest of my life, is just brilliant.

Training to become a Cognitive Hypnotherapist.

I am excited. Some time ago I wrote about my thoughts on training as a Hypnotherapist and since then I have moved forward with my plans. I have researched Training Schools and thought long and hard about whether I should or could retrain.

I have come to the conclusion that this really is the next step for me in my life. If you have been reading my blog for any time then you will know that I am one for a plan. I like to focus on something for which I am full of enthusiasm. In the past I decided to walk the Moon Walk, a marathon length overnight power walk to raise funds for Breast Cancer. I did it 4 times. Then I concentrated on running and completed many 10ks, 5ks and Half Marathons before, in 2008, completing the London Marathon. Then I changed my focus to my unfinished Degree and spent 3 years studying to gain a B.A Hons. I graduated in 2013.

This is not my way of saying "Look at me! I'm fab!" Its a way of showing you that when I set my mind on something I believe in - I do it. Since finishing my Degree I have wondered what to do next. I considered training to be a teacher, but decided that I was only thinking of this because I felt I ought to - not because I was desperately keen to do it.

Hypnotherapy is the future for me. It seems to be the answer to many of my desires and ambitions. I have found a school that I like and I am going to go for it.

picture courtesy of nicolamenage.co.uk

It has been difficult to find the right place to train as, in the UK, there is not one single regulatory body to whom one can go and find out the best way to train. Hypnotherapy is outside the mainstream of traditional care and as such there are a plethora of places - from online courses with no practical sessions to post graduate certificate courses with scientific papers to write. It is very hard to find a course that will definitely result in one being a reputable and professional therapist.

I have, however, been drawn to a particular school in London which seems to offer thorough training with a solid support system and proven track record. It offers a 10 month course with a mixture of home study and coming together with other students once a month over a weekend with an experienced trainer. There is a combination of theoretical study and practical work. After qualification one is supervised for a year and there is an excellent support network. They strive for excellence.

At the weekend I went along to the college for a meeting and I was impressed by the professionalism of the people I met. I was able to sit in on a training session and they answered all my questions. There was no hard sell - far from it. They seemed confident and dedicated.

So my decision is now - can I afford it? Is it the right thing for me? What can I lose if I do it? What can I gain?

It seems to me to be an exciting new path to take. It appears to be a career in which I can help other people overcome problems and fears, a career that I can run alongside my current job, a career that I can practise for the rest of my life, which will give me satisfaction and reward both intellectually and financially. For example, working for 3 hours a week as a hypnotherapist will give me the same salary as 17 hours as a Teaching Assistant. The financial side of it is pretty low down on my list of needs, but to be able to do something that helps other people, at times that suit me and in a way that gives me a sense of fulfillment whilst earning enough money to keep me afloat, is very tempting.

I want to be the best Hypnotherapist I can be. I want to be able to change people's lives in the way that my Hypnotherapist changed mine. It may be that with my experience in school I can eventually specialise in helping children and teenagers overcome problems that they face.To be able to help other people be free from their fears would be an incredible thing, a privilege.

picture courtesy of gabriellamoericke.co.uk

My first step is to sign up for the course, take the plunge. I am so excited!!!

Hypnotherapy and finding a good Training School.

I think I might have found my new goal. And by that I don't mean that I've taken up football in a big way ... I mean that I have found something that I think I might be good at, will be satisfying and will help other people at the same time.

If you read my previous post you will know that I recently underwent hypnotherapy to help with my fear of skiing in whiteouts. I am by nature a bit of a sceptic and the fact that this therapy worked for me was really rather striking and remarkable.

My father was a GP and his first boss was a big believer in the process so my dad followed in his footsteps and used hypnosis in his practice. My mum is a nurse and as a child I remember her helping us to relax through pain or fear by using some of my father's methods. She herself was hypnotised to help with the pain of childbirth.

So really, I suppose, its no surprise that I have reached this point in my life, the point where I decide to become a hypnotherapist myself...

picture courtesy of lionelsinclair.com

Now, finding a reputable school is another thing altogether. In the UK hypnotherapy is not regulated by one body - there are several organisations that are representative of hypnotherapists... So finding the right place to train will be interesting. If I am going to do this then I want to do it well... be a properly trained, properly qualified therapist. After all... this is important.

Reputable hypnotherapists, clinical hypnotherapists treat a huge variety of complaints - from fear to PTSD, from wanting to stop smoking to weight loss. They don't sit there with a pocket watch making people quack like ducks .... its a big, big responsibility.

It would mean that I could practise while still working in my current job and yet have another string to my bow. I could also help people in a voluntary capacity. The more I think about it the more I am excited.

If you have come to my page and have any advice for me I would be hugely grateful.

Skiing in Val Thorens and hypnotherapy

I'm back from m'hols!! We went en famille to Val Thorens in France for a week's skiing, staying at Le Tikal apartments and it has been lovely!! We were last there about 25 years ago, which I find hard to believe!! In that time the place has probably doubled in size and although in places is rather like "beyond the Thunder Dome" in its bleakness, there are some great places to stay, fab restaurants and, above all, some of the most fabulous skiing in the world.

My husband introduced me to skiing about 25 years ago and it is a sport I love. As with most of my sporting endeavours I am not great at it!! My style is slow and elegant rather than fast and wild and my best skiing is usually done in my head or before I actually start moving!

I can get down any run you plonk me on, but I may well cry if its too icy...

Fortunately this year I can announce that I did not cry once. Yippeeee!!! This is a magnificent result for me as I generally spend about 30% of my ski holidays sobbing into a vin chaud, full of fear and totally lacking in self confidence.Over the last few years in particular I have developed a huge fear of skiing in white outs or flat light. This year though I seized the bull by the horns and decided to attack the problem. I went to see an acquaintance who is a hypnotherapist. The results of that session were amazing...

Having spent the last few years in dread, absolute dread of skiing in the fog I awoke last Wednesday to see the cloud on the mountain and yet I was fine. My levels of fear  remained low and as I started to ski they, if anything, diminished. I found myself singing as I skied and the voice of my therapist echoed in my head, telling me that I could get safely down the mountain, that it didn't matter if I was slower than my family, that they were ok and so was I. I actually enjoyed that day so much.

It has made me consider training in hypnotherapy. My dad, who was a GP, was a great believer in hypnotherapy and I really think it would be a satisfying and worthwhile career. We will see...

In the meantime .... this is the view from our apartment. We haven't stayed in self catering before, but I really enjoyed Le Tikal. It was 3 star and not the newest or most glamorous of places, but it was warm, clean and, best of all, ski in ski out. Our apartment was a one bedroom place with 2 twin beds and a sofa bed. The kitchen had a dishwasher, microwave, and generally everything you would need.

At the end of the day when you are skiing you don't spend much time in your room. What you need is a place that's close to the slopes and this one is ...

This is my husband at the top of the path down to the village. The apartment building back door is round to the right and we could ski right to and from that door as runs went above and below the building. 

I think that if you wanted luxury then this isn't the place for you, but if you're there to ski and don't mind simplicity this place was great.