Fifteen Years Later: And Still Learning!
Fifteen years ago, I accidentally fell into becoming a self-employed Hypnotherapist. Like most career moves I’ve made, it happened quite organically. I’d experienced hypnosis myself a couple of times and had been amazed by how well it worked. At the time, I was looking after three very small children and, as often happens in life, someone appeared at exactly the right moment. I heard all about the hypnosis training they had done and I was instantly hooked.
Click here to read this previous blog post for more detail:
In the early days, I worked from my lounge while my three children were either at school or tucked up in bed. It wasn’t ideal, but as a single parent it worked for us at the time — until they grew older, wanted to stay up later and developed a love of loud music. Covid unexpectedly gave me the perfect opportunity to convert my garage into the therapy room I’d always wanted: calming, peaceful and blissfully free of rock music.
When I first started training, friends volunteered as guinea pigs for the techniques I was learning. I quickly discovered that hypnotising someone you know is far harder than hypnotising someone you don’t! Back then, I was burning CDs with the one or two recordings I had created — although some clients still refer to them as “tapes”. Thankfully, technology moved on and sharing recordings via links and the cloud made life much easier, especially now that I offer nearly 30 recordings.
One of the big trends when I first started was the hypnotic gastric band — a method of visualising having a real gastric band fitted as a way to lose weight. Like real gastric bands, it wasn’t without its flaws. That led me to develop my NewLeaf programme, focusing on the emotional and behavioural side of eating: cravings, comfort eating, knowing when to stop, motivation to move more and body positivity. Since then, I’ve even created a recording for a hypnotic weight loss jab. Things have certainly moved on.
I had always avoided self-employment before this because I was terrified there wouldn’t be enough work to sustain me. How wrong I was. There have definitely been quieter periods over the years — most notably during Covid — but people are far more aware of and invested in their mental health now… even you blokes.
What I hadn’t prepared for was how difficult it could be to switch off at the end of the day. I’d often find myself thinking about clients long after sessions had ended, wondering how they were doing or coming up with ideas for the next appointment. It actually took the forced pause of Covid for me to realise that working until 10pm every night probably wasn’t doing much for my own mental health either.
I’d like to thank the clients who took a leap of faith and did hypnosis with me when everything else had failed, everyone brave enough to leave public Google reviews, and those who quietly recommend me to friends and family.
Fifteen years in, and I’m still learning every day. Every client teaches me something new, and I’m just as passionate — if not more so — about helping people as I was back then.
