Using a deeply relaxed, focused state to help you change patterns that haven't responded to willpower alone.
Clinical hypnotherapy is a therapeutic approach that uses a natural state of focused relaxation to access the patterns of thought, feeling, and behaviour that sit below our everyday conscious awareness. It is not the dramatic, mysterious spectacle that stage hypnosis suggests. It is a calm, collaborative process in which you remain fully aware and in control throughout, while becoming more open to positive change at a deeper level.
The hypnotic state itself is something most of us enter naturally every day. That absorbed quality of attention when you are reading a compelling book, driving a familiar route without consciously thinking, or drifting in the moments just before sleep that is the threshold we work with in hypnotherapy. It is a state in which the critical, analytical mind becomes quieter, and it becomes possible to work more directly with the deeper part of the mind where habits, fears, and fixed beliefs are held.
As a clinical hypnotherapist working alongside counselling and EMDR, I am not interested in tricks or performances. I am interested in using every effective tool available to help you make the changes you want to make, and hypnotherapy is one of the most underused and misunderstood of those tools.
Hypnotherapy is effective across a wide range of difficulties, particularly those where the pattern of thought or behaviour seems to operate automatically, outside conscious control. You know rationally that your fear of flying is disproportionate, but knowing that changes nothing. You have decided many times to stop the habit, the nail-biting, the late-night eating, the catastrophic thinking, but the decision alone does not reach the part of the mind where the habit lives. Hypnotherapy is designed to work precisely at that level.
Some of the areas where I use hypnotherapy in my practice include:
Anxiety and worry. Persistent anxiety often has an automatic quality. The worry seems to start itself, to run in the background, to resist logical reassurance. Hypnotherapy can help reduce the background level of arousal in the nervous system and change the internal response patterns that sustain anxiety.
Phobias and specific fears. Phobias are some of the most responsive conditions to hypnotherapy. Whether it is a fear of flying, spiders, needles, heights, or social situations, hypnotherapy can help to loosen the automatic fear response and create new, calmer associations with the trigger.
Low confidence and self-esteem. How we feel about ourselves is often not a conscious choice. Deeply held beliefs about not being good enough, not deserving good things, or being fundamentally flawed can resist rational challenge because they were laid down before we had the language to question them. Hypnotherapy can work with these beliefs at a level that cognitive approaches alone sometimes cannot reach.
Unwanted habits and behaviours. Habits, by definition, operate without conscious intention. Whether the habit is one you want to stop or a new one you want to establish, hypnotherapy can support change by working with the automatic, pattern-based part of the mind rather than relying solely on willpower.
Stress and overwhelm. The physical and emotional effects of chronic stress are real and damaging. Hypnotherapy can provide deep relaxation responses, help the nervous system reset, and build internal resources for managing pressure more effectively.
Sleep difficulties. Many sleep problems are maintained by the anxiety around sleep itself. Hypnotherapy can break this cycle, reduce the hypervigilance that keeps people awake, and re-establish a more natural relationship with rest.
Performance and exam anxiety. Anxiety that focuses specifically on performance situations, whether that is exams, presentations, sport, or creative work, can be significantly reduced through hypnotherapy. It can also be used to build the internal conditions for focused, confident performance.
One of the things I value most about how I work is the ability to combine approaches when that combination serves you better than any single method alone. Hypnotherapy does not exist in a silo in my practice. It sits alongside counselling, EMDR, and psychodynamic work as part of an integrative toolkit.
Sometimes what is most useful is to begin with counselling, to understand the deeper roots of what you are experiencing, before using hypnotherapy to reinforce the changes that the relational work has made possible. Sometimes hypnotherapy is the right entry point, particularly for specific, bounded issues like phobias or habits, and the counselling work follows naturally as deeper layers emerge.
For issues connected to trauma, hypnotherapy is used with care. In those cases, I would typically use EMDR as the primary processing tool, with hypnotherapy playing a supportive role in building internal resources and calming the nervous system. The combination can be particularly effective for people who have not responded fully to one approach alone.
The point is that my aim is always to find what works for you specifically, not to apply a standard formula. If you are unsure whether hypnotherapy is appropriate for what you are dealing with, the best first step is simply to get in touch and we can talk it through.
Does hypnotherapy work online? Yes, very effectively. The relaxed, focused state used in hypnotherapy is an internal experience, and research shows that it can be induced just as reliably via video as it can in person. Many clients find the familiarity of their own space actually helps them relax more deeply than they might in a consulting room. All you need is a quiet, private space where you will not be disturbed.
Will I lose control, or be made to do things I don't want to? No. This is the most persistent misconception about hypnotherapy, and it comes almost entirely from stage hypnosis rather than clinical practice. In clinical hypnotherapy you remain fully aware throughout. You cannot be made to do or say anything against your will or values. The hypnotic state is simply a form of focused, relaxed attention, not unconsciousness, not sleep, and not a suspension of your own judgment.
What does it actually feel like? Most people describe the experience as deeply pleasant. A sense of physical relaxation, a quieting of the usual mental chatter, and a quality of absorption that is a little like being lost in a daydream. You are aware of what is happening and you can end the session at any point simply by opening your eyes.
What if I can't be hypnotised? The ability to enter a hypnotic state is a normal human capacity, not a special talent. Some people enter the state more easily than others, and the depth of the state varies, but virtually everyone can benefit from hypnotherapy to some degree. Resistance, where it exists, is usually a sign of anxiety about the process, and that is something we can work with together.
How many sessions will I need? This depends on what you are working on. A specific phobia can often respond in three to six sessions. Anxiety that is more pervasive, or issues connected to longer-standing patterns, typically benefit from a longer course of work. I will always give you an honest assessment of what might be realistic for your particular situation.
Each hypnotherapy session begins with a conversation. We talk about how you have been since the last session, what feels relevant, and what we are aiming to work with today. This is not a preliminary to the "real" work it is part of the work, because understanding where you are at any given moment is essential to working with you effectively.
The hypnotherapy itself usually forms the second half of the session. I will guide you into a state of focused relaxation using verbal techniques, and from there we will work with whatever we have agreed upon whether that is reducing anxiety responses, working with a specific fear, building internal resources, or something else entirely. The guidance is always spoken, not mechanical, and I adapt it to you rather than following a rigid script.
Afterwards, we take a few minutes to come back to normal waking awareness gradually, and to reflect on the experience together. Many people find this reflection part valuable in itself.
All sessions are 50 minutes and cost £70. They take place online via a secure video platform, and I recommend finding a comfortable chair or sofa where you can sit or recline without being disturbed for the duration of the session.
If there is a pattern in your thoughts, feelings, or behaviour that has resisted change, hypnotherapy may be able to help you reach it at a deeper level. Get in touch to discuss whether it might be right for you.
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