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Why I became a Solution Focused Hypnotherapist

My working life has taken a few different paths, initially a musician working in community/education settings and also as a freelance musician which gave me the opportunity to tour in Europe and as far as New Zealand. However, feeling the need for a more stable and regular income, I trained to become a teacher. At first, I taught Music Technology to 16 to 18-year-olds which I thoroughly enjoyed. Later, I chose to work as a teacher at a special needs school, teaching students who had a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Condition; no longer teaching music but teaching all subjects, like you would as a primary school teacher. Teaching those young people was a privilege as was getting to know their families and carers.

Many of you will be aware though, that teaching is a demanding role and as I have had chronic fatigue syndrome for the last twenty years, it became harder to manage the workload. I was lucky in that the special school I worked at had a brilliant head who strove to do all that she could to support teachers. This was true, in fact, of all the senior leadership team. Even so, spending most evenings and a significant part of the weekend planning and assessing was becoming too relentless.

After many years of managing my chronic fatigue syndrome as best I could, I got an appointment with the CFS clinic in Birmingham. I have to say that they were brilliant and the consultant I saw was excellent but unfortunately, I had a very bad reaction to the drug they prescribed me and found myself very ill and unable to work for some time. This was the point at which I felt I had to reassess my working life. I knew that teaching was no longer an option but I still wanted to do something where I could work with people and support them to achieve the things they wanted to and to be able to flourish.

I did a lot of thinking without any great inspiration but then, at some point, I found myself remembering the hypnotherapy I’d had several years before to help me stop smoking …… and stop I did! So I knew first hand that hypnotherapy worked and so I began to look into how one could train to become a hypnotherapist. The more I read about hypnotherapy, the more fascinated I became and when I saw a course that was highly recommended and was local to me, I decided to find out more and contacted the organisation.

The reason Solution Focused Hypnotherapy appealed to me so much is twofold. Firstly, it is based on Neuroscience i.e. what research into the human brain tells us about the way it works. Many of us are not that familiar with how the brain works but when we teach clients about this, it’s often a revelation because they begin to understand their behaviours, their problems or challenges and importantly, they understand the brain’s amazing capacity for change. Secondly, we are solution focused because we don’t dwell on the past or re-examine traumas, we focus on what the client wants to achieve and support them to get there. This means that it’s a very positive, gentle and yet powerful way to transform your life.

For me personally, I love working with clients and seeing the progress they make. I have learnt a lot about myself and my outlook on life is so much more positive than it used to be.