FAQ

During the initial consultation the therapist will work to understand the reasons for why you are seeking assistance and what your concerns and problems are. They will work with you to develop a clear understanding of your needs, expectations and goals for therapy. The first consultation is where the therapist suggests a suitable treatment plan and provides an approximate time frame for therapy based on your needs, expectations and goals for therapy.

Allow for 1 ½ hours for the initial hypnotherapy session. Subsequent sessions are typically 60 minutes in duration.

The number of sessions needed will depend upon the complexity of your problems and on your needs and goals for therapy. Each person is unique so we tailor our treatment plans to suit your individual needs. Treatment options are flexible and based on your specific needs so we offer shorter term plans as well as longer term plans for more complex issues. During your initial consultation the therapist will provide you with guidance and suggestions for the best treatment plan that would suit you, along with approximate time frames based on your specific needs and circumstances.

It can be described as a day dreamy state, where your conscious mind and body are very relaxed and your conscious mind becomes so still that it appears blank. The hypnotherapists voice is often described to be somewhere in the background. In this state, you are more easily able to recall memories, images, feelings, associations and emotions that you would not normally have access to. In this state, the hypnotherapist is able to guide your subconscious into accepting previously discussed and agreed upon suggestions aimed at shifting your awareness and changing unwanted beliefs and patterns of behaviour. The subconscious mind will only accept ideas that it finds relevant and appropriate. If an idea is suggested to the subconscious that the hypnotherapist and individual have not previously discussed and agreed upon, then the conscious mind will usually become activated and involved, and begin to resist the suggestion.

EMDR therapy works on eliminating distressing emotions held in the subconscious as a result of past traumatic events. The therapist stimulates the clients own cognitive insights using bilateral eye movements.

Hypnotherapy works by the therapist planting pre-discussed and agreed upon ideas into the clients subconscious in order to reset and transform any negative self-defeating thinking patterns and behaviour they may have.

Usually, at least three hypnotherapy sessions are required to identify the specific cause of the undesired behaviour or problem that you are wanting to change and to consolidate and reinforce those changes that have been suggested. This is so that the new ideas are firmly accepted and embedded into the subconscious. Five sessions or more may be required if the issue you are facing is more complex and there are compounding underlying causes involved.

With regards to EMDR therapy, there are at least three preparatory sessions prior to the first processing session. The number of processing sessions is really dependent upon how many disturbing memories you have to process, the degree of trauma you have experienced and how quickly you respond to the processing sessions. Depending on the complexity of the trauma, on average of four to eight sessions may be required to alleviate the stress from a traumatic event.

Hypnotherapy and EMDR therapy sessions are planned ahead and scheduled at least a week apart to allow for an appropriate length of time between sessions for the changes to take effect and for us to monitor the progress.