Hypnotherapy Training in London

Hi Leah

Welcome to the forum.

I suggest you also check out the [url]National College of Hypnosis of Psychotherapy[/url] which is the only course to be recognised as "post graduate" level by the Open University. Other courses' academic credibility, as assessed by the OU, can be checked .

You should certainly avoid "distance learning" courses and courses that expect you to simply memorise a script for each condition treated.

As regards business prospects, firstly you should ensure that this is covered thoroughly and realistically in the syllabus of any course you apply to. It is certainly not easy to build up a thriving practice.

If you look up "hypnotherapy" on the NHS Choices website you'll see one reason why- the NHS officially regards hypnotherapy as no more than a placebo, and most doctors probably agree. Likewise MIND has little positive to say about it on their website, and the BACP does not regard hypnotherapy as a form of psychotherapy and does not accept hours of hypnotherapy practice as part of the total hours required for BACP accreditation. The however does accept hypnotherapy so long as you've trained in those schools which they recognise. Some medical insurance companies will reimburse clients for hypnotherapy so long as its with someone registered with a UKRHO member organisation, or for psychotherapy with a UKCP registrant.

Mostly in hypnotherapy you're selling your business direct to the public without a middle man (ie doctor, EAP, etc). You need to learn how to maximise word of mouth referals. Personally I don;t think it's necessary to spend money on advertising, so long as you have a website. Most serious therapists hire a an office (either just for them 24/7 or else by the hour in a therapy centre, which could work out cheaper while you still have few clients). There's big disadvantages to working from home.

As with all therapies, some folks decide the way to make money from therapy is to teach it not do it. So there's a huge over-supply of newly qualified therapists, most of whom drop out after 2-3 years.

There's a guy on this forum called Bannick who is a very successful hypnotherapist, if you work your way through all of his posts, especially in the business sub-forum, you will learn a great deal.

Thank you

Thank you very much for your advice. I will definitely check out the other forum discussions!

I really want a career that is rewarding and that allows me to help people to change their lives but I also need to pay my mortgage. I appreciate what you're saying about the nhs and how hypnotherapy is viewed, thanks for your honesty.

You might want to look at CBT trainings as well, because CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) really is the only game in town as far as NHS and EAPs are concerned. Then you can do hypnotherapy training a bit later, backed up by the comparatively secure income and networking potential of being a therapist already. You can then either use hypno within CBT work, or else branch out into hypno as a separate practice. The cognitive behavioural model is a good foundation for hypno practice, so long as it's not treated like a religious dogma, excluding other ways of understanding, and so long as the therapist remains focused on the person and the relationship, not on a manual of procedures. But then that goes for any therapy.