I grew up in a small town, my practice is in a small town. What happens in my office stays in my office. It isn’t only my clients who share personal information, I may provide details of my own healing journey and we mutually understand that these stories are not for sharing. This mutual trust is an important part of our relationship and the healing process. If and when I run into a client (current or former) I let them lead. I never reveal to anyone how I “know someone” and I would certainly never discuss a client’s personal information with anyone!

It’s really simple: if you want to be Hypnotized you can be. I customize my induction based on the personality type of my client, I just let the session guide me. Through extensive education, training and experience I can gauge exactly where a client is “at” during a session and I go with the flow. In layman’s terms, I can tell if your hypnotized and keep working to make sure you’re where you need to be during the session to get the results you came to me to get

The first session can take up to an hour and a half and subsequent sessions up to an hour.

Clinical Hypnotherapy is very client specific. In other words it really depends on the individual and the reason they have sought out the therapy. For some, Two sessions is enough to help them make the desired changes while others who have multiple areas and facets of their lives they wish to improve will sign up for a full year. It’s impossible to tell until we meet and discuss.

The body responds physically to thoughts. For example, when we think a frightening thought, we can experience increased heart rate, shortness of breath, “butterflies” in the stomach, muscular rigidity, sweating, shaking, and so on. Similarly, when we think a pleasurable thought, we can experience reduced heart rate, deeper breathing, relaxation of muscles, and so on. The brain is connected to the body. You feel what you think. It has been said that the physcial body is just a vessel meant to support the brain.

If you think of it that way it kind of makes sense that if the brain believes that the body should be healthy it will be. And of course, if the brain believes the body will be unhealthy, it will.

The brain is a dynamic organ that has a natural ability to adapt and change with time. Even after it has been injured, the brain can change by setting up new connections between neurons that carry the messages within our brains. Plasticity of the brain occurs at every stage of development throughout the life cycle. Plasticity is more likely to occur when there is stimulation of the neural system, meaning that the brain must be active to adapt. Changes do not occur without exposure to a stimulating environment that prompts the brain to work. Hypnosis, when applied by a skilled and experienced Clinical Hypnotherapist, can stimulate and activate the necessary parts of the brain to make rapid changes. Otherwise, these changes do not occur quickly. That is one of the reasons that alternate, traditional methods of recovery can go on for months and sometimes years.

When directed by a skilled, experienced Clinical Hypnotherapist, yes.  By the same token, some people are able to go into trance more quickly and more deeply than others.  For most therapeutic goals, light trance is enough to stimulate the necessary parts of the brain and enable almost everyone to benefit from hypnotherapy to some extent.

In a relatively small number of situations, (say, when hypnosis is being used instead of a general anesthetic, e.g., as in labor and childbirth), a deeper level of trance may be needed. For these purposes, it is helpful to determine the trance capability of a given person, before making a decision about the advisability of using hypnosis as an anesthetic.

Because children are naturally imaginative, they naturally and easily engage in hypnosis and respond well to hypnotic suggestion for a wide variety of problems, e.g., self- esteem issues, anxiety, behavior problems, habit change, and certain medical issues. 

I personally don’t work with Preteens however I do know several amazing Hypnotherapists I can make a referral too.

The word hypnosis comes from the ancient Greek word ‘hypnos’ meaning sleep, but it is mis-named. Hypnosis is NOT sleep.

Sleep and hypnosis may seem similar since we may be relaxed and have our eyes closed (although not necessarily), but there are many differences. One main difference is that we tend to be in a relaxed state, but with heightened awareness!

If a person were to fall asleep during a session, they would return to normal consciousness when asked to, or simply awaken after a short nap. They would feel refreshed, relaxed and would have no ill effects at all.

Unless otherwise educated, there are people, after a session of hypnosis, who don’t believe that they were hypnotized at all. This likely comes from misconceptions about just what a ‘trance’ really is.

There are differences between the brain waves of people who are asleep and those who are in trance. In practice, people who are hypnotized often talk with the hypnotist, and can both answer and ask questions, hear everything that is said very clearly, and are perfectly well aware.

There is no mysterious feeling to being hypnotized and our minds are not taken over nor controlled. This expectation and perhaps a demand to have some mysterious experience beyond conscious control or awareness can leave leave some people disappointed so it’s important to educate yourself prior to the experience in order to get the most out of the therapy.

It should be noted that unconscious change happens whether or not you felt hypnotized.

No, there is no loss of control. Hypnosis allows clients to be more focused and less distracted and more skillful in using their own mental abilities constructively. In this way, they can achieve more of their goals, and consequently, actually achieve more (not less) control of their personal comfort, health, and well-being.

The ‘control’ misconception appears to originate from stage hypnosis which actually involves people doing what they want to be doing in a social agreement to be entertaining.

No. At any time a client can re-alert or choose to ignore suggestions. No one stays hypnotized indefinitely – you will always “come out” of trance within a short time.

That depends… Yes and No. Hypnosis can improve our recall of events that we believe happened to us. But hypnosis is not a way to find out the truth (whatever that may be) about events that are in dispute. That is, under hypnosis you may re-experience events, but there is no guarantee that you are remembering them correctly. Hypnosis only assists the subject in recalling perceptions, not truths.