“So what do you do in Chicken Time?” was the somewhat tongue-in-cheek question posed by a client’s housemate. (See Episode One to understand the chicken reference.) And while the tone of her question was more than likely equal parts skepticism and curiosity, it isn’t a bad question. So, what do we do in Chicken Time- AKA Solution Focused Hypnotherapy sessions?
Well that depends on two things: which session this is in a client’s course of therapy, and the client’s reason for being there in the first place.
In much the same way as I describe being a hypnotherapist as being a personal trainer for the mind, we can view the sessions in a similar format to physical personal training sessions. You’ll see what I mean…
The Initial Consultation
When you first start working with a personal trainer, you’ll most likely have an induction session. We do too. We call this your Initial Consultation. It lasts about an hour and we do three things;
- Discuss why you have chosen to explore hypnotherapy as a possible course of action. You are asked to think about what you would like us to work on, and what you hope to achieve.
- Next, I take some history – physical symptoms, medical, a little bit of background, sleep patterns; information which helps me to get a bit of an understanding about you, and enables me to let you know if I don’t think hypnotherapy will be suitable for you. (It’s rare, but it does happen – and I’ll be honest.)
- Finally, we look at how the brain works and why we get stuck feeling anxious, depressed etc. I love this part of the session. Every time I do this, I can see the light bulbs pinging on all over the place.They say knowledge is power – this knowledge most certainly is.
After this, you simply decide whether you would like to explore Solution Focused Hypnotherapy further, and we book your next appointment if that’s what you would like to do.
Subsequent sessions:
For most people, subsequent sessions follow a similar pattern, just as they might if you worked with a personal trainer. Your goal might be to lose weight or build muscle, and while your reasons for being there might be different to the next person’s, the sessions would most likely follow a similar format, with different exercises tailored to your needs.
Each of our sessions lasts about an hour and all you need to prepare is a space to lie down somewhere quiet and comfortable where you (hopefully!) won’t be disturbed. All my work is one to one on Zoom, so you don’t even need to leave home or get a babysitter.
Again, we start with your mind, and revisit the information from the initial consultation. There’s a lot to take in, and we keep coming back to it in various forms each week. In just the same way as you wouldn’t just do an exercise once at the gym and suddenly become an Olympic Gold Medal contender or the World’s Strongest Man, so we need to keep coming back to the brain work until it becomes second nature.
After that comes the relaxation part. You make yourself nice and comfortable, and I guide you into a lovely relaxed state which allows your brain to do what it does best – to think and come up with ideas. This part of the session lasts about 30 minutes and clients often describe it as “refreshing” or “like having a massage”.
Unlike other forms of therapy, we don’t set homework. We just set your wonderful mind off on its own journey of discovery each week, and let it do the rest. However, I do give you a relaxation audio to listen to between sessions to help the process along. Much like the personal training analogy, you get out what you put in. You can have your session once per week and make steady progress, but you will progress faster if you practise in between by using the download at bedtime.
So how many sessions will you need?
Well that depends on lots of things – how long standing the problem is, how much work you are prepared to do between sessions and so on. Clients vary hugely, with some having 6-8 sessions before being waved off into the sunset, while others take the scenic route and are still working with me a few months later. Some people just really enjoy the sessions, and while-ever they are, it’s absolutely fine to keep coming.
I hope that’s been helpful. Next time, I’ll tell you more about the two specialist types of sessions I do, which work in a slightly different way.
For the time being I’m offering the Initial Consultation free of charge, so you really can see what it’s all about for yourself with no obligation to continue if you decide it’s not for you. For therapy to be successful you need to find the right therapy, and the right therapist, and only you can make that decision.
See you next time!