I generally like to see clients for at least two sessions, even if we make great progress in the first session. For some issues, change can happy quickly, but for other issues, progress may occur over two to four sessions on average, dependent on a number of factors.

I would strongly urge against being seduced by the promises of quick-fix therapists, as they are working with short term placebo and compliance and not making last change. 

In short, both. I prefer to work in person, but with clients as far afield as the USA and Australia, this is not always the case. Therefore, for standard sessions I offer Zoom or in person appointments in Sidcup. If client’s want me to travel to their place of work, if they are in the M25 they are usually required to book me for a minimum half-day, or will be billed for additional time and expense.  

Sometimes, yes. As an integrative therapist, trained in CBT, often I will incorporate a blended approach to my client work which may include asking clients to complete exercises, logs, questionnaires and so forth, to identify issues and measure and maintain progress. For the client who wants lasting change, rather than a temporary quick fix, this is never an issue.

I do not offer clients guarantees of success because some variables are out of my control. I do guarantee that I will always act in the interest of my client and use all my knowledge and experience to help them overcome an issue, achieve a goal, or whatever it is they are coming to me to help them with.

Always try to be yourself. Sometimes, especially in times of insecurity or defensiveness, we project and hide behind an alternate version of ourselves. I want to get to know and help the real you. That is when real and often profound change happens.

If I am committing to helping a client, I expect them to commit fully to our work together. This means being open, engaged and prepared to undertake additional homework and exercises. Sometimes, the session work proves more than enough, but with a number of issues, that work will need to be continued in a client’s own time and work or home environment.

I am good at what I do and committed when I do it. Therefore, when we are working together, I expect a client to conduct themselves appropriately and with respect. I have no tolerance for unnecessary tardiness or for rudeness directed at myself or others. A continuously poor attitude in therapy is a strong precursor to failure.

There are situations where this very well may be the case, or at the very least, a therapist needs little in terms of client background and history. But if a therapist’s modus operandi is offering content-free therapy I would certainly not recommend them. Often, these therapists will use a protocol they have been trained in (or train others in), may be selective in the subjects they choose to work ‘on’ and pass off socially compliant responses as fixes.

The hypnotherapy field is awash with hypnosis trainers and hypnotherapists offering panacea protocols they may claim to: fix the issue in one session (sometimes seconds or minutes), work entirely content free, resolve virtually any issue, or have a 100% success rate (the protocol or the therapist). My advice would be to give it some very serious thought before enlisting the help of any therapist or coach making such claims. I am not averse to protocols per se, or particular ways and processes of working, but the panacea, quick fix protocols are the commodity of the deluded or dishonest trainer and therapist, individuals that should be avoided like the plague.

Sometimes you will find a therapist or coach who works with famous stars, sportsmen and sportswomen, public figures and so forth. I personally know a few fellow therapists who do work with well-known clients, and even I have helped the odd household name over the years. Unfortunately, I know lots more therapist who tell blatant lies, make false claims, or have stretched any semblance of truth regarding ‘celebrity work’ so far as it has no bearing. There are also those who disingenuously like to give the impression of moving in certain circles with daft statements such as ‘let’s just say it was a big garden and there were quite a few corgis running around’ or a selfie with a celeb combined with a not-so-cryptic comment. Client confidentiality is of paramount importance, but it is also the means by which dishonest therapists can make such bold statements unchallenged. If it seems too good to be true, it generally is, so be wary of any individuals trying to get as much mileage out of questionable statements that can’t be corroborated.

(*Or any very high percentile) Other claims that are very hard to corroborate are those statements boasting a near flawless success rate. Certainly, some therapists are very good at what they do, both the generalists and of course those that specialise, but even the latter would struggle to fully demonstrate a consistently near perfect track record working with clients. There are just too many variables at play. Some just plain make it up and even those working with some semblance of truth, when making such claims have selective ways of establishing success and ones that are skewed in their favour (using socially compliant responses, flawed metrics, putting the blame on the client, no following up etc.). Some even count a successful client as a client who has just shown up, which when doing large groups, can subjectively skew favourable statistics through the roof. Do not be afraid to grill a therapist or coach on any claims of success and how the numbers are established. A good therapist will be honest and welcome the scrutiny.

Incredibly, in the hypnosis world and the snake-oil playgrounds that are social media and the less than scrupulous hypnosis organisations and industry conferences, this sort of statement is not as rare as one would think. Worryingly, as questionable as these claims would be even if we were focusing on total attendance numbers to group events and not being fast and loose with the definition of ‘helped’, there are actually loads of therapists attributing these numbers to individual client or session hours. Maybe someone could see 40,000 people over a twenty year period, with an average weekly group size of 38 attendees week in week out (and assuming they did not have any weeks off in that twenty years) it certainly seems unlikely, but it is doable, but even if the figure of 40,000 (or whatever s being claimed) how do they determine all those attendees were helped? For starters it is assuming a 100% success rate (see above) and almost certainly would prove a logistical pain in the arse for the therapist following up those client numbers. But worse, there are a number of therapists (and trainers) claiming to have seen this volume of face to face, one on one clients (the highest I have seen is 70k a few years ago). When you crunch those numbers, the story becomes pure fantasy. A therapist claiming to have helped 40,000 people or given 40,000 hours of therapy, over a twenty year career, would have to see 7 people a day, 6 days a week, week in week out (including 28 days annual leave). Yet people in the hypnosis community and prospective clients lap this nonsense up. If something sounds outlandish – do the maths and apply the data into a realistic real-world scenario. There are prolific therapists out there, but for a profession where the average hypnotherapist sees less than eight clients a week, if something sounds too good to be true it almost, always is.

Many hypnotists (but primarily biased and uneducated trainers and their students) are unduly dismissive of Cognitive therapy, psychotherapy and other talk therapies. They like to conflate interventions such as CBT with cliched notions of counselling and stories of fixing clients stuck in years of therapy. Firstly, CBT is not perfect, but no intervention is – it does however have the most evidence based studies to support it’s efficacy and is promoted by the NHS, charities and even big names in the hypnosis world. Secondly, a hypnotherapist will only ever see instances where other therapy has failed for a client and in my experience, poorly trained hypnotists have contributed to my client base far more than their CBT counterparts.
A good CBT therapist can be incredibly effective in resolving a number of issues and will educate and teach clients how to continue to develop and move forward beyond their sessions together. When combined with hypnotherapy, it can become even more effective. This is the way I work.