This week, I am very proud to announce that we, the Anglo European College of Therapeutic Hypnosis, became one of 5 UK based schools and one of just 7 schools in the world to have our advanced hypnotherapy diploma formally approved by the GHSC (General Hypnotherapy Standards Council).

It means that anyone who attends, achieves the expected levels of attainment with the learning outcomes, the coursework and the vignettes will be able to add the title of ‘Advanced Hypnotherapist’ to the list of stuff they already add to their email signature, website bio or business cards. I know, I know “woooo-hooo!” but that is not all…. Graduates of this course can also use the letters ‘Adv.Hyp.Dip” after their name, and also we give them a golden cape upon graduation from this course and it is compulsory that they wear that golden cape to their therapy room office each day. (Just in case you do actually demand that from us at a later date, that was a joke about the cape)

Some of that may not really appeal, and if you do not wish to wear the full golden cape, you can use a suitable sturdy jacket, tie it around your neck and make it into a cape/cloak that way, then when you arrive at your hypnotherapist’s office, you just have to remember to enter with your fist clenched, your arm outstretched in front of you in an imaginary flying posture. On a slightly more serious note, some hypnotherapists are simply unconcerned about letters and titles, though for those who want them, they do officially exist with the right course. For us here, this recognition is something that we are very proud of because we work incredibly hard to promote high standards in the field of hypnotherapy.

With or without the formal approval, accreditation and recognition though, there are other reasons that this advanced hypnotherapy diploma course is something I am so keen to deliver, have invested a lot of my heart and soul into and have spent so much time putting together. You see, my profile and engagement with the hypnotherapy community highlights a great need for advanced training. *Frothing at mouth begins*

Advanced Hypnotherapist Diploma Training

Just look at the psychological professions in the mental healthcare fields; psychologists undergo many years of training, studying, researching and practice, psychiatrists attend medical school and then many subsequent years training, researching and studying, mental health nurses undergo many years of training and the vast majority of other talk therapies tend to require more intense, prolonged amounts of study, research, practice in order to work with the general public using their chosen modality of therapy than most hypnotherapists have. Most hypnotherapists have 10 months of training, gain a diploma and then are sent out into the world as a professional. The truth is that the vast majority of hypnotherapists that I meet are struggling to make a living and are ill-equipped to do so.

Of course, there are lots of marketing ‘gurus’ and business development experts who claim to have answers, systems, gimmicks that you apply universally, but are often simply attempting to make more money for themselves to supplement their own ailing therapy practice. Those that seek out the answers in this way are often left wanting.

My answer has long been that the best way to develop one’s business and professional standing as a hypnotherapist, is to become better at what you do. Of the masses of hypnotherapists that I encounter, many of them have attended courses that did not even match national occupational standards for a minimum number of classroom hours attended, and many are being taught the same perpetuated nonsense, pseudoscience and myth that their teachers spew, who were taught the same and who perpetuate the nonsense without applying any critical thinking skills. The truth is that many hypnotherapists simply are not good enough and their clients do not get long-term benefits from their investment of time and money.

When a hypnotherapist is genuinely very good, knowledgeable, skilled with great interpersonal skills, they get better results in their therapy rooms. When they get better results in their therapy rooms, their business flourishes – they get referrals, people talk about their good experiences, and a foundation of success, competence and credibility is forged. Of course, there is more to developing a successful business, but this point I make is key.

Hypnotherapists who do not think in those terms are often looking in the wrong direction for answers and solutions. They invest their limited budget on attempting to find the answers in systems, social media marketing, SEO, swish websites, and all sorts of other gimmicks promoted by “gurus” who cannot prove how busy their own therapy rooms are, when instead hypnotherapists should be investing in their single main asset – themselves (their ability as a hypnotherapist).

As a hypnotherapist, you offer a service, you offer hypnotherapy, and you are offering that delivered by yourself. You need to be a viable and outstanding option in the eyes of your existing and potential clients. So hypnotherapists read, they research, they learn how to develop themselves in a wide variety of ways and this is important. Being able to apply ourselves in accordance with Stephen Coevy’s “7 Habits of Highly Successful People” and learning how to be productive, and developing your soft skills, sharpening your brain, being fit and healthy; all these things are going to do us good…. Yet so many hypnotherapists get their diploma, then learn EFT in two days, learn to become a Reiki master in a few days, and tack on a number of add-ons they can list on their bios, email signatures and business cards, and assume they never need to train in any more hypnotherapy.

They think they have got it nailed. They invested a lot of time and money in that initial diploma training, it does not need to be built upon!

That line of thought is exactly why hypnotherapists DO NEED advanced hypnotherapy training. Primarily because they clearly need critical thinking skills. Critical thinking skills equip you to examine the field and become more effective as a result. I have heard individuals glibly suggest that much of what I am about to write is purely academic, yet evidence suggests that the client derives more benefit and gain from an in-depth, correct understanding of our subject and will perceive the hypnotherapist as far more credible – when a hypnotherapist is perceived as credible by the client, that perception and belief will also advance the efficacy of the treatment.

Learn more about hypnotherapy training:
What Does University Validated Hypnotherapy Training Mean?

Think Critically about Hypnotherapy

The Elements of Advanced Hypnotherapy Training

One of the elements of our advanced hypnotherapy training course that enables the hypnotherapist to engage with more challenging academic literature in hypnotherapy, including hypnotherapy research it critical thinking skills. Critical thinking and a scholarly mindset also develops credibility with medical professionals and creates an attitude that advances the professional and personal life of the hypnotherapist. Some of the elements included are as follows:

– Being a sophisticated listener and reader: How to critique claims made in hypnotherapy circles, especially on training and by peers.
– Logical and academic argumentation: How to recognise logical fallacy and how to debate effectively.
– Academic referencing: How to employ and understand APA, Harvard and Footnote referencing.
– Levels of analysis and levels of abstraction: How hypnotherapists work at various levels.
– Challenging received wisdom: A critical examination of much of what is taken for granted in our profession that have not been proven, in order to develop a practitioner’s critical thinking.
This includes:
a) ’rapport is essential for effective therapy’ (although it is pleasant, other professionals help us without rapport, some clients find success despite low rapport and others do not, despite good rapport).
b) ‘We should only take on motivated clients’ (isn’t motivation a presenting issue worthy of our attention?).
c) ‘A long-standing issue requires longer-term therapy’ (solution-focused therapists take issue with this).
d) ‘All hypnosis is self-hypnosis’ (where is the hypnotherapist in this dynamic? Why are we making our influence invisible? A culture increasingly suspicious of power?).
e) ‘Your unconscious mind is a wonderful intuitive resource’ (cognitive theories do not generally entertain the concept of the ‘unconscious,’ is there really such a thing?).
f) ‘You will always be in control’ (what about falling asleep, spontaneous or induced amnesia for posthypnotic suggestions, being forced to think of something due to questioning, or abreaction? Is it ethical to say this?).
g) ‘It’s good for clients to cry and get it out of their system’ (‘catharsis’, ‘abreacting’ or ‘purging’ can make matters worse, retraumatise, cause embarrassment, possibly even waste time. Feeling better afterwards is hardly surprising and not great evidence!).
h) ‘Smoking should be a single session formula’ (this is a very common model in hypnotherapy, yet most other presenting issues are more sessions and evidence clearly shows that more sessions for stop smoking results in higher success rate. Why are single session stop smoking programmes so popular?).

The Need for Advanced Hypnotherapy Training

If I return to my main point here today though, it is that many hypnotherapists do not believe they need advanced hypnotherapy training, so is there truly a need for it? Why do hypnotherapists need an advanced training? What is the point?

My belief is that an advanced hypnotherapy training is not just something that is helping the hypnotherapist to be more successful with clients and build a better business, but is also developing the entire field of hypnotherapy and the perception of it. The field of hypnotherapy is very much on the fringe (at best) of therapy and psychological fields still today, and an incessant belief that you have all the training you need with your initial diploma is a popular one, and one that is potentially keeping the field of hypnotherapy on the fringes! Some of the needs for advanced hypnotherapy training are as follows:

– Improve standards and service to the public.
– Engage newly qualified hypnotherapists with quality CPD and to see its value.
– Invigorate and inform the practice of experienced practitioners.
– Encourage higher level, academic and critical thinking.
– Instil the importance of better quality reflective practice.
– Promote new perspectives, build a diversity of approaches.
– Properly understand the the evidence base of the field of hypnotherapy.
– Know the literature well – it underpins our practical skills and advances them in turn.
– Embed core training concepts by revisiting them in a new light.
– Patch in important knowledge and skills that initial training may have missed or where understanding is poor.
– To become a more successful hypnotherapist whose clients derive greater gains and successful benefits.

Hypnotherapists are not the only ones who benefit from this, by becoming better at what they do, they get to raise the standards of the field in general terms, this is good for us all because the perception of the public becomes better and rosier and it is better for clients who derive more gain, more professionalism, better results.

The raison d’être of an advanced hypnotherapy training programme is to offer the hypnotherapist a clear advancement on the original hypnotherapy training. It needs to be substantive, wholly distinctive and healthily challenging, not simply offering ‘more of the same’ that was taught on an initial diploma course. it provides new knowledge, new skills, new philosophies, new approaches, new techniques and encourages a considered, respectful and healthily critical exploration of hypnotherapy research.

To revert to an earlier point, an advanced hypnotherapy diploma course needs to have a good return on investment (ROI). That is, it needs to help the hypnotherapist develop skills, knowledge and abilities that will grow the hypnotherapist’s business in an effective fashion.

Therefore, go and read about our course here: The Anglo European College’s Online Advanced Hypnotherapy Diploma. (You are required to have an existing diploma level hypnotherapy qualification in order to take this course). Just come and download the course prospectus immediately from the college website, I think you’ll be pleased you did.

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Recent update/addendum to this article:
Above, I mention the value of a wide and varied education in this field, if you are interested in studying the field of hypnotherapy online, or if you are already a qualified hypnotherapist, then we have a number of online training courses, accredited for CPD and that are incredibly comprehensive.

1. Advanced Hypnotherapy Diploma – this online course adheres to the GHSC requirements for advanced level diploma and we are one of just 7 schools or colleges worldwide who are approved to offer this training with the GHSC. If you have a hypnotherapy diploma already, this course is going to take things to the next level for you in a big way. Have a read about it following the above link.

2. Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapist Certification – this online course is an incredibly evidence based approach. CBH is exponentially more than just an amalgam of CBT plus hypnosis. Hypnosis has been shown to advance the efficacy of CBT, but CBH actually predates CBT. Many of the roots of CBH can be traced to James Braid’s therapeutic work. Come and have a read about the course using the link.

3. Hypnotic Coaching Certification – this online course is going to refresh and invigorate any hypnotherapists business greatly. Hypnotic coaching is incredibly effective and can add another revenue stream to the hypnotherapists income. Learning hypnotic coaching helps you to expand your business and ethically increase the time you spend with rewarding, achieving, positive clients.

Hypnotic coaching tends to be more upbeat, more active and quite a contrast to the typical therapeutic environment – it can serve as quite a tonic and subsequently helps the hypnotherapist to be even more effective when working with therapy clients. With hypnotic coaching, your clients are people who are healthy, well and simply want to be better, achieve more, take their life to the next level. This course gives you the tools and structure to add to your existing hypnotherapy skills and open up a whole new exciting world of possibility.

Hypnotic coaching is totally portable and can be conducted from anywhere in the world that you have access to a phone or the internet, technology ensures that our potential client base is everyone and anyone who is connected – and we are currently more connected to the world than at any previous point in history. It makes absolute sense for us to capitalise upon that – and reach out and help more people achieve their dreams.

4. Hypnotherapist Business Development Academy – this online course is for any and every hypnotherapist who is looking to develop their business.

In the last two decades, times have changed. The perception of the field of hypnotherapy has changed, there are more hypnotherapists out there than ever before, there is more information available about hypnotherapy than ever before. Things continue to change, rapidly. Just as we all engage in continued professional development to keep our skills relevant, fresh and up-to-date, so we need to understand how to develop our business effectively and how to keep attracting clients.

Today, I encounter many, many hypnotherapists at lectures, conferences, CPD trainings and other events. So, so many of them struggle. So, so many of them ask me the best ways to get clients, but it is virtually impossible to offer up a soundbite in a tea break that will transform them from desperate, isolated, eager hypnotherapist into successful, commanding professional with a healthy waiting list of referred clients.

You want to see more clients. You want to excel as a busy hypnotherapist. You want kudos. You want to serve the world and help as many people as possible to be well and benefit from what you know hypnotherapy can do. You want these things and probably more besides; so what is the solution?    Join this hypnotherapist business development academy. Read more about it by following the link.

We have shiny new, coherent and comprehensive prospectus forms for each of these courses which give you fees and explanations regarding them that you can download and be reading in two minutes time. Go do that.

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Are you looking for a meaningful and rewarding career? Want to train as a hypnotherapist?
Are you a newly qualified hypnotherapist looking to advance your skills or a seasoned professional looking for stimulating and advanced CPD? Visit the website of the Anglo European College of Therapeutic Hypnosis to peruse the wide range of courses, seminars and workshops we offer online and in the classroom, all led and taught by Adam Eason.

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