About Hypnotherapy: Typical First Session with Ellen

I offer you, as a prospective client, an initial free, confidential consultation, either on the phone or in person, if preferred. This is for our mutual benefit. Establishing rapport with you is of the utmost importance. If you feel I am a therapist you can trust and with whom you would enjoy working, then the process has an excellent chance of succeeding.

At the beginning of the consultation, I determine whether your presenting problem/issue is one I feel competent to handle. If it is not within my area of expertise, or if a medical or psychiatric referral is required, I make that very clear. I then explain how I work, the length of my sessions, the costs, payment plans, directions to my office, and available appointments. I answer any questions you may have about my background or about hypnotherapy and provide a copy of my business card and practice brochure for you to keep.

The first session is critically important since it lays the groundwork for all we will accomplish. Prior to the hypnotic induction, I further develop trust and rapport with you, reassuring you that client-therapist confidentiality always will be respected. I listen attentively and empathetically while you describe to me in your own words the challenges and obstacles you face in your personal and professional life that undermine your confidence, success, and well-being.

Through extensive questioning and note taking, I gain a deeper understanding of your presenting problem: How long have you been struggling with it? How and when do you experience it? How does it make you feel about yourself? How specifically does it impede your happiness and success? What are your specific desires and goals for therapy? Have you ever been hypnotized? If so, was it successful? Do you know anyone (else) who has? What other forms of therapy and tools have you already tried and with what degree of success? What are your expectations and fears about hypnotherapy?

I take the time to explain what hypnosis is (and what it is not), distinguishing it from stage hypnosis, dispelling popular misconceptions about it and allaying any apprehensions or doubts you may harbor about your ability to go into and out of it safely and comfortably. I describe how it typically feels to be in a hypnotic state, and point out that most everyone has had a hypnotic experience without even realizing it was. I always emphasize that no one ever does or accepts anything in hypnosis that goes against their will, thics, religious beliefs, desires, personal taste, or best interest.

Next, I explain the theory of mind underlying my approach, and, in that context, how hypnosis works to resolve your presenting problem. Then, I answer any questions you may have. After that, I assess your suggestibility (i.e. your primary mode for processing information) and then guide you into the hypnotic state, usually with an arm-raising induction. Since the first hypnotic experience lays the foundation for all future work, I proceed with a series of deepening techniques to ensure a highly suggestible state. I repeatedly include a post-hypnotic suggestion for re-hypnosis during subsequent sessions, if more than one session is necessary.

At this point, you move to a recliner and I set you up in the appropriate position. I teach you deep diaphragmatic breathing and a progressive relaxation techniques that you practice at home using the tapes I provide at every session. The hypnosis portion of subsequent sessions always includes deep diaphragmatic breathing and the progressive relaxation technique, followed by counting you down into a deep hypnotic state and issuing the post-hypnotic suggestion for re-hypnosis.

Once I have conditioned your ability to get into hypnosis, the substantive hypnotherapeutic process begins. Using powerful, positive suggestions, visualizations, guided imagery, and other tools and techniques, I cultivate and implant into your subconscious mind new attitudes, beliefs, emotions, feelings, and thoughts which motivate and support specific behaviors conducive to the accomplishment of your goals.

At the end of each session, I again provide a post-hypnotic suggestion that reinforces the work that was done. Before counting you back up to full consciousness, I reinforce feelings of optimism and well-being that you take with you. We then discuss your hypnotic experience for clues as to what works the best and determine whether and if so, when, a next session will take place. In all honesty, it is rare that a client achieves their goals in one session. Most issues require three to six sessions at a minimum.

Using the tapes I make of each session (at no additional cost), you are strongly encouraged to practice between sessions in order to more deeply impress your subconscious mind with the new attitudes, feelings, and behavior. Since the mind works according to the law of repetition, the more you intentionally and enthusiastically repeat a suggestion under hypnosis, the more engrained it becomes and the more likely and sooner the behavior it suggests will spontaneously occur.

Resulting from the work done both in session and at home, negative mental blocks and past conditioning will dissolve and the desired behavior will replace the old, unwanted behavior. Just how long this will take and how permanently the results will last depends upon the nature of the problem, how long it has persisted, and most importantly, your commitment and tenacity. As with physical fitness coaching, the clients who get the best and quickest results are those who are firmly commited and who consistently practice with the tools provided in between our sessions. As with 12-step programs, it works if you work it.

I am your teacher, guide, and coach. Together, we can effect your personal and professional transformation. You can achieve the rewards and deep fulfillment that come with manifesting your authentic self if you believe you can and are willingly to use the tools.