Initial Free Consultation
All Hypno-CBT® Therapists provide an initial free consultation. During this call they will ask you about your goal for therapy, what you want to achieve and what is holding you back. By understanding this your therapist will be able to assess whether they are well placed to help you.
They will then explain how they work and what will happen in the first session. They will be able to give you a broad idea of how many sessions you’ll have together and the cost.
You can then go ahead and book the first session with them if you want to proceed, or you can take a little time to think before going ahead. Once you confirm you want to proceed the therapist will email you their contract and fees, they may also email you some forms to complete ahead of the first session.
When you do decide to go ahead you’ll want to know what to expect in the first session.
The First Session
Your therapist may have sent you some forms to complete ahead of the first session. These may ask for details about your health and how your are feeling at the moment. These questionaires can be useful to revisit during therapy to see how you’re progressing and they will discuss this with you during the first session.
A typical session is 1 hour duration.
Most of the first session will be spent discussing what you want to work on. Your therapist will be particularly interested in your thoughts and beliefs surrounding the issue, what you do in situations relating to the issue and what you don’t do i.e. how the issue is negatively impacting you. They will want to explore different scenarios with you to really understand how this is affecting you and your life, your relationships and so on. They will regularly play back what you’re saying to sense check their understanding with you. The more open and descriptive you can be, the more informatjon they will glean, this will help you both in subsequent sessions. The therapist may ask you to close your eyes, imagine you’re in a situation, and to describe what you see and feel. Its suprising how much more we can tap into when we imagine something is happening rather than trying to describe it.
Once your therapist feels they have all the information they need they may introduce you to the experience of hypnosis, either with an experimental exercise or a hypnosis experience. The fascinating thing about hypnosis is that it can be learned and become a skill you can use, the more you experience hypnosis, the easier it becomes to experience hypnosis. So think about the experience as a fun and intriguing skill that you can gradually master .
Your therapist will help you identify your goal for therapy. Its important to have a clear idea of what you’re working towards and as you progress through therapy, the goal will help you measure your progress.
The session will end with a review, a discussion about next steps and maybe some agreement on some tasks you will complete before the next session. Hypno-CBT® is a collaborative solution focused approach where you will work closely with your therapist to learn new ways of thinking and behaving to achieve change. One of the underlying principles is to practise, practise, practise. That way your new approach become easier and easier to achieve, and over time, your chosen approach.
How to prepare for therapy
Think about therapy as a dynamic process, guided by your therapist and driven by you. To achieve the most from your sessions it is helpful to take some time to prepare.
Get yourself a notebook where you can capture the key points you discuss with your therapist.
Keep a note of tasks to practise between sessions. Make a note of what happened, what worked well, what didn’t. Think of this information as data you can discuss with your therapist enabling you to refine what happened.
Give your therapist feedback. As you work together and discover the best approach for you, your best outcome will be achieved by working together collaboratively.