Online training courses in hypnosis and counselling techniques

[ava]

These are training courses offered by Uncommon Knowledge. I have a lot of respect for these guys because they provide an excellent online depression course for folk suffering from depression (here).

They have just released these online training courses on hypnosis, therapy and counselling techniques (for practitioners).

I have no idea if they are any good, what the qualifications you'd get upon completion, or whether they'd be recognised by insurers here. However, I'm just flagging them up because as I said above they have an excellent online course for depression sufferers... so I can vouch for their high standards in one area. Maybe their practitioner courses would also be very good?

If anyone has a further look at these I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

Ava x

[Bannick]

Like many other therapies, I don't believe for one minute that hypnotherapy is something that can be learned online/by distance learning.

Practical experience is the most important part of hypnotherapy training as far as I'm concerned (and as far as the industry is concerned).

I don't know what their course is like but if you're just looking to work with friends and family and not to do it professionally, or are looking for an introduction to hypnotherapy to "dip your toe in the water" then I see no harm in it. I do know of Uncommon Knowledge, I think I'm on their mailing list but I really can't remember why/how!

[Gabriel North]

I've done a couple of on-line/distance learning hypnotherapy courses, one 12 years ago and another 4 years ago.

They are good for learning about hypnosis, how it works, different techniques, etc. But Bannick is absolutely correct; lots of live, real-world practice with real people is the only way to become a 'real' hypnotherapist. Hypnotherapy is a skill, and all skills require a lot of practice. Hynotherapists who set up in business after any kind of distance learning are effectively learning on their paying clients. Of course there's an element of this for all practitioners... but surely a certain level of skill needs to be established first!

So the best way to begin is just to read a few good books, practice self-hypnosis, and perhaps practice some simple sessions (for things like general relaxation) with family or friends. This is much cheaper than signing up for one of these courses! And if you still want to train, then what you've learnt will stand you in good stead for proper training.

Regards,

Gabriel

[lindaannH]

I completed a distant learning course in Hypnotherapy and past life regression a few years back and whilst I passed and obtained a very smart looking diploma I never really gained enough practical experience to use the therapies. I think as others have said its good if you just want to learn about a subject but practice with real folks is really needed if you want to use it.
Ultimately for me it was good to learn but not something I would have the confidence to use with the general public. Also be wary as many distance courses cannot be covered with insurance companies so check first.
Linda x

[Worldtree]

I would have to agree with others that the fundamental problem with distance learning is not so much the quality of the content but the lack of direct mentoring, interaction and clinical experience.

There is a serious problem here in that it sounds fine to have done some training and achieve an academic qualification for pure academic knowledge but really that is not helpful to either practitioner or client in real life situations where a client is truly in need of deep personal interaction.

When faced with serious conditions (suicidal etc) distance learning simply isn't enough to give the practitioner sufficient experience to adequately assist and can actually overreach the practitioners capabilities to the point of being damaging to both parties.

I can't speak about Hypnotherapy with any authority but doing a distance course in counselling would give some grounding in the subject I guess before deciding whether to take a level 2 course.

[Gussie]

I agree with what is written above. Hypotherapy and counselling are best learnt face to face. This gives you hands on practical experience, if you do your counselling properly you will get some mentoring. It always looks like a good option to do it by distance, but at the end of the day you are messing with peoples minds and you will be considered a trained professional. I've done some good courses, some bad, there's no substitute for picking the highest quality course and committing to giving your clients the best possible treatment you can possibly offder.

[New Age London]

I have just seen this thread, so I hope it´s still OK to comment.

Having had first-hand experience of graduates of such training, I can honestly say that the lack of face-to-face observation supervision and mentoring can result in disaster. I train people in other techniques, such as EFT, and I have had occasion to ask people with exactly such a qualification to stop and leave when they were deliberately and systematically distressing the people they were practising on. Had they been trained face-to-face, this would have been observed and they would have had mentoring to help them stop such destructive behaviour and search for why they had to do it in the first place, allowing them to heal and grow. Of course, one can be destructive without meaning to, and that can also be addressed when observed. And this observation only comes with face-to-face training.