Training and making a living from hypnotherapy

[star72]

Hello,

I've been giving some serious thought recently to a change of career, training to be a hypnotherapist (maybe combined with NLP) and trying to develop a business from it.

I'd really appreciate any views people could offer re the viability of making a successful living as a hypnotherapist. I've done a certain amount of research, looked at various training courses available, people offering hypnotherapy in my area (central/SE London), and the threads on here. It seems an exciting option to me, but some of my worries are - are there enough potential clients, are there too many people training (there seem to be a great many training providers out there) and is the market saturated with hypnotherapists? I know much would depend on my own abilities, marketing skills etc, but if anyone could give me just a general picture of things that would be great.

Thanks

star72

[Bannick]

Hi Star and welcome to HP.

As well as being a hypnotherapist, I also teach hypnotherapy and know how most of my previous students are getting along, as well as knowing several other hypnotherapists.

I hit the ground running, as have some of the hypnotherapists I've trained but I've come across many others who haven't done so well and either only work part-time or never go into practice.

I do find that the level of market saturation varies from area to area (I have three clinics in different areas), as does the level of marketing expertise from hypnotherapist to hypnotherapist. London is saturated with hypnotherapists but also has a lot of successful therapists and a dense population. It would be interesting to see figures on the number of hypnotherapists to head of population in a given area, but I would guess that Manchester, where my main clinic is, has a ratio not that far off London's.

I know much would depend on my own abilities, marketing skills etc

You've hit the nail on the head here. I personally believe that no matter the saturation of hypnotherapy clinics to population, there is a viable income to be made for anyone who is trained properly, continues to develop their skills, and who has strong marketing skills. In my old career, the company I worked for had a project from Coca-Cola which was very interesting, in partilcular the mentality of Coca-Cola. They had just been investigated by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission and had been told they couldn't increase their share of the UK soft drinks market any further (67% at the time). So, we were given the task of increasing the soft drinks market in the UK while maintaining CCSB's 67% market share. Taking this on board, I divide my marketing activity between making sure that people who are looking for a hypnotherapist find me, and increasing the awareness of hypnotherapy and it's benefits. I've given talks/demonstrations a long way out of my areas but as far as I'm concerned, each time I've done this (for little more than expenses), I am potentially increasing the hypnotherapy market in general. Although these events might only have 50 people attending, if they each tell just two other people about it then that's 150, and if some of those have treatments then the multiplying continues.

The only difficulty I've found with hypnotherapy is that as it is a brief and strategic therapy that seeks to solve the persons problem, rather than alleviate it, there is little repeat business compared to "pamper" type therapies.

One of the biggest mistakes I've seen in other hypnotherapist's marketing is the way so many make a big deal of who they trained in hypnotherapy or NLP with. I constantly see websites that say "trained by **enter famous hypnotherapist name here**", or "I use **enter famous hypnotherapist/NLP practitioner name here**'s techniques". In other words, they are trying to be a clone of another therapist instead of making their own reputation in the field of hypnotherapy and/or NLP.

As well as spending a phenomenal amount of time (and in the past, money), on marketing/advertising, I also spend a ridiculous amount of time in honing my own techniques, as well as researching what other information is out there and what everyone else is doing. In fact, one of the treatments I'm most known for (and which makes up about 60% of my income), I'm about to book a CPD day with someone 120 miles away for. As far as I'm concerned, it's worth a day of my time if I come back with just one thing I hadn't thought of before that might increase my success rates even further. As with most other therapies, it's a case of constantly developing yourself but also to work on your own techniques and learning from experience, not just attending other hypnotherapist's CPD seminars.

I know I've waffled on a bit but the short version of my answer is that yes, there is a viable market out there. Aside from the financials, it's also a deeply rewarding vocation. Even the treatments that might seem small or purely cosmetic to some people, are life changing to others.

If you're not sure then look at it this way....... as a hypnotherapist, you will be changing people's lives for the better every day, at the same time as being paid anything from £40 to £250 per hour for doing so (forget the £40 bracket in London, I doubt there are any left that are under £60), less your overheads of course. To people looking from the outside in, the rates often look high BUT..... what price do you put on changing something someone may have spent 20 years suffering with? How rewarding does that feel, both for you and them, when those changes are made?

I left a successful career to work as a hypnotherapist and have never looked back. If you should choose to go ahead and train as a hypnotherapist then I wish you the best, I doubt that many people ever regret it as you will have skills that work as a full time occupation, or a well paid part-time one, or as skills to change your own life and those of your friends and family.

[TeeTaylor]

I cannot add much to what has already been said, it is such good advice.
Only I don't know how you plane to transition from one career to the other, but in the early days you could train as a hypnitherapist and start your practise around your current career. That way you will build up a client base before you make the leap. Once you have enough clients to support yourself you can give up your 'day job' so to speak.

I spoke to a trainer, who told me that she knows of people who have given up their old job straight after finishing their training, and then run out of cash before they are able to build up enough work in hypnotherapy. She even knows one woman who gave up her job after a weekend course in hypnotherapy to start a clinic. A risky plan, to say the least.

[ChrisRams]

There is a hypnotherapist in Coventry that charges £140 per hour - and when I was asked to join his practice as a Reiki healer, he wanted me to charge the same! It's not that Reiki isn't worth that much, but I felt I couldn't look my clients in the eye and tell them "I know I charged you £40 before but now I have to add one hundred pounds on to that".

[danbabirecki]

Hi

I've just completed my Post Graduate Certificate in Clinical Hypnotherapy (Diploma) which took 12 months part time training/study. This followed a CPPD in Clinical Hypnotherapy which took four months. I've passed my clinical exam and will get the results of the two written assignments I had to submit in three months or so.

It's very daunting making such a big change in my life but well worth it. I may need to take a part time job as I build up my business and reputation but I'm confident it will work out. Most of all I've found something that interests me, challenges me and helps others.

My advice... go for it!

[Agave]

I'm so glad to find this thread, very interesting reading, thankyou.

I would like to study Clinical Hypnotherapy, its just so daunting finding a good school. Does anyone know a reputable school in Queensland Australia?

Or can you help by suggesting what to look for in a school?

[Lavandula]

I'm also pleased I found this thread. Thanks Bannick for your post - it answered several questions I have too.

I have been thinking recently about training in Hypnotherapy. I currently offer various complementary therapies - mainly massage - but also suffer with chronic back pain and wanted to work in an area which doesn't put so much strain on my body. I've done loads of advanced courses to learn techniques to take the pressure of my back and hands etc. but to no avail so I think its time for a change which is where the Hypnotherapy training comes in. I won't totally stop massage but just reduce the number of clients I see and increase the number of Hypnotherapy clients.

When i trained in massage, many of the other therapists on the course never went on to practice after they qualified - I was the only one in a group of 18! And I wondered whether this was the case with Hypnotherapy or not.

There are a lot of Hypnotherapists in my area but so are there a lot of complementary therapists and I have managed to build a good client base in this area so I think I wouldn't have a problem building a successful hypnotherapy practice. I suppose for me, I'm worried about the initial outlay of money for the course as it is quite a big investment but I suppose this money could be made back pretty quickly after qualifying.

I recently went for some Hypnotherapy and paid £50 an hour but had a free consultation beforehand and got a complimentary hypnotherapy CD. Hourly rates do seem to vary a lot though.

Since mentioning that I am interested in training in Hypnotherapy, my partner has said he would be quite interested in doing it too - I know of a married couple who have a hypnotherapy practice together and they seem quite successful - do you think that this could work? Perhaps specialising in different areas?

[John_D]

Here's a personal view from my experience.

I trained in clinical hypnotherapy in 2003, after successfully using it myself to give up smoking. I used a website and google ads to attract clients which worked for me back then, but I suspect using google ads for hypnotherapy may be quite expensive these days. I did lots of leafleting which was a complete waste of time and money.

I was focusing on hypnotherapy for sports and health, but at the end of the day had more people wanting to quit smoking than anything else. I had lots of success, but also some dissappointing failures - it all depended on the clients attitude (some people seem to think hypnosis is a magic thing that requires no commitment or effort on their part to achieve their goals).

I stopped practising for a few reasons, but mainly because I found that I wasn't enjoying it myself. I felt that I achieved more from just talking to the client than the actual hypnosis itself, so I came to see the hypnosis bit as an inconvenience. I felt that the training I had in hypnotherapy and NLP just wasn't enough, and that I really needed much deeper training in psychotherapy to really be effective. I started to feel like a pretend psychotherapist and therefore a bit of a fraud. Unfortunately, since then I've been too busy with our Pampering business to be able to pursue an interest in psychotherapies any further.

I don't regret training in hypnotherapy, but see it as just a tool that is useful in certain situations. Like anything, much depends on the therapist who is using the tool. I know one hypnotherapist in particular who is very successful, but I feel that has far more to do with her warm and down to earth approach than just the tool of hypnotherapy...

[andersontara]

Hi Star

I would say that you have to be very careful which training school you use. I did a lot of research before choosing me school. I had a lot of things in my criteria. Firstly, I wanted a school that was accredited by the National Council For Hypnotherapy. There HPD gives you credits with the Open University so if you want to do further education psychology degree for example you already have credits towards it.

Secondly, I wanted training where they had proper training facilities not just in a hotel or a rented room. I wanted a school that was also a successful clinic and was happy for me to talk to passed students.

Thirdly, I wanted a school that let me work with real clients during the course.

Finally, I wanted a course that was heavily based in practise rather than academia. It took a while but I got there in the end. So decide what you are looking for and make sure the school meets your requirements before handing over your cash.

Tara

[janezworld]

I think the reason a lot of hypnotherapists don't make money in this country is that the healing arts are not seen as real alternatives that probably won't work anyway because certainly in hypnotherapy - most trained people don't actually know how to hypnotise and contact the subconscious mind to change the behavioural patterning. This has been fuelled by the glut of (certainly in hypnotherapy) training out there. It is seen that training people offers a better living because therapists only charge anything from £15 a session to £140.

What I don't understand is that if you train in something that has the potential to be life altering why don't those same therapists believe in what they are doing enough to charge a proper amount for it. Think about the value it is if you change someon'es whole life by clearing up a lifelong phobia that has kept them a prisoner for years. You come along change their mind's and their life in a few minutes and then turn round and say, that will be £35 please. What then is the perception and value you are placing on yourself. That a lifechanging event is then only worth £35 - so when somebody does charge more for the service the perception is that they can get it cheaper elsewhere. It becomes a market place and devalues the worth that people place on their lives or the quality of their lives.

I can't speak for Reiki or other therapies but I know that in hypnotherapy you are dealing with people's heads, how they think and behave, it is a responsibility that shouldn't be taken lightly or charged for lightly.

[Hertford]

I'm not a hypnotherapist but am linked to Mind Therapies.

One downfall for hypnotherapists are the stage shows which could have altered the public's perception that it is more entertainment rather than a therapy.

There's no doubt there are hypnotherapists making a living purely from their practices but with so many course available nowadays it seems anyone can become a hypnotherapist. Years ago when they were few and far between and the anti-smoking campaign kicked-off they had a roaring trade.

All that being said, "go for it", you will never know unless you try.