Let’s Stop Bashing Counselling
I first began my career in hypnotherapy in 1989 and then as a psychotherapist in 1994, along the way I have added to my skills set by studying for two different counselling diplomas as well as a plethora of other qualifications and certifications. I mention this because it is important that the hypnotherapy world stops bashing counselling. Now, this is not the entire hypnotherapy world, but there is a large section which likes using phrases like “more effective than traditional counselling” or “we don’t just talk as they do in counselling” or some such thing which makes hypnotherapy “better than” counselling.
There are many counsellors who add hypnotherapy to their skill set in order to help make them more rounded as a practitioner. After all, if you only own a hammer, everything begins to look like a nail. Counsellors make a great difference to thousands of people’s lives and they are to be respected for it. It rather irks me when I see hypnotherapists criticise counselling when they have had no training or experience of it.
Hypnotherapy is a great approach, but when it is aligned with counselling as a base, it becomes more effective. Therapists who use both counselling and hypnotherapy approaches tend to have a better grasp on the therapeutic process than hypnotherapists who are trained in hypnotherapy alone.
