Children and Hypnosis

Hypnotherapy for children is very effective, non invasive and fun. We have had many years experience in dealing with children of all ages from 7 years with all sorts of issues. (see below for some of the more common issues). Much of the success with children depends on the ability of the Hypnotherapist to relate to the child and their issue.  Steve has 4 children of his own and hence lots of experience in dealing with children of all ages.

The power of rapport

During our sessions with kids we always speak to a child at their level. We never use language that is out of their grasp nor do we speak down to the child. It is important that they are able to trust us; even the most shy child is able to find their tongue and speak about what happens in their reality, why the issue is stopping them and what they would prefer to be happening.

Imagination and hypnosis

The doorway between the conscious and the unconscious mind is the imagination. For children, it’s relatively easy to reach at the deepest levels, in a much quicker time than required by a good many adults. Stories, adventures, visualization, imaginative games, role-playing, magic, puppets, and costumes work most effectively with children. Any tools that stimulate the imagination are at the Hypnotherapist’s disposal.

What might be included in the session?

· Playing a game

· Using the child’s imagination

· Use of favourite TV program

· Story telling

· Going on a magical trip in a rocket ship to mars or taking a trip to a magical forest

What will be included in a session?

· Spending the first part of the session with parent and child

· Allowing the child to get used to the environment whilst the Hypnotherapist talks to the child

· Any questions the parent may have can be addressed in the beginning of the session

· Allowing the child to explain why they are at the session

Some of the more common issues for children that we have successfully dealt with are;

· Bed wetting
· Anxiety
· Sleep issues
· Learning and study
· Weight management
· Thumb sucking
· Creating positive relationships to school, fitness, teachers, siblings etc
· Self esteem and self confidence

Homework

Sometimes we find that it is useful to set the child homework. This is part of creating a new behaviour and with repetition the new behavior becomes the norm.

What Parents Need to Know to Make Hypnotherapy Work?

The only effective way we can work with children is for the parent to remain outside the room during the session. This is for 2 reasons. The first is that the quality of information is always better without the parent in the room (no matter how great a parent you are) and secondly the child won’t be tempted to refer to the parent for answers or use the parent to hide behind.

It is also very important that the parent doesn’t ‘re install’ the old behaviour by reminding the child of their old issue by being overly caring or thinking that mentioning the old issue might somehow help. It is more useful to keep talking about the new behaviour. For example a parent might say “Now remember you don’t wet your bed anymore” This creates the mental image of bed wetting (the unconscious mind cannot delete a negative such as no, not don’t etc), what might be useful is creating a image such as how excited do you think you will be when you wake up in a dry bed tomorrow morning? This creates 2 positive images, the dry bed and the excitement or discovering the dry bed.

It is advisable that you stay in contact with your hypnotherapist after the session to find out how best to language your communication around the issue.

How many hypnotherapy sessions are required?

Typically 2 sessions are needed. The first to create the new direction and eliminate the old negative emotions and or behaviours and the second to check in to see how it is all going and to make sure the new changes continue.

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