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Do You Have What it Takes to be a Hypnotherapist?

I am a top trainer in the field of hypnosis. I train more people to become hypnotherapists than just about any other trainer out there, and I’ve noticed one thing that makes the difference between success and failure in the graduates of different programs, guts. Now-a-days it takes a lot of guts to go into this field as a full time hypnotherapist, and not everyone who takes a course has what it takes. It only takes time and money to take a course, it takes real courage to go out and use what you have learned.

There are lots of things to be afraid of:
1. The fear that your client won’t become hypnotized when you try to hypnotize her.
2. Your client might not experience success after you have hypnotized her.
3. You might not know how to handle every situation that could come up.
3. Your practice might not be successful.
4. Other professionals from other fields such as psychology, counseling, medicine and so on might complain about you and even try to shut you down.

I know that all those things were on my mind when I started, and I was afraid too. But I kept going. It took courage and commitment, a level of commitment that some, in fact probably most people who go through a hypnotherapy training program don’t have. Remember courage does not mean that you are not afraid; it means that you feel the fear and then do what ever needs to be done anyway.

Where can someone get that kind of courage? I suppose everyone has to look for it within themselves. I think that you have to look at your options. Don’t get into this field unless you think that it is a good, even the best option for you. If it is, then understand why it is a good or best option for you. For it to be good/best option for you, then becoming a hypnotherapist should be something that would help you to reach your personal goals better than just about anything else.

Do you want to do be a part of a profession in which the practitioners do something that helps people? Do you want to do something different with your life, to take a walk “off the beaten path” so to speak? Are you willing to do something that doesn’t have the security of other more established professions? If so, then hypnotherapy may be just the thing for you. Personally, I can’t see me doing anything else. This is my thing. I believe I was born to do this.

Some day I believe that great hypnotherapists will be schooled in four year colleges, just like Occupational Therapists and Physical Therapists are now. When will that come to pass? It is up to those of us who believe in the field. I believe in the field, the profession. I think that moving toward that kind of education for hypnotherapists is where it should go. Maybe some day there will even be a Masters Degree Program in Hypnosis. I think that there should probably be two separate areas of specialization, one focused on changing behavior, focused on working with normal everyday people with normal every day problems, and the other would be more of a medical focus, such as in using hypnosis for analgesia, anesthesia and pain management.

Then one day, I hope there will be a real PhD program in hypnotherapy. (One that is quite different from the “alternative” PhD programs out there today that don’t live up to the academic standards or real PhD program.) The future PhD programs that I envision would be mainly a scientific degree; one in which those earning the degree would focus on doing good, empirical research in these areas related to hypnosis.

With that kind of training, be it graduating from a BA/BS, MA/MS or PhD program, the graduates would not need such courage. They would have had years of training and perhaps even spent months in a practicum or internship. But for now it takes courage.

We are still in the pioneering phase of the profession. Yes, we are a profession, but we are in the very beginning stages of being a profession. So like the pioneers in any field of endeavor, it takes courage, but in a way that is what makes it thrilling! Do you have what it takes? Are you ready to enter a profession during this thrilling time of early development? If you think you do and you want more information give me a call or email me. It is always an honor to help another pioneer into the profession of hypnosis.

Cal Banyan
www.HypnosisCenter.com

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One Response to “Do You Have What it Takes to be a Hypnotherapist?”

1. Anonymous Says:
   June 27th, 2005 at 10:55 am

   I first have to say that I’ve never been afraid being a hypnotherapist. I attribute this to my training which I received from The Banyan Hypnosis Center. I felt competent and capable at its completion. Learning 7th Path Self-Hypnosis during my training also supported me as I began my practice and still does!

   Imagining the future and where hypnosis and hypnotist/ hypnotherapists will be is exciting.

   Beth J. Keil, BSN, CH, CHBE
   Co-founder, Delaware Hypnosis Partners, LLC

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