Hypnotherapy for children
Having been contacted back in 2020 by the mum who wanted to find a way to help her ten-year-old son overcome a phobia, I pursued with enthusiasm some excellent training from Lynda Hudson at First Way Forward and Caroline Dyson, founder of the Hypnotherapy in Schools Programme, enabling me to welcome my first young client into my practice.
I quickly discovered two things:
First, that hypnotherapy is not just for adults….it can be incredibly effective with children too. In fact, children generally make fantastic hypnotic subjects due to their active imaginations and they really enjoy the use of imagery, metaphor and hypnotic stories, all of which feature frequently in my work with children.
And second, that I really love working with children in this capacity. It’s fun!
I favour a solution-focused attitude when working with my younger clients and just as with my adult clients, I use a highly individualised approach for each child, creating a therapy programme that accounts for their own interests, their relationships, their ideas and their vocabulary.
When I work with children, I have the advantage of help from their parents or carers. I recognise that therapy works best when we operate as a team and I usually have at least one review meeting with the family member during the course of therapy. I take family values, norms and beliefs into account and this engenders a positive and consistent environment in which therapy is more likely to be successful. As with my adult clients, it is essential that the child has a genuine desire to change something about his/her behaviour and/or feelings. Obviously, a child’s chronological and developmental age influence the way in which I work with them. Hypnotherapy is unsuitable for children under five and a reasonable understanding of language is necessary.
Hypnotherapy can help with a variety of children’s issues, including anxiety (such as school-based anxiety and separation anxiety), self-esteem and confidence, habit-breaking, phobias, bedwetting, encopresis and sleeping difficulties.
If you are interested in receiving hypnotherapy for your child and would like further information please contact me today.
