Hypnotherapy appeals to many people as a second career: flexible, meaningful, and possible to do from a room at home. It is also a field where anyone can set up tomorrow with no training at all. If you want to do it properly, here is what to know.
The regulation picture
Hypnotherapy is not a regulated profession in the UK. “Hypnotherapist” is not a protected title, and there is no legal minimum qualification.
What exists instead is voluntary regulation:
- National Occupational Standards for hypnotherapy set out what a competent practitioner should know and be able to do.
- The Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC), set up in 2008 with government funding, holds a register accredited by the Professional Standards Authority. Registration is voluntary, but it is the nearest thing to an official quality mark.
- Professional associations, such as the National Council for Hypnotherapy, keep their own registers, codes of ethics and complaints procedures.
What good training looks like
The benchmark used by the CNHC and the main professional bodies is a course of at least 450 hours of study, including at least 120 hours of face-to-face teaching. A course at this level usually leads to a practitioner diploma and takes around ten months to a year part-time.
Look for a course that includes:
- Theory of hypnosis and its evidence base
- Induction, deepening and suggestion techniques
- Supervised practice with real feedback
- Assessment of your practical skills, not just attendance
- Taking a case history and screening
- Contraindications: when not to use hypnosis, and when to refer on
- Ethics, safeguarding, confidentiality and consent
- Working within your limits
- Business skills and record keeping
Red flags
- “Become a certified hypnotherapist in a weekend”
- Online-only courses with no observed practice
- Titles such as “Master” awarded after a few days
- Emphasis on memory recovery or past-life regression as therapy
- Promises about your future income
- No mention of supervision or continuing development
After you qualify
- Join a professional body and, if eligible, the CNHC register.
- Get insurance. Professional indemnity and public liability.
- Arrange supervision. Regular case discussion with an experienced practitioner.
- Keep learning. Registers require continuing professional development each year.
- Get a DBS check if you will work with children or vulnerable adults.
- Register with the ICO if you hold client records, and follow data protection law.
- Sort the business basics: self-employment registration, accounts, a contract and a privacy notice.
Staying inside your limits
A hypnotherapy diploma does not make you a psychotherapist, psychologist or doctor. Good practitioners:
- Ask clients to see their GP about undiagnosed symptoms
- Do not treat serious mental illness unless they hold an appropriate clinical qualification
- Never advise changes to medication
- Refer on when something is beyond their training
- Make no promises of cure
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If you are already a health professional
Doctors, nurses, dentists, psychologists and counsellors can add hypnosis to their existing practice. Societies such as the British Society of Clinical and Academic Hypnosis offer training specifically for registered health professionals.
The reality of the work
- Most practitioners are self-employed, and many work part-time.
- Building a practice takes time. Expect a year or two before a steady flow of clients.
- Marketing is part of the job. A website, local networking and word of mouth.
- Income varies widely.
- It is rewarding. Helping someone sleep, stop a habit or face a fear is a good way to spend a working day.
Is it for you?
It helps to be a good listener, curious about people, comfortable with silence, and honest about what you do not know. A background in a caring profession is useful but not essential.
The bottom line
Anyone can call themselves a hypnotherapist. Choosing thorough training, joining a register and working within your limits is what makes you a good one.
Next in the series: Hypnotic Phenomena: The Strange Things a Hypnotized Mind Can Do
This article is for general information and reflects the position in the UK. Check current requirements with the relevant professional bodies before enrolling on a course.