How can I effectively provide hypnotherapy in health club?

**Posts:** 2 · by **BlinkHypnotherapy** » Sat May 12, 2012 9:06 am

Hi,

As a relative newbie to hypnotherapy (got my Diploma end of last year) but not coaching/therapy as such (have done life coaching for some time), I just wondered if I might ask advice and opinions from longer-established people out there who may have experienced similar.
I’m in talks with a private health club with a view to me being their resident hypnotherapist. They provide massage (sports and therapeutic) and Chinese massage/acupressure/reflexology and these are all done in either 30-minute or 60-minute slots.

In a nutshell, the health club are asking/expecting me to fit into this model and I need to find a balance between providing what they want (neat 60-minute sessions) and what I want/need...and this is:

• To do a thorough initial assessment
• Ensure that client is suitable
• Communicate to the client the importance of motivation on their part
• Communicate to the client that it is unlikely that there will be any trance work in the first session

The health club is very positive about this venture but I don’t think they perhaps fully understand that hypnotherapy is THERAPY...i.e., not a magic wand that will take 1 x 60 minute session to fix.....like, say massage.

Additionally, I will NOT be taking my own bookings so will need to find a way to contact each client before their session to check that I can help them/check that hypno is suitable for them for the issues they have etc. This has to also be factored in.

Has anyone been in this situation re health clubs etc? If so, can you help at all please? I need to find the best way to approach this so that both the health club and I are happy. Thanks in advance.

**Posts:** 36 · by **LukeChao** » Wed May 30, 2012 1:44 am

You're in an enviable position -- marketing and bookings take up a lot of time, and it sounds like the health club is handing those duties for you.

If I were you, I would promote the first session as an "initial consultation." That gives you an hour to do a thorough pre-talk, intake and assessment, without the expectation of hypnosis occurring. You might even able to do most of this in a 30-minute time slot, and perform a more thorough intake during the next session. That way, if it becomes immediately apparent that the client is unsuitable for hypnosis, you've only lost 30 minutes rather than an hour.

**Posts:** 2 · by **BlinkHypnotherapy** » Thu May 31, 2012 9:49 am

Great, many thanks. Useful. Best wishes.

**Posts:** 54 · by **Robert Plamondon** » Thu May 31, 2012 4:20 pm

BlinkHypnotherapy wrote:Hi,

...

In a nutshell, the health club are asking/expecting me to fit into this model and I need to find a balance between providing what they want (neat 60-minute sessions) and what I want/need...and this is:

• To do a thorough initial assessment
• Ensure that client is suitable
• Communicate to the client the importance of motivation on their part
• Communicate to the client that it is unlikely that there will be any trance work in the first session

You'll let a client leave the first session thinking, "I came for hypnosis, but didn't get any"? I'd be concerned that they'd be disappointed and wouldn't come back. Also, I don't think I'd be willing to charge for a "hypnosis session" with no hypnosis in it.

Also, I don't understand the purpose of communicating "the importance of motivation." I'd be concerned this would just raise new doubts.

The health club is very positive about this venture but I don’t think they perhaps fully understand that hypnotherapy is THERAPY...i.e., not a magic wand that will take 1 x 60 minute session to fix.....like, say massage.

Additionally, I will NOT be taking my own bookings so will need to find a way to contact each client before their session to check that I can help them/check that hypno is suitable for them for the issues they have etc. This has to also be factored in.

Has anyone been in this situation re health clubs etc? If so, can you help at all please? I need to find the best way to approach this so that both the health club and I are happy. Thanks in advance.

I think you can do this different ways. Perhaps listing a relatively small number of issues to work with (stress relief, athletic performance, stop smoking, lose weight, etc.), with instructions that the receptionist, when booking an appointment, has to check exactly one box, would keep you inside the range where you're confident of working on short notice.

-- Robert

**Posts:** 36 · by **LukeChao** » Sat Jun 02, 2012 11:12 am

Robert Plamondon wrote:You'll let a client leave the first session thinking, "I came for hypnosis, but didn't get any"? I'd be concerned that they'd be disappointed and wouldn't come back. Also, I don't think I'd be willing to charge for a "hypnosis session" with no hypnosis in it.
-- Robert

I think that this is preferable to doing hypnosis before either the hypnotist or the client is fully prepared. I've had clients tell me that, with other hypnotherapists, they've experienced multiple sessions of goal-setting or talk therapy before any hypnosis occurred. (Personally, I think that more than one session is excessive.) You can prevent disappointment by managing the client's expectations (i.e., letting them know what happens during the first session) at the time of booking.

**Posts:** 61 · by **Hovehypnotherapist** » Wed Jun 13, 2012 2:55 pm

I always email out a therapy preparation form for each new client to fill out and email back to me before their first session. In it I explain how I work and what they can expect and also ask them to clarify their therapy goals and what internal strengths/resources they can bring with them to therapy that will help them. Perhaps you can ask the receptionist to email this to all new clients or do it yourself?

**Posts:** 54 · by **Robert Plamondon** » Tue Jun 19, 2012 5:07 pm

Hovehypnotherapist wrote:I always email out a therapy preparation form for each new client to fill out and email back to me before their first session. In it I explain how I work and what they can expect and also ask them to clarify their therapy goals and what internal strengths/resources they can bring with them to therapy that will help them. Perhaps you can ask the receptionist to email this to all new clients or do it yourself?

Good idea!

I also know of hypnotists who do will do a first-session induction whose goal is to get the client into a deep trance, present them with multiple convincers, then do direct suggestion for relaxation, comfort, that each induction will take them faster and deeper into trance, that each session will be ten times as productive as the one before, and optimism that soon their problem will be a thing of the past, as distant as having ten candles on your birthday cake, because the unconscious mind is already starting to work on the issue with you, and will be raring to go at the next session.

None of this requires that you even know what the client's issue is, and the whole shebang should take less than ten minutes if you use a reasonably rapid induction, such as the Elman induction, and it gives the the entire interval between the first and second sessions to prepare for their specific issue.

Robert Plamondon
Corvallis, Oregon

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