I came into hypnosis over ten years ago, through personal experience. Now, I practice hypnosis because I believe it’s an underused, important, and somewhat misunderstood therapeutic tool.

Psychological support can and should go beyond talking therapy. It’s true that counselling and CBT can be helpful. Without a doubt, both have their place. But people seeking mental health support deserve services that work for them - which in practice means more options.

Hypnotherapy can help with a range of psychological presentation and problems.

According to the Royal College of Psychiatrists in the United Kingdom, research has shown that the following psychological conditions can be helped by hypnotherapy:

• post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

• depression

• anxiety

• insomnia

• eating disorders

• functional disorders (bodily symptoms and conditions such as headaches, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or backaches which may have a significant psychological component)

• improving memory for people who have experienced a brain injury

They go on, stating that hypnotherapy has also been shown to help in the following medical conditions, often by reducing anxiety but also by reducing other symptoms:

• pain

• medical and surgical procedures

• cancer treatment side effects

• anaesthetic procedures

• burn wound care

• dental procedures

• childbirth

• menopausal symptoms

In my own clinical experience, hypnotherapy can also be helpful with:

• neurodivergence

• working with children and young people

• improving productivity

• goal setting

• breaking through emotional barriers to achieve goals

Not convinced?

1. See what former clients say

2. Discover more information on the NHS website

3. Learn that many are discussing hypnosis. Consider reading articles about the science of hypnosis from The New York Times, The Economist, The Financial Times, Psychology Today, The American Psychological Association, Healthline, Cancer Research UK, John Hopkins University, and PubMed Central

4. For scientific readers, consider visiting this page to view supporting academic studies

5. Listen to podcasts on practitioners of hypnosis, such as the University of Stanford Psychiatrist Dr David Spiegel

To book an appointment, please visit the appointment page. You can do this by clicking anywhere here that is underlined.

Once you have done that, you can fill out the form on that page, send an email to:

evan@crookeshypnotherapy.com or send a text message or WhatsApp to 07557 098 521

I will get back to you as soon as possible, and we can go from there. Often what happens is I will arrange a short phone call with you, and then if it’s appropriate we will arrange an initial consultation. free of charge.

Click here to delve deeper into the science of hypnosis.

Do so, and you’ll learn that the scientific research supporting the clinical benefit of hypnotherapy has never been stronger. Truly, it is an evidence-based psychotherapy.

As I discuss in a blog post, hypnosis is better for some things, and less good for others. It is likely to be helpful for people wanting to reduce anxiety, stress, and phobias. It can similarly be useful for people wanting to improve their sleep, productivity, or sports performance - and for those looking to cease smoking.

1. You can read my former client reviews here.

2. Clients tell me that they find hypnosis very relaxing, like a massage for the mind. It helps them to focus, destress, and think flexibly

3. Clients sometimes tell me that they tried other approaches, such as CBT. They then enjoy doing solution-focused hypnotherapy, because it is gentle, goal-directed, positive, and very relaxing.

4. And finally, it depends on if hypnosis is a good fit for you and your specific circumstances. It may or may not be. Got a question? Get in contact, or arrange a free initial consultation.

Prices vary according to your circumstances. Working adults, £50. Children, young people, and students £40. Got a question? Get in contact.

In short, it depends.

Hypnosis is more helpful for some issues than for others. Not sure if hypnosis is right for you?

You have three choices:

1. Ask a question by getting in contact

2. Arrange a free initial consultation

3. … Or simply read on. But before you do that, know you can access frequently asked questions here

Right, for those reading on, let’s get into it..

An established therapeutic fact is that not all therapeutic approaches will work for everyone. Annoying, but true. Which is why I want to offer people a useful alternative. Like for me, hypnotherapy might just work for you.

Hypnosis, a state of highly focused attention, in combination with solution-focused talking therapy, helps clients not only to visualise their goals, but to achieve them. In brief, here’s why. You see, in hypnosis, your brain behaves differently. When in hypnosis, not only are you more connected to your body, but overthinking reduces, as does your stress response. This combination of effects creates a wonderful space for clients to hyper-focus, in the absence of overthinking, stress, and unwanted bodily signals, on achieving therapeutic goals.

In our work together, you’ll experience deep relaxation, learn about how your brain and body works, and discover strategies to help manage difficult emotions. With a free initial consultation, positive clients reviews, and decades of published scientific research supporting hypnosis, I encourage you to give hypnotherapy a try.

1. Effective

   Mental health providers should offer services that work for people. For me, that means offering people more options, since not all therapy services will work for everyone. It is unlikely, for example, that you will access hypnotherapy through the NHS, though you may. But hypnotherapy is an important therapeutic option for people, and could be effective for your needs.

2. Dynamic

   A mental health service should respond to the needs of their clients, quickly. This means that clients should ideally be matched to services that are likely to work for them, which is something I try to do. And while I am trained in solution-focused hypnotherapy, I believe in pragmatic practice, which means working responsively to what the client needs. It also means signposting clients onto services who are more likely to be best suited to their particular circumstances.

I am currently employed in the NHS part-time as an Assistant Clinical Psychologist, where I work as part of the Paediatric Psychology team at the Sheffield Children’s Hospital.

My professional background includes a master's degree in psychology, the science of mind and behaviour. I also completed a 10-month long training course with the Clifton Practice for Hypnotherapy, a nationally recognised provider of quality training.

As such, I am a member of The British Psychological Society, The National Council for Hypnotherapy, and the Association for Solution Focused Hypnotherapists.

I also engage in monthly discussions with my supervisor, where I seek to continually learn, and improve my practice.

And finally, it’s good to know that I have over 1,000 clinical hours working 1:1 with people, and that 800 of those hours are with children and young people, with a cognitive behavioural therapy focus.

Yes, by all means.

I encourage the reader to view or download my CV

click here to view an interactive PDF version or click here to download a Word document version

• The British Psychological Society

• The National Council for Hypnotherapy

• The Association for Solution-Focused Hypnotherapists

As explained earlier, hypnotherapy, like CBT and counselling, is not legally regulated. But being a member of these organisations demonstrates commitment the profession, its ethics, and ongoing development.

1. First, I only take on clients who I genuinely believe hypnotherapy could be useful for. I come to this decision prior to or during the initial consultation.

2. For me, it is important that people access therapy services that are right for them, rather than staying with services that clients feel aren’t right for them. I therefore try to ensure all my clients are a fit for my service, and to find the right services for those clients hypnosis is not suitable for.

3. Building on the last point, I am aware that not all problems can be solved by hypnosis - which is why I keep an open mind when working with people. Moreover, therapists are different. So not all therapists are right for all clients. It might be that through no fault of your own we don’t, for whatever reason, connect - and this might mean you should seek another service, since a strong bond with your therapist is very important, research suggests.

4. If I cannot help, I try to think about and research who might be better appropriate to help you. Then, I can signpost you onto a practitioner or service that is better suited to your specific needs

5. I expect clients to feel like they are making progress within 3 sessions. If they aren’t, we can discuss why this is, and I may suggest alternative services or practitioners who may be more suited to their specific circumstances.

Hypnosis is all about focus.

As you intensely focus in on something, such as a calm river or tropical island, the rest of your body relaxes, your heart rate slows, and your brain enters a unique state, research suggests.

Most commonly in a session, clients have their eyes closed, listen to some visualisations, slow their breathing down on purpose, and become deeply relaxed. At the end of a typical twenty minute session, people emerge feeling calm, positive, and energised.

It’s a lovely way to end a therapy session.

Yes, for most people most of the time.

In hypnosis, people remain awake and in control, despite what myths you might have heard.

Hypnosis is collaborative, meaning that it only happens if a person wants it to. It is not something the therapist “does” to the client.

I would be hesitant to do hypnosis with people who:

• experience serious mental health presentations, such as psychosis, hallucinations, and grandiose delusions

• are under the influence of alcohol or other drugs

Beyond that, hypnosis really is considered safe for most people, most of the time - with few if any side effects.

It depends.

Many clients experience some positive changes within 2-5 sessions, and can be finished with as little as 5. I would expect that clients to feel like they are making progress within 3 sessions, regardless of the presenting problem.

Some issues require more work than others. Some issues, like phobias, smoking, and confidence building can be worked through relatively quickly.

Often what practitioners of mental health find is that issues are often interlinked, meaning that we may start working on A but find that this links to B and to C. If that is the case, more sessions may be needed.

Obviously, sessions proceed collaboratively. Both the client and myself ned to feel like we can do productive work together. It’s a two-way street.

A session is approximately 1 hour long.

As in all most psychotherapies, the client sits in a chair, and has a discussion with the therapist about the goals of the therapy. Less anxiety or better sleep, for example. The focus is on:

• psychoeducation, such as how the brain, body, and emotions work

• strategies, such as how to relax, manage anxiety, or challenge thoughts,

• goal setting, and how the can be realistically achieved

• on the clients strengths

This talking section typically lasts 35 minutes

Then, hypnosis takes place. Here, the client remains in the chair, closes their eyes, and relaxes. The therapist reads a specific script designed to induce calm, relaxation, and hypnosis, which is a particular brain and body state.

With the help of the practitioner speaking and some relaxing music, the client listens to the sounds around them, and slowly drifts off into a relaxed state.

There is no magic here, unfortunately! Instead, the purpose of hypnosis is to bring about a particular brain and body state, relaxation, on purpose.

To summarise, this works in combination with the talk-therapy component to facilitate therapeutic goals.

First of all, I can see why people may think this. Healthcare, physical and mental, can and should be free for all.

That is an ideal hard to argue with. It’s one that I agree with. And yet in practice, free healthcare in the UK is associated with long waiting lists. Young people and adults in Sheffield may way years to be seen by professionals in the public sector.

Whatever the cause of that malaise, I believe the private sector can and should help to ease the waiting lists in the public sector.

People not being able to access mental health services because they cost too much is wrong, I agree. But it’s also wrong for people to wait years to be seen. A middle ground exists. The middle ground is what I’m all about.

In the United Kingdom, hypnotherapy is not legally regulated. In effect, this means that anyone can call themselves a hypnotherapist, at least in theory.

While this may sound concerning, counsellors are not legally regulated, nor are psychotherapists or CBT therapists. Technically, anyone can even call themselves a psychologist! In fact, unlike nurses or doctors, only specific psychological training, such as those who have undertaken clinical or educational psychology are legally regulated.

So, hypnotherapy is regulated just like counselling, CBT, and other psychotherapy professionals. In effect, it is regulated voluntarily through professional bodies, such as the National Council for Hypnotherapy. What this means is that individual people, such as myself, are more trusted if they are members of the relevant professional organisations.

Being part of these organisations demonstrates that:

• I have achieved a certain level of professional training

• That I am bound to the professional ethics of the organisation

• That I engage in regular supervision and continuous professional development

To summarise, a person can practice hypnotherapy or CBT without any formal training in either, which may sound concerning. However, you cannot join professional organisiation unless you complete industry relevant training, engage in supervision, and so on. So while it’s true that anyone really could call themselves a psychologist, the reality is that if they are not members of a respected organisation, such as The British Psychological Scoeity, then their credentials must be examined properly.

People like hypnotherapists are thus regulated by these peer-to-peer organisations. If malpractice occurs, I could be reported to one of the proffessional bodies that I am a member of, and this oculd result in me being kicked out. And if I was kicked out, then I could still practice hypnotherapy, in theory. The problrm would then be trust.

If I am not a member my professional organisations, then clients will likely choose to work with other therapists who have better training and who are members of their respected professional organisations.

To clarify, I am a member of the following organisations:

• The British Psychological Society

• The National Council for Hypnotherapy

• The Association for Solution-Focused Hypnotherapists

Membership to these organisations binds me to their ethics, demonstrates a level of professional training, and ongoing commitments to supervision and learning within the profession.

Crookes Hypnotherapy has been operating since March 2024.

As for me, you can access my CV here, which details my experience working in mental health.

If you would like to get in contact to ask a question, please access the Contact page, which you can do by clicking anywhere here that is underlined.

Once there, please fill out the Contact form.

Alternatively, please send an email to:

evan@crookeshypnotherapy.com

Yes and no!

Hypnotherapy, counselling, and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) are all different forms of psychotherapy. They are all evidence-based, meaning they have been subject to different kinds of independent and credible research.

Some approaches may suit some individuals more than others. Some may suit some problems more than others. It also depends on the therapist who delivers the therapy.

Therapeutic skill is, in my view, more important than the specific kind of therapy that is offered. That said, if you have concerns about hypnotherapy, or are not sure if hypnotherapy can help you, please get in touch, and ask a question.

Yes and no. But mostly no, as far as I’m aware.

Psychedelic experiences are generally thought of as connecting experiences. Neurologically, under a psychedelic like psilocybin, a person’s brain is temporarily connected in ways that impossible during normal waking experience. This increased connectivity accounts for the diverse array of experiences a person may have, such as increased emotional processing, and the blending of colour, sound, and memory.

Hypnosis, by contrast, is associated with it’s own unique brain state. This is rather different the psychedelic brain. In hypnosis, the brain state causes:

• Increased brain-body connection, meaning people are better able to feel and block signals coming from their body

• Decreased self-awareness, so more willingness to take action

• Decreased activity in the threat detection areas of the brain, so people are more relaxed.

If you want to learn more about the hypnosis brain, consider reading this blog post I have written.

No, that is a common myth.

Hypnosis is collaborative, meaning that you only enter hypnosis if you want to. It can easily be resisted. In hypnosis, you only get deeply relaxed if you allow yourself further into the trance.
As the psychiatrist David Spiegel says, “all hypnosis is self-hypnosis?”.

For more information and questions, please refer to the frequently asked questions page, accessible here.

You can learn more about hypnosis in many places. A good place to start might be reading some blog posts I have written

1. This post explains how hypnosis works, according to research

2. This next post is a bit technical, but explains what happens in a hypnotised brain

3. You might like to learn about hypnosis through a podcast, I suggest listening to Tim Ferris, Andrew Huberman, or this video by a hypnosis sceptic

Yes.

First, you can watch the psychiatrist David Spiegel hypnotise the neuroscientist Andrew Huberman. Spiegel uses an eye roll method to induce hypnosis, whereas I use a language method, so it may look slightly different, but the effect is the same:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlTzVB6TGT0&ab_channel=HubermanLabClips

No, Crookes Hypnotherapy is available online also.

While I generally prefer to see clients face to face in Crookes, I have also worked with clients online, and find that the therapy is still effective. many of my colleagues work online and confirm that online therapy works. There are similarly academic studies, albeit studies in CBT, which also suggest this to be true.

The initial consultation is an opportunity for us to get to know each other better.

In general, it has these aims:

1. To determine if hypnotherapy is going to be effective for your circumstances

2. To share basic psychoeducation related to your problem, such as a basic model of how the brain and emotions work.

3. To explain the therapeutic approach and hypnotherapy in more detail

4. To establish therapeutic rapport, which means finding out if we get along, and work together.

If all goes to plan, then I will book you in for our first session after the initial consultation.

To clarify: there is no hypnosis during the initial consultation; only two-way discussion.

For most people, it will be difficult to reach out and access mental health services. There is shame. There is stigma. There are many other reasons why doing this may feel difficult.

First of all, don’t worry, The emotions that you are experiencing are completely understandable, even if they feel strong and conflicting.

The best way to move forward, if you feel like hypnotherapy is a good option for you, is to fill out the short form on the appointments page, which can be accessed here.

Most of my clients access the service this way, and they write usually a sentence or two about their circumstances.

For example:

“Really anxious lately. Getting too much.”

After submitting this, I will be notified, and can then respond.

What happens next is that I will get in touch with you, usually by email, and then try to arrange a phone call. Then, we will have a short discussion where I can find a bit more about yourself and your situation.

If it feels appropriate, then we can think about booking in an initial consultation, which can happen either in Crookes, Sheffield, or online. Either way, this is free, and will give you a chance to learn more about me, my service, and the work we would do together.

At all stages of the process your data and story is kept secure, confidential, and is treated wit respect. As someone who has accessed mental health services themselves, and who has witnessed others do so, I am acutely aware of how delicate these early stages can be.

I therefore want to make the process as straightforward and smooth as possible.

In short, so that clients can get a feel for the kind of service that I offer, without yet committing to the process.

Accessing a good mental health service means finding an approach and therapist that feel right for you. Similarly for myself as the therapist, it is important for me that I commit to working with clients I reasonably think I can help. And if I can’t then I can try to signpost them on to services who can help.

Keeping the cost low also helps, I think, to make the service more accessible. While I am of course in favour of the private sector supporting mental health, I am concerned about the high cost of entry many clients may experience, so I want to make my service as accessible as possible.

Keeping my initial consultation free feels like a good way to thus achieve these aims.

Since hypnotherapists like myself are not legally regulated in the UK, the best way to report malpractice is to speak directly with the organisations that the practitioner is a member of. In my case, I am a membership of the following organisations:

• The British Psychological Society

• The National Council for Hypnotherapy

• The Association for Solution-Focused Hypnotherapists

Were malpractice to occur and you strongly felt the need to report this, I would encrouage you to report any concerns directly to these organisations, who regulate my conduct.

Of course, I would always encourage that we could settle matters internally, and I would endeavour to work such that escalation of this kind would not happen.

In my view, both public and private sector mental health services offer their unique pros and cons. Of course, both sectors are much more similar than they are different.

Public sector support may:

• Be more rigorous, due to higher standards of professional training and decades of service delivery

• Be more supported, for example staff having access to support form other staff, learning, and development

On the other hand, private sector support may be:

• Able to be more more flexible and dynamic to the needs of clients

• Able to offer services faster, which is especially important for clients who may be waiting years in the public sector

• Able to innovate practice more easily. For example, it is rather difficult to access specific clinicians or modes of treatment in the NHS. Whereas in the private sector, clients have much more agency over choosing who to work with, and what therapeutic approach to go with. As a therapist, it is much easier for me to practice hypnotherapy privately than in the NHS, which is important to me - since I want to offer clients what I believe is a valuable and important service. Namely, hypnotherapy.

In practice, both the public and private sectors offer clients much. People will have have good experiences in both, and bad experience in both. What matters to me is offering people a realistic service that is likely to help them, and that is financially accessible.