Just before Covid-19 took hold properly I decided to do some post-qualification training, gaining a much coveted diploma in Medical Hypnotherapy from CHS. I had seen quite a few clients with medical challenges in my clinic and understood first hand how chronic illness and pain impacts not only on the client but also their loved ones. Their stress, anxiety and worry was palpable. So when I had an opportunity to delve deeper into this subject I jumped at the chance and I can honestly say it has been an amazing experience. I feel lucky to now be able to share this knowledge with my clients.
The brain perceives emotional pain in the same way as it perceives physical pain.
Pain can be isolating
Chronic illness and pain can affect us on so many levels. Apart from the physical and practical aspects that we may have had to incorporate into our daily lives, like hospital visits, tests, physio appointments, medication and so on, we may also feel very isolated and alone in our predicament.
The world carries on as normal yet for us everything has changed. Perhaps we have started to feel that we’ve become identified by our illness to the point that we have forgotten who we were before our condition started. Well meaning friends with worried faces may be treating us differently and we might not be able to work and have normal interaction with others.
Finding hope
When we experience long-term illness and pain it is easy to focus on what is not working, feeling bleak and hopeless. Yet finding a way of tapping into a more positive and hopeful state of mind, remembering who we were before and what we enjoyed doing, can in time transform our day to day life to become calmer, more tolerable and even less painful. There are strong evidence based links between stress, anxiety and chronic pain. Read more here.
If you or someone you know are going through a tough time I offer a free 30 minute conversation where you can tell me what is going on in your life and find out how solution focused hypnotherapy could help you.
Book your free phone call here.
A calm mind can help ease chronic pain.
Medical Diploma and CHS
It helps to be taught by the very best and I had the pleasure of spending the past few months in the wonderful virtual company of Dr Rachel Gillibrand and Dorothea Reed who together run the excellent training school, CHS.
Dr Gillibrand has spent the past 20 years training psychologists through Masters and Doctoral level qualifications whilst conducting research of how the use of clinical hypnotherapy impacts the brain. Dr Gillibrand is an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society and senior lecturer at CHS.
Dorothea Reed, formerly a medical nurse, uses solution focused BRIEF therapy and clinical hypnotherapy to help clients facing significant health challenges. Despite having a thriving private practice she also works in The University Hospital of Wales (UHW) Cardiff, where she founded The Hospital Hypnotherapy Service and now leads a team of Clinical Hypnotherapists who engages with patients facing challenging medical procedures and interventions. Dorothea is a supervisor at CHS.
If you or someone you know are going through a touch time I offer a free 30 minute conversation where you can tell me what is going on in your life and ask me about how solution focused hypnotherapy can help you.
Book your free phone call here.
