In this diary‑style video, hypnotherapist Caroline Cavanagh recounts a busy week of diverse client work. She begins with a young autistic client, explaining how hypnotherapy’s eyes‑closed state eases communication and emphasizing her view of neurodiversity as a different brain wiring rather than a defect, illustrated with a story about her left‑handed grandfather. She then describes treating a severe spider phobia, using a set of powerful techniques and providing a personalized follow‑up audio recording for rehearsal. Next, she tackles an unusual fear of open spaces without a ceiling, applying the same toolbox approach and homework recordings. The episode also highlights work with a gold‑medal Paralympian transitioning to a new sport, showing that hypnotherapy can boost performance at elite levels. Throughout, Caroline stresses an individualized, toolbox‑based method—selecting the best tool for each client, building a personal repertoire, and offering follow‑up sessions. She closes with an invitation to viewers to subscribe and consider hypnotherapy for any life challenge, emphasizing her passion for making a difference.
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Hi there and welcome to the latest edition of Diary of a Hypnotherapist and back after my week away which I spoke about in the last edition. And it's been a packed-out week with a lot of new clients starting. One of them is a type of client I'm seeing more and more commonly and that's a younger person with a diagnosis of And typically autistic children, as well as adults, often find it quite hard to talk to strangers, so it makes talking therapies such as counseling really quite difficult for them. And the value of hypnotherapy is when you've got your eyes closed and you go into that hypnotic state, it makes talking much easier. So we had the first session, and in that session he probably said, No more than about 50 words, a couple of nods, yeses or nos to questions, and his mum was in on the session too, so she filled in a little bit of detail when we needed it. But one of the things that we spoke about is that so often autism, ADHD, and a lot of the other neurodiversities are perceived as something that is wrong with you, and I feel very strongly That's not the case. My approach is that it's a different wiring of the brain that doesn't sit as comfortably as a hand in a glove as a neurotypical person might do. And I share a story of my grandfather who was left-handed. And in Victorian times, this was deemed, again, as wrong. And his left hand was strapped to his side, and he was forced to write with his right hand. And he ended up being ambidextrous, able to write with both hands at the same time, different sentences as well. And wow, what a strength that would be. And that's the hope that I give to the youngsters when they are told in a lot of their educational environments that They're not quite right. There's something different about them, and different means wrong. And my approach is, yes, you are different, but your different gives you an exceptional opportunity to be phenomenal. And I'm really looking forward to working with this young man to help him find his exceptional, to help him be motivated to get through those times which are going to be a little bit tougher. I also had a session with a lady who has a spider phobia, a really, really acute spider phobia, where she has, she has to sit with a Hoover beside her so that if she does see a spider, she can immediately Hoover up. But she's on constant high alert looking for one to come in. And yes, it's that time of year, autumn, where they do tend to be coming in a lot. But she said to me, I now realize I haven't actually seen one yet, but I'm constantly looking, which means she can't relax. And the implication of that is when she's in the house on her own, when her husband's away, she has to start taking other actions to allow her to get to sleep at night because she's in such a high state of tension. So another negative behavior was building on top of that. So we went through a short series of really powerful techniques that I've built together over the years that cumulatively, all together, can really, really help reduce the impact of phobias and in many cases actually get rid of them altogether. And this week I've also worked with another person with a phobia which was a more unusual one. This person really struggled being in open places but it wasn't agoraphobia, which is a little bit more common. This person's fear was that if they were in an open space with nothing over their head, they might fall off the planet. And there is a clinical name for this, and it's one of those really weird ones that I can't remember off the top of my head at the moment. So, it's not just the open space, it's actually that there is no ceiling. Them. So if they were in a vast open space like a field, but in a little pop-up tent, they'd be absolutely fine. So we worked using the same tools, and with the phobias, all of my clients get a follow-up recording. This is much like if you learn something at school, you then have revision sent— sentences— sessions, and it's the repetition that that then starts to embed the skills that makes the change, the learning, really happen quickly. So those 2 people have both got their homework, their recordings that are created personalized and specifically for them to practice with, and they get a follow-up session a few weeks down the line just to make sure that everything is working as it now should do. And the other session, or the other person that I started working with, This year is a gold medal-winning Paralympian, and it's lovely working with this type of person too because it gives such evidence that hypnotherapy isn't just for people that find themselves in a hole or really, really struggling. It can also be used by people that are at the top end of the game but want to go to a level higher as well. And this particular individual has moved sports. And at the top of the game in one sport, he's now said, okay, my body can't quite keep up with that anymore, so I'm moving it to something else. And I know I can be better, but I've got some things in my mind that are stopping me, and I want to see how far I can take this too. So it's been a lovely mix of work during the week, and it's great starting work with such a varied bunch of people. The phobia people, they do tend to be just one long session and the practice that they do sees them through to results that they want. With the Paralympian, we may be having a few down the line, and certainly with the autistic young men, there may be several that we work with. But every person that I work with has a completely individualized approach because my personal belief is we are all individuals. Therefore, A one size really does not fit all, and so I bring to every client, every session, a toolbox of tools. And as we start working, I pick the tool that is going to give the best results in that session, and we just keep going until they've got their own toolbox. That means they don't need to borrow mine anymore. So if there's something in your life that not is not quite working. Even if it's life's good but you want to see what even better feels like, let's have a chat and explore how using hypnotherapy may take you to the next level, whatever level you're starting at now. Thank you very much for listening. I love recording these videos, and I know lots of people now are getting quite interested in, what's she done this week? So please do subscribe to the YouTube channel because there are videos that go up regularly, and I love sharing this stuff. And if I can make a difference to one more life, that makes a difference to me too. I hope to speak to you again very soon, but for now, bye-bye and have a great day.
