In this interview, HR professional Elena discusses her experience with a clinical hypnotherapy diploma led by Chris. She emphasizes that the program is person‑centered and holistic, focusing on understanding the client’s mind‑body patterns and using deep, purposeful questioning. Elena contrasts this with short, intensive hypnosis courses, arguing that a 7‑8 month curriculum with spaced workshops allows deeper learning, personal reflection, and skill mastery. She shares a concrete success story where a client stopped a lifelong nail‑biting habit after a single session, which boosted her confidence and highlighted the effectiveness of the training. Elena explains how the questioning techniques and therapeutic tools she learned translate directly to her HR role, improving interview and assessment skills. She describes the course as a profound personal journey of self‑discovery, noting the importance of content quality over formal government accreditation, provided the program is recognized by professional hypnotherapy associations. Overall, she advocates for longer, content‑rich programs that combine theory, practice, and personal growth, and she downplays the necessity of government accreditation in favor of association recognition for professional practice.
Chapters
You followed the training Linked With Me Therapy. You did also some special workshops. So say you would explain to a person who was sitting there.
Yes.
Who said, okay, is this a good training course, or will I learn a lot, or is it better than other ones, or why should I follow it? I know there are more questions. Shoot from whatever angle you like to shoot. What would you like to say to that person who is thinking of Should I follow this course?
Okay, so the training that I received and that we received, our diploma in hypnotherapy, it really focused on the actual person, the client. So it was person-centered and As a therapist, it's all about connecting with your client. Okay? Because, you know, anybody can learn how to do hypnosis. You can hypnotize somebody at a party or at the pub if you want to. But with this training, Chris focused on more of what's going on for the person.
Mm-hmm.
But as a whole. So the mind, the body, As a holistic, um, he focused more on that and also, you know, the patterns, the behaviors, the things that we tell ourselves, but also on the types of questions that we need to be asking our clients. You know, how are you doing your anxiety? How are you doing your depression? You know, if you wake up tomorrow morning and this issue is solved, how do you feel? And that's the things that we focused on. And when we did our group exercises, that's what we took our client through. Now, how is it different to other hypnosis courses? Well, before I give my money to anybody, especially for a course, I researched extensively. Now, I just didn't see how you can learn to really help somebody in a 9-day or week hypnosis course. You know, you have to study the behaviors and the patterns, but also how to relate.
Yeah.
And, um, the way that Chris took us through that was also by, you know, using your personal experience and your intuition. So when you are with a client and they are explaining to you, you know, like, I'm drinking 20 beers a night and, you know, I'm smoking 2 packets of cigarettes a day and, you know, I do it because, you know, I love it and I'm bored. Well, you gotta have the knowledge. And sort of the instinct to know when you have to go deeper with them. There is a deeper reason. That's, that's how you get to the bottom of, uh, your client's issues. So for me, when I was researching different hypnosis courses, I wanted to get the best one.
Mm-hmm.
Because I don't wanna be a mediocre hypnotherapist. I wanna be really good at what I do. So I started to research and started to see what courses offer more workshops. That's what I need. I need to be in a classroom. I need to be working with different personalities, different people. I need to be told when I'm doing something wrong or when I can be doing it better. And that's what Chris was doing in our training. And he'll tell you straight to your face. Um, if you are not doing something the best way possible that there is. And that's what I loved. Um, so now after doing the extensive course, um, I submerged myself in a year of training. You know, when I was at work and I had a spare half an hour, I was reading all the texts, reading all the books, studying all the different psychology theories. And I really, in that one year, dove in and became a hypnotherapist before I even got my certificate. So now that I'm qualified, I really don't feel, um, you know, scared to work with anybody.
Mm-hmm.
Because I'll just sit down with them and the first thing I'll do is I'll close my eyes and I tap into energy in the space. And I have all my notes, but half the time I throw them out, and I'm really just there present with the client and what's going on.
As you said, that has now been— you finished the course 2 years ago.
Yes.
You have some experience.
Yes.
You shared yesterday when we had a coffee about that client who came in more than 1 year ago who was nail biting.
Yes. That was such a rewarding moment for me when he came into my living room and said, at my nails and they looked as pretty as mine. And he said, you know, since I saw you, I have not once touched my nails. And he said, like a baby, I have had to learn how to use nail clippers. He had never used them because he was biting his nails.
So he was biting his nails almost all his life?
Yeah, all of his life. So now he's like, I'm learning how to cut my nails with nail clippers.
How many times did you see him before this?
Once. That was one session we did a year ago, and now I've seen him a second time for a completely different issue.
Because I know you also worked or work in HR, so you see a lot of professional trainings in whatever kind of leadership skills, all that kind of things. So if, say, somebody would have told you 3 years ago before you did this course you can make somebody stop biting his nails, who did it already for 20 years, in one session. Would you have believed that, that you had the capacities?
No, I wouldn't have believed them. I would be like, oh, you know, that's impossible. He might need to go to like, you know, 5 years of counseling or something. And now, I mean, I was kind of like, uh, when he came in, I was just like, wow, that's great. But later on I thought about it and I thought you know, I had the— this— I have the skills from what I've learned in my training, uh, to help somebody overcome an issue that's been, you know, part of his life for 20 years. Um, so that felt really rewarding, and I feel so much more confident. Um, in regards to the way that we were taught how to interview clients. That is really important because when I interview people for jobs working in human resources, a lot of the time I'm asking them questions, um, and I'm trying to get a particular answer. So a lot of the time I have to adjust my questions, you know, give me a time, how do you do this, how do you do that.
Mm-hmm.
So I always say to, you know, my boss, I say, I'm also a hypnotherapist, so I feel comfortable in any situation of interviewing whoever we bring into the boardroom. So I've been able to take my hypnotherapy skills to the workplace as well, which is amazing.
Yeah, but from my side, I can imagine that the Questioning skills you can apply in therapy world, also in the business world, as you just said.
Yes, yes.
It makes, makes totally sense to apply those things. Let's say, when you look at the therapy tools you received or learned or embraced inside yourself, what would you share about it, whatever you'd like to share about it?
learned so much about how, you know, as human beings, we're, we're not just the physical body. And when there's an issue, you can talk about it. You know, you can see a counselor, you can talk about it with your friends or family. But with hypnosis and what we have learned, you're able to really penetrate into the unconscious and what's going on. And, you know, just like, um, with any case of anxiety or depression or addictions, you can talk about it forever.
Yeah.
You can sit there with the client, talk about it, but then when you get their eyes closed and you really get them To tap into what's going on. That's when the real magic happens.
Makes total sense. And what else would you like to share about it? Because these are some, like, things I thought would make sense about how the course was compared based on research, quality, not quality, about the length, duration of the course, the content, about questions, what you said, the therapy tools.
Yes.
Is there something else that Maybe it's important for people to know what is great about this course, what this course brings to you as a person or in work life. What I just forgot to ask.
Yes. The hypnotherapy course with Chris, it's not just a course that you do and you get your certificate. It really is a massive personal journey because you discover who you are. Um, you, you know, you discover the things you tell yourself. You know, sometimes you discover really bad things you tell yourself. So it brings up all your stuff. But the amazing thing is you get to work through it all as well as when you're learning. So for me, it was such a massive journey. And looking back on that year that I was studying, for my diploma. Um, I feel like it was a year of, um, great self-discovery. Um, you know, got to meet fantastic people that also, uh, like-minded. Um, and yeah, you really got to explore yourself.
So it was such an exciting time and Because you're living and you're working in human resources, and a lot of courses are 3 months, so they cram all the, all the dates into 3 months course.
Yes.
This course is deliberately 7, 8 months, almost a year.
Yes.
So based on your experience, also based on HR now and how development works, what would be your ideas about it? Short course better? Long course better? Yeah.
Would you have to show benefits? I definitely feel that, um, after we finished the workshop, so say we're in a 4-day workshop, we're doing hypnosis, we're practicing, we're working with our clients. Um, I felt that the month break between the next workshop was a really good time to go away, process everything, Absorb it, put what you learn into practice. I feel that for me it was perfect because it really got to space it out. And, um, you know, it, um, it has to, it has to be repeated. What you learn has to be repeated.
Do you think, based on your experience, that say if course is shorter, say 3 months, say you have the same amount of days but done in 3 months, what a lot of companies do, that you would have the same personal benefits in your personal change, or maybe also in the professional change in learning all those tools? What is your idea about that?
No, I feel like when something is too rushed, um, or sort of too crammed in, um, you're definitely not, you know, Experiencing and, and absorbing enough information. Um, also, I know that a lot of people are working full-time.
Yep.
Um, and, you know, a lot of the time people can't take off all those days to do a— what is a 6-month course or even a year learning journey and, and squish it into 3 months.
Makes sense. And I thought about it, right, because some courses are government accredited in hypnotherapy and some are not. And I always say it's not needed because it's regulated by the associations. You're also working in human resources, those kinds of things. What is your view on that, if you have a view on that? Do you need to go for government accredited if it's not needed to be? I Based think it's important. on associations, and that's non-government regulated thing.
I wouldn't be so much worried about the accreditation. I would be worried more about the content, because you can do any course that is accredited in Australia or accredited wherever. I'm more worried about the content. Um, I'm also somebody that travels a lot and moves to different places. So, you know, I wanna take my hypnosis skills overseas, or I want to work with clients overseas. So to me, it, it doesn't really make a difference where, whether it's Australian accredited or not, just as long as Uh, the associations recognize it. Um, because then, you know, if you go down the lines of getting a provider number, your clients can do rebates from their private health. That's quite important to be, um, you know, accepted by, uh, makes sense. Hypnotherapy Association.
Definitely. Yeah, yeah, that was the last question that popped in my mind. Yeah, and thank you so much for this interview, Elena.
