What is Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy
Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy (CBH) brings together two proven approaches. CBT is a talking therapy focused on what's happening for you now, rather than dwelling on past events. Hypnosis harnesses the mind's ability to respond to suggestion while in a relaxed, focused state.
Together, they help you change unhelpful thoughts and behaviours — and reinforce those changes at a deeper level, using the focused attention hypnosis provides.
A Collaborative Approach
CBH works best as a genuine partnership. Together, we'll set clear, meaningful goals based on what you want to achieve — not a generic programme, but a plan shaped around your specific situation and priorities.
You'll always understand what we're working on and why, and every suggestion used in hypnosis is one we've discussed and agreed together beforehand. This collaborative approach means you stay actively involved in your own progress, building skills and confidence you can keep using long after our work together ends.
What Hypnosis Actually Feels Like
If you've never tried hypnosis, it's natural to wonder what it involves. In truth, it's far less mysterious than it sounds.
You remain fully aware and in control throughout — it's similar to being absorbed in a good book or a piece of music: aware of what's around you, but choosing to focus elsewhere. During our work together, I'll make suggestions we've already discussed and agreed on in the talking therapy — you're always free to accept them or not. The choice is entirely yours.
This combined approach has been shown to help manage symptoms of a range of short- and long-term health conditions. While CBH can't cure physical conditions, it's a genuinely effective way to relieve symptoms and manage the stress that so often makes them worse.
Anxiety & Stress
Anxiety disorders can manifest in many ways.
Making you feel out of control & wondering why you are not able to manage some seemingly simple things without being crippled with uncontrollable emotions or distressing physical symptoms such as sweating, shaking, palpitations and with the sudden inability to talk, find words and even talk clearly or coherantly.
Often this leaves you feeling frustrated, sad and perhaps even angry with yourself, judging yourself poorly at your pecieved helplessness in being unable to cope and conquer your anxieties.
All this can lead to intense excessive emotions, worry, anxiety and fear which can interrupt daily tasks, and also can take a toll on you physically
with feelings of fatigue, sleep disturbances, muscle tension, heart rate irregularities and shortness of breath.
Working together we will look at your trigger situations, emotions, thoughts, and actions learning to recognise and reframe putting into place new improved ways of thinking and behaving which are more helpful to you allowing you to face difficult situations more easily and with confidence in your new found abilities.
Emotional Overwhelm
Sometimes it isn't one single problem but everything at once — work, family, health, day-to-day pressures — building up until it feels like too much to carry. You might find yourself struggling to think clearly, snapping at small things, feeling constantly on edge, or simply exhausted by the effort of holding it all together.
Emotional overwhelm can leave you feeling stuck, unsure where to even start untangling everything that's weighing on you. It's one of the most common reasons people come to see me — and one of the most misunderstood, because it often doesn't look like a single, nameable problem.
Together, we'll break things down into manageable parts, understand what's driving the overwhelm, and build practical tools to help you regain a sense of calm and control — so things feel workable again, one step at a time.
It's all about Balance
Pain & Other Medical Conditions
Hypnotic techniques have consistently been shown to reduce the perception of pain across a range of chronic conditions. Regular practice — whether through guided recordings or learning self-hypnosis — can genuinely help with ongoing pain management.
Many medical conditions bring psychological challenges alongside the physical ones, particularly anxiety and stress — an area where CBH is especially effective. Together, we build a self-management approach: practical skills and tools for coping with symptoms, emotions and the wider impact of living with a condition, whether acute or long-term.
Combined with ACT and mindfulness techniques, CBH can help build resilience, confidence, and healthy self-care routines that last.
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