Change can come so fast, if we let it

I received a review on my Google listing today from a parent who had brought her teenage daughter to see me earlier in the year. A fantastic girl, but with low confidence after having ‘failed all her mocks’ (her words, not mine.) She was brilliantly capable but had a block on getting her work down on paper. After one session both her confidence and the output were much improved, and so the update today was a joy to see. She had aced her GCSEs, and achieved what she needed for her next step. Just one session was all it took to put behind her what was holding her back, and to look to the future with confidence.

There is an irony in me receiving this review today, as it’s the day that I have marked as my final day as a school teacher after a 30 year career that I have loved. It feels like the crossover review, bringing together my worlds of schools, learning and hypnotherapy. This is how it all began for me; in 2015 as I finished my masters degree at Cambridge in this field, I was left wondering whether CAMHS (the adolescent mental health service in the UK) was using the best protocols for school based issues. It struck me then that long waiting lists for lengthy talking therapies were not necessary for a great number of issues, and that brief therapies (like hypnotherapy, mind management, EMIT and EMDR) were better suited. The waiting lists have only got longer in the past decade, and the need for brief therapies seems greater than ever.

I have been absolutely blessed that I have been able to build my hypnotherapy expertise and practice over the past decade while still teaching. Staying connected to schools and learning, while being secure in a job I love and will miss, has felt like a treat. More recently I have stepped into the tutor role at the ICCHP, the hypnotherapy college where I trained. So I am still teaching, but my focus is now on hypnotherapy, and developing the next generation of practitioners.

So, now it’s my turn to look to the future with absolute confidence. Reviews like today’s only serve to confirm that change can come so fast, if we let it.