Therapeutic Excellence

Tips for Choosing a Therapist or Practitioner by Nick Kemp

Anyone can call themselves a Hypnotherapist or NLP Practitioner and there are no agreed uniform standards for training. In fact anyone can also call themselves a psychotherapist, so it’s important for all clients to ask discriminating questions before deciding who to see for treatment.

In the world of talk therapies there are numerous diverse schools of training, many of which can be very territorial in their views as to what constitutes "proper professional training" This inevitably means that Therapists and Practitioners come in all shapes and sizes...

A "Practitioner" can in some instances have received as little as a few weeks training which, in my opinion, although this can be a useful introduction to changework, does not, in and of itself, equip such an individual to begin to work with paying clients. It's also useful to remind ourselves that certifications are only really recognized by the body or school that provides the certifications. Many trainers who run such trainings may have an excellent understanding of skills, but may have never actually run a private practice, and applied these skills in a clinical context.

Some change work trainings are conducted in a large group format with sometimes hundreds of attendees and any "certification" is essentially little more than a record of attendance. Some training schools also allow students to write any testimonial that they want, or provide the same word for word testimonial for each and every student that has paid to attend a course. Lists of certifications also can subsequently be labeled as "qualifications" which is in my opinion highly misleading for the public.

It’s useful to remember that anyone can also issue a “diploma” which is not necessarily meaningful as a consistent quality standard.

At the other end of the spectrum are practitioners and Hypnotherapists who have attended many courses, almost to the point of obsession but do not necessarily know how to apply these skills to real life situations. Unfortunately the grand titles in these fields do not guarantee a good skill level and personally I would always be wary of practitioners who enthusiastically proclaim themselves as "Master Hypnotherapists", "Therapeutic Specialists" or "Master Trainers" and suggest clients instead find out more about the individual's track record when actually working with clients.

I would recommend that all potential clients talk to the therapist ahead of time and satisfy themselves that any future sessions are the best use of their time. That their chosen therapist has good clinical experience, adheres to an ethical code of practice, has a good clinical record of results, updates their skills consistently, as well as having a depth and range of training.