Whilst my initial training (way back in 2009) was in hypnotherapy and NLP, over the subsequent years I have added to my toolbox with a variety of different therapy techniques and modalities.

One of the therapies that I studied resonated with me particularly and I still use it regularly with clients.

Solution focused therapy had its beginnings in the 1970s with Steve de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg, two American psychiatrists who observed the work of therapists in an inner city outpatient mental health service. They wanted to be able to identify which questions and techniques brought about the most significant change in clients with a full range of mental health issues.

Using this information, they established brief solution focused therapy. This meant working with the client to find exceptions (situations where the problem was not present) and helping them to use these situations as exemplars of how they could deal with the problem. They also employed the use of the ‘miracle question’. Basically this means encouraging the client to use their imagination and asking them ‘what if a miracle happened in the middle of the night and the problem had then disappeared the next day? How would your day be different?

I use this ‘miracle question’ a lot with clients. Sometimes it takes them a while to really think about how things would be without the problem, as they may have had the issue for so long. Once they respond, however, it is like opening a magic door in their mind, and they begin to see how life could be for them. I then use this information within the hypnosis session, planting those positive seeds inside the subconscious, with often the most amazing results.

Hypnosis is such a wonderful therapy, but even more magical when it is combined with other modalities such as solution focused therapy.

If you are tired of trying other therapies and experiencing little or no improvement, I urge you to try a new way. You will not be disappointed.

best wishes,

Wendy xx

I wonder if, like me, you enjoyed watching the platinum jubilee events over this last weekend. To be very honest I am a bit of an anti royalist and I do feel that the whole circus needs to be trimmed down substantially.

Therefore it came as a bit of a surprise to me that I did feel quite emotional watching some of the events, in particular the service at St Paul’s, the Trooping of the colour and the wonderful procession on Sunday.

The last few years of my mum and dad’s lives were sadly fraught with trauma, poor health and challenging issues. As cynical as it may sound, their passing did come as a sort of relief. No-one ever prepares you for the difficulties in caring for elderly parents and it was a hugely stressful time.

This last weekend’s events seemed to stir new thoughts and emotions and I realised that I was missing my mum and dad. I remembered how, when Kate and William got married, I invited mum and dad over for a champagne lunch and we watched the whole thing on TV. This was when their health was still just about ok and I have such fond memories of that day. I felt so close to them.

Grief is a strange thing and it can hit you at any time, it really is intensely personal and doesn’t follow a set of rules.
It is important to realise this and allow ourselves to feel a whole gamut of emotions. There is no ‘normal’.

My mum and dad would have been especially tickled by the Paddington Bear sketch.

Warmest wishes,

Wendy xx

I was so pleased to read about Robbie Williams having reached a state of happiness. We are all aware of his past difficulties and it does seem now that he has finally found some peace at last.

This may in some ways be due to the steadying influence of his lovely wife Ayda and the joy of having children. He also seems to have been clean of any addictions for some time now.

I think that it could also be down to his having discovered a new creative outlet. With the architect who designed his house he has been working on some art which is now to be exhibited at Sotheby’s. Whether or not you like his work, I’m sure that the creative fulfilment he gets from this is a massive boost to his mental health.

I may have mentioned the concept of ‘flow’ before in my blog and this applies to the feeling you get when you become totally absorbed in an activity. This could be painting, music, sculpture, writing or indeed anything which engages the left hand side of your brain, that part of your mind connected to creativity, imagination and intuition.

I often advise my clients to devote time to creative endeavours. It doesn’t really matter about it being ‘good’, in any case everything is subjective, but to simply become completely absorbed in doing something which you love doing. It is like having a rest for the brain, switching the chattering side of the mind off.

Create away, Robbie.

Some of the issues I treat are a bit like buses, you don’t see any at all for ages, then 3 come along at once. This happens to be the case at the moment for my stop smoking hypnotherapy treatment. One of the people who contacted me said she had been recommended to me by her cousin and aunt, who had remained non smokers for 5 and 7 years respectively.

Its a different issue to the others that I treat and for that reason requires a slightly different process. If you decide that you would like to see me for stop smoking treatment, this is what happens :

1. You come to see me for an initial chat which lasts about 45 minutes. This consultation is very important because it means I can find out more about you and your smoking habit, so that I can then tailor the hypnotherapy specifically for you. You can also ask me any questions that you have about the treatment. It’s essential that we ascertain your commitment to stopping smoking. Sometimes it is clear that the client is not quite ready to stop, so I would urge that they wait a while before they book. If however they are fully committed, we can then book a date for treatment.
2. You attend for the main hypnotherapy session, this lasts about 90 minutes. It is a really relaxing and calming experiencing and will result in you having no further desire or craving for tobacco. I also record a hypnosis download for you to use at home.
3. I offer an extra follow up hypnotherapy session, to be taken whenever you like. Very often my clients use this to address another issue, as the smoking is already sorted.

The cost of the treatment is £160. There is no charge for the initial consultation, you only really pay for the hypnotherapy sessions and the download.

Making the decision to stop smoking is hands down one of the best things you can do for your health, at any age. Do get in touch if you would like to book an appointment.

Best wishes,

Wendy x

It gives me great joy to have started to see some clients for fear of flying again, after 2 years of not being able to travel.

As a lover of travel myself, helping people to eliminate anxiety about flying and enable them to enjoy holidays abroad with loved ones is one of my favourite hypnotherapy interventions. Over the years I have seen many people who would actually love to travel but a strong fear about flying holds them back. Very often they have a partner who is aching to go abroad but cannot, due to the loved one’s anxieties.

The great thing is, too, that it only usually takes a couple of sessions to eliminate the fear. I also record a personalised hypnosis download which you can use at any time, this is a valuable tool which you always have for any future flights.

Sometimes clients come to see me after having completed a fear of flying course with an airline. These can sometimes be useful but I am not sure it helps being in a large group with others who are all very anxious. One client reported feeling worse after the course as there was a woman sat behind her who could not stop screaming!

Its a much better idea to book an individualised hypnotherapy session as we are not all the same and I find that people’s fears about flying centre around all sorts of different things. Sometimes the issue is lack of control, sometimes feelings of claustrophobia, maybe linked to worries about turbulence. I always focus on the client’s individual mindset, it is certainly not a question of one size fits all.

So, if you are contemplating travelling again this year but fear of flying is holding you back, don’t hesitate to contact me. I would love to help you to look forward to enjoying a wonderful holiday.

Best wishes,

Wendy x

Hypnotherapy is often seen as a therapy that mainly deals with weight management or stopping smoking. Whilst it has an excellent success rate at tackling those issues, in my opinion hypnotherapy treatment comes into its own when helping people who are experiencing anxiety.

Anxiety can present in many forms, for example social anxiety, health anxiety as well as fears and phobias of all kinds. Typically, the person feels trapped in a bubble of negative thinking and worry about a certain issue and they feel unable to get out of this negative thought process.

Hypnotherapy works by helping the person to feel deeply relaxed and also planting positive suggestions in their mind, so that in a sense there is a reprogramming, allowing for a new and much more positive mindset.

If you are experiencing anxiety symptoms, do consider hypnotherapy. You won’t regret it.

take care,

Wendy x

We are all immensely saddened by the constant stories of the awful war that the Ukrainian people are enduring at present. We feel helpless that innocent families are having their lives quite literally blown apart and there seems to be little we can do.

My heart felt glad, therefore, at the recent story of Hassan, an eleven year old boy, who managed to walk an incredible 700 miles to the Slovakian border to try to make contact with family in Slovakia. Hassan’s mother was poorly and also looking after her own mother but she felt that Hassan would have an opportunity to be safe by fleeing to Slovakia, where the family had relatives. So, she packed the little boy off with 2 plastic bags, his passport and a phone number written on his hand. Amazingly, he managed to reach the border and has since been helped out by the Slovakian authorities to find his relatives.

Thinking back to how I was at the age of 11, I cannot begin to imagine the incredible maturity and resilience this young chap must have. I hope that Hassan, along with his mum and grandmother, can all be reunited in a safe and comfortable place soon.

My heart goes out to the incredibly brave and wonderful people of Ukraine. We are all thinking of you.

Wendy xx

Mr Chalk and I were travelling back from the in-laws in Southampton yesterday and we were delighted to share most of the journey with Johnie Walker and his ‘Sounds of the Seventies’. Being of a certain age, this was our decade, music wise, so inevitably, although we can’t remember our children’s names sometimes, we sang along to the seventies hits, practically word perfect with most of the songs played.

Although I didn’t know Mr C at this time, we are the same age and so we have a very strong mutual bond in our memories of all this wonderful music. The albums we saved up for, the bands we went to see and the association with certain times in our lives, it all comes flooding back.

The weather was interesting, to say the least during our journey, with gale force winds, torrential rain and even some hail stones at one point. But with the wonderful music to listen to, were we bothered? Well, to be honest we were actually towards the end of the journey when we aquaplaned along most of the A14. But somehow it could have felt far more stressful without the music of our childhood and teenage years to soothe us.

Thank you Johnie, Pink Floyd and the Eagles were just the ticket for a wild, weird and windy journey home.

I hope you are keeping safe and warm.

Wendy xx

I was really interested to read this week that by making sure that you have enough sleep you are much more likely to be able to lose excess weight. Although it’s long been known that people who work shifts can often experience weight issues, this is the first study of its kind to confirm definitively that weight gain can be linked to people having too little sleep.

I would also add that quality of sleep is as important as quantity. Research has shown that hypnotherapy can improve sleep enormously, particularly enhancing the deeper part of sleep which is so important for cell growth and repair.

Whenever I see a client with weight management issues, we always look at other factors which may be causing an inability to shed weight. Sometimes there could be an underlying anxiety which is causing the person to eat emotionally and not according to hunger cues. I also urge my clients to check with their GP as to whether there may be physical causes which would predispose them to weight gain, for example hormonal or thyroid issues.

Everyone is unique and it is important that we treat people in a holistic way, not just dealing with the one presenting issue. This is why I always insist on allowing plenty of time for the initial consultation as well as the sessions themselves. I never clock watch.

If you are really keen to get to the bottom of a weight issue and you are interested in trying hypnotherapy, do give me a shout.

Oh and happy Valentine’s Day!

Wendy xx

It is not my business to criticise other therapy modalities as we are all unique and what can work for some people may not be helpful for others.

However, it saddens me that a recurring theme in my practice is seeing clients who have attended a course of CBT and they actually feel worse at the end of it. Whatever happened to the Hippocratic oath, ‘you shall do no harm’?

For some years now if you go to your doctor with some form of mental health issue you are invariably given a card with details of the well-being service. It is suggested that you self-refer and then, as is often the case according to my clients, you may find that you have to wait many weeks or months to see somebody. When you finally have an appointment it may not even be a face to face consultation, but a phone call.

CBT sessions are normally held every week for a period of about 6 – 8 weeks and the essence of CBT is that you begin to recognise a dysfunctional pattern of thinking in your mind. CBT’s premise is that your negative thought patterns can lead to negative emotions. This can be a very useful exercise, but it can also lead to an over focus on negativity, and some people end up feeling even more depressed. Also, you may be very aware of your thought patterns, but the CBT does not enable you to change them just by talking. Hypnotherapy is powerful in this sense as it allows you to make those changes.

If you are currently waiting for CBT or you have had a course of it and are still feeling very low, I would urge you to consider hypnotherapy. In general I see clients for 3 sessions on average and in most cases you will be feeling so much better from the very first session. I do realise that you have to pay for sessions, but can you honestly put a price on happiness and well-being? The type of therapy that I practice is a solution focused modality, helping you to make changes in how you are thinking and feeling. It is also a most wonderfully relaxing therapy and many of my clients leave feeling as though they are walking on air.

I very much look forward to hearing from you.

Wendy x