Let me be clear about who I am and am not. I am not a psychologist or licensed mental health provider. I am not medically trained. I do not hold a degree in any kind of mental health therapy.
A psychiatrist is a doctor that diagnoses and treats people with mental health disorders, using a mixture of medications and possibly psychotherapy, although the latter is becoming less common among psychiatrists. A psychologist, social worker or licensed clinical therapist is someone who practices “psychotherapy,” usually diagnosing and treating mental health disorders.
My services are non-diagnostic and are a complement to standard therapies when a client has a diagnosed mental disorder. So while I don’t diagnose, a licensed mental health provider may refer me one of his patients so that I can assist with hypnosis, etc, to achieve the therapeutic ends that that provider established for his patient.
So to be clear, I only work with diagnosed disease when I am under the supervision and referral of a licensed mental health provider. Most people do not have existing mental health disease, however. Those are the people that I help most commonly. I help ordinary people overcome ordinary problems and when mental health or physical disorders exist, I work WITH their doctor or psychologist, under their referral.
If you have existing mental health disease, we should first contact your doctor before using hypnosis and I can help you do that.
I am a hypnotist by training and, as of June 2011, have done approximately 1500 formal hours of training in hypnosis and hypnotic therapy techniques, Neuro Linguistic Programming, Time Line Therapy (TM) and the Emotional Freedom Technique (and more than twice that in solo study). I am currently enrolled in another 300 hours of training programs that I will complete during 2011. All of these interventions that I use MIGHT be used in the medical or psychological community, but generally are considered to be complimentary and alternative practices.
I have seen approximately 3000 hours of clients over three years. As a hypnotist, I hold certifications with the Hypnotherapists Union (AFL-CIO), The American Hypnosis Association, The National Guild of Hypnotists, The International Medical and Dental Hypnotherapy Association (R), the American Board of Neuro Linguistic Programming and the Time Line Therapy Association (TM). I have also had two articles on hypnosis published in a hypnosis column called “Subconsciously Speaking.” I am writing up a third case study now for the same column. The editor of the column is a psychologist who lives on the east coast.