How Can I Help

I can help with anxiety, which can be very debilitating for some and can spiral into panic attacks. Anxiety and panic attacks are very common in our busy world. Up to 30% of adults experience at least one isolated panic attack in their lifetime, and 2% to 5% develop a clinical panic disorder. Cognitive hypnotherapy has been shown to be very effective in treating anxiety.

Anxiety turns into panic, the most severe form of anxiety, when prolonged stress pushes the body's fight-or-fight mechanism into overdrive. Panic attacks are often triggered when the unconscious interprets normal symptoms of stress as immediate threats, leading to an avalanche of physical and psychological distress.

We work together on breaking the fear cycle, defusing the fight-or-flight response, rewiring negative thought patterns and introducing techniques to regain control. I can guide you into a deeply relaxed state where your unconscious mind becomes more receptive to positive suggestions.

Depression is a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness or loss of interest. It affects how you think, feel and behave and can cause a variety of physical and emotional problems. Let's face it, life can be hard. Situations can push us into corners. The multitude of demands on us in our modern, fast paced society is greater than ever. We may react by numbing ourselves with coping strategies which don't serve us, such as alcohol or food, with distractions or by not letting ourselves feel the difficult emotions that arise and pushing them underground, where they linger and cast a cloud over our whole being. This can trigger apathy and feelings of hopelessness.

Depression causes the mind to spin off into negative thought cycles. Hypnotherapy helps by interrupting and reframing those thoughts, updating them with more balanced perspectives which empower us and help us move forward. Hypnotherapy accesses the 90% of your mind which holds hidden trauma and deeply held beliefs, allowing you to process and heal from them safely.

Confidence often depends on the situation and your beliefs and abilities to perform specific tasks. Causes can include failure, rejection or critical parenting.

Self-esteem is about how you perceive your self-worth and value as a person, and whether you feel good or not good enough.

Confidence and self-esteem can coincide, but lack of confidence may not necessarily impact overall self-esteem. Self-sabotage can complicate both; if you deeply believe you aren't capable of success, your unconscious prompts you to behave in ways which confirm these theories. Perhaps you are familiar with the phrase "Argue for your limitations and sure enough they're yours" (Richard Bach). Cognitive Hypnotherapy has high success rates with these issues. I help you discover which areas of your life are affected and why. I can safely guide you back to your childhood, help you gently root out insecurities, expand your perspective and coax the unconscious towards more positive outcomes.

A phobia is anxiety characterised by an irrational, extreme, persistent fear of a specific situation, object or activity. Exposure or thought alone can trigger avoidance and physical symptoms such as rapid heartbeat, sweating or panic. A fear of spiders, for example, derives from a sound evolutionary principle; spider bites were life threatening to the early humans who originated in Africa. I use gentle, gradual exposure in the safety of your own imagination and guided desensitisation techniques, which can be hugely effective. A fear of flying is another common phobia but there are many more unusual ones, such as a fear of buttons.

Not all stress is bad. It can be a sign you are gearing up to a challenge which you are reasonably confident you can meet. When stress becomes overwhelming, flooding your system with cortisol, it is not the situation itself which stresses you; it is what your mind is making of it that scares you.

There are without doubt horrible, inescapable situations in life, but what you believe about stress can influence your ability to help your body deal with the challenges. I can help you manage stress by uncovering root causes, and I have tools and strategies, such as breathing techniques, to help you find solutions that work for you in the moment and long-term. Stress can lead to unhealthy habits such as smoking and overeating. When stress becomes chronic it can trigger insomnia, panic attacks, suppressed immune function, autoimmune disorders and burnout. I can help you relax into the person you used to be before stress hit, regain confidence in your abilities and access your own internal compass to determine how best to move forward and what that might mean for you.

How old were you the first time you felt truly seen, or are you still waiting? The chances are, whatever your age, you were very likely misunderstood and consequently suffered from a lack of mirroring from an early age. I practice a neurodiversity-affirming approach to reflect your strengths and capabilities, promote self-acceptance and help you build confidence in who you are. Rather than attempting to 'cure' or change ADHD/AuDHD traits, I coach you to develop healthy coping strategies and to evaluate and respond differently to anxiety-inducing stimuli.

Whether you, like me, have ADHD or AuDHD, Cognitive Hypnotherapy can help calm the nervous system both in the moment and in the long term, reduce sensory overwhelm and manage the anxiety caused by having to 'mask' in a neurotypical world. I use hypnotherapy to induce a deeply relaxing state, enhance focus, lower baseline stress and address limiting beliefs that result from past experiences. You are an individual, and it may be surprising to you what flexibility exists in your own mind to help you move forward. You do not need to feel defined by a label. I aim to nurture in you the confidence to unmask, to help others get to know you, to embrace your natural strengths and above all to be you.

I am not a psychiatrist and am not qualified to diagnose ADHD.

I can help you adapt with resilience to new chapters in life, such as retirement, relationship shifts, a new job or a new social environment. I offer practical, solution-focussed ways to reduce fear and build self-confidence. By accessing the unconscious together, we can reduce anxiety and overcome limiting beliefs and self-doubt. Transitions often trigger feelings of loss, grief, uncertainty or overwhelm. Hypnotherapy allows you to process these feelings without becoming mentally stuck. I can help you achieve clarity and perspective. Hypnotherapy helps you connect with your own internal compass. It facilitates long-lasting behavioural change by establishing new, positive neural pathways in the brain, making it easier to adapt to change, whether planned or unexpected.

Habits which don't serve us are coping mechanisms and habits which become compulsive become addictive. Hypnotherapy can be a powerful tool to dismantle the links in the chain which keeps us subjugated against our will. Habits are often formed at a time when we needed more support in our lives, whether with stress or negative situations. Habits such as nail biting, eating junk food, doom scrolling, procrastinating, impulse buying and comparing yourself to others can hold you back in life. It is more effective to use daily strategies to tackle habits rather than addressing them in an intense burst.

Habits become addictive, such as overeating or smoking, when they override other feelings and emotions, distract from normal life, cause physical symptoms, generate dependency and become increasingly difficult to control. Hypnotherapy can help with self-sabotage and denial when habits become compulsive. It can help you understand and change behavioural patterns by changing the way you view a habit. I can teach you alternative strategies for dealing with stress and negative feelings to prevent a habit from returning.

Quitting smoking can be a real challenge, but it is one of the best things you can do for your health. Hypnosis guides you into a state of deep relaxation and heightened focus, so your mind is more receptive to suggestions that weaken your desire to smoke and strengthen your resolve to quit. It helps rewire the deep-seated, unconscious mental associations that trigger craving, such as stress. I can seed aversive suggestions to reduce the appeal of smoking and help you build a non-smoking identity, making quitting seem a reward rather than a punishment. It works best when you are highly motivated and ready to quit.

Hypnosis for weight loss is often more effective than diet and exercise alone. It helps by priming the unconscious to work with the goals of the conscious mind to target emotional eating, reduce cravings and strengthen the motivation to exercise. I can help you identify how you might be using food for comfort or stress relief, explore the origins of those behaviours and plant suggestions to decouple negative emotions from eating. I can help you reinforce the image of a healthier body to increase your willpower and consistency with diet and fitness plans, curb mindless snacking, build mindful eating habits and find the motivation to choose healthy food options. Hypnosis for weight loss works best in tandem with evidence-based weight management programs.

The devastating impact of losing a loved one cannot be underestimated. I provide a haven in which to support you in processing the intense emotions and physical symptoms which accompany grief, such as insomnia, stress-related physical tension and loss of appetite. Hypnosis safely separates the memory of the loss from the paralysing pain, helping you find moments of peace. It helps to reframe the loss, so you can remember your loved one with fondness and comfort, rather than feeling forever burdened by heartache. I can support you with difficult feelings, which are entirely normal when grieving, such as denial, anger, abandonment, regret and survivor's guilt. These can be gently uncovered, expressed and released so you do not have to suffer any more in silence. Hypnotherapy can also provide strategies and grounding tools to help you cope at your own pace with the day-to-day waves of grief as they arise.

This is for people who wish to overcome blocks or just enhance their creative pursuits, be it painting, writing, pottery or any other medium. I help you dissolve creative blocks and reignite your imagination using several targeted techniques. These include mental rehearsal of flow states, bypassing the inner critic to anchor the flow state as a familiar place, and reframing limiting beliefs with confidence and creative freedom. This involves turning abstract mental blocks, such as perfectionism, into tangible, navigable issues allowing new concepts to organically emerge. I teach a form of guided imagery and inner child work which engages the five senses. You are your own guide, and I am a benevolent mentor helping you explore. The most powerful creation comes from a place of authenticity within. In the flow state the conscious mind takes a backseat, allowing the unconscious to take the creative reins.

If you feel like you need to get out of your own way to access a relaxed and focused state, I can help whilst keeping you grounded and present.

Do you feel rudderless and in need of an internal compass to help you decide how to proceed in life? There are people who feel content with the life they already lead, and others who feel restless because they know they want to do more but feel uncertain about the direction to take. Perhaps you have an inkling of what that might be and are held back by doubts and fears about your capability to achieve these goals. Perhaps your past experiences are holding you back in ways you might not have fully realised.

I can help you find the way back to yourself, to that part of you not yet fully explored, which might just be the missing part of the jigsaw of who you really are. To step upon that path is to replace restlessness with purpose and to know that whatever the challenges, you are on your way to finding your own contentment, your own peace of mind, whatever that may look like for you.