Hypnotherapy for Children
With children I take an individual approach.
Children mature differently and regression to scenes from the past is not always necessary. Regression treatment like RTT is generally used for children over 12 but some children respond well to this technique as young as 10.
For youngsters struggling with issues such as bed-wetting, thumb sucking, confidence, exam stress or spo
rts performance, pure hypnotherapy using positive suggestions is often enough. And metaphor story can be incredibly powerful. I also now have techniques such as 6 step reframe, timeline, and parts therapy which may be applicable dependent on the individual.
With very young children it is important to tailor it to things like your child’s favourite past-times, interests, TV and movie characters, etc. The deepening and suggestibility tests work just as well for children as they do adults. And children respond beautifully because they live much of their lives in a naturally subconscious state. Many children really enjoy having their own special recording to listen to, too!
Drop me a message on the contact page if you’re not sure I can help.
Bullying is something that many children have to deal with, and that is also something hypnotherapy can help with, giving your children coping strategies, ways to both understand and successfully deal with bullies. I am available for schools or groups to give seminars on bullying, self-esteem, looping thoughts and other concerns.
If you don’t know what a looping thought is, here is an example. As you can see it starts with a negative thought and ends with the same thought - hence looping thought:
I’m not good enough
I’m not good enough so I feel worthless.
I feel worthless so I never succeed at anything.
I never succeed at anything so I don’t go after what I want
I don’t go after what I want because I’m not good enough.
Life can be hard to navigate for parent and child
It’s no secret that gender identity has become a hot topic in modern society. And because children and young adults are living a largely subconscious life, meaning they are highly receptive, then they are also wide open to good and bad suggestions and potentially confusing imprints. It’s important that what is suggested to their minds in hypnosis or elsewhere in their life, is loving, supportive, and reinforces that experimentation with what it is to be them is a natural, unfolding process, and that there is no rush to figure it all out, jump to harmful conclusions, or medicate against normal developmental processes.
My standpoint is that it is entirely natural for children to experiment with traits associated with the opposite sex as part of their development, and it does not mean there is automatically a related gender dysphoria, which truly affects only a tiny minority of people, and should that be the case, then it may be a factor to be more seriously addressed when they reach adulthood and after much specialist, therapeutic work.
My role is to be open-minded and helpful. Where gender or biological sex has been flagged as an issue by the child, parent or guardian, I would always look towards what may be present first, in terms of any underlying reason they might not feel comfortable and safe in their biological body or with feelings about their sexuality.
I believe this should always be a first port of call.
Feeling safe in their body, and confident and comfortable in the world while they work out how to grow up in this society, is my priority when helping children.
Before going down any path with serious life-long implications a parent should always make sure there is no underlying trauma, external conditioning/societal pressure that is making their child feel like puberty and adolescence is about going to war with your own body.