Everyone I work with is has unique challenges, goals and needs, and so my process always looks different.

I always start with an initial 15-minute consultation. This helps us both determine whether we want to proceed and if we are a good fit.

If we decide to go ahead, I will share some forms online you can complete so I can get to know you and what you want out of therapy. If you want to integrate this with your coaching, I may ask your coach to complete some forms or to speak with them.

Once we know what your goals are, I will suggest a package that best suits these. These are usually six to eight sessions, but this is flexible and depends on the goals. We can also time the sessions around coaching or events, including performances or competitions.

Sessions include different elements you want to work on, side-by-side, so that you can reach your goals faster. For example, in one session we may work on pain management and habit building for training consistently. The next session we may look at goals for an upcoming competition and work on anxiety and mindset.

Between sessions I may assign tasks so that the work we are doing together is being integrated effectively into your training and life, and so that the information we have in session is accurate. You can think of this as a part of your training plan.

Towards the end of our time together, we will start to space the sessions out a little. This gives you time to implement changes and really find out what’s working. Our last sessions will focus on transferring skills learned to other areas of your life and creating a plan to integrate everything you have learned into your life consistently - even when things get challenging.

If you are interested in continuing our work together - whether it's long-term, or top-ups before events and competitions, I offer reduced rates for returning and maintenance clients.

Hypnosis is a state of heightened suggestibility. We respond to suggestions all the time, often without thinking about it. Hypnotherapy is about choosing to enter a state of heightened suggestibility to respond to positive suggestions we choose.

Hypnosis works with your nervous system to help you feel positive, calm and focused. Entering hypnosis is as easy as daydreaming, if you can daydream or relax your mind in any other normal way then you can enter hypnosis.

Hypnosis is a cognitive state, not a feeling. It may feel different for different people, at different times and depending on the focus of the hypnotherapy. It may feel like relaxation, absorption in the imagination, intense focus on one idea, or many other things.

Hypnosis isn’t like sleep, because you need to consciously accept the suggestions being used in hypnosis, and you can’t do this if you’re in a sleep-like state. You may feel very relaxed, but you should be mentally awake the whole time. I adapt hypnosis for sporting performance to be alert hypnosis, where you integrate hypnosis into a sporting ritual.

You cannot be hypnotised against your will, and when in hypnosis you will only respond to suggestions you want to respond to. Hypnosis is a temporary state of mind you choose to enter and can choose to leave at any time.

In a word, yes. Hypnosis has been found in many studies to be an effective, especially when paired with CBT, mindfulness and relaxation therapies.

The British Medical Journal (BMJ) published a 'Clinical Review' of hypnosis and relaxation therapies and found that:

• “Hypnosis and relaxation techniques can reduce anxiety particularly that related to stressful situations”
• “They are also effective for panic disorders and insomnia, particularly when integrated into a package of cognitive therapy,”
• “A systematic review has found that hypnosis enhances the effects of cognitive behavioural therapy for conditions such as phobia, obesity, and anxiety.”
• “Randomised controlled trials support the use of various relaxation techniques for treating both acute and chronic pain,”
• Randomised trials have shown hypnosis to be of value in asthma and irritable bowel syndrome,”
• “There is strong evidence from randomised trials of the effectiveness of hypnosis and relaxation for cancer related anxiety, pain, nausea, and vomiting, particularly in children.”

(Vickers & Zollman, 1999)

Hypnosis has been scientifically proven as a treatment for many medical and psychological conditions such as:

• Anxiety
• Panic disorders
• Insomnia
• Phobias
• Obesity
• Both acute and chronic pain
• Asthma 
• Irritable bowel syndrome
• Cancer related anxiety, pain, nausea, and vomiting, particularly in children.
• Improving sporting performance 
• Creativity 
• Confidence and self-efficacy
• Improving focus and attention

Being at the top of your game in any sport is not only about physical competence and skill, but also about mindset. This could be reducing anxiety and stress, improving confidence, focus and attention, and self-efficacy or the belief that you can do it.

Hypnotherapy works on mindset, through suggestions that improve self-efficacy and confidence and imagery that builds a positive mindset. Once you can let go of limiting beliefs, you can focus on performance.

Hypnosis has been shown to reduce anxieties (Li & Li, 2022) and improve performance (Miró, et al., 2025) and confidence (Li & Li, 2022).

Working on an area of sports performance where an athlete is struggling with technique, imagery in hypnosis can help athletes to practice the improved technique in hypnosis so they can replicate this in real life. One study found that just 10 minutes of hypnosis improved throwing accuracy in tennis – an effect that lasted 1 week (Jalene & Wulf, 2014). Imagine what six sessions could do!

One literature review found sports hypnosis to be effective for ball games, including basketball, golf, soccer, cricket, and badminton; archery, weightlifting and shooting sports (Li & Li, 2022). Meanwhile, a study focusing on the use of hypnosis for downhill Mountain bike athletes found hypnosis reduced anxiety, improved self-confidence, regulated nervous system activity, and participants reported feeling safer, under less pressure, more confident and positive in the race after the hypnosis intervention (Hoffmann, et al., 2024).

Pain is created in the brain as a response to real or perceived stimulus that causes fear. It’s our body’s way of telling us we are not safe and to get us to do something about that. Because pain is created in the brain, hypnosis, mindfulness and somatics are effective for reducing pain.

This is true whether the pain is because of tissue damage (nociceptive pain), nervous system damage (neuropathic pain) or is nociplastic/chronic pain (see the next FAQ below).

Because pain is created in the brain, we can use hypnosis when in pain to change the perception of pain. This might involve accepting the pain, changing the sensation, changing the location, turning the pain down or even making it disappear completely. MRIs have shown that just being in hypnosis reduces the activity of the salience network – part of the brain that is vigilant to threats.

When we start to learn that we can control our own pain like this, we become the ones in charge. Paired with mindfulness and relaxation, hypnosis is effective in reducing the experience of pain.

Meanwhile, when we use hypnosis and CBT together, we can make lifestyle changes that improve the way we live in pain. Often, people living in pain for a long time start to plan their lives around the risk of being in pain – Hypno-CBT can free you from this.

One literature review found that hypnosis can help with managing cancer pain, low-back pain, arthritis pain, sickle-cell disease, temporomandibular joint (TMJ) pain, fibromyalgia, disability-related pain, and chronic pain. The treatments in the studies included other aspects such as CBT, education around how pain works, relaxation and teaching self-hypnosis (Elkins, et al., 2007).

Specifically for athletes, hypnosis has can improve injury recovery (Miró, et al., 2025).

Yes! I specialise in working with disabled athletes, but I will work with anyone whose goals are achievable through hypnotherapy, as long as I have the availability. Book a free consultation to see whether I can help – if not, I may be able to refer you to someone else.