MY STORY
I’ll start by telling you all a secret. I am and always have been a rebel at heart. I spent more time sat outside the headmistress’s office as a teenager than in lessons (or so it seems in my memory now) for the minor, silly rules that I broke on a daily basis.
Now, before you see me being carted off to Alcatraz, or the Lincolnshire equivalent in the 1980’s, I need to explain. I went to an All-Girl’s High School, where navy blue knickers were still essential parts of the uniform (and they checked), heels on uniform blue shoes were measured randomly by the head mistress with her ruler, to ensure they were of a decent height, and make up and jewellery were certainly not allowed. So, being a rebel was easy. Red shoes – go to the office. Caked on black eyeliner – go to the office. Large hoop earrings – Hannah, back to the office. Dyed pink hair…. You know where I’m going. Then there was a time we clubbed together to fight the system- and wore TROUSERS to school!!!! Jerusalem nearly crumbled!
So going out into the world I felt I was really going to be someone. I was going to make my mark on the world, and above all BE DIFFERENT.
Despite being a rebel, I have always loved to learn.
After completing my degree in Social Policy and Administration this led me to a further three years of working and studying to become a registered mental health nurse, and a fabulous 30 years working predominantly alongside people with complex mental health problems. And what a challenge and a privilege that has been.
During this time, I have seen so many changes to how mental health and wellbeing is perceived. Changes in law, culture and therapeutic response. During the 90’s we started talking about Goal Based Outcomes, and treatment pathways but still therapy was DONE to someone. You received the therapy or treatment offered in a passive way, or could otherwise be considered difficult or non-compliant. And then in the late 1990’s, while working at Guy’s Hospital in London, I discovered Solution Focused Therapy, and I was inspired once more. When I started to study Solution Focused Therapy, everything made sense again. Now I was able to fully embrace the notion that the people I worked with held their own answers. My job was to work along side them, respectfully, to enable these to emerge, to achieve the goals that they wanted, to uncover their own solutions and move forward with their lives.
From Freud onwards, therapies have come in and out of style. During the last few years, I have found myself out of sync again with what I was being asked to do. I found myself on the sofa, wondering what had become of me, but I was left thinking “How the hell did I get here?”, and not in a good way. Sitting on my sofa, the only thing going round it my head was a phrase uttered by Marlon Brandon in the Waterfront “I could’ve been a contender”. I wondered how I had become so small and scared. The funny thing is I can’t even recall seeing the film, but that phrase was like a mantra in my head.
I had a very clear picture of the bold, bright and daring girl who started the journey in mental health nursing over 30 years ago. She was innovative, funny and daring, challenging the system with such confidence. So how did I become so scared?
Over the years, bringing up my son on my own, I learned to take the safe options. Keeping quiet, and becoming smaller and smaller in my own head, losing my own voice and opinions. And the best thing to do now? Continue treading the safe path despite feeling unfulfilled with unresolved ambition, or, dare to take a chance and chase the dream, using everything I had learned over the last 30 years to recapture that dream of who I wanted to be?
So I took that chance. I had a goal. Some time has passed and I am now a Solution Focused Hypnotherapist, combining all my knowledge to make a difference.
I change perceptions of therapy, from one of fear, to one of excitement and possibility, enabling my clients to recapture the very best version of themselves, becoming who they want to be and really can be.
I will guide you, to identify your own solutions, transforming your visions of your future, from imagination to reality, taking you from stuck to unstoppable.
ARE YOU READY TO BE A CONTENDER?
WHAT CAN I HELP YOU WITH?
Many of the people that I work with are stuck, reminding me of the record by Talking Heads: I’M ON THE ROAD TO NOWHERE.
I can certainly relate to this feeling in my past and many of my clients feel exactly like this, for some reason- feeling that they’re on the road to nowhere, just not at the place in their lives that they expected to be, or hoped to be- with barriers stopping them from becoming that person.
Those barriers may be struggles with anxiety or depression, low self-esteem or self confidence that hold them back, maybe making change too fearful. A simple phobia getting in the way of them doing what they want to do.
They may be at a challenging transitional point in their lives, changing job or marital status, or just generally feeling overwhelmed and stressed out.
Sometimes, in this modern world stress at work can start to build up to such an extent they start to feel immobilised, affecting not only their mental, but their physical health.
It may be that they are trying to navigate life with additional difficulties, such as loss, menopause or ADHD. Or they may be just wanting to improve their performance in their work or hobbies.
I work with people that are looking for support to make changes in their lives for a number of reasons. Contact me for a chat or book in for a free consultation to find out how I can support you. Below are just a few examples of issues that Solution Focused Hypnotherapy can help you with:
- Work related stress
- Relationship issues
- Low Mood
- Anxiety
- Anger
- Burnout
- Fears/phobias
- Feeling stuck
- Insomnia
- Irritable bowel syndrome
- Low self-confidence
- Low self-esteem
- Obsessions and compulsions
- Pain
- Panic attacks
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Public speaking
- Sleep disorders
- Sports performance
- General Stress
- Trauma
