< continued from: Online Hypnotherapy

When I first met Bruce Terrill, the certified instructor for The Northwest Hypnosis Institute, I asked him about on-line hypnosis certification courses. I wanted to know if I could get certified and practise without going to school here Portland, Oregon. Bruce gave me a very direct “Yes”. There where no ‘if’s”, “ands”, or “buts” to follow. Just yes, or “yeah sure”. I liked that about him and it got me thinking. And looking. On-line hypnosis training sure looks like big business. Big business in the frist place because there are so many courses to choose from. Most look somewhat reputable and all of them have a tone of well-meaning. Who to seriously consider would have to come down to how it all hit me, what associations they had, and the price, of course. It looks like certification for hypnosis therapy can be obtained for as little as a few hundred dollars. Monthly dues seem to be running on average of about fifty dollars. What the dues are for was not clear on the site I was on. At the same site there was also a great deal of things that are given away at “a value of “. The average “value” of these valuable assets being given away are promoted at about an average of $250. This is a big red flag for me. The whole thing turned out to be extremely unprofessional, and the “Master Practitioner” at the site had no name and the “certification” came from nowhere. Most sites at least have some association they are affiliated with. The best ( or worst) of it was one part of the course that was given away for free at a value of $250 was instructions on learning the course in your sleep!. I kid you not – according to the aforementioned site, you can become a certified hypnotist in your sleep. In a deep hypnotic sleep, no less.

Of course this is an extreme example of something of value getting seriously discounted. And yet, I can see the benefit. My bet is that there is going to be a fair number of people that sign up for this sort of thing that will not be able to open and sustain a viable practise, yet they will be able to open and sustain themselves in a new and better way. Again, hypnosis works! Everybody wants to get their money’s worth. These folks are going to learn how to hypnotize themselves, if nothing else. The people that sign up for on-line courses are going to convince themselves for awhile that it’s going to work. Then there’s going to be a hundred different things that come up that are not going to fit in with their plans. At Northwest, I’m learning that willingness is critical to successful hypnosis. What I am not willing to do is try to help people through hypnotherapy without being familiar and confident with every aspect of what’s involved. I need to practice with my fellow students, for sure. I need to be certified through an organization like The National Guild of Hypnotists and have access to their support. It’s also important to be able to make mistakes in a setting where those mistakes won’t cause any harm. Most importantly however, is that I need to find out – for real – what works for me first, then I can see with assurance what works for others.