Hypnotherapy in San Francisco: How I Work with Clients
When people search for a hypnotherapist in San Francisco, they’re usually looking for two things: someone they can trust, and a clear sense of what will actually happen in the room. Here’s how I work.
Starting with a free consultation
Every new client begins with a complimentary conversation. We talk about what you’d like to change, what you’ve already tried, and any health background I should know about. I’ll explain what hypnosis feels like and answer any questions or worries, because people tend to relax and get more from sessions when the mystery is gone.
A gradual, interactive process
For most goals I suggest starting with around five sessions of about 60 minutes each. That gives us time to understand the pattern you want to change, build new responses, and practice them. After those sessions we review progress together and decide whether further work would be useful. Some people need fewer sessions; others choose to continue.
Sessions are interactive. Depending on what suits you, I combine:
- Ericksonian hypnotherapy, a conversational, permissive style of hypnosis that respects your own pace and preferences.
- NLP techniques to change how you mentally represent a trigger or a goal.
- EFT (tapping), which you can also use on your own between sessions.
- Coaching to translate what you discover into concrete next steps.
What clients say
One client who had ground their teeth for more than ten years wrote:
“Having suffered from teeth-grinding (bruxism) for over 10 years, it is positively surprising how few sessions it took to get to the bottom of it.” — K.W.
Experiences like this are encouraging, but everyone is different and I can’t guarantee a particular outcome.
Is hypnotherapy recognized?
Hypnosis has a long history in mainstream medicine. The British Medical Association issued a supportive report on medical uses of hypnosis in 1955, the American Medical Association’s Council on Mental Health followed in 1958, and the American Psychological Association recognized hypnosis as a branch of psychology around 1960. Today, research supports hypnosis as a helpful complement in areas such as procedural anxiety, some kinds of pain, and irritable bowel syndrome, and it continues to be studied for many other uses.
It’s equally important to say what hypnotherapy isn’t. It isn’t mind control, you won’t do anything against your values, and it isn’t a replacement for medical or psychiatric care.
Who I work with
I work with adults across the Bay Area, in person and online, on fears and phobias, quitting smoking, confidence and self-esteem, social anxiety, habits such as nail biting and teeth grinding, weight-management habits, relaxation, and goal setting.
Hypnotherapy, NLP and EFT are complementary approaches. They don’t diagnose or treat medical conditions and are not a substitute for medical care, so please also work with your physician on any health concern.
If you’d like to find out whether this approach is a good fit for you, I offer a free, no-pressure consultation. Get in touch here and we can talk it through.
