{"id":1637,"date":"2021-09-01T18:46:07","date_gmt":"2021-09-01T18:46:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/212.111.42.197\/?page_id=1637"},"modified":"2023-10-01T23:37:55","modified_gmt":"2023-10-01T23:37:55","slug":"faqs","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/jopreston.co.uk\/?page_id=1637","title":{"rendered":"FAQs"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” content_placement=”bottom” css=”.vc_custom_1696203474289{border-bottom-width: 140px !important;padding-top: 140px !important;background-image: url(http:\/\/jopreston.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/shutterstock_1296335449-scaled-e1630522181781.jpg?id=1639) !important;background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}”][vc_column css=”.vc_custom_1629664361967{padding-bottom: 100px !important;}”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

FAQs<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1638041423491{margin-top: 70px !important;margin-right: 0px !important;margin-bottom: 100px !important;margin-left: 0px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_toggle title=”Do I need to book a course of sessions?” style=”rounded” size=”lg” open=”true” custom_font_container=”tag:h2|font_size:28|text_align:left” custom_google_fonts=”font_family:Raleway%3A100%2C200%2C300%2Cregular%2C500%2C600%2C700%2C800%2C900|font_style:600%20bold%20regular%3A600%3Anormal” use_custom_heading=”true”]<\/p>\n

No, I run an easy-going practice – once we start therapy, feel free to see me as often or as little as you choose. Some clients elect to see me weekly, twice-monthly or monthly, others prefer to book a session whenever they need one. For some, just one or two sessions in total to talk through a problem is enough to gain clarity.<\/div>\n

[\/vc_toggle][vc_toggle title=”What happens in a counselling\/therapy session?” style=”rounded” size=”lg” open=”true” custom_font_container=”tag:h2|font_size:28|text_align:left” custom_google_fonts=”font_family:Raleway%3A100%2C200%2C300%2Cregular%2C500%2C600%2C700%2C800%2C900|font_style:600%20bold%20regular%3A600%3Anormal” use_custom_heading=”true”]<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a new client, I\u2019ll start by taking a detailed account of your problem and how you\u2019re experiencing it. At the end of that first session, when I feel I have a good initial understanding of you and the problem(s) you\u2019re facing, I\u2019ll work with you to develop a strategy for change. In many cases there\u2019s great value in just being able to talk to an unbiased, non-judgmental, supportive therapist who is keen to help you to untangle your mind and find the way through to a happier life. Many of my clients have said that after our first session, they feel so much better and lighter for simply having talked about their problem openly for the first time.<\/div>\n
In subsequent sessions you are free to discuss anything – from everyday events, dilemmas and feelings to deep-rooted memories, concerns or aspirations for the future. I want you to feel safe and comfortable with me and able to talk about anything.<\/div>\n
If you are coming to see me for hypnotherapy alone, to rid yourself of a specific habit, phobia or fear, then we will focus on that specifically.<\/div>\n

[\/vc_toggle][vc_toggle title=”You mention that you offer counselling alone, or with CBT and \/or hypnotherapy. How do I know which route is best for me?” style=”rounded” size=”lg” open=”true” custom_font_container=”tag:h2|font_size:28|text_align:left” custom_google_fonts=”font_family:Raleway%3A100%2C200%2C300%2Cregular%2C500%2C600%2C700%2C800%2C900|font_style:600%20bold%20regular%3A600%3Anormal” use_custom_heading=”true”]<\/p>\n

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Don\u2019t worry if you are not sure which particular therapy would be best suited to you. We can discuss your issues and the different types of therapy that might help during your first appointment, or alternatively you can call, text or email me and ask me any questions before you decide to make an appointment.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

[\/vc_toggle][vc_toggle title=”Will my sessions be confidential?” style=”rounded” size=”lg” open=”true” custom_font_container=”tag:h2|font_size:28|text_align:left” custom_google_fonts=”font_family:Raleway%3A100%2C200%2C300%2Cregular%2C500%2C600%2C700%2C800%2C900|font_style:600%20bold%20regular%3A600%3Anormal” use_custom_heading=”true”]<\/p>\n

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Yes. You must be assured and feel safe knowing that all counselling sessions with me are completely confidential. This is of vital importance. (the exception would be if you were to pose a serious danger to your own life – I would first encourage you to seek the necessary support and if you were unwilling or unable to do so, I would have a duty of care to seek this support on your behalf).<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
In subsequent sessions you are free to discuss anything – from everyday events, dilemmas and feelings to deep-rooted memories, concerns or aspirations for the future. I want you to feel safe and comfortable with me and able to talk about anything.<\/div>\n
If you are coming to see me for hypnotherapy alone, to rid yourself of a specific habit, phobia or fear, then we will focus on that specifically.<\/div>\n

[\/vc_toggle][vc_toggle title=”How does it work practically if we include CBT in our sessions?” style=”rounded” size=”lg” open=”true” custom_font_container=”tag:h2|font_size:28|text_align:left” custom_google_fonts=”font_family:Raleway%3A100%2C200%2C300%2Cregular%2C500%2C600%2C700%2C800%2C900|font_style:600%20bold%20regular%3A600%3Anormal” use_custom_heading=”true”]<\/p>\n

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CBT is a very effective and practical way of changing negative thought patterns to improve how you feel. It is very much a \u2018doing therapy\u2019 and there are a huge range of practical strategies and techniques that can help promote positive change.<\/div>\n
We will begin by identifying together any unhelpful patterns of thinking or behaviour that are causing you problems. I might ask you to keep a diary in between sessions that will help you to identify patterns of negative thoughts or reactions. We can then identify when these strong negative emotions or behaviours and possibly adverse physical symptoms arise in your day-to-day life. Together, we will break down your problem and thinking into smaller parts, making it easier to understand how a repeated negative loop of thinking is affecting you. I then can work out a practical strategy that will interrupt and break this negative pattern and change it to the positive. I can help with many different practical strategies. I will recommend homework so that you can practice changes of thinking and behaving in your everyday life. This might include you questioning and challenging your upsetting thoughts at the time you have them, and learning to replace them with more helpful ones. I will be there to support you with great understanding and care along the way and will never make you do anything that you don\u2019t want to do.<\/div>\n
One of the greatest and potentially life-changing benefits of CBT is that with practice and repetition, your subconscious will learn to adopt new positive ways of thinking about situations and that these positive thought patterns will then become your new default way of thinking in the future.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

[\/vc_toggle][vc_toggle title=”What is Cognitive Hypnotherapy?” style=”rounded” size=”lg” open=”true” custom_font_container=”tag:h2|font_size:28|text_align:left” custom_google_fonts=”font_family:Raleway%3A100%2C200%2C300%2Cregular%2C500%2C600%2C700%2C800%2C900|font_style:600%20bold%20regular%3A600%3Anormal” use_custom_heading=”true”]<\/p>\n

Have you ever found it impossible to change certain negative behaviours or thoughts, however hard you have tried and however much you really want to change?<\/div>\n
Scientific research shows that as much as 95% of our behaviour is driven by our unconscious mind. Most of the time, this is a good thing, as our subconscious behaviours are designed to protect us – we instinctively lift our hand from a hot stove and we are alert to danger in a dark alley\u00a0at midnight. However, sometimes our unconscious mind can start an unhealthy pattern of over-functioning after experiencing something it considers stressful. It then can anticipate future bad experiences when it doesn\u2019t need to. Our brain becomes hardwired to be overly anxious, to be depressed, become phobic, or to take refuge in a number of self-destructive addictive behaviours, such as eating excessively, smoking, alcohol-abuse or taking drugs. These negative thoughts, behaviours or addictions can then become an automatic response to life, leading to a cycle of lack of confidence and despair. They are programmed deep into our unconscious mind, which is why it is very difficult to change them, even when we want to. As a result, at best, you are not able to fulfil your potential, and at worst, they cause great harm to you and your relationships.<\/div>\n
Hypnotherapy cleverly gets to the heart of this automatic negative hard-wiring and seeks to gently rewire the unconscious mind to respond to the strains of life as you wish it to – not to feel anxious or depressed all the time, not to reach for that comforting addiction that you want to stop because you know it\u2019s damaging you, and not to feel unnecessary fears or phobias that are limiting your life.<\/div>\n
Hypnotherapy is a safe, fast and effective way of helping you to remove unhelpful persistent automatic thoughts or behaviours, and to replace them with automatic positive thinking, encouraging feelings of calm, happiness, confidence, strength and determination to live the life you want to lead.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Cognitive Hypnotherapy has achieved great results. In a recent study published in the Mental Health Review Journal 2015, of people suffering from anxiety or depression reported themselves recovered after an average of 4-6 sessions. You can read more about the study here:<\/div>\n
http:\/\/www.emeraldinsight.com\/doi\/10.1108\/MHRJ-08-2014-0030<\/a>\u00a0<\/u><\/div>\n

[\/vc_toggle][vc_toggle title=”How does a hypnotherapy course work?” style=”rounded” size=”lg” open=”true” custom_font_container=”tag:h2|font_size:28|text_align:left” custom_google_fonts=”font_family:Raleway%3A100%2C200%2C300%2Cregular%2C500%2C600%2C700%2C800%2C900|font_style:600%20bold%20regular%3A600%3Anormal” use_custom_heading=”true”]<\/p>\n

During our first session, I will find out what you want to achieve and ask you about the nature of the problem\/s that you want to overcome. We\u2019ll get to know each other so that you can feel safe with me and secure in the knowledge that I\u2019m compassionate, non-judgmental and have the expertise to help you to let go of your problem.<\/div>\n
I will ask you a number of questions: about what might have been, and\/or are now, the original triggers behind why you\u2019re feeling or acting in this way, how your problem is affecting your life, and what ideally you would like to achieve by coming to see me.<\/div>\n
In our first session, we\u2019ll do a simple hypnotherapy exercise together that you\u2019ll be able to practise at home to enhance and accelerate the therapy process between sessions. Clients who take the time to practise self-hypnosis techniques in this way usually see results more quickly. During our second and subsequent sessions, I\u2019ll use various hypnotherapy techniques to gently, safely and effectively \u2018rewire\u2019 your brain to let go of your destructive, problematic thinking or behaviours. In the course of your treatment, when necessary, I may record a bespoke hypnotherapy audio for you to listen to at home.<\/div>\n

[\/vc_toggle][vc_toggle title=”What happens in a hypnotherapy session?” style=”rounded” size=”lg” open=”true” custom_font_container=”tag:h2|font_size:28|text_align:left” custom_google_fonts=”font_family:Raleway%3A100%2C200%2C300%2Cregular%2C500%2C600%2C700%2C800%2C900|font_style:600%20bold%20regular%3A600%3Anormal” use_custom_heading=”true”]<\/p>\n

At the beginning of each session, I\u2019ll ask you to close your eyes and relax in your chair and I\u2019ll then lead you into a deeply relaxed state, during which I\u2019ll gently make carefully constructed hypnotic suggestions to effect the positive change that you want. \u00a0You\u2019ll be freely able to respond and have a conversation with me throughout the process; it\u2019s important to stress that you\u2019re fully in control and can bring yourself out of your relaxed state whenever you choose.<\/div>\n
When the session is at an end, I\u2019ll gradually bring you out of the trance, assuming that you haven\u2019t already brought yourself out at an earlier stage in the intervention.<\/div>\n

[\/vc_toggle][vc_toggle title=”Can I be asked to do anything against my will or could I lose control?” style=”rounded” size=”lg” open=”true” custom_font_container=”tag:h2|font_size:28|text_align:left” custom_google_fonts=”font_family:Raleway%3A100%2C200%2C300%2Cregular%2C500%2C600%2C700%2C800%2C900|font_style:600%20bold%20regular%3A600%3Anormal” use_custom_heading=”true”]<\/p>\n

Absolutely not. You will be in control throughout and will be able to speak to me and respond to the world around you as you usually would. There\u2019s no way in which I can ask you or make you do or say anything against your wishes. In fact, cognitive hypnotherapy only works by helping you to think, act or behave in the way that you want<\/i> to behave, but can\u2019t because of your own unconscious blocks.<\/div>\n

[\/vc_toggle][vc_toggle title=”Is there any similarity between your hypnotherapy sessions and the stage hypnotists you see on TV?” style=”rounded” size=”lg” open=”true” custom_font_container=”tag:h2|font_size:28|text_align:left” custom_google_fonts=”font_family:Raleway%3A100%2C200%2C300%2Cregular%2C500%2C600%2C700%2C800%2C900|font_style:600%20bold%20regular%3A600%3Anormal” use_custom_heading=”true”]<\/p>\n

None whatsoever. A stage hypnotist is an entertainer and works in a completely different way. A hypnotherapy session with a qualified hypnotherapist is a completely safe and gentle form of therapy during which you will never lose control, or do or be made to say anything that you don\u2019t want to do or say. It will never involve being made to do something silly or embarrassing.<\/div>\n

[\/vc_toggle][vc_toggle title=”How will I feel when I\u2019m hypnotised?” style=”rounded” size=”lg” open=”true” custom_font_container=”tag:h2|font_size:28|text_align:left” custom_google_fonts=”font_family:Raleway%3A100%2C200%2C300%2Cregular%2C500%2C600%2C700%2C800%2C900|font_style:600%20bold%20regular%3A600%3Anormal” use_custom_heading=”true”]<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll feel relaxed, safe and in control, as if in a daydream controlled completely by you. You\u2019ll be able to respond to any outside stimuli \u2013 to speak to me or get up if you choose to. In some sessions, I\u2019ll have a conversation with you whilst you are in this light trance; you might be surprised at how normal this conversation feels. In other sessions, I\u2019ll take you into a deeper relaxed state with no talking required from you.<\/div>\n

[\/vc_toggle][vc_toggle title=”How many sessions will I need?” style=”rounded” size=”lg” open=”true” custom_font_container=”tag:h2|font_size:28|text_align:left” custom_google_fonts=”font_family:Raleway%3A100%2C200%2C300%2Cregular%2C500%2C600%2C700%2C800%2C900|font_style:600%20bold%20regular%3A600%3Anormal” use_custom_heading=”true”]<\/p>\n

Most of my hypnotherapy clients experience significant positive change in 4-6 sessions. \u00a0 Some, especially those with specific fears or phobias and those wanting to quit a particular habit such as smoking or nail-biting, may need only two or maybe three sessions before their problem is resolved.<\/div>\n
Those who seek counselling \u2013 with or without CBT \u2013 are generally looking for longer-term support. However, there\u2019s no need to book in a block of sessions; I run an easy-going practice and you can see me for as many or as few sessions as you like. All my clients report that they already feel a positive benefit after their first session with me.<\/div>\n

[\/vc_toggle][vc_toggle title=”What should I look for in a hypnotherapist?” style=”rounded” size=”lg” open=”true” custom_font_container=”tag:h2|font_size:28|text_align:left” custom_google_fonts=”font_family:Raleway%3A100%2C200%2C300%2Cregular%2C500%2C600%2C700%2C800%2C900|font_style:600%20bold%20regular%3A600%3Anormal” use_custom_heading=”true”]<\/p>\n

You should ensure that they\u2019re registered with a professional membership\/regulatory organisation such as the National Council for Hypnotherapy (NCH) or Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNCH). These organisations will take only the best-qualified, fully-insured hypnotherapists \u2013 they require that all their members have had rigorous training at a reputable accredited college and have had ongoing supervision.<\/div>\n
I myself am a graduate of the renowned Quest Institute and an NCH member.<\/div>\n

[\/vc_toggle][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1647718372949{margin-bottom: 50px !important;border-top-width: 2px !important;border-right-width: 2px !important;border-bottom-width: 2px !important;border-left-width: 2px !important;background-color: #ffffff !important;border-left-color: #dbdbdb !important;border-left-style: solid !important;border-right-color: #dbdbdb !important;border-right-style: solid !important;border-top-color: #dbdbdb !important;border-top-style: solid !important;border-bottom-color: #dbdbdb !important;border-bottom-style: solid !important;border-radius: 5px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/4″ css=”.vc_custom_1647718313791{padding-bottom: 20px !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”1565″ alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_circle_2″ css=”.vc_custom_1630518223079{padding-top: 20px !important;padding-bottom: 20px !important;}”][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”3\/4″ css=”.vc_custom_1630518234252{padding-top: 50px !important;}”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Contact Jo<\/b><\/h3>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Phone:<\/strong> 07967 528898[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Email:<\/strong> therapy@jopreston.co.uk[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Face-to-face sessions in my North London Practice or Online<\/b><\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” content_placement=”bottom” css=”.vc_custom_1696203474289{border-bottom-width: 140px !important;padding-top: 140px !important;background-image: url(http:\/\/jopreston.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/shutterstock_1296335449-scaled-e1630522181781.jpg?id=1639) !important;background-position: center !important;background-repeat: no-repeat !important;background-size: cover !important;}”][vc_column css=”.vc_custom_1629664361967{padding-bottom: 100px !important;}”][vc_column_text] FAQs … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-no-paddings.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1637","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/jopreston.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/jopreston.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/jopreston.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jopreston.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jopreston.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1637"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/jopreston.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1637\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1696,"href":"http:\/\/jopreston.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1637\/revisions\/1696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/jopreston.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}