What is the market like for hypnotherapists?

[TTDEEB]

I am graduating with a BA in psychology this Fall and I need to make some serious career choices within the next few months. I have been interested in hypnosis ever since my freshman year. A part of me wants to get NGH certified and start practicing, but then another part of me is worried that there won't be enough of a market to be able to maintain a living.

What was it like for many of you when you were first starting out? Is it hard to get clients or has the emergence of the internet made it vastly easier to find people interested in seeking hypnotherapy?

[Poodle]

Personally I believe it has a lot to do with where one lives. Hypnosis seems to be much more accepted in certain areas of the USA than in others. That does not mean in the least that it will stop you. It just takes doing great work, loving what you do and following up with clients.

You have an advantage and yet it is still a great challenge -- psychology and hypnotherapy. Which one are you going to use as your main tool? Milton chose hypnosis. I personally do not feel that in today's market hypnosis is enough. You also need NLP and Time Line Therapy wouldn't hurt in the least at all either. They all work together to give you more tools to get people better faster. You may notice that Dr. Matt here teaches psychology but also teaches hypnosis, NLP and time line work as well as Huna. APU is an accredited school.

WARNING: Not all NGH instructors are equal. We had one member in Canada and he got to learn one whole induction -- relax-o-therapy. He got to learn how to read scripts at a client. He knew he needed more training so he he called me on the phone and we had a long discussion and he then flew from one end of Canada across the whole USA to learn what he needed to be successful which included what I wrote above. He is now "fully cooked". You will need to be excellent in and at business. You will need a minimum of six months income to live on and do ads because if people don't know you exist, how can they call you? You will need to generate all the FREE speaking engagements you can find...FREE ADVERTISING! We never quit learning -- each and every client is a new learning experience. We read all the great books we can find. We watch DVD's. We spend a lot of money continuning our education. There will most probably be other trainings that you will want to attend too.

Go into the back pages of this Forum where this question has been answered soo many times. You will find sage advice from all of us and even from some that don't visit much now. We all take great pride in the work we do.

Be well~Pood :)

[Docresults]

A part of me wants to get NGH certified and start practicing, but then another part of me is worried that there won't be enough of a market to be able to maintain a living.

Is it hard to get clients or has the emergence of the internet made it vastly easier to find people interested in seeking hypnotherapy?

TTDEEB,


Why is it that two _______ (hypnotist, lawyers, doctors, plumbers, etc., two of any profession) who when to the same school, got the same grades, graduated together, opened shop (practice) in the same town, spend the exact same amount on advertising and advertised in the same places and publications; both are in the exact same place economically and financially, one of them makes it and the other doesn't? What's up with that?

Also isn't hypnosis designed to resolve delimna's like this?

To Your Best,
Doc Houston

[Don]

The easiest way to find out about the market in your area is to look in the yellow pages and any place (such as Craig's List or weekly free papers) where services are advertised.

If there are long lists of hypnotists, you may have difficulties breaking into the market. If, on the other hand, there are no hypnotists, you may have a challenge to create a market in your area.

Poodle's statement is accurate. I would like to take it a bit further. Let's assume you have received your NGH certification. Then what? If you're considering starting up your own business, do you know about publicity? accounting? tax laws? advertising? insurance? local ordinances concerning hypnosis? Do you know that most new businesses fail within one year of starting up because they are underplanned and underfinanced? Do you have a way to support yourself for a year before your business takes off?

Repectfully, I would strongly urge you to take some basic business classes while you plan your future.

I'd like to point out something else. You're going to get a B.A. in psychology. In most states in the U.S. you need at least an M.A. to get licensed to practice counseling. That will take another 2 years, meaning you'll have spent 6 years studying before you can legally practice, and then you'll only be a beginner. The truth is that while a few people who take single certification courses do make it as professionals, the vast majority do not. Most successful ones end up taking numerous trainings, reading many books, watching lots of videos, and listening to audio lessons. Then they begin slowly, perhaps getting only one or two clients per week and slowly building up a clientele. Merely getting certified says you're entitled to practice but does not say you're qualified to practice.

Is it hard to get clients? You're assuming that when you start your business is working with clients. It is not. Part of your business will be that. Part of your business will be record keeping. And when you're beginning, unless you work for someone already in business, probably the major aspect of what you do will be the work of obtaining clients. For example, you may want to get tri-fold publicity hand-outs and display stands and go around to places that will let you put them up. Try beauty parlors. You may want to call and call and call so you can give free talks about what hypnosis really is and what it can do for service organizations such as Kiwanis clubs.

I often tell people that when you start a business it is more like a marriage than work. You will not be going to a 40-hour-a-week job. Instead, if you want to be successful, you'll be spending 60-80 hours a week or more getting your business rolling. Some of that will be working with clients. Some of that will be doing paperwork. At the beginning, most of it may be getting publicity and finding places to advertise and doing free talks.

I still remember the first "weekend wonder" certification class that I took. At the end of it I was certified by two organizations including the NGH. Many of the people were trying hypnosis as a second career. I was amazed at the number of people who made comments such as "I'm retiring from being a truck driver and thought I could learn hypnosis and go into business." They were all certified and I don't think any of them became professionals (well, except one).

On many superficial levels--and by that I mean the undergraduate study of the subject--some of the major beliefs that underlie modern psychology and hypnotherapy are at odds with each other. Respectfully, I don't think having a B.A. in psychology makes anyone more prepared to practice hypnotherapy than does 30 years as a truck driver. If you want to begin as a hypnotherapist, I would respectfully suggest you consider the following:

1) While you are getting your degree in psychology, also take numerous elective classes in starting and running a business. Be sure to cover accounting, advertising, business law and publicity.

2) Find out about free business mentoring organizations in your area.

3) Start making a list of fraternal, business, social, and other organizations that might be interested in a free talk from you once you start your business.

4) Yes, take trainings and get certified. Then take more trainings and get more certifications. I like to walk my talk. Even though I've been doing this for awhile, during the past year I've taken four trainings (including NLP practitioner and master practitioner) and received something like eight certifications as a result of that training.

5) Get 30 books on hypnosis and read them. Do a thorough book report on each. Put it up on a website. Later, when you start a business, you'll also need to start a website and transfer these reviews to that site. The only people who don't need a website today are those with enough clients not to require one.

I hope this helps a bit. I think being a hypnotherapist is a great direction for the future. But taking one workshop doesn't make a person a hypnotherapist any more than taking psychology 101 makes one a psychologist. Put in the work. Pay your dues. The future is unlimited.

[Poodle]

:eek:Out of my initial class of about 26, there were four of us that "made it". Me, one strictly for the NLP to businesses and two guys became personal coaches, with a lot more study, of course. The odds are not great only because they really, really didn't want to do what it took to follow through.

I have to admit that I owe a lot of the credit to the Forum leaders when I joined this place. They made sure I had the "right" books to read and explained a lot of what I did not understand. I also had a very, very experienced CI and Clinical Hypnotherapist that held my hand for a good six months. It's amazing the things that pop up with clients that one never learns at a training -- any training. Websites here? NOPE! People don't use pc's here much. They look in the phonebook.

Another little story. We had one of the best acupuncturists in the USA right here. He was totally amazing. He had no money to advertise. People did not know he existed. Sadly, he's gone and has been replaced by one that has a lot of money, on TV all the time, thousands and thousands of dollars in newspaper ads, but he sure doesn't know 1/1000th of that first one. It's all flash and dazzle. Had a lady call me from upstate this past spring wanting to become a CH and which school and is there enough business for us. I told her to go get it as I NEED THE HELP NOW!! Getting the idea??

The "certifications" actually mean nothing. They only mean you attended the class. They do not indicate you learned anything. People have even had their pets "certified". The "I Love Me Wall" impresses the heck out of clients as in their minds each certification = four years of higher learning. We are not that nice in NLP. You actually have to demonstrate it all in front of our eyes or your name does not get submitted.

Jack was going to "certify" my Poodle from the University of Narnia. People would have believed it was real. One can even purchase NLP certifications on eBay.

Hopefully, one day and some how, we will all figure out how to make the certifications really mean that students did learn what they were supposed to learn but a lot of the school systems just pass kids on to the next grade as the teachers are tired of dealing with that/those particular students so they can become the next teacher's problem. Last night on the local news they gave the SAT scores for the State. We flunked in every category up to and including English. :eek:

[Don]

There is a new org out there, the Society of Experiential Trance, that only certifies you if you have either A) demonstrated your ability to someone in the Society who is authorized to observe and report your success, or B) mailed in a video of yourself successfully accomplishing what is required for certification.

It's a new group, so I have no idea how important it will be, or even if they will continue to follow their own guidelines. However, I do like the concept.

[skip]

First check the laws in your state, to see if you are even leagally qualified to practice.

Many states require at least a masters in clinical social work and passing boards to practice hypnosis as such, just as they do therapy.

Then you are in competition with every Psycharitrist, LCSW, Psychologist, Rolfer, Reiki, Lay Preacher, VooDoo and other practioners, out there.

Most business, and the best business comes from referrals.

Catch 22: No business no referrals, no referrals no business.

And starting out you have little practice and perhaps little confidence.

That is where quality training shines. You will come out of quality training knowing you can accomplish things for people, because you got lots of experience during training.

Crappy training will leave you KNOWING you arent prepared.

You can begin by doing things that give you some exposure.

You can do some quick interventions (with consent of course) for people that you happen to interact with for other purposes, and their positive reports will bring you others who they have told about you.

You could actually start with very little money, if you have a PRIVATE room in your home, where you could work with clients, and use word of mouth to build a practice. I know many therapasts who work from a portion of their home, but it is a professional looking space.

Irregardless it takes some time, a lot of effort and some or more money to become established.

cheers,

skip

[Connie]

It IS a lot of effort, but if it's your passion and your joy and your LIFE, it's worth it. How bad do you want it?

Finding this career has brought and is bringing (current tense) me more satisfaction and pleasure and sense of fulfillment than anything I've ever done in my life. I'm so happy. And grateful.

[Poodle]

We don't do "therapy". We do hypnosis and during some time which I missed (I think in Orlando), we are called "Consulting Hypnotists". I have no idea what that means. I well understand Consulting Geologists and Consulting Engineers but I have yet to grasp the concept of "Consulting Hypnotists". Consulting to whom? Supposedly in NGH's mind, hypnotist is a fabulous word as that's what Milton called himself and one of the most regulated States is Florida. This is another fabulous reason to be a NLPer -- no regulations and one can call a spade a spade. One can put an ad in the paper and say "Phobia Cure" which as a "consulting hypnotist" would be a "fear". In my mind there is a very large range between fear and phobia and only MD's can "cure". I had no idea how to "cure a phobia" hypnotically as I never had reason to learn. Why waste hours when it can be accomplished in minutes. I recently bought a script book and it is loaded with "phobias". Apparently they are much more difficult with hypnosis and one needs different patter for different "fears"???????

Home offices can get very iffey. I have had people waiting that stole antiques while I was with the client. Another person I know of had someone waiting who snuck into their bedroom and played with her underware. She could not stand the thought so she threw everything out and bought new. They upped their security system to continually "watch" everyone in, out, waiting, etc. I "think" they spent about $5,000 upping that security system. I was told that in larger cities one can rent an office by the hour....just bring what you need for the session. Wonder if that includes the "I Love Me Wall"? LOL!! :-) Pood

[skip]

"Played with her underware ..." And she didnt take that as a compliment? !!!

You are correct there are all sorts of possible pitfalls out there.

No matter which path you choose.

He can get himself ordained by the Universal Life Church and go for it.

He can do what he does and call it something else.

He can go to an accredited school (Which I understand American Pacific University to now be) and get a degree that IS recognized legally and acadamically.

How he goes about this is his choice.

The market is booming. There are people out there who want/need help by the ton. All he needs to do is convince people that he can help them ... and then deliver.

skip

[Vin]

Just to make a comparison. In Italy there are a few hypnotherapist, mainly ericksonian, and a lot of interest for hypnosis. There aren't the classical misconsceptions, probably because we never had stage hypnotists and our religion is softer (nobody is talking about devil).
Potentially the market is great, word of mouth is powerful, more than websites and the like. If you do a succesful stop smoking, you have 4 or 5 client's friends ready to go.
Quick ones.
Nobody is interested in certifications.
Confidence is required and necessary.
Almost everybody prefer hypnos to psychologists.
There are tons of opportunities to learn.
The moment they step in, a great deal of work has been done.

Vin

[Merlin]

for stop smoking, pain relief, stop cancering, better baseball skills?
what will you offer?
where?
israel, california, iran, england