1. hypnotherapists.org.uk - Issue 2 Volume 11 - The Hypnotherapy Journal hypnotherapists.org.uk - Issue 2 Volume 11 - The Hypnotherapy Journal 2726
Working in our profession can often
be a bit lonely.
Many of us work as individual
providers of hypnotherapy and in
between running our business,
getting new clients and seeing the
clients we already have, there is not
much room left for getting together
with others in the profession.
Many practising hypnotherapists have
wondered if peer support groups can
help? But the success rate of these
The basics of peer support
groups seems to be quite mixed,
many collapse after a couple of
meetings.
Some hypnotherapists have also
reported that they can get too cosy.
How do you respond when a
colleague says they have done
something which seems to you to be
unethical when you are just sitting
chatting in a pub? We all know what
we should do, and hopefully would
deal with the situation in a
professional and ethical way. But
most of us would admit that we
would not find it easy.
There are some groups which do work
and work very well. This is a
description of just one, based in
Wakefield in West Yorkshire. The
Members of NCH must show a
commitment to ongoing professional
development and have an established
system of professional peer support or
supervision.
Peer support is now an established part of
many professional support and
development networks. Many use fixed
templates and record forms to assess and
record meetings. These can include the
process used in each session, how each
session is evaluated and how success is
measured.
In order to work and be a safe space for
all practitioners’ clear ground rules
should be laid down. These may include
a commitment from the entire group to
confidentiality and an undertaking to
avoid names and identifying details of
clients when discussing them in open
session. Ground rules can also include
the more positive virtues, such as
promoting evidence-based practice, a
promise to share best practice as each
participant in the group understands it.
Many of the skills needed to facilitate
and develop good peer support groups
are ones hypnotherapists will be familiar
with. A commitment to active listening,
an awareness of empathy and rapport
and skills in managing group dynamics
will all be essential to developing a
strong and successful group.
Peer support on
Magic Mondays
Ann Jaloba reports on a successful peer
support group and asks - what are the secrets
of getting these groups to work?
Wakefield group meets in a
nondescript pub on a main road
heading out of the Yorkshire ex
mining town. But in this fairly
ordinary setting a little bit of magic is
conjured on the first Monday of every
month. More than 20 practising
hypnotherapists gather together to
extend their knowledge and offer
each other support and advice. The
atmosphere is warm and supportive
and the group includes very
experienced
practitioners and
newer folk.
Those who are fairly
new to the
profession are made
to feel welcome and
comfortable in
asking more basic
questions – there is an understanding
that they bring a freshness and new
perspective which is valuable in itself.
Those attending travel to get there,
coming from as far afield as Preston,
Sheffield, Hull, Grimsby and
Lincolnshire
The group feels very well established
but in fact it has only been going in
its current form since last February.
It grew out of a group which had
come together as they had all trained
at the same school. One of the
founders of the current group, Phil
Wheeliker, describes this group as
‘limping along’. He felt it had become
little more than a social group and
was not really offering professional
support and development to its
members. So with another member of
this group, Susie Lawrence, they
decided to try to widen the basis of
the group.
The first challenge was locating where
the wider groups of hypnotherapists
they wanted to attract. Using both
personal contacts and hypnotherapy
registers, they contacted people far
and wide to encourage them to try
out the group. They were very keen to
open up the group to people who had
been trained in different schools and
possibly had different skills and
perspectives. The also saw that the
group could offer a very powerful
continuing professional development.
Serious and well informed
presentations are key. At the last
meeting, Phil gave a presentation on
EFT. Generosity is central to making
it work; Phil for example offered to
email his PowerPoint presentation to
anyone in the group who wanted it.
Recently, more unusual techniques
such as hypnopictography have been
presented. Peer support groups can
play a very important role when
people want to explore a new
technique.
The format allows people to see up
close how to do something, and it
also gives the chance to question the
presenter – as an experienced
practitioner of the technique. If
someone decides to try to use a new
technique with a client, they know
they have back up from a more
experienced pracitioner.
The group has a facebook presence –
both Susie and Phil think that this has
been very important in the success of
the group. This space is closed (only
people who are members of the group
can see the relevant facebook page)
which means members can talk online
without the fear of outsiders seeing
the debates. It is a great space in
which to share and support each
other between the meetings.
As the group established itself it has
become a mechanism for members to
support each other between meetings.
Members email or phone
each other, or swap
messages on facebook if
they have a problem or
challenge with a client.
This gives the members a
great feeling of stability
and confidence in that
they know help is at
hand should they need it.
It is not all about problems however,
it can also provide a bit of a
campaigning platform. For example
Susie would like to see hypnotherapy
used in the NHS to treat the effects
of trauma – she knows she has had
such good results with such clients
and sees the group as one way of
spreading this message.
Finally, there are sandwiches and
chips in the break in the middle of the
meeting. Not much good for the
waistline, but nice anyway!
Can you let us know about any peer
support group you attend. It would
be good to swap experiences and
build up a picture of what works for
peer support and what doesn’t.
Perhaps when we have collected
enough information we can produce
a guide on setting up and
maintaining these groups.
‘As the group established itself it has
become a mechanism for members to
support each other between meetings.’