Regulation long overdue

Regulation of hypnosis is long overdue, but even then it would not stop people from abusing their clients. In today's Daily Mail, they highlight a case of a hypnotherapist abusing his client. Fortunately he is now on a sex offenders register and his computer monitored. It is not just hypnotherapists that abuse clients. No matter what training or qualifications you have, abusers will abuse.

That is why it is even more important for clients to find someone with recognised qualifications and ask the therapist questions before embarking on therapy. The therapist Phillip Sherwin from Leicester has been jailed thankfully, and looking at his qualifications, if you can call it that, amounted to a short training session with a dubious 'training school'. The courses I run last for ten months, but that is really only the start of the therapist's training. I am still in training myself even after 12 years in practice.

Training that lasts for less than a year, and has less than twenty full days training is not worth the paper the qualification it is written on. Most therapists work towards the Hypnotherapy Practitioner Diploma which is a recognised qualification awarded by the NCFE (awarding body). Anyone with anything less than this has had doubtful training. All training schools need to be monitored too.

I know I cannot be held responsible for how therapists conduct themselves after I have trained them, but I do emphasise with students that they must do no harm and act with integrity.

This dreadful therapist has ruined his life now, and it serves him right if he has abused a client who was seeking his help.

For people wishing to train in this field of therapy, make sure you look for a training school offering the Hypnotherapy Practitioner Diploma. Anything less is not the best.

For clients, ask many questions, find out what qualifications the therapist has and you can even ask for recommendations, as some clients are only too happy to talk about how you have helped them.