This blog reflects on the Irish Hypnotherapy Conference that Dr Kate, HypnoTC’s Director of Studies, attended and presented at in April 2024. She gives you notes from each of the talks and events that she attended, as well as an overview of the Hypno Games she led and her conference presentation on Rapid Therapy approaches.
The conference was attended by delegates ranging from those completely new to hypnosis, to those who have been hypnotists or hypnotherapists for decades.
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Dr Kate attends the Irish Hypnotherapy Conference 2024
It was my first visit to the Irish Hypnotherapy Conference, and only the second time it has been held (2023 was the first). It is a massive project to organise a conference and John Scanlon, the organiser, did well delegating to a team of willing helpers, including Karl Smith. Here is a review of my experience of the conference. Where I have posted on Facebook photos of the presenters slides, I have linked to them in this blog.
Friday evening
The Irish Hypnotherapy Conference itself was on Saturday 20th April and Sunday 21st. On both conference days there were two streams for the morning, and only one stream in the afternoon, so plenty of choice throughout the weekend.
As many delegates arrived early, I had an opportunity to run an evening Hypno Games event. This was well attended and I suspect the laughter could be heard in the car park at times! It was fabulous to see people from complete newbies to those with 30+ years of hypno experience joining in.
Saturday morning speaker #1:
Grant Murrell “Hypnosis Blueprint”
After a great welcome to the Irish Hypnotherapy Conference by John Scanlon, the first speaker in the Connaught Room is Grant Murrell with his ‘Hypnosis Blueprint’.
Grant had an interesting strategy for raising energy and engagement, asking a lot of questions about what people wanted, all linked to his presentation. After giving us some background and his story, he talked to us about systems, mindset and strategy. Some of the helpful tips he offered included,
– start your business with the end in mind
– the person with the highest energy wins in business
– there needs to be an energy exchange – you need something in return for your efforts
– have a call to action
– speak to clients in the language they understand
– have systems to run your business optimally
– for any social media or advertising approach… test it and then measure it
– ads on Pinterest are cheaper
– speak in other people’s rooms (e.g. get on a podcast, speak at a conference) as you reach another audience
– make contact with local media (TV, radio, local media)
– be a specialist, not a generalist
– profile your ideal client and work to attract a particular client group
– you can consider transferable skills and relate to those in your elevator pitch
Grant wrapped up his talk with an elevator pitch blueprint:
-“My name is ()…over the past (time) I have helped people to (change) in (setting)…so that they can (compelling/emotional reason)… and end with a call to action.
Saturday morning speaker #2:
Jason O’Callaghan “10 ways to make money as a hypnotherapist”
Jason O’Callaghan was next, talking about how to make money as a hypnotist. There was an interesting presentation format, having a chat with John Scanlon.
Jason talked about out-sourcing what you can, giving us the example that his Facebook page is managed abroad for $100 a month.
He also suggests upselling with mp3 downloads; he has a standard induction and then adds on a personalised bit with suggestions.
In addition, he suggests hypnotists target their market and keep their costs as low as possible.
Saturday morning speaker #3:
Laura McDonald “Transformative Wellness: A blueprint for weight loss and lifelong success”
Laura talked about ‘Transformative Wellness- A blueprint for weightless and lifelong success’. She started with a fun chair search; four had stickers (tiny) and those finding them were awarded a copy of her book.
She said, when working with emotional eaters, there is a lot to consider. She starts by asking why they want to lose weight. Then, what life is like when they have lost weight.
She talks of tidying up the client’s mind and making it a more pleasant place to be, and does an emotional clearing with each client. Then considers the client’s relationship with themselves and does inner child work.
She then considers the future self and asks clients to meet themselves at their ideal state (eating habits, emotions…). Next, she talks about the client’s plan, both eating and exercise. It needs to work for the client, rather than be perceived as too hard. Laura also talked of the differences between ‘try’ and ‘do’. She then gets the client to visualise what they want to be; making it more natural.
Sleep and stress were also mentioned. With some useful information that one night of poor sleep leads to blood sugar dis-regulation also leading to fat storage around the middle. With stress, the cortisol produced leads to glucose being stored around the waist. In addition to checking for these, she also suggests getting bloods and thyroid checked to eliminate underlying medical issues.
Laura ended with the tales of two wolves and the moral of the tale is to feed your positive helpful self.
Saturday morning speaker #4:
Fiachra Morrison “The power of imagination, how we see the past, present and future”
I caught the first half of Fiachra’s talk where he started with the concept “Whatever the mind can conceive we can achieve”. He made good use of storytelling and moments of humour to highlight his points.
Saturday afternoon:
Dr Kate Beaven-Marks “Rapid Therapy Approaches”
You may wonder what I covered in my talk at the Irish Hypnotherapy Conference, so here is a summary of ‘Rapid Therapy Approaches’ (RTA).
The benefits of using RTA include that they are particularly good for occasions where time is limited, such as clients who talk a lot in the therapy session and for taster experiences and demonstrations (as the audience won’t get bored). RTA are also very useful in medical, clinical and dental settings, where there is little time to work and also when working with off site clients, such as sport and performance work.
It is important to prepare your client, to manage expectations and dispel myths with a good, positively-focused pre-talk and psycho-education. Part of this is to have a client briefing and set up, using positioning, consent, suggestion and focus engagement strategies.
You might imagine that working quickly would mean skipping suggestibility testing, but far from it. Testing can actually save time as you find out what will work best for that client, as well as priming for hypnosis, warming up the client with an engaging task and dispelling any performance anxiety. In addition, you are getting info about resistance, compliance, engagement, sensory and phenomena preferences.
I talked through my version of the Eye lock Window suggestibility test, which the conference delegates then practiced.
Keen to give people some practical experience of using RTA I talked through the breathing induction, the rocking deepener and the arm lift/drop deepener. Participants were also introduced to three techniques so they had choice of what to then practice. These were the Rapid Insight technique, the Empowered Release technique and the Mirror (ego boosting) technique.
For everyone who attended, there is a bonus mentoring session in May (via Zoom).
I certainly did cram a lot in to the session and it was lovely to receive many positive messages after the session.
Photo courtesy of the Irish Hypnotherapy Conference Community.
Saturday evening:
Gala dinner
The conference included a gala dinner with entertainment on the Saturday evening. A great opportunity for conference delegates to dress up and chat to each other without having to rush between awesome speaker events.
The evening started with a delightful three-course meal, which was served surprisingly quickly given the 10 tables and almost 100 seats. Then, everyone was entertained by Dylan Lovegrove, who delivered a highly entertaining comedy stage hypnosis show, to much laughter and applause. The volunteers were fabulous and Dylan offered a superb range of routines.
The evening ended with a DJ and a diverse range of music that soon had people up and dancing.
Sunday morning speaker #1:
Garry Coles “Hypno-oncology – Hypnotic Interventions for the Cancer Journey”
The first speaker on the Sunday morning was Garry Coles. It was good to see the room gradually fill up with people despite their late night.
Garry started with his background and setting the scene for quite how many people you could reach with up to 70% of people with cancer seeking Complementary therapy. He then talked about the Cancer Act in the UK, the use of Complementary therapy and the evidence-based risks of avoiding conventional medicine.
Garry also talked of the many benefits and how to report hypnotherapy work in medical settings. He then goes on to talk about the different types of cancer and grading. Local treatments (eg surgery) and broader treatments (eg chemotherapy) were also explored, including a good explanation of targeted therapy.
A wealth of information about treatment approaches then followed. Garry wrapped up with a quick mention of PNI and then an overview of a number of case studies and how to work in this field.
Sunday morning speaker #2:
Dr Sue Peacock “Reversing the negative spiral, using hypnosis to manage depression”
Sue is quietly spoken, but this worked well, as the audience sat quietly so they could hear what she had to say in a really informative presentation.
Sunday morning speaker #3:
Stephen McGill “The future of therapy promotion, social media essentials”
Stephen McGill talked about reaching the right audience at the right time. A good suggestion is to allocate some time to make use of free social media training, such as on YouTube and a
content strategy can help avoid overwhelm. He suggests considering the potential client’s pain points as a starting point.
He says ‘authenticity’ is the big thing for 2024 with genuine content and to ask yourself if your posts offer value, give information or position you as an expert. He says any post should hit at least one category.
He is a fan of TikTok for promotion. He suggests videos can be any length, but quality is key.
There is an app on Play Store called ‘Captions’ which uses AI to put captions on videos; great for people watching whilst travelling (e.g. on the train) or at work.
He allowed 10 minutes to answer questions, and showed he was able to think on his feet and give clear and concise answers.
Sunday afternoon speaker #1:
Kaz Riley “Let’s talk about sex, why understanding and discussing sexual health can lead to breakthroughs”
Kaz Riley is the first speaker this afternoon. A quick poll found that whilst a lot of people work with common issues like smoking cessation, weight and anxiety, few ask about its impact on their sex life, yet Kaz said that 40-70% of clients may have some serial dysfunction.
She explored the most common sexual dysfunctions. Interesting how the law of reversed effect comes in, such as trying to orgasm can inhibit it.
It was clear that a good intake is important. Kaz told us that she starts with clients by looking at their life force. What lifts people up and what weighs them down. Interestingly antidepressants can be a significant negative influence on sexual function, as if people don’t already have enough to cope with.
Kaz suggests that the prospect of better sex can be a great motivator for commitment for the therapy process. For smokers, there are many benefits for stopping smoking, including a notable impact on their sex life. The same for weight control and anxiety.
Ultimately, she says that talking to a client about personal matters does take tact and considered phrasing of questions. Rather than ‘how is your sex life?’, ‘what impact is there on relationships and your intimate life?’
It was interesting to notice that as the session ended with a Q&A there were quite a few ‘asking for a friend’ questions.
Sunday afternoon speaker #2:
Karl Smith “Working with military and emergency services, behind the body armour”
Karl Smith talked about his background and how he learned hypnosis from Jonathan Chase. He did a demo of his emotional detox technique which was well-received by the audience.
He is a skilled story-teller and had the audience riveted throughout. He suggested that when working with military and other response workers, to find out about the impact of their issues on their families. Also, to avoid re-traumatising their clients.
Sunday afternoon:
Closing of the Irish Hypnotherapy Conference 2024
A wrap up to the conference with a raffle, a thank you by Karl Smith , with a standing ovation (well deserved) for John Scanlon.
John started off his closing talk by talking about the power of the imagination and how the concept of the conference came about, its growth and its purpose.
He encourages delegates to continue to support and network with each other.
John mentioned how well Dylan Lovegrove, the comedy stage hypnotist night, coped with the mic challenges (on site mics) which kept dropping audio and how we can learn to keep calm in adversity in the same way.
Kaz Riley also commented and thanked all of the conference volunteers and helpers for all of their efforts.
The conference closed with a very positive message that next year, April 2025, the conference will be in Dublin, tickets are now for sale and the call for speakers in live.
Conclusion
For only it’s second year it was really well organised. The delegates were lovely and keen to learn and as a speaker, it was great to spend time with other speakers who I regularly meet at conferences. I am already looking forward to next year’s event.
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– written by Dr Kate Beaven-Marks
(HypnoTC Director)
