Is hypnotherapy the right career for me?

Being a hypnotherapist means being a "people person," and really caring about people. While the skills to hypnotize a person can be learned by just about anyone, it takes someone with a love of working with people to be a great hypnotherapist.

Clients will need to be comfortable with you and to trust that you are looking out for their best interests and are "on the level." A friendly, sincere and open manner is good to have, and client relations skills can be learned and polished to very professional levels. In this case, professional doesn't mean an artificial separation or distance, nor a polished and rehearsed presentation, but rather an ability to be authentic, caring and sincere with the client at their level, where ever that may be.

If you like spending hours each day in a relaxed, tranquil environment, then you'll like the hypnotherapy office environment. Being aware of people's needs and comfort - such as offering them a glass of water after every session, and giving them time to re-adjust after a deep session - is important, and should come naturally to you already.

Professional standards such as confidentiality, platonic professionalism under all circumstances, and sharing the feeling that there is plenty of time to answer all their questions and explain everything, among other standards, are important as well.

Like any profession, hypnotherapy is more glamorous in the movies and in books than it is in real, daily life. If you have visions of your days being filled with finding reincarnated famous people via past life regression, getting paid to party with hypno-erotic groups, or solving mysteries with the courts and detectives with hypnosis, you'll probably be disappointed. While any of those things can happen occasionally, most of your appointments will probably be about weight loss, smoking, phobias, pain management around disease or healing, and relaxing for healthly stress reduction. Every one of those clients deserve your full attention, interest and efforts, so be sure you can offer that before you "go pro."