What is trauma?
Trauma is how our body and our Nervous System respond to an experience. Trauma is the response, not so much the event itself.
You may have seen or heard of situations where people have experienced the same traumatic experience but respond in difference ways.
It occurs as a sort of overwhelm to the system, whether it be physical, mental, emotional or spiritual. Trauma is a wound and people can be wounded in many ways and to different degrees both intentionally and unintentioanally by people who were trying to cope with their own wounds.
Without healing or processing trauma can grow and present itself as physical pain, weight gain, illness, mental health issues, habits, and behaviours.
A Session with Natalie is around 1.5 hours. Feelings that come up through the session are worked on and then the session ends with hypnotherapy leaving you feeling good.
Using Master Hypnotherapist Justine Lette’s protocol, “The Golden Thread Process”, we do not need to talk through about any Trauma or past experiences. We do start chatting about how you are feeling now just to find triggers and shift what is needed. This process is called Memory Reconsolidation.
What to Expect in a Trauma-Informed Hypnotherapy Session
In a trauma-informed Hypnotherapy session, you will have a conversation about your week, focusing on any situations that have caused you distress. These situations represent underlying stored trauma so Natalie will take you through the Golden Thread process to shift the feelings associated with the underlying trauma which shifts the memory from the part of the brain where is “unprocessed” to the filing cabinet in the brain where memories sit that don’t cause you any issues. You do not talk about the underlying event; you talk about what feelings are causing you problems now.
Natalie will then take you into hypnosis focused on resetting your nervous system, so it understands the threat has passed and your mind and body no longer has to sit in “fight or flight” mode which is ultimately what is causing you issues now.
At the end of the session, you are brought back to a conscious state feeling great and relaxed, ready to continue with your day.
Despite common misconceptions, you remain in control throughout the session. A hypnotherapist cannot control your mind or make you do anything you don’t want to do. Your mind will not allow Natalie to provide a suggestion that your mind disagrees with. This appears to happen in stage show hypnosis but is not what happens in Hypnotherapy.
The desire to change is a key factor to success. Your mind will resist any change you don’t want to make.
It doesn’t feel like a “trance” or “disassociation”. Hypnosis simply feels like deep relaxation.
After your session, you might feel relaxed and refreshed. Some people notice changes immediately, while for others, it may take a few sessions. It’s important to reflect on your experience and maintain open communication with your hypnotherapist.
Hypnotherapy FAQs
What if I can’t be hypnotised?
Trauma-Informed Hypnotherapy is very different to stage hypnosis which is what most people think of when they think of Hypnotherapy. Stage hypnosis is a show and the participants appear to be under the control of the hypnotist, but they are not. In a Hypnotherapy session I guide you into a state of deep relaxation using techniques perfected by thousands of Hypnotherapists and Meditation Teacher’s before me. It is not possible to not be able to go into this state. It is a change in frequency or speed of brainwaves which is the natural functioning of your brain. I do not have control over your brain, that is a misconception.
Are you able to “fix” my problem ?
No. I - the Hypnotherapist - cannot fix your problem. First of all, nothing about you is a problem. Whatever your problem is - weight-issues, sleep issues, addictions etc - serves a purpose. It helps you in someway to deal with something. You don’t like the way your brain/body are dealing with whatever is underlying the behaviour so I will teach your brain a new way to deal with it that doesn’t have negative effects on your life, or better yet, I will help your brain naturally deal with the underlying cause. I am like a tour guide, taking your brain on the journey it needs to fix itself.
How much does it cost?
$120.00 per session for trauma-informed Hypnotherapy. You may book 5 in advance for the cost of 4 sessions.
What happens in a session?
All sessions start with a discussion about your life; what happened this week, were you triggered, What was good, what wasn’t good. The reason for this conversation is because in trauma sufferers, the unprocessed memories play out in everyday life in many possible ways. Over-reactions, anger, over-eating, addictions, habits, and relationship problems. When telling me about these manifestations of trauma we have an opportunity to reprocess these memories and store them in the part of the brain where they should be so they are still there but no longer trigger you. We do this - and sometimes only this - in a session. We may also go into traditional Hypnotherapy which is like guided meditation to create “new” memories in the sub-conscious mind that set you up for new patterns of behaviour.
How many sessions will I need?
You decide when you feel like your issue is resolved and you don’t need to see me again. Sometimes there are many instances of trauma that need to be worked through, and other times there is only one thing wrecking havoc and once that is dealt with you are OK.
Do I have to think about or relive the traumatic event?
Absolutely not. Recent trauma research has found that regression therapy is not necessary to work-through trauma and can in fact retraumatise the client. I utilise methods that do not require you to re-live the event that caused your PTSD.