During my clinical hypnotherapy training, my teacher said something that has stuck with me. “You cannot take your clients where you won’t go”. It was very powerful to hear those words because I was in a training where I expected, like many trainings that I have attended, that I would be taught information and then do some “mock” exercises and go home and study. This was not that training. This was completely and wholly experiential and I was expected to participate in hypnotherapy and work on whatever came up for me or I was “stuck” with.

Her words reminded me that we are all dealing with challenges in our lives and I am no good for my clients if I cannot work on that which affects me. I don’t want to be numb or disconnected in some way when my clients bring up a subject that may have connection to me. I want to walk through their pain, anxiety, grief, etc with them so that they come through the other side in a better space than they were previously but I cannot do that if I am so affected by what they talk about that I shut out me. I continue to use hypnotherapy and other modalities for self-care and to ensure that I am present with integrity. It is a privilege to work with my clients and a responsibility that I do not take lightly.

When I work on my challenges then they are less likely to come up for me and therefore the session is really about the client and my ability to hold space for them to make the choices they need in order to heal.

We are all wounded healers but like our clients, are wounds are ours alone and this uniqueness colors our practice. Honor what it adds to your humanness but care for it so that it and you may recover.