image of Joy Gower hypnotherapist in Norfolk

You may be wondering how long it takes to train to become a hypnotherapist and NLP practitioner. The answer is you never stop learning and training. To begin the foundation course, it takes ten months of constant studying , and of course to practice with as many volunteers as you can find.

There are training providers that offer all kinds of training in a short space of time. You cannot possibly learn to be a psychotherapist, counsellor, hypnotherapist and NLP practitioner, and maybe other skills, all in ten months. You need to learn just hypnotherapy and NLP to begin with so that you can feel competent enough to start practicing.

If providers are offering you lots of skills, it might mean that at the end of the course you may not feel confident enough, because far too much information has been forced on you.

It takes three years to qualify as a psychotherapist, at least two to three years to become a counsellor. Personally I think it is way too long. People taking degrees in psychology have told me that the three year degree was boring with very little practice.

The thing you need to do is to have tons of practice with volunteers. Practising with fellow students does not always work best because you are only through role play, so it’s not real. It’s better that you find the volunteers who are keen to experience relaxation and NLP , and work with them to build experience. My students get to practice the most important skills straight away without having to worry about whether they need to use any other skills other than hypnosis and NLP.

As the old saying goes, Rome wasn’t built in a day, so don’t expect to be able to learn too many skills straight away.

See our training pages for details of our Clinical Hypnotherapy Diploma course