Group Sessions

Posted in the General Hypnosis & Hypnotherapy Forum
By Denise    Reply to this Topic  |  New Topic

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Denise
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Date Apr 29th, 2012 05:10 Group Sessions

Hi, am wondering if anyone would care to tell about having done a group session... how scary was it? Any problems? I would like to try this, maybe a 'stop smoking' session in my community, but don't know if I have the courage...

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LS Hypnotherapy
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Date Apr 30th, 2012 05:54 Re: Group Sessions

I am also interested in doing group sessions although I wonder how effective this will be as it is not possible to tailor the session to individual triggers etc. In terms of how scary it would be I think you would be absolutely fine, it would probably actually be less intense than one on one sessions as people tend to lean towards a group mentality and will want to be hypnotised along with everyone else so they will probably be half way into self hypnosis before you even start! Unfortunately I can't speak from experience but I think if you are comfortable doing private sessions this will come easy to you, good luck!

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Faith
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Location: South Yorkshire, GB
Date Apr 30th, 2012 03:49 Re: Group Sessions

Depending on the size of your groups I think you need to realistic and recognize that they're not all going to respond in the way that you would like. You can usually deal with this by asking before the session that anyone who doesn't feel it is working for them remain quiet and still so that it won't disturb the others. With a smaller group (say up to about 6 people) this should not be a problem. Once you notice your subjects are very relaxed and you think they are going to be responsive to hypnosis you can mention little things that you notice about individuals but phrase it in such a way that it won't sound incongruent to the others. For example if someone is moves their body position then feedback with something like "and if you wish to move your body into a more comfortable position then that's fine . . ." As LS says, if you are comfortable with private sessions then it will come easy because you'll know your pre-induction talk off by heart and what follows is almost the same as a one to one session The sessions shouldn't be scary at all as long as you know your stuff and feel confident about answering any questions that might crop up. Afterwards you can get people to talk about their experience of group hypnosis and you'll gain some useful insights. Good luck and just believe in yourself and others will believe in you too.

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Elaine
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Location: Surrey, GB
Date May 02nd, 2012 06:29 Re: Group Sessions

Hi Denise I have done a couple of "Healthy Eating" group sessions, I had between 5-8 people in each group. On both occasions, one person from the group has started to breath heavily or snore and then they wake themselves up with their own breathing! One lady was really embarrassed especially when she then broke into a coughing fit during the session. I allay worries about heavy breathing and snoring before the session, explaining that it is normal and not to feel embarrassed. At the next group session when it happened again, I called the persons name and asked them to "allow their conscious mind to come back to me slightly" so I managed to keep it more under control. Each person responded very differently to the session and it was great fun and a learning experience for me. Good luck.

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Lin Debenham
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Location: Derbyshire, GB
Date Jun 29th, 2012 01:48 Re: Group Sessions

Hi Denise I can remember being nervous for my first group session. I started doing them whilst I was training and offered my services at work to colleagues over the lunchtime period. They were appreciative of the session (relaxation) and understood that I was using them as guinea pigs. Although I have worked with large groups (about 35), I prefer to work with groups of about 10 people. With the larger groups I would ask a colleague to work with me to monitor the group for abreactions, A smaller group is more manageable. I gained my confidence by doing the group sessions at the company I worked for while training but why not offer to do some "voluntary" group work. There are lots of groups on limited funding who would appreciate the services of an alternative therapist. Although I am now experienced and comfortable about doing group work, I do voluntary work here in Chesterfield with a group called Kick Start which is mainly young mothers who attend courses to help them with coping strategies. I have also recently worked with the male group of Kick Start for anger management. As with a lot of groups they have no funding and are always appreciative of people being able to give their time and skills to help less fortunate people. Its a thought and it would give you the experience of doing this type of work without being concerned about charging for something you are not comfortable about doing. What I would say though is just take a deep breath, tell yourself you are properly trained so know what you are doing, and give it a go. Best wishes. Lin

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Lin Debenham
Member
(Posts)
Location: Derbyshire, GB
Date Jun 29th, 2012 01:49 Re: Group Sessions

Hi Denise I can remember being nervous for my first group session. I started doing them whilst I was training and offered my services at work to colleagues over the lunchtime period. They were appreciative of the session (relaxation) and understood that I was using them as guinea pigs. Although I have worked with large groups (about 35), I prefer to work with groups of about 10 people. With the larger groups I would ask a colleague to work with me to monitor the group for abreactions, A smaller group is more manageable. I gained my confidence by doing the group sessions at the company I worked for while training but why not offer to do some "voluntary" group work. There are lots of groups on limited funding who would appreciate the services of an alternative therapist. Although I am now experienced and comfortable about doing group work, I do voluntary work here in Chesterfield with a group called Kick Start which is mainly young mothers who attend courses to help them with coping strategies. I have also recently worked with the male group of Kick Start for anger management. As with a lot of groups they have no funding and are always appreciative of people being able to give their time and skills to help less fortunate people. Its a thought and it would give you the experience of doing this type of work without being concerned about charging for something you are not comfortable about doing. What I would say though is just take a deep breath, tell yourself you are properly trained so know what you are doing, and give it a go. Best wishes. Lin

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Lori Kleinsmith
Member
(Posts)
Location: Pennsylvania, US
Date Jul 05th, 2012 05:37 Re: Group Sessions

Hi Dense... What fun. When doing my first group session I was so amazed at the different reactions from everyone. There were 12 in the group. Approx. 8 went under. The remaining four could not maintain their focus on my words. They would have done beautifully with just counting. It was a great learning experience for me. Good luck. Relax, breathe...It's all good :)

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Stephen Dransfield
Member
(Posts)
Location: Lincolnshire, GB
Date Jul 07th, 2012 01:03 Re: Group Sessions

Hi, I do group sessions for weightloss all the time, anything from 5 to 25 people. I find it helpful in my pre-talk to tell them that what people see is split into 4 different types, one group will see images in great detail, one group will see bright vivid colours, another group see nothing at all and think they are just sat there for an hour with their eyes closed and the last group get zonked out, they don't hear anything, can't remember anything and it's like they have been switched off. I also tell them that they don't need to hear anything I say, they don't need to remember anything I say. With a group of 20 over a 5 week session I lose maybe 3 or 4, which I don't think is too bad. I've had lots of people snoring, some very loudly and it never seems to bother the others in the group. Hope that helps.

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