How to choose an NLP Practitioner or Hypnotherapist

I often get asked for advice on how to best choose an NLP Practitioner or Hypnotherapist.

This article discusses the various aspects of this and this article is simply a personal view based on my observations and feedback from seeing hundreds of clients each year in my private practice.

Many clients come to me having previously seen other practitioners and therapists without "success", and come to me saying that, in their opinion, I am their "last hope", which whilst flattering is not necessarily a useful, or indeed accurate, belief for the client to hold!

Although the non-main stream or "allied" professions are becoming more regulated in recent (and coming) years, there is still the frustrating experience of those who judge the entire profession by their contact with those less than able practitioners. This then means that some members of the public have a non representative experience which reflects on and impacts upon all subsequent professionals in that particular field. Reassuringly, this is the same for all professions everywhere, not just NLP Practitioners and Hypnotherapists, so we are not alone in this! In the best interests of everyone, it is important to be able to demonstrate an ability to practice effectively and in a manner which is in line with appropriate professional and public expectations.

I'll start this article by discussing qualifications and experience. For those reading this that want a simple check list on what to look out for when choosing a practitioner or hypnotherapist, skip to "A check list for deciding who to see"

Qualification and Experience
Anyone can call themselves a Hypnotherapist or NLP Practitioner and there are no agreed uniform standards for training. In the world of NLP there are numerous diverse schools of training, many of which can be very territorial in their views as to what constitutes "proper professional training" This means that NLP Practitioners come in all shapes and sizes!

An "NLP Practitioner" can have received as little as just seven days training which, in my opinion, although this can be a useful introduction to NLP, such a short training certainly does not equip such an individual to begin working with paying clients. It's also useful to remind ourselves that certifications in NLP are only really recognized by the body or school that provides the certifications. Many NLP trainers may have an excellent understanding of NLP skills, but have never actually run a private practice and applied NLP in this situation and therefore simply are not in my opinion equipped to train other individuals to work in this way.

Some NLP trainings may also have very large groups and any "certification" is essentially a record of attendance and little else. Some NLP training schools will literally allow students to write any testimonial that they want or provide an exact word for word testimonial for each and every student that pays to attend a course. Certifications also can become relabeled as "qualifications" which can also be misleading for the public and some NLP practitioners enthusiastically list endless certifications to impress potential clients

The rest of this article can be found at

http://www.nickkemp.com/how-to-choose-an-nlp-practitioner-or-hypnotherapist.php