Professional practitioner course

[hypnotherapist]
[not for everyone]
[ethical and legal]
[the right course]
[duration and time]
[what you'll learn]
[handbook and files]
[but are you sure?]
[booking info]

Hypnotherapist

[up]. At long last, now also in Italy you can start a promising, independent career in professional hypnotism, and you can become hypnotherapist ('ipnologo' in Italy). The historical moment is particularly favorable, because not only hypnosis is increasingly recognized as a very beneficial aid in the modern life, but also laws are becoming more and more permissive toward the independent practice of professional hypnotherapy. This is the emerging profession of the 21th century; it is young but rapidly growing, and it allows to work with great success and little competition in Italy, because Italian hypnotists are in general poorly trained in hypnosis, and cannot compete with a true professional hypnotist. This formative course is open to all, and allows (thanks to European laws, and not certainly to Italian laws) to practice legally the profession of hypnotherapist in all the European Union (EU), Italy included. Copyright (C) Alberto Torelli.

Not for everyone

[up]. Before the enrollment, one should consider that this course is not only aimed to teach hypnotism, but also to insert the student in the working world as a professional. This means that the final certification can be received only after the achievement of the necessary theoretical, technical, and practical expertise, and certainly it is not enough just to pay and attend the lessons. A remarkable effort is required. Moreover, the natural end of this formative path is the professional hypnotherapy service, and by joining a reputable professional association of hypnotherapists the member will have to continue the education every year, and to go under supervision, at least at the beginning. In other words, this course, or, better, a 'path', is suitable only for earnest and motivated people that are willing to develop the necessary personal, ethical, and professional qualities, and that desire to become successful. In fact the success of my school depends only on the success of my students. Copyright (C) Alberto Torelli.

Ethical and legal

[up]. This training is a professional one. Thus, an important additional part of the curriculum is devoted to the guide lines for an ethical behavior, in order to avoid many common errors, stay within the limits of competence, and work legally and safely in Italy thanks to the following recognitions:

this course is approved and authorized by the APHP (Association for Professional Hypnosis and Psychotherapy), a prestigious English association of professional hypnotism, which is in turn accredited by the Hypnotherapy Society, the National Council for Hypnotherapy, the National Council of Psychotherapists, and the Counselling and Psychotherapy Society.
this training (protected by international copyright) SATISFIES the English occupational standards for the hypnotherapy profession, and the lessons (in Italian) cover a complete curriculum that includes the professional course of the Essex Institute of Clinical Hypnosis (EICH, which is one of the most important hypnotherapy schools in England), and other additional parts (for example those competencies required by the National Guild of Hypnotists, (NGH), sport hypnosis, and an introduction to the Ericksonian approaches).
the diploma entitles the students to join the APHP and the NGH (two INTERNATIONAL professional hypnosis associations). In addition, if they are resident in the United Kingdom, they can also join an English NATIONAL register of hypnotherapy, whose members comprise all the major English hypnotherapy schools and the biggest registering and accrediting bodies at a national level for the hypnotherapy profession, thus forming a whole organization, the UKCHO. Such register (launched in January 2008) will become in UK a professional hypnotherapy roll.
the school offers a CONTINUOUS SUPPORT in Italy, with professional supervision and accredited courses for the professional development, in order to promote and facilitate the success of each practitioner, who must respect the APHP code of ethics.
The EUROPEAN DIRECTIVE COM(2002)119, regarding the reciprocal recognition of professional qualifications between EU (European Union) members, has come into force in 2004, February 11th. But this doesn't mean that you can do whatever you want. In fact, in order to work legally in Italy, the hypnotherapist must respect Italian laws, and must also be in the professional listings of the APHP (or equipotent others), in order to guarantee those ethical and professional obligations that make the profession regulated and, if possible, secure against charlatans. Only within these conditions of safety for the consumer it is possible to apply the common legislative European principle that a citizen that is qualified as hypnotherapist in a member state (for example the United Kingdom) can work as a hypnotherapist also in every other state of the EU (for example in Italy).

After the course, and having passed all the exams, the student gets the final diploma and becomes entitled to join the APHP (UK), the NGH (USA), and (if APHP member and UK-resident) the UKCHO register. Copyright (C) Alberto Torelli.

The right course

[up]. There are several types of training with important differences. 1) distance learning courses are an easy source of money for the seller, but they usually lack a direct (in real time) supervision, and don't enable students to mature and develop their abilities; so they are not very credible, unless they are targeted to an experienced audience. 2) intensive courses (single-block structure, one-shot) don't allow to adequately 'digest' the material, and the student learns relatively little and badly, unless the matter is very specialistic and limited. 3) modular courses (cluster structure, one grape at a time), distributed in time, not only have proved themselves to be the most effective for learning, but they also have the additional advantage that they set the students free to build their formative path in their own way (this is allowed also in the continual education courses). Copyright (C) Alberto Torelli.

Duration and time

[up]. How much time is needed? For the first hypnotic experiences, few hours of study and some basic guide lines are enough, but entire years of practice are needed to make hypnosis actually effective, because the hypnotic trance is tremendously complex. During this course the student must: 1) study carefully the manual (this is not easy) and the additional material (this is easier); 2) practice in the field as hypnotist through specific exercises; 3) deeply utilize my supervision in order to solve doubts and correct homework errors; 4) receive (if needed) several hypnotic sessions about personal issues; and 5) gradually develop the ethical, personal, and human qualities that a good professional hypnotherapy service requires. Beyond the lessons with me, there are many other things to do that require about 500 hours of time (homework, supervision, assistance by phone, study, mandatory readings, written essays). Practically, depending on the student's learning time, 8-12 months are sufficient, but only if the commitment is patient, serious, persistent, and continual, otherwise the teaching hours with me are misused. About the hours: Milton Erickson usually chose his students carefully, and trained them individually (one by one) for 20 hours each, while the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis, founded by him in 1957, offers basic courses that are very different (more academic and theoretical, 40-hours long, for groups); then there are the typical anglo-american courses for groups (120 hours, 2 trainers, 15 students), where each individual student receives an average of only 16 hours of attention. In my professional course I follow Erickson (only one student at a time, but with 24 hours of training instead of 20). In this way not only there is an adequate number of real individual hours, but also with only one student there are other exclusive advantages, because it becomes possible as well: 1) to adapt the training to the needs of each student; 2) to warrant that the student receives the undivided attention of the teacher; 3) to avoid the awful waste of time that is typical of the courses for groups; and 4) to produce definitely better hypnotherapists thanks to an excellent individual quality control. This course includes 8 lessons, 3 hours each (a lesson every 1-2 months, because the study and the experience involved require a lot of time). To reduce the costs of the travels there is also the option of 4 double lessons (6 hours each, and every 2-4 months). Thus in both cases the training lasts about one year, which is an optimal time for building a correct development of the hypnotic personality through an hard work under strict supervision. In fact with shorter times the student remains immature, but with longer times the student becomes too dependent on theories, models, doctrines, and schools of thought that can satisfy at best only a beginner. Finally, in my school the rule is: "no merit, no diploma". The achievement of the certification in hypnotherapy requires that the students pass one or more intermediate exams (technique, attitude, practice) and the final exam (preferably written). The final exam, if failed the first time, can be taken again after at least one month. Copyright (C) Alberto Torelli.

What you'll learn

[up]. The following is the curriculum of the "hypnotherapist" course, 2008 edition (every year it is subject to revisions and updates). Introduction (presentation, training personalization, high quality training, working in Italy as hypnotherapist, true accreditation, professional development, personalization for each student, rapid handbook), preliminary tests, hypnotic relationship, how to hypnotize, what happens within the subject, hypnosis and waking state, controversial topics, hypnogenic devices, hypnotic inductions (standard, indirect, rapid, for resistant subjects), posthypnotic suggestions, the forty robbers, induction and deepening, building and using suggestions, Ericksonian style, hypnotic phenomena, trance depth, Stanford scale, incorrect use of the handbook, self-hypnosis, nature of the hypnotic alterations, signs of trance, the Elman's induction, complements, risks from unqualified work, standard guide lines for a professional practice, damages because of ignorance, introduction to office hypnosis, limits of competence, first session, toward the second session, hypnotic conditioning, unexpected outcomes, opposition, versatility, last session, hypnosis against smoking, useful ideas, weight control, stress reduction, ego strengthening, the self-help, anxiety, ancestral types of personality, the hidden part of the iceberg, surfing the wave, the neurosis, analytical approaches, regression in general, hypnotic regression, type of work, memory, difficult situations, how to help the therapists (physicians, psychiatrists, psychologists), special transpersonal states, elements of psychoanalysis that are useful in hypnosis, changes, sport hypnosis, marketing, code of ethics, how to work legally, professional level, toward a better hypnotism, what is it, the truth about Erickson. NOTE: the curriculum includes a lot of homework, and it can be improved, modified, and updated without any notice. Copyright (C) Alberto Torelli.

Handbook and files

[up]. This professional course includes a written handbook (in Italian) and several files on a CD. The manual is a handy reference text, studied and organized in order to find any information immediately. Taking notes is superfluous. The manual contains all that a student needs to know about hypnosis (maybe even too much). In fact it is true that in hypnosis it is vital to have a deep knowledge of the theory (the important principles, without all of that common mumbo-jumbo), but then it becomes mandatory to get a practical and direct hypnotic experience on the field wit me during the lessons. This experience cannot be supplied by any distance learning or intensive course, because it requires time and supervision. The professional course includes also the original, integral English text (on file) of the EICH course, and some other files where I have collected a lot of additional material. For example: how to start a successful practice, unconscious personality test, stage methods, how to present hypnosis to the public, legal international issues, ideas for getting success, effective advertising material, para-hypnotic topics (feng shui, dream interpretation, archetypal parts imagery, mind-body connections, EFT, huna, energy theories, enneagram, handwriting, psychoneurophysiology, pranic healing, kundalini, meridians). Copyright (C) Alberto Torelli.

But are you sure?

[up]. It is convenient for you to evaluate your actual attitudes toward hypnotherapy (which is a very peculiar profession). Hypnosis can give you enormous satisfactions and gratifications if you really love and foster it. In order to help you to know whether this is the way for you, you can deeply meditate on each of the following sentences until you know certainly, consciously, clearly, and definitely if they are mainly true or false for you. 1) I desire with true pleasure to help people. 2) My personality is respectful and responsible. 2) I'm aware of my limits and my defects. 4) I'm happy that this school of hypnosis follows the rule: "no merit, no diploma". 5) I know that this professional course is just the beginning of a path of growth that generates more freedom and happiness. Copyright (C) Alberto Torelli.

Booking info

[up]. The private tuition (single student, or sometimes two) is held in my office, in Cairo Montenotte (Savona), while the group class is no longer available. You can book your lessons at any moment, compatibly with your (and my) agenda. Every lesson costs 299 euro (at least 10 days before the course, otherwise 349 euro). As previously explained, there are 8 lessons of 3 hours (or 4 double lessons of 6 hours). In order to join the course, just follow the following route: 1) send to me an email where you ask the application form; 2) book your lesson by paying it through a transfer on the specified bank account; 3) send to me another email where you confirm the transfer, otherwise you will be considered absent, and hence excluded from the lesson (in that case you will need to recover it later). Every formal contact with the school happens through email (the rest by phone). Any useful or necessary information about the course is sent by email directly to each student after the enrollment. If you need further help, be free to ask the school. Copyright (C) Alberto Torelli.