Continuous education

[CEH credits]
[how to grow]
[2008 calendar]

Courses for hypnotherapists

[Erickson I]
[Erickson II]
[Erickson III]
[Erickson IV]
[IBS specialist]

CEH credits

[up]. CEH stands for Continuous Education in Hypnotherapy. The serious hypnotherapist is certainly member of a respectable professional association, which therefore requires a minimum of hours of professional education per year. These hours are needed to remain in a good standing condition. The attendance to accredited seminars and courses about clinical hypnosis are recognized as a valid continuous education. For example, the annual APHP conference (APHP is the Association for Professional Hypnosis and Psychotherapy), held in UK, gives 15 credits (15 hours), which are the minimum necessary to remain regular members of the APHP, Other valid options are the courses listed in this page, which are all accredited by the APHP, and allow the attendants to receive CEH credits. These formative credits are perfectly valid also for the mandatory continuous education of the National Guild of Hypnotists (USA).

How to grow

[up]. The hypnotist must work very hard. I defend with any means intellectual honesty and professional ethics, so I have something to say about that. 1) THE PATHWAY IS HARD. While studying Erickson's papers (since 1995), and after my private meeting with Ernest Lawrence Rossi, I have understood that there are no shortcuts: in order to learn well the hypnotism, entire years are required. Today here everyone claims to be Ericksonian merely after the addition of some indirect, linguistic, metaphorical, and restructuring methods to his/her repertoire. But the truth is very different, because without the right hypnotic personality (built along years of labor) one goes nowhere. On the contrary, after enough sweat and devotion, excellent results begin to appear. 2) THE MAGIC FORMULA DOESN'T EXIST. I don't believe any longer in styles or in some universal guide lines, and my practical experience clearly indicates that there is no winning technique nor a type of hypnosis, but it exists only what that hypnotic subject does in her/his own way. Erickson was completely right. It is easy to pile theoretical bla-bla and increase the hours of training, but between words and facts there is a long distance. In fact, when it comes to apply those theories, then it is easy to discover that the 90% of them is just smoke into the eyes with no value, because hypnosis is controlled by the hypnotic subject. Therefore it is better if the hours of training are 4 without frills rather than 40 but inflated by nothing. Erickson used to concentrate 10 pages of suggestions into just one page, in order to distil the essential and remove the useless. Here I wanted to do the same, and it costed me a lot of efforts and labor. 3) LOBBIES ARE LOBBIES. To disregard or not recognize the complexity of hypnosis is an act of serious irresponsibility (JAMA, 1958). Hypnotism needs true professionals that know all of few things rather than few of all things. For example, do you know that Erickson trained personally a lot of policemen? In fact these people are at direct contact with traumatized people on a daily basis, and have a basic training in criminology, thus they are a lot more suitable than a psychologist or a psychotherapist in dealing with the victims of criminals. Nevertheless, the lobbies has inhibited all the policemen trained by Erickson, showing that lobbies are politicized, deviated, and deeply anti-Ericksonian. 4) THE HYPNOTIST MUST HAVE A REMARKABLE PERSONALITY. Many special techniques, e.g. the installation of experimental complexes (parallel artificial neuroses), or the hypno-diagnostic by acting-out, are discussed only marginally in the courses, because they require a remarkable experience and also a special sensitivity in respecting the personality of the hypnotic subject. Despite this, the hypnotist that knows well what (s)he is doing (with hypnosis) can greatly help even very disturbed people, and without any need to be a therapist. On the contrary, traditional therapies in these cases often fail or even damage the patient because they delay or complicate alternative interventions that are potentially effective. About this, I want to say that my courses about Ericksonian approaches are aimed to build a type of hypnotic intervention based more on intuition and validity of the support than on the mere technique, and therefore they are not suitable for the beginner, and should be taken little by little and repetitively.

2008 calendar

[up]. Dates can be subject to changes (always published here). Details can be found within the description of each course.

28-29 June 2008 (Sat-Sun): IBS Specialist

Erickson I

[up]. THEME: the contact. LENGTH: 5 hours. CEH CREDITS: 5 points. GOAL: to see in action the Ericksonian approach, and to begin to use it; there is no way to learn it on the books, it is difficult, and it requires years of exercise; nevertheless, this course achieves at least the goal of putting the student toward the right direction. PROGRAM: Ericksonian concept of hypnosis; utilization of whatever is present; how to communicate hypnotically; superiority of the indirect approach; demonstrations, exercises, questions and answers, final certification of CEH credits. COST: from the second participation on: 99 euro (at least 10 days before the course, otherwise 139 euro); for APHP members or people that have some relationship (training or supervision) with my school: 169 euro (at least 10 days before the course, otherwise 199 euro); all the other cases: 199 euro (at least 10 days before the course, otherwise 249 euro). REQUIREMENTS: to be a member (since more than one year) of a respectable international association of professional hypnotism; to have a good knowledge and practical experience in hypnosis. REGISTRATION: phone call to get information, or email a request for the application form; after the enrollment, every participant receives by email any other detail (if necessary).

Erickson II

[up]. THEME: the resistance. LENGTH: 5 hours. CEH CREDITS: 5 points. GOAL: to learn some special techniques invented by Erickson for working with difficult subjects. PROGRAM: approaches for resistant subjects; 'unconscious' self-hypnosis; questioning and seeding; confusion and shock; demonstrations, exercises, questions and answers, final certification of CEH credits. COST: from the second participation on: 99 euro (at least 10 days before the course, otherwise 139 euro); for APHP members or people that have some relationship (training or supervision) with my school: 169 euro (at least 10 days before the course, otherwise 199 euro); all the other cases: 199 euro (at least 10 days before the course, otherwise 249 euro). REQUIREMENTS: to have already participated to the "Erickson I" course. REGISTRATION: phone call to get information, or email a request for the application form; after the enrollment, every participant receives by email any other detail (if necessary).

Erickson III

[up]. THEME: the symptom. LENGTH: 5 hours. CEH CREDITS: 5 points. GOAL: to learn to hypnotically utilize symptoms to produce stable changes and healing. PROGRAM: natural approaches; brief hypnotherapy; how to use symptoms; pain control; demonstrations, exercises, questions and answers, final certification of CEH credits. COST: from the second participation on: 99 euro (at least 10 days before the course, otherwise 139 euro); for APHP members or people that have some relationship (training or supervision) with my school: 169 euro (at least 10 days before the course, otherwise 199 euro); all the other cases: 199 euro (at least 10 days before the course, otherwise 249 euro). REQUIREMENTS: to have already participated to the "Erickson II" course. REGISTRATION: phone call to get information, or email a request for the application form; after the enrollment, every participant receives by email any other detail (if necessary).

Erickson IV

[up]. THEME: the depth. LENGTH: 5 hours. CEH CREDITS: 5 points. GOAL: to enter gradually into the Ericksonian approaches to deep hypnotherapy. PROGRAM: non verbal methods; projections and dreams; deep trance; radical hypnotherapy; demonstrations, exercises, questions and answers, final certification of CEH credits. COST: from the second participation on: 99 euro (at least 10 days before the course, otherwise 139 euro); for APHP members or people that have some relationship (training or supervision) with my school: 169 euro (at least 10 days before the course, otherwise 199 euro); all the other cases: 199 euro (at least 10 days before the course, otherwise 249 euro). REQUIREMENTS: to have already participated to the "Erickson III" course. REGISTRATION: phone call to get information, or email a request for the application form; after the enrollment, every participant receives by email any other detail (if necessary).

IBS specialist

[up]. THEME: hypnotic treatment of the irritable colon (IBS). LENGTH: one weekend. CEH CREDITS: 10 points. GOAL: to become proficient in treating the IBS hypnotically. PROGRAM: the syndrome from many points of view (clinica, medical, psychiatric, psychosomatic, personal); how to use hypnosis (applicability and effectiveness, key points during the pre-talk, work plan, number of sessions, type of trance); multidisciplinar cooperation; evidence that a private hypnotherapist (IBS specialist) costs less and works better than the equivalent public health service. COSTO: for APHP members or people that already have some relationship (training or supervision) with my school: 150 euro (at least 10 days before the course, otherwise 200 euro); all the others: 180 euro (at least 10 days before the course, otherwise 230 euro). REQUIREMENTS: to be a member (since more than one year) of a respectable association of professional hypnotism. REGISTRATION: phone call to get information, or email a request for the application form; after the enrollment, every participant receives by email any other detail (if necessary).