Choosing an NLP Practitioner or Hypnotherapist

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.

At the other end of the spectrum are NLP practitioners and Hypnotherapists who have attended many courses, almost to the point of obsession but do not necessarily know how to apply these skills to real life situations. Unfortunately the grand titles in these fields do not guarantee a good skill level and personally I would always be wary of practitioners who enthusiastically proclaim themselves as "Master Hypnotherapists", "Therapeutic Specialists" or "Master Trainers" and instead find out more about the individual's track record in actually working with clients. The reality is that comparatively few practitioners run successful private practices and most individuals actually use these skills to generate a second income. One such example is a coach, who advertised charging thousands for his services on his website, but had actually never seen a private client and instead worked full time in IT. Enthusiasm and attitude are of course never a substitute for skill and experience.

Next step: So what does this all mean?

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