'I enjoy making a difference to people's lives' - what it's like to be a hypnotherapist

But there is no antique watch in sight at Emma Kirkham’s home-based hypnotherapy practice in Hednesford.

She uses hypnosis to support people through the trauma of grief, whether that be death, divorce, redundancy, the end of a relationship or another form of loss.

“I’d watched Paul McKenna for many years on TV and I was fascinated by how he could access the subconscious mind and help people use that to do amazing things,” says Emma.

“Hypnotherapy works with the subconscious mind to help people make the changes and improvements they want to make,” she adds.

Hypnosis is a natural state of mind similar to daydreaming that we all experience at various times and in various depths throughout the day such as when we’re reading a book, driving a car or even washing the dishes.

During this time, the subconscious mind is said to be more aware and can focus on helpful suggestions and thoughts resulting in positive changes. A hypnotherapist uses hypnosis and talking therapy to help people enter this state of deep relaxation.

It was Emma’s own experience of using hypnotherapy to assist her own healing, to help her through a divorce and a move back for her and her children to the UK from The Netherlands, that inspired her to want to help others.

“I found it really helpful. When I got divorced, I constantly felt anxious, I was always tearful. I was running on empty and on the verge of burnout and breakdown.

“Hypnotherapy helped me to feel relaxed and less stressed. Going through a divorce, you naturally blame yourself and you don’t feel like you’re good enough.

“Hypnotherapy helped me to feel better about myself and to have the confidence to move forwards,” she explains.

Emma, who previously worked as a glass artist, decided to retrain in hypnotherapy after the death of her father gave her the opportunity to reassess the things that were important to her.

“I was 48 at the time and I had been wanting to do it for a long time. I thought if I don’t do it now, I’ll never do it,” says the mother of two who went on to start her online hypnotherapy business in May 2023. As well as hypnotherapy, Emma also offers “heart healing” sessions which aim to delve deeper.

“Heart-healing is a modality in itself and it basically works with the heart. The heart has an energetic frequency that’s five thousand times more powerful than working with the mind alone so it’s about combining the subconscious mind with the heart to have an all-round kind of approach to the healing journey.

“And it just means it goes that little bit deeper and it works with the relationship at the heart of the issues that are taking place,” she tells Weekend.

She has created a unique HeartMap session where she helps people uncover where their unresolved grief lies.

Emma offers all of her sessions online so it’s easier for her clients. “Quite often the clients who are experiencing anxiety, burnout or depression don’t want to be thinking about going somewhere new. They don’t want to be worrying about where they are going to be parking the car. They don’t want to be worried about who they are going to bump into that they don’t necessarily want to know they’re having hypnotherapy.

“So I do everything online which means the client can do everything from the comfort of their home,” says Emma. “It works beautifully and it also means that I can help people where ever they are in the world,” she adds.

When people start hypnotherapy for the first time, she generally recommends they have four to six sessions but it can vary from person to person. “There can just be one session and people will find a lot of relief from one session but quite often we work together over a period of time to actually dig deep and find out all of the things that have been blocking them so that they can do more of what they actually love doing and they can just feel better about themselves.

“Because that’s why people come to me in the first place, they just want to feel happier and better about themselves,” explains Emma.

Emma was recently one of seven businesswomen nominated for a Woman Who Solopreneur, Special Recognition Award, founded by Sandra Garlick MBE.

“It was fantastic to be recognised for the work I have been doing and even though I didn’t win, just being nominated for the award meant the world to me,” she says.

“It’s really rewarding and for me it’s about knowing I’m making a difference because it’s not only helping the person who comes to me, it’s helping their families and friends as well,” adds Emma.

She will be hosting an 'evening of rest, reset, and rejuvenation' at Press Books and Coffee in Hednesford on November 14. For tickets visit https://www.pressbooksandcoffee.co.uk/event-details-registration/an-evening-of-rest-reset-and-rejuvenation-with-emma-kirkham

For more information, see https://learn.emmakirkham.co.uk or www.facebook.com/emmalmkirkham