How to Become a Hypnotherapist: The Complete Guide to Hypnotherapy Training in the UK

There’s a moment I see in the therapy room almost every week. Someone who has struggled for years, who feels stuck and maybe even a bit broken, realises that something has shifted. You can see it on their face before they say a word.

If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you’d like to be the person sitting in the other chair.

I’m Andy Griffiths. I founded Piece of Mind in Glasgow, I see anything from 10 to 30 clients a week, and I’ve trained hundreds of hypnotherapists over the years, both face to face and online. This guide is the honest version of what I tell people when they ring to ask about training.

The short version

What a hypnotherapist actually does

A typical week for me is a mix of working in the business and working on it. Some of the time I’m with clients or preparing for them. Some of it is social media and marketing. Some of it is CPD, sharpening my own skills.

And all kinds of people walk through the door, from every walk of life. They come with anxiety, trauma, fears and phobias, and things from their past they’ve been carrying for years. I get to meet some fantastic people.

What surprises most people about the job is how quickly change can happen. Someone who has struggled for a large part of their life often believes it’s going to take a long time to feel different. Very often it doesn’t.

It’s that expression on their face when they realise something has shifted. That’s the job.

It’s worth saying clearly, though: being a hypnotherapist is running a small business as well as doing therapy. If you only picture the therapy room, you’re only picturing half of it.

Is it right for you?

The people who do well tend to want to do something more with their life. Some have had a successful career and are ready for a change. Some want a lifestyle business, where they choose when they work and who they work with. What they have in common is the discipline to keep sharpening their skills, and the willingness to get into the mindset of building a business.

I can usually spot them quite early. But here’s the part people don’t expect.

The ones who succeed aren’t always the most naturally gifted. They’re the ones who ask for support and guidance.

If you’re wondering whether your background is right, have a read of who can train as a hypnotherapist. It’s more people than you might think.

• It might suit you if you’re ready for a change, you want more control over how you work, you’re prepared to put yourself out there, and you’ll ask for help when you need it.
• It might not suit you if you want clients handed to you, you’re not keen to practise outside the classroom, or you expect the certificate to do the work for you.

“But I don’t think I could hypnotise anyone”

A lot of people arrive with doubts. Some have been to a stage show where it didn’t work on them, so they’re convinced they can’t be hypnotised. Others are sure they’d never be confident enough to hypnotise somebody else.

You can see it on the first weekend. They sit and watch a demonstration and think, I’ll never be able to do that. Then, in a surprisingly short time, they find themselves doing it. You can actually watch their belief in themselves change.

Stage hypnosis is entertainment. Hypnotherapy is something quite different, and most of what people “know” about hypnosis comes from the stage. There’s more on that in I Don’t Think I Can Be Hypnotised.

Regulation, accreditation and insurance

Hypnotherapy isn’t regulated by law in the UK. Nothing stops someone doing a short online course and calling themselves a hypnotherapist the next day. That’s exactly why accreditation and registration matter, both to the clients who will trust you and to you.

Our full Diploma in Clinical Hypnotherapy is accredited by the General Hypnotherapy Standards Council (GHSC). It’s recognised nationally and internationally. Once you’re on the General Hypnotherapy Register, you can register with the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC), the independent voluntary regulator set up with government support. The CNHC is a very important body. You can also register with the ACCPH. The Foundation Diploma is recognised by the GHSC and ACCPH, and once you complete it you can register with the ACCPH. To register with the GHSC and the CNHC, you need to complete the full Diploma.

We encourage students to get insured once they’re practising with the wider public, and the accrediting bodies recommend approved insurers.

If you’re comparing courses, is this hypnotherapy course accredited? explains what to look for. The three questions that matter most:

Online or classroom?

I’ve taught hundreds of people both face to face and online, and both work. I’d never tell you online training is a waste of time.

But there’s something special about being in a room with people. There’s an energy to learning together. It sparks conversations, and it helps people feel safe enough to be a bit vulnerable, which you need when you’re practising on each other. That doesn’t quite come through a webcam.

There’s a practical side too. In the room, I can watch you work and guide you in the moment. If you want to learn something really, really well, being in the room is extremely valuable.

That’s why our courses are taught in the classroom, with a course manual, handouts and other materials online to support you between weekends. There’s a fuller comparison in classroom vs online hypnotherapy training.

How to choose a hypnotherapy course

Do your homework. These are the things I’d tell a friend to check.

• Speak to the person who will actually teach you. In some organisations you never get to. You need rapport with your trainer. That connection will largely decide whether your learning goes well or not.
• Check they still see clients. Some trainers haven’t been in a therapy room for years. If you talk the talk, you should walk the walk. I see 10 to 30 clients a week and that experience goes straight into the training.
• Experience it first. A good trainer will invite you in for a session so you can feel what hypnotherapy is like from the client’s chair.
• Look for reviews from real clients. Not just students. If you can’t find online reviews from real clients this person is helping, I’d question how they can teach you to do it.

Then put it together: the conversation you had, the reviews you read, the work they’re doing with real clients. And trust your gut. For more on this, see how to choose the best hypnotherapy course in the UK.

How the training fits around your life

Here’s how it works with us, as a guide. Full dates and details are on our hypnotherapy training page.

• Foundation Diploma. Four weekends over four months. The weekends aren’t back to back, so in reality it usually runs over six or seven months, which gives you time to practise in between. There’s no formal written assessment. You’re assessed in the classroom.
• Diploma in Clinical Hypnotherapy. Nine months, closer to eleven with the breaks. As you advance you complete three case studies, an open book exam and a practical assessment.

For a fuller answer, including when most students start seeing clients, there is a short video and article on how long it takes to become a hypnotherapist.

All the way through, you practise. First with each other in the classroom, then with friends and family, and later with people in real world conditions. That’s where the confidence comes from. If you’re not sure which route suits you, read Foundation Diploma or full Diploma: which is right for you?.

Your first year in practice

In my opinion, how your first year pans out depends a lot on the mindset and energy you build while you’re still training.

We encourage people to start building their practice at around month six or seven. Think about your niche, your name, how many days a week you want to work and how many clients you want to see. Get really clear on who your ideal client is. It makes your chances of success much higher.

The most common mistake I see is trying to be everything to everybody. Stop smoking, pain relief, insomnia, anxiety, depression, fears and phobias. The marketing ends up speaking to nobody.

Pick a niche, anxiety for example, and it becomes much easier to create content and stay consistent with it. And by default, you still pick up all the other clients as well. This is part of the training we provide, and you can read more about seeing clients before you finish the course.

We see the end of the training as the beginning of our relationship, not the end of it.

We have a community, students come back to our training centre, and we have a CPD, supervision and mentoring model to help new therapists get going. Even though the course is over, we stay involved in your success for as long as you want us to. Some of our therapists trained with us more than seven years ago and still come back for support, guidance and to brush up their knowledge.

Common questions