Listening is a vital component of effective communication. Not being listened to, can have a negative impact on the quality of the therapy that the client receives. Effective communication does not just involve speech, its also the eyes, the ears and body language. Listening cannot be a passive activity; it takes effort and genuine engagement. Words need to be heard, considered and digested. When we are listening, we should always look at our clients, not spending too much time making notes, this gives us the opportunity to see what they are saying and how they are saying it, they may be saying one thing, but their body language could be saying something else. We should always be attentive and interested and we should never interrupt and always allow the client to come up with their own solutions.

When we ask questions, we should accept what the client says and then maybe use their answer as a question to check understanding. It is all to easy to ask a question badly and of course get an answer that wasn’t aimed for, by checking that the client understands the question, we should get the required response.

Facial expressions are so important, we can tell if someone is just saying what they think they should say by looking at their face, or maybe saying something that they don’t truly believe. It’s very hard to hide emotion, unless our client plays poker for a living.

One of the ways we communicate is through repetition, we have a set format and we revise the workings of the mind metaphor, we discuss scaling and the miracle question at every session, this is affective in allowing the client to absorb what we wish that they understand.

We must always adopt an open posture when receiving answers to questions, it shows we accept what the client is saying, we may choose to fold our arms when we may not agree, but this should be done selectively and without any confrontation, just a little subconscious message being sent to the client, without mentioning it.

Effective communication is the key to the Solution Focused Hypnotherapy process and we must use all that we have to ensure we demonstrate it.

We only get one chance to make a great first impression, from the moment we have our first interaction with our clients, we should show professionalism, confidence, positivity and warmth.

First contact may not be in person, it may be on the phone or via email. Its professional to answer the phone using the business name, “Good morning, thanks for calling Best Mind Therapy, how can I help you” is far better than a vague “hello” on the end of the phone, it shows we are a business and we are ready and waiting to help. Having a business number is a best practice, as there is no confusion as to why the phone ringing is actually ringing.

Any email correspondence needs to be clear and concise, miss spelt words and bad grammar are very off putting and the use of a spell check is vital, for most of us mere mortals. An @businessname.co.uk email address looks better than a generic @gmail.com one. Using email signatures is also good practice. Responding to emails quickly is also important and it shows we are giving the clients our fullest attention and take their situation seriously and it’s important to us.

Our practice rooms must also be appropriate for our profession. They should feel safe, comfortable and not be a distraction or a terrible mess. This is somewhere that we expect our clients to relax, so we should make them so. Comfortable chairs or couches with neatly folded blankets available, not in noisy areas (although this cannot always be avoided), not be too cold or too hot, clean, tidy and professional. They should be laid out in a relaxed way, with no desks or barriers between therapist and client, informal, relaxed, but maintaining professionalism.

Our websites are often the first contact that we have with our customers, making sure they are updated with new information, news, blogs regularly, displays we are serious about our profession. The theme of the site too should portray the practice, it should give hope, show empathy and be professional.

The way we dress is important, I prefer smart casual, but could be varied when dealing with particular clients, with older clients, they may like to see me wearing a tie and a jacket, the younger generations seem to favour open neck shirts. What we don’t want is for the client to actually remember what we are wearing, but to focus on themselves.

Our reputation is going to encourage clients to refer us to family and friends, we are going to need as much good press and positive comments as we can get. Leaving our existing clients with the view that we were professional, friendly, happy, kind, efficient, understanding and all the other positive attributes is vital, so we must be at our best at all times.

Communication is the sharing of information between two people. It is important that communication works in both directions.

A communication barrier is something that prevents either person from understanding the information they are being told.

A client who is experiencing a concern may find that this experience alone makes it difficult to communicate.

They may:

• find it difficult to concentrate
• be distracted by their emotions
• have strong reactions in response to what you say
• be taking medication that affects their short-term memory
• not have the confidence to speak
• feel that they have nothing of value to say
• not feel safe
• rather be alone.
• Be uncomfortable with the surroundings
• May be forced to therapy by someone else
• They could be in a negative frame of mind

Barriers to communication can be overcome by:

• checking whether it is a good time to have a session with the client
• being clear and using language that the person understands
• communicating one thing at a time
• respecting a person’s desire to not communicate
• checking that the person has understood you correctly
• communicating in a location that is free of distractions
• acknowledging any emotional responses, the person has to what you have said.
• Not making any judgements about what the client is experiencing
• Find common ground to talk about, just chat about something else
• Make the practice room comfortable and welcoming
• Show the client you are just like them using Mirroring and common language
• Be Human, not a robot!
• Nudge the client into conversation and give them time to answer.

We also need to appreciate that clients are sometimes less communicative, which we must appreciate. It could suggest that we are yet to build a satisfactory working relationship with them and therefore the therapist needs to ensure they try harder to achieve this.   

We only get one chance to make a good first impression, but we get far more opportunities to make bad ones!

Maintaining a professional appearance is not just about how we dress or if we have shaved or whether our hair is a mess. People can indeed look and dress how they like and some people look good no matter what they are wearing or what colour their hair is this week. But for the rest of us, maintaining a professionally casual look whilst at work is preferred. Smart casual, in my opinion, is an acceptable way to dress, a shirt, chinos and a jacket, gives the impression that we take care of ourselves and have a little pride. Ripped jeans, T-shirts, shorts and trainers, have no place in my the practice room. We should consider what we wear a uniform and get ready to work each morning looking professional and ready for the day.   

The way we act is also very important, we should ensure we behave in a way that complies with the codes of conduct of the societies that we are members of, for example the NCH and AfSFH. We treat every client with respect and at all times keep the client/therapist relationship at the upmost of professionalism. We commit to our code of practice to ensure that this is demonstrated. We must also be mindful to follow through with any promises made, avoiding promises that would never be fulfilled. We cannot falsely state cures, success rates or remedies that may not materialise, we can though give hope.    

Our working environments should be safe, appropriate, client focused and adequately comfortable to allow the clients to feel relaxed, whist promoting professionalism. We should maintain a high level of cleanliness and not work in a mess, if we can’t keep our work areas tidy, how can we be trusted to help our clients?

Our correspondences with our clients should be well written, spell checked and precise to ensure the client understands exactly what we are saying. Stationary, business cards, appointment cards, should give the right impression and not be tacky or advertising false hopes.

Our websites are often the first contact that we have with our customers, making sure they are updated with new information, news, blogs regularly, displays we are serious about our profession. The theme of the site too should portray the practice, it should give hope, show empathy and be professional.

Above all, how we treat our clients is of the upmost importance and makes a huge impression, we should treat them respectfully and professionally. They are our clients, not our mates!!

We work towards developing a working alliance from the very first interaction with the client, this could be on the phone, in person or by email. The initial consultation is where we can make a big impact, we can show that we understand and appreciate what may be going on in their minds by customising the workings of the brain presentation to suit the clients needs, which shows we have listened and understand.

Clients need to feel welcome, we always thank them for coming to see us, we can make our practice rooms comfortable and welcoming, a nice private space where they can feel free to discuss their issues. We smile, we show we are happy that they chose us to help them improve their lives.

We remain non judgemental at all times, we can ask why clients, feel or think in the way they do and show interest, but we never take the moral highroad and judge their views negatively. We have to show that we are playing for the same team, not against each other.

Even though solution focused Hypnotherapy follows the same format at most sessions, we also must ensure we have planned and organised ourselves to accept our clients, having everything we need close to hand. A file specifically for the client shows them that they are unique and that their therapy sessions are designed just for them, which shows we care.

We ensure we ask what the clients wants from the session and at the end of the session ask if there is anything we have missed, this adds value to the session and shows the client that we are working with them.

Having an interest in things other than therapy is important, we can make notes of hobbies the client is interested in, or things that have planned to give us something light to talk about to ensure the correct part of the brain is being used in the sessions. This also shows a genuine interest in the client’s life.

Humour is important, but only when the relationship is at a stage where this is appropriate, we should make therapy fun when we can.

We focus on the clients needs at all times, they are driving our sessions, we are just a temporary passenger that just happens to be sitting beside them on their journey.  A good working alliance takes time and shouldn’t be forced, it should be as natural as two people just getting to know each other with no pressure.

As solution Focused Hypnotherapists, we adhere to a format which remains, in the main, consistent throughout all the sessions that we have with our clients. Initially, after building rapport with inconsequential language, we gather information on the client using an information gathering form.

This then gives us an understanding of what the client would like us to help with and any other issues that they may experience. Armed with this, we present “How the Brain Works” making it relevant to the issues the client may be experiencing.

We draw out information on how we can help and what are the client’s goal or goals if therapy is successful. This is vital as we have a starting point and an instant miracle question/ scaling conversation when we see the client at the next session.

It is far too easy to assume that clients understand what we are saying, regular checks should be made to make sure that the language we are using is easy to understand and what we are saying is relevant. We should ask questions, for example “does that make sense” or “does that sound familiar to you” we should look out for body language, the client may nod, smile or show emotion at a particular section of the Initial consultation, they may even offer suggestions to the similarity to themselves during the presentation.

We must be fully aware of the client’s manner when they arrive at our practice. They may be extremely nervous, reserved, anxious or resistant to therapy. Our manner in return needs to be positive and we need to concentrate on building rapport, which will solidify the working relationship and build confidence in the client moving forward. The initial consultation is perfect for overcoming the initial barriers, as it is focused on the symptoms of the client and allows them to see what we can do and how positive we are in helping them.  We use verbal and non-verbal communication, we can mirror the client’s language and behaviours to allow them to feel we are just like them. The use of small talk to move away from problem talk will move the client from the fight or flight part of the brain, to the intellectual part, where they can make a rational decision of their future working relationship with the therapist. 

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Rapport is an essential part of a healthy Client/Therapist relationship. It contributes to the client feeling safe, respected, understood and important and this helps them achieving their goals in therapy. Rapport refers to the caring and shared understanding of issues between a therapist and a client. It helps clients to feel we are on their team and not playing against them. Good rapport lets the client feel that their therapist "has their back" in a way that will allow them to find solutions to their challenges. Likewise, the therapist in a setting with good therapeutic rapport feels respected in a way that allows them to speak clearly and freely. The goal of developing a good rapport is to improve your chances for a successful outcome, along with developing mutual trust and respect.

The process of building rapport begins with the initial consultation and the workings of the brain presentation, where the therapist and client get to know each other, learn more about the issues the client is facing, and work on showing than what we can do to help. Inconsequential language, talking about what the clients like and showing interest helps build report as it shows we are interested in the client and not just about their challenges.

Our body language is important, mirroring in a verbal and nonverbal way, helps the client to feel we are similar to them which aids rapport. Checking understanding, giving feedback, smiling and being genuinely interested in their road to success, all helps.

We have a huge advantage if we have a good level of Rapport with the client, the client has a far higher chance of moving forward in a positive way with someone they like. The more we can develop this, the more influential the therapy will be on the client’s wellbeing.

In Solution Focused Therapy, we used scaling to measure how clients are feeling. 

By ensuring the scale is a positive one, we encourage use of the clients left pre-frontal cortex when discussing how we may go up a number or two in the scale.

In most circumstances, the scale is from 1-10, I choose not to use 0-10 as I believe starting at 1 already puts a very slight positive aspect to the scale. A client could be asked, if the scale was on Happiness, a simple question, for instance “on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the happiest you have ever been and 1 being the lowest you have ever been, where are you on the scale now?”

This then gives us the opportunity to measure how the clients see themselves at the start of therapy and monitor this over the next few sessions, using any positive shifts as discussion points. We also use the scaling score to drive our Miracle question, by asking questions such as “Let us imagine we have a magic wand and you can wave it and change anything you want to change and you wake up tomorrow morning definitely a 3 and perhaps a 4. What would be the first thing you would notice that is different?” This allows the client to visualise a positive shift in their progress and therefore helpful in finding solutions. Tiny steps forward are all it takes to make a difference and we need to keep an active ear and notice these positive little gems of information.

Clients generally take longer to move forward at the lower end of the scale as they are at the begging of their journey and may be in a negative frame of mind and maybe thinking positively is something they haven’t done in a long while. As progress is made, it becomes less difficult for clients to think positively and they often find coming up with solutions to move forward on the scale far easier.

Scaling can also be used to ascertain when therapy should stop, a 10 is a very difficult number to achieve, the client may feel like an 8 is good enough and aim to end their therapy when they achieve this.

Any aspect of behaviour can be “Scaled” but positive scales are more often used in Solution Focused Hypnotherapy.