A Creative Guide to Therapeutic Metaphor: How to write inspired metaphor; a fun interactive guide for hypnotherapists - Softcover

I regard myself as a 'fledgling' hypnotherapist, hypnotherapy being a second career. Creativity, intuition, and a vivid imagination, cultivated through childhood and fine-tuned during a former occupation in design, remain fundamental to my work. During the 1980's, my studies in art foundation in Hull, followed by a progressive design degree at Leeds Polytechnic, were pivotal in broadening my outlook and creative potential, despite a tendency to always overdo things in search of perfection. As my senior tutor Henry once stated: "I asked you simply for the bacon and egg of this scheme, you must lose the beans and sausage if you are ever to make it in the world of design!" Even as I write this text, my inner creative, in desperate search for perfection, procrastinates over content each time I turn on the laptop! On completing a design degree (1985), I spent time in London, this included fast food restaurant designer, children's mural painter, assistant designer (BBC TV Centre). Motherhood initiated a return to Yorkshire in 1991 and I worked part-time in Harrogate designing the homes of local ladies, hesitantly endorsing expectation that a new drawing room scheme would attract profound change to their lives. Eventually I concluded there must be a more fulfilling path to happiness for the clients, and a more rewarding living for me. Fate took a hand, when in 2007 my second husband 'did a runner', abandoning me and the design business we shared and absconding by camper van to the midi-Pyrenees. This event forced a 'fork in the road' moment, the loss of business, home and marriage. In despair, I turned to hypnotherapist Susan Dunlop. The sessions worked wonders, the seed was sown. So it was that I found myself training with Debbie Waller (Yorkshire Hypnotherapy Training). Debbie assured me creatives make excellent hypnotherapists. After a "Have I done the right thing" beginning, I resuscitated my inner creative and was on track, my attitude changing from "I know nothing about counselling or psychology", to "Gosh I'm not bad at this stuff!" I must express sincere gratitude to fellow classmates, Kate Hope, Drona Sharma and Maria McClymont, for sharing their wider experience as therapists and counsellors. I had at last found a meaningful occupation and the chance to make a difference. I am also grateful to clients past and present, for trusting me with complex and diverse issues, allowing my career to flourish as a consequence of helping them to help themselves.