Solution Focused Hypnotherapy and Safeguarding, Supervision, Ethics & Client Agency
Jane Pendry atSense-Ability
An article in the Guardian warned of the dangers of Therapy!
I read it hot off the heels of listening to the Wondery podcast, The Shrink who lived Next Door, about a psychiatrist who took over a client’s life and home, by manipulating, coercing and controlling his client over many years.
“You’re a therapist!” you say. “Why would you warn of the dangers of Therapy?”
Like all trained and accredited therapists, I care about ethics and safeguarding.
I am a Solution Focused Hypnotherapist and Coach, offering proven, safe, effective Solution Focused complementary approaches to healing and development. I am not a clinical psychologist. I don’t diagnose, analyse or make judgments. All my therapies are Solution Focused, giving the client personal agency to determine outcomes and find solutions to their own problems, making Sense-Ability therapies very safe indeed.
Although Solution Focused therapies are effective and safe, as I studied the AfSFH’s Code of Conduct, Performance & Ethics, I began to research the general topic of ethics in therapy in general. And what I found was quite shocking.
Do No Harm
All trained and accredited therapists aim to ‘do no harm’. High quality training, accreditation and supervision help to ensure therapists help rather than hinder clients.
Untrained, unqualified therapists with no training or supervision are generally the ones to watch out for!
Evidence of training
This Guardian Article by Amelia Tate, “It was devastating: When therapy makes things worse.” published on 17th July 2021 explains: “… psychotherapist, psychoanalyst, therapist, hypnotherapist and counsellor are all unprotected terms in the UK, where there is no statutory regulation of therapists. You can legally call yourself any of these titles without any training.”
That’s pretty shocking, isn’t it?
Keeping Clients Safe
My clients aren’t necessary vulnerable, but some undoubtedly are. Some are just aiming to fix an irritating habit or a phobia; others suffer from complex trauma or mental health issues
So how do I make sure all my clients are as safe as possible? Firstly, like most therapists I have pledged to ‘do no harm’, I am trained and accredited, insured and supervised, and all these things help me keep my clients safe.
Solution Focused Practices
All Sense-Ability approaches are Solution Focused. By definition, Solution Focused therapies are safe because the client explores and applies their own solutions. Solution Focused therapists don’t dig into the past and they don’t analyse or interpret what the client is saying, minimizing the possibility of inadvertently causing harm.
Click on Sense-Ability Solution Focused approach to find out more about Solution Focused approaches.
Trained, Qualified, Insured
I’m trained, qualified, accredited and insured to practice all of the following: Solution Focused Hypnotherapy, Solution Focused Brief Therapy, Dr Muss Rewind Trauma Therapy, Ericksonian Hypnotherapy, as well as NLP at Practitioner level.
I trained with Clifton Hypnotherapy Practice Training in the UK - the international. Solution Focused Hypnotherapy training body. I have a Hypnotherapy in Practice Diploma (HPD) and Diploma in Solution Focused Hypnotherapy (DSFH) both accredited by the NCFE as having “measurable learning outcomes that have been benchmarked at Level 4 using Ofqual’s Qualification and Credit Framework (QCF) level descriptions”. I also have the International Solutions Focused Brief Therapy Certificate and a Certificate in SFBT for Trauma from the Solutions Focused University, Texas (renowned trainers Elliott Connie and including training from Evan George and Chris Iveson of BRIEF) which supports my practice.
Professional Standards
Accrediting bodies have safeguarding and professional standards to help to keep you, the client, safe and gives you recourse to complain if your therapist breaks published ethical guidelines.
I am accredited by the Association for Solution Focused Hypnotherapists and the gold standard Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC) among others. You can find professional guidelines and ethics documents on these websites.
I am governed by the Association for Solution Focused Hypnotherapists’ Code of Conduct, Performance & Ethics among others.
Continuous Professional Development
Sometimes, in addition to my core therapies, I offer ‘do no harm’ practices learnt in continuous professional development or CPDs such as sharing knowledge of the grief cycle, Dr Weil’s 4-7-8 breathing technique or anchoring techniques from NLP, but Solution Focused practices form the basis of my practice. And I ‘stick to my knitting’.
I stick to my knitting because my training, accreditation, ethical code and supervision keeps my clients safe… and keeps me safe.
Safeguarding and Ethics
Additional counselling training has been really helpful in improving my knowledge about safeguarding and ethics. It was thought-provoking and made me better understand the value of supervision with my Solution Focused Hypnotherapy Supervisors.
Knowing our Limitations
One of the big issues is to know your limitations as a therapist.
I deal with trauma but I am careful to explain how I might help, and where my limitations lie. While my therapies are helpful, often even for more complex trauma, they are rarely going to be the whole answer. I make it clear that I am not a clinical psychologist, nor a psychotherapist in the commonly understood meaning of the word. I am entitled to use the term psychotherapist however, most people think this means someone who provides many different therapies after many years of study, so I generally avoid that label to avoid confusion.
Trauma can involve flashbacks and dissociation and a whole host of other issues. I may recognise symptoms but I can’t diagnose. Most of my trauma clients are ‘all talked out’ and know what caused the trauma and are ready to move on. If I don’t think I can help you, I will be honest with you and sign-post you to reputable sites (MIND, the NHS, or other professional bodies) that can guide you and help you find the right path forward.
Vulnerable Clients
I am trauma aware and understand that hypnosis might not be the right thing for people suffering from dissociative states. I take extra care to discuss safety issues with vulnerable clients. If I am in any doubt, I refer potential clients back to medical professionals to ensure my therapies are appropriate.
Disclaimer and Clarity
I make the limits of my training and experience clear with a disclaimer. Here is part of my disclaimer from my website:
”I am fully trained and accredited to deliver therapies promoted on this website by appropriate professional bodies … Transformations or changes that take place are down to the client’s ability to heal or resolve their own issues. Please note results can’t be guaranteed.
“If you are under the care of a psychiatrist, please consult them before having any complementary therapy to support you with enduring mental health issues.”
Such precautions ensure that hypnosis is safe. This is an essential safeguarding provision. In this instance, with a client’s permission, I offer to write to their psychiatrist or medical professional to ensure there are no contraindications but I don’t need to know the client’s diagnosis unless he or she chooses to disclose it. Clients have that right to privacy. However I do make it clear on my consent form which mental health conditions are likely to be contraindicated.
When therapy makes things worse?
Between 20% and 40% of the benefit gained from therapy is the therapeutic relationship or rapport with the therapist; so trust your gut.
If it feels wrong, it is wrong. Not because the therapist is bad, but because he, she or they are not the right person for you.
Amelia Tate in the Guardian article, “It was devastating’: what happens when therapy makes things worse?” explains that the ‘wrong’ therapist is often the reason for a negative experience of therapy: “One 2016 survey led by the Royal College of Psychiatrists found that one in 20 people reported lasting bad effects from their therapy, with people from minority-ethnic and LGBTQ+ backgrounds more likely to encounter these problems.”
I have a diversity of clients, including LGBTQ+ clients, and clients of many different faiths and cultures. The SF process ensures that the clients own beliefs, values, hopes and motivations are the driver for all sessions. If you feel your therapist is in any way biased or just doesn’t ‘get you’ then its perfectly reasonable to find a therapist that does. Many therapists specialize in specific communities or faiths and sometimes that just feels more comfortable.
One benefit of paying for therapy is you can do your research and find a therapist that feels right for you. Many offer informal free telephone conversations so you can see if there is natural rapport, and initial no-obligation consultations where you can explore that therapies available, discuss your issues and desired outcomes, and get to know the therapist.
The Importance of Supervision
As I read the Guardian article, I realized just how important supervision from a qualified supervisor is.
Reputable accredited bodies require regular supervision, which involves discussing client sessions (respecting and protecting the identity of clients according to professional rules of strict confidence) and exploring doubts or concerns.
Supervisors are also available to discuss any worries or concerns that may crop up with specific clients (protecting the client’s anonymity) at any time. Supervisors have any years of experience and have additional training to enable them support therapists, and to help them maintain the highest standards of professional conduct.
Self Reflection and Supervision
We are human. We make mistakes.
Sometimes, despite taking great care to work within the bounds of my knowledge, I have doubts about whether I have over-stepped a line and then I reflect more deeply on my practice.
Supervision Discussion
These are the questions I have discussed with my supervisor in recent sessions.
Did I offer an interpretation or analysis when that’s not part of the Solution focused approach?
Did I suggest a client might be grieving rather than ask questions to help them discover this for themselves?
Did I inadvertently show surprise or shock at something a client said which may have been read as a judgement?
Did I express an unhelpful bias or react to a stereotype rather than the person?
Exploring such questions is part of our ethical practice? The more experienced we are, the more embedded the self-reflection becomes, and the more mindful our practice becomes.
My Recent Supervision Session
In my recent Supervision session with Trevor Eddolls, an AfSFH Supervisor, who has written many related books and who has many years experience, I was able to share my concerns. Trevor soon helped me identify where the boundaries should lie, distinguishing between humour and warmth with a stable client with whom I have rapport, and what might be read as judgement and opinion with a more vulnerable client I don’t know well.
Trevor explained that we can learn so much from our clients’ reactions to us and we do have to exercise a degree of judgement and ensure we have a higher duty of care to vulnerable adults and children.
Words matter and I am continuously learning and reflecting, and adapting my language, tone and practice. We might argue these skills come with practice but it’s wise to never be complacent.
It’s also very important to be clear with clients if you feel you have made a mistake, or offered unwarranted advice, or passed an opinion. It’s equally important to listen to clients who soon tell you if you are not on the right path. In Solution Focused approaches we always take the clients’ lead. The client is the expert on themselves.
The Problem with Advice
One client who was struggling with his father’s Alzheimer’s and associated grief said to me “Thank you for the advice. It was really helpful”.
Sounds quite positive right?
Actually it wasn’t. Part of Solution Focused approaches is to not give advice. At least not advice that directly relates to a problem the client is trying to resolve themselves.
Finding your own Solutions
I reflected that careful questioning could have led my client to solve the problem himself. What Solution Focused questions might I have asked?, “If you were able to grieve the loss of your father as you remember him before he had Alzheimer’s, how might it help you deal with his condition now?” And “If you were to know how to grieve your father as he used to be, what might you be doing to process your grief? What would show you you were processing your grief? If you were processing your grief, what would your family notice about you?” And so forth.
Finding Potential Solutions
This line of questioning would likely lead to all sorts of potential solutions other than the one I inadvertently suggested (luckily it worked out for my client but it might not have done). But being able to ask ‘the next question’ is a skill in itself and I continuously get better and better at it.
Asking the Right Questions
It’s very important in my practice to understand the questioning within the discipline of Solution Focused Brief Therapy or SFBT in more depth and to continue to keep learning.
Integrating Solution Focused Brief Therapy
Although Solution Focused Hypnotherapy is a separate discipline it has integrated the best practice of SFBT and we know we can always learn more about how to ‘ask the next question’. That skill stops us falling in to the ‘advice trap’.
Not only do we need to trust our client to find the solutions themselves, we need to find the right question to help them to do do.
Client’s Personal Agency
When we ask the right questions, and we stick to the process, we know our client is protected from any inherent or unrecognized bias, potential judgement or lazy assumptions. It’s what enables me to successfully work with people of all faiths and no faiths, people from different cultural backgrounds, ethnicities and sexual orientations. Clients determine their best outcomes and hopes at the beginning of the process and finds their own solutions, and take incremental steady steps towards realizing those outcomes.
They retain personal agency throughout.
Listening Skills
This reflection on my practice led me to take a level 2 Counselling Course recently in addition to my other certificates and diplomas. This course, foundational as it is, included some very helpful training on safeguarding and boundaries, as well as useful guidance on ‘holding the space’ when clients need to talk.
Counselling is not part of my therapeutic process, and never will be. However, for some people talking about a problem initially can brief great relief and helps to build trust. It’s always important to validate clients’ experiences. I’m then careful to explain the Solution Focused approach as soon as I can, and to be clear that it’s fine to talk about problems however our approach is to help you move beyond them, finding acceptance, resolution, hope and new solutions that are just right for the client and his, her or their circumstances. Clients generally soon ease out of the ‘problem talk’ as they begin to feel the benefits of the Solution Focused Hypnotherapy process.
Allowing Clients to Move On
We have to know when to let go.
I’m always prepared for the possibility clients might move on to other therapists. One client moved onto specialized CBT. She was ready, having processed a number of traumas and become generally less anxious. It worked well for her.
Another client moved on to constellation therapy; another to a mentor to help her work on a specific aspect of her life; another to a faith-based counsellor, and yet another to a birth doulla.
All of these clients explained they were ready to move on because of our work together with me and saw it as a progression. And that’s as it should be. If we are ‘holding on to clients’ longer than we need, we have to question our own motives. We are only helping people on their journey, and we want them to have personal agency and remain in control. We want them to make the decision and to do what’s right for them.
Clients needs to trust their therapists
Photo Unsplash (c) Noah Buscher
Solution Focused Approaches are Some of the Safest
When I read the Guardian article on the consequences of therapy going wrong, I realised just what a responsibility, and an honour it is when clients put their trust in me. I have a duty of care, above all else, to keep them safe.
Amelia Tait’s Guardian article shows us that even trained and accredited therapists can breach trust, demonstrate clear prejudice or bias, or just be downright dodgy! Therapists are all too human.
The joy of Solution Focused therapies is that therapeutic approaches are far less open to abuse than some other talking therapies. The very structure and design of Solution Focused therapies is that they are ‘do no harm’ therapies where the client retains personal agency - control over decisions, choices and outcomes.
As SF Hypnotherapists we aren’t digging in to the past to analyse, interpret or pass judgement. We know we shouldn’t but it doesn’t mean we couldn’t.
In Solution Focused Hypnotherapy and Rewind Trauma Therapy, what a client discloses is up to them. There’s no digging or prodding. No value-judgements. No labels. There’s no analysis, diagnosis or interpretations.
So I keep asking questions. I keep sharing my questions in Supervision. I keep training. I keep reflecting. And I keep doing the very best I can for my clients.
Jane Pendry
Sense-Ability Hypnotherapy & Coaching, Online, U.K., Europe & USA
jane@sense-ability.co.uk
Wheatley, Oxford, OX33 1XJ
+44 (0)7843 813 883
www.sense-ability.co.uk