‘X’ (name anonymised for privacy) works in the NHS. Working in a demanding role that includes patient care and leadership of a team, she also juggled the demands of a home life whilst also being a long distance from her family and roots. The result was high stress levels.
Whilst X had an awareness of hypnotherapy, she had not experienced it before. After having experienced it, she said:
“You’re deeply relaxed but you maintain awareness. The calmness of having all the external stressor blocked out means you can access thoughts and processes which you’re otherwise unaware of.”
In our initial session, a factor that was contributing to the stress was a sense of low self-esteem – something often termed as Imposter Syndrome. An intense feeling of ‘being found out’ was consistently undermining the evidence that she was exceptionally competent in what she does.
Our work together went deeper than coping techniques in her stressful environment. We sought to help her have confidence in her strengths and competence and also provide ways to shut off when outside of the workplace.
X had a total of 5 sessions. The first was the chemistry session that builds the foundation for the work and also teaches a very effective way of learning to relax – a skill that is beneficial to everyone.
Four therapeutic sessions followed where we used a series of techniques to address the causes of the low self-esteem and self-confidence.
Session by session, X was reflecting on the changes both in her work with patients but also how she was leading other team members and the knock on effect this was having. This was endorsed when after a particularly challenging week, a colleague commented on how they were all able to remain calmer because she was so calm.
In X’s words:
“I came to hypnotherapy looking for better stress management tools and left with far more than that. Alongside practical techniques, the sessions helped me work through imposter syndrome and some long-buried issues I hadn’t realised were shaping how I led and how I experienced pressure — both of which had taken a toll in a demanding public sector career.
I feel calmer, far more comfortable navigating stressful situations, and noticeably more ‘present’ at home as a mum, wife and daughter. I’d recommend it wholeheartedly.”
If you feel the negative impact of stress and would like to prevent it reducing your quality of life or feel that the term ‘Imposter Sundrome’ relates to you, let’s chat