I recently read
an interesting piece that was shared by a fellow OMNI Instructor regarding the
length of training relative to effectiveness in relation to psychotherapists
and counsellors (the link can be found at the bottom of the page) and it struck
a chord with me.
I mentioned in
the earlier blog this week that there was a disconcerting amount of oversell
from some certifying establishments in either the length of their training
given or the questionable overlap of the various training programmes that they
were offering.
When deciding the
right training schedule it is always difficult striking a fine balance
between maximising enrolment numbers and choosing a timetable that will be
the most benefit to your students ability to learn.
Having done
courses that run over consecutive weeks or weekends, the shorter ones work fine
and allow students to work around a timetable, too long however and it is clear
that there is a lot of time recapping and regurgitating to the detriment of the
material and the chance of everything 'falling into place'.
The Foundation
class and especially OMNI training we provide run over continuous
days (and long ones at that) because it allows the students to immerse
themselves in the training and in hypnosis. Things stay fresh, practical and
applicable and though we recap every morning, the desire to learn and
take on more and more overrides the need to recap and clarify something
that may have been covered five, ten or fifteen weeks before (there should be a
study that looks at the correlation between the greater the length of the
course and the greater the need for textbooks and hypnosis scripts).
Then there is the
danger of instructors that 'pad' the material and syllabus with stuff because
the core message and content is a little flimsy, or even worse begin selling
you something more or tying you in to the next course or the next part of the
jigsaw you need.
This was a big
dilemma for me when writing the Foundation Course, a necessity for anyone
wanting an accredited route. I had to protect the integrity of the OMNI
material in the advanced certification, but because that material was so good I
needed to find content where the students would still walk away from the
foundation course feeling like they had made a sound investment. The criteria
for choosing what to include in the foundation course ended up being a) is it
simple b) is it useful c) does it work and d) can the students use it. The
result is actually a course that will want everyone chomping on the bit to use
the material as quickly as they can but also equally hungry to learn more and
become OMNI hypnotists.
I will be honest,
it was a real dilemma for me to decide whether to even pursue the accreditation
route at all. On the one hand I think standardisation of a profession that has
enough ignorant knockers is a very good thing, on the other hand I think with
the OMNI training I have something that in itself will make ethical and
competent professionals regardless. Ultimately it came down to the fact that it
was most important to me that students have the choice. Having decided that I
am very pleased that it inspired me to create a great foundation course and
that the three choices they now have ; foundation, OMNI, full
combined accreditation all provide value by their own merits.
I think a
trainers integrity is so important and that integrity starts and ends in the
belief they have themselves in the material that they are providing. I
thoroughly understand having more than one tool in your toolkit, so that if
your first choice approach doesn't work you are not necessarily left pissing in
the wind. From a personal perspective, the more I worried that I needed more
tools however, the more the good tools I did have became less effective. When I
went back to the approach I enjoyed most and brought me most success, it was
reflected immediately in my work with clients. By reestablishing comfort in
myself I had done so in my clients too. If you feel doubt in yourself you will
project it at some level and many clients or students will be receptive to it.
The article I
originally mentioned and which you will hopefully peruse later, proposes
that the rapport and interactional relationship in therapy is undervalued and
taking this into consideration shorter training can produce as effective
results as longer more committed studying. Why would this be? Well i believe
too much theory, too much information and too many options relative to
practical experience might make walking textbooks of people, but it doesn't
necessarily give them integrity and it doesn't nurture rapport (if you
don't believe me, go check out any hypnosis forum on social media and quickly
spot the unlikeable and abrasive 'scholars' and experts).
Simply put in the
context of therapy training, if the person training you doesn't actually
believe the shit they are peddling, there will be plenty of people who wont believe
it either (unfortunately there still will be plenty who do).
When I first
became a hypnotherapy instructor, as good as some of the material was I had to
use, the stuff I really wanted to I couldn't because I felt uncomfortable that
it wasn't my first choice approach in my own practice and there was better out
there. So I retrained with OMNI. I found it really disconcerting that I had
more knowledge than any prospective student of mine would have
so at the convention in the summer I cornered Hansreudi the OMNI CEO (no mean
feat if you have ever seen him!) and asked him what were the chances of
becoming an OMNI instructor.
It was important
to me that I taught something that I believed in. It is disconcerting to me the
sheer number of hypnotherapists who graduate in this country and then hang
their success with clients directly on their ability to find a script for the
presenting issue. Worse it is even more worrying those who think there is that
one single script that acts as a universal band aid for all ills. The most
disturbing of all are those that just want to pull your pants down and take
your money and if what they give you works - its a bonus because thats
marketing for them.
Don't get me
wrong there is nothing bad with having ambitions to become a millionaire
through training people and viewing training as a business is a prudent thing
to do. But if you are going to be trained by and learn from someone, for
heavens sakes pick someone who is teaching you something you can honestly say they
are routinely using themselves.
There are some
great instructors who teach you what they believe in and what will work, why
they believe it and are transparent and humble about the origins of the
techniques they are teaching you. People like Melissa Tiers for example, teach
you what they think will be useful and what other therapists can start using
immediately, in a believable and credible way. I have a lot of respect for
Melissa and though we may agree and disagree with each other with respect to
our generally preferred approaches to change work and therapy, I know I can
still attend one of her workshops and always take something away with me
because she's never trying to pull the wool over the eyes of me or anyone
else in the room.
It is especially
why I have nothing but admiration for the likes of Gerald Kein. Jerry has
steadfastly taught the same methods over decades not because he has refused to
change, but because he doesn't need to. He believes in them, because he
uses them correctly, he knows they work and he knows when taught to others
correctly and used by others confidently will get powerful results. He
encourages his students to use the tools and knowledge and practical skills he
gives them and develop them, expand upon them, but you are never in any doubt
that he has given you all he believes you need to do so and to be getting on
with. This confidence is something that he bestows upon his trainers and
encourages - no demands that they pass on to their students. If you ever meet
Hansreudi his predecessor, this unflinching conviction in the OMNI processes
and methodology courses through him just as strongly as his desire to make OMNI
the most globally respected name in Hypnosis.
But belief in
their own material is only one part of what gives the Jerry, Hans or
Melissa's of this world their integrity as trainers. They understand
the need to for client 'buy-in' and commitment to the therapy or change work is
directly relative to it's success. Again this is something the mentioned article
alludes to. They also share an honest simplification and overview of their
processes and how they can help people and they have done this by learning from
the right people for them and focusing on developing stuff that works ahead of
what sells or over-intellectualises.
Their training
programmes are the simplest in many respects, invariably the most easy to use
and apply and more often than not, because of their simplicity, the
shortest. These are strong prerequisites for successfully selling any
product, but in the case of therapy especially so, in instilling confidence and
competence in students.
Which explains
why I fully agree with much of what the article proposes. Quantity
does not always reflect quality when other elements less quantifiable than
classroom hours and textbooks read, are there.
For me I honestly
believe OMNI Hypnosis Training is the best in the world,
Melissa's Manhattan based Center for Integrative Hypnosis a strong
alternative approach and the students who graduate are amongst the most confident
and competent despite the certification programmes they both offer being
relatively short. Why? Because the training is taught with integrity and it is
as simple as it is believable, with a track record of producing effective
therapists, which as the article suggests, translates into successful
therapy.
For further
reading, here is the
article: http://www.acwa.org.au/resources/Practice_Reflexions_Volume_7.pdf
For details on the
2016 OMNI training schedule, click here http://www.omnihypnosis.london
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