As you will see if you follow my Facebook page, I have made the difficult decision to close down Blue Light Hypnotherapy.
It has been a profession I have enjoyed every moment of learning, developing and practising. Working with those clients who have come to see me has been a priviledge and it has been so heartwarming to see and hear about the positive changes you have all made to your lives, and the way that hypnotherapy has made such a difference. As a clinician of 25 years, you have no idea how rewarding seeing the outcomes of hypnotherapy has been. I've always practiced conventional Western medicine but there are some things we could do so much better in healthcare, and use of hypnotherapy is just one area.
I've been able to incorporate the use of hypnosis and hypnotherapy into my work in emergency and urgent care, in pain control and in the treatment of acute anxiety attacks.I wouldn't have been able to do that without my therapy training. It's been so very valuable.
When I started practising, my main job in urgent care was so much more flexible. I could work around clients easily, and I could often see clients quite last-minute, at all times of the day and days of the week. When COVID-19 happened, that became more difficult, as I had to work a lot more hours in emergency care, far more 12-hour shifts, and without the flexibility I was used to.
I've still just been able to manage the therapy workload. The biggest problem I've had to try and overcome is the amount of time I put into client assessment and session preparation, for people to change their minds or cancel at the last minute. I wasn't prepared for how lightly some people consider the idea of therapy, and how little regard some people have for others' time and energy. That's been a real disappointment. I've always put 100% into my clinical work, wherever I've worked - it's how most of us work in the NHS. In the private therapy sector, I was advised to step back and not give so much of myself and my energy to people who may change their minds without a second thought, but I'm not built that way, unfortunately - I've been in the NHS too long! If someone comes into emergency care with something critical, they don't tend to change their minds and walk out before we've had the chance to start treating them. We start, we give the very best we have, and we don't let the patient leave until we've done everything we can for them. I wasn't ready for the difference in private therapy.
You learn from these things, and thanks to some invaluable help and support from the principal of the UK College of Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy where I trained, plus an excellent fellow therapist from Blossom Hypnotherapy in Kent, I put a number of measures into place to protect myself against the financial losses. However I've found it too hard to deal with the issue of putting a lot of myself into a package of care, and then figuratively throwing it in the bin. Still, I've learned a lot about human nature, and if the day comes when I return to therapy work, (I very much hope I will) I will remember these lessons.
I will be closing down the Instagram account straight away, as I barely use it anyway. I'll leave the Facebook page up for another few weeks so that prospective clients can see what's going on. The website will be around until early July 2024.
I will be available for courses of 1:1 therapy until the end of Summer 2024. Due to enormous problems trying to get corporate clients to pay, I will no longer be undertaking any corporate work, with immediate effect.
I can recommend some excellent therapists in the area I work, so do get in touch if you'd like to come and see me in my remaining months or if you would like details of an alterantive therapist.
Rest assured that any therapy I provide will be of exactly the same standard it always has been - I'm not winding down in that respect!
Peace and love
Kevan Blue Light Hypnotherapy.