About Me

I have spent 27 years working with people affected by addiction, recovery and adult survivors of childhood trauma. In 2007, I became deeply interested in hypnosis as a therapeutic intervention. The positive clients outcomes I witnessed reinforced my belief in the benefits of hypnotherapy.

Many people I supported genuinely wanted to change. Yet, their own internal belief systems — shaped by years of relapses, failures, and being told they would not succeed — were holding them back. Their existing beliefs were unintentionally sabotaging their own recovery.

Through studying hypnosis at the International Hypnotherapy Institute with Susan Wallace, learning about the power of the subconscious mind, I realised something vital:

Our beliefs live in the subconscious — and to change behaviour, we must change first those beliefs.

Hypnosis allows us to access and replace negative, limiting beliefs with positive, supportive ones. It does not re-traumatise people or require them to relive distressing experiences. Clients simply relax, listen, and trust the process. They remain aware and in control throughout.

Over the years, I have successfully worked with individuals and groups, and have witnessed hypnosis help create life changing benefits by :

  • Reducing anxiety

  • Increasing confidence

  • Stopping unwanted negative habits e.g. smoking/overeating

  • Supporting recovery and healing from trauma

My expertise is in addiction/recovery, anxiety, and trauma.

Substance use or other harmful behaviours are often self-soothing strategies — symptoms of deeper trauma or emotional pain. When the underlying cause is addressed, those negative coping strategies are no longer needed.

Once people start to believe in themselves, healing happens.

Testimonials

  • I was suffering with low self esteem, and spending a lot of time shamefully watching porn. I did a hypnosis session with Doreen she helped me stop , my sense of fulfilment has turned a new leaf.

    - Anthony

  • Claustrophobia had stopped me having an MRI I badly needed. I'd been in the machine twice and had to come straight back out. It's hard to explain how frustrating that is when it's something you actually need done. What surprised me about working with Doreen was how little I had to relive. I stayed completely aware the whole time. The scan went ahead and it was fine — genuinely fine.

    — Christy

  • I'd carried anger and resentment from my childhood for a long time. I'd more or less accepted it was just part of who I was. Doreen never asked me to go back through any of it, which I'd been afraid of. Something shifted anyway. I'm not carrying it around the way I was, and there's a lightness I hadn't felt in years.

    -Angela

 FAQs

  • Hypnosis is a state of altered awareness during which our subconscious mind is more open and receptive to suggestions that are given. We drift in and out of different levels of awareness many times a day, absorbing information on a subliminal level as well as a conscious one. Your hypnotherapist will work with your imagination to help you to achieve your goals. 

  • Every person is unique and different. Some people say that their body feels like a lead weight, others say they feel as though they're floating away. Most people will agree that it's a lovely feeling because they are more relaxed that they have ever been before. 

  • You will be aware of everything that is happening and being said the whole time, however you will be so deeply relaxed that you may find yourself drifting into different levels of awareness. Remember, your subconscious mind is active throughout and it is this that your therapist is working with. 

  • That depends how deep in hypnosis you are, but generally most people do remember either everything or certain parts of the experience. You will find that suggestions which have been given to you in hypnosis will resurface in your conscious, thinking mind after your hypnosis session and these will be the thoughts that produce changes in your behaviour or way of thinking and feeling. 

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  • Psychoanalysis gives a complete explanation of a complicated behaviour pattern. It deals with the material of the unconscious mind, which, through special, time consuming techniques, is brought into the patient's consciousness so that they can deal with it. 

    Hypno-analysis reveals the cause of a patient's particular reaction to a given set of circumstances. It deals with awareness below the level of consciousness. Hypno-analysis is a speedier method of therapy. It is the difference between a broad plateau and a pin point. A complete psychoanalysis takes time, years in some cases. Hypno-analysis can takes hours or less. 

  • Not necessarily; different therapists have varied approaches, but if the cause of your problem is a repressed memory (one that you are unable to remember consciously), then bringing it back into conscious awareness can help you to view the problem from a different perspective and so feel differently about it. If you find the idea of revisiting old memories painful then your therapist can help you to dissociate from them so that you can remember the experience without experiencing the emotions associated to them. 

    It is now believed that remembering traumatic experiences can reinforce the trauma and this is not necessary to heal. 

  • No, you won't say or do anything at all that you don't want to. If you were given suggestions that you didn't morally agree with you would come out of hypnosis or disregard the suggestions. 

    Hypnosis is perfectly safe. 

    You won’t do anything under hypnosis that you wouldn’t do in your conscious state of mind. 

  • No-one has ever remained in hypnosis indefinitely. Even if something were to happen to the hypnotherapist halfway through the session, you would still 'come out' of the trance state once rapport had been broken. 

  • The only side effects are the beneficial ones of feeling more relaxed afterwards and feeling more positive about whatever it was you sought hypnotherapy for. Hypnosis is a perfectly natural state. 

  • Anyone can resist hypnosis during a session and it won't work, however the question remains as to why someone would seek hypnotherapy if they didn't want it to help them. Hypnosis requires cooperation between two people - your therapist will show you the way and you can choose if you want to go there or not. Being open to the process will help ensure you have a good experience. You will get great benefit the more you are relaxed into the process and willing to engage. 

    If you are not prepared to accept that hypnosis could benefit you then your best option would be to seek alternative treatment - (however - in my own experience - sceptics are very often the best subjects). I was a sceptic myself then found I went easily into trance and looked forward to every session. Hypnosis is not for everyone. Don’t be too disappointed if it doesn’t work . Don’t give up on yourself. Everyone is different. 

  • You can - if they are related issues, however because hypnosis requires a complete focus of attention it is far better to concentrate on one problem at a time. People wishing to stop smoking (for example) who are afraid of doing so in case they gain weight can be helped with the correct approach. This is because many of us experience 'symptom substitution' - we can substitute one addiction for another. Also you need time to process the treatment in your mind. Timing of results differ from person to person. Some people experience immediate results while others can take longer to experience change responses.