If helping others overcome their deeply-rooted challenges and rewiring their subconscious limiting beliefs is your true calling, learning how to become a hypnotherapist could be your first step towards a meaningful career.
On top of that, this profession can promise you a six-figure annual income. At the very least, you can heal your subconscious abundance blocks (if there are any).
The realm of the hypnotherapist profession can be hypnotizing from the outside. Let’s take a look at it from the inside out.
What is a hypnotherapist?
A hypnotherapist, commonly known as a hypnotist, is a skilled and trained professional who uses hypnotherapy to change their clients’ behavioral patterns, attitudes, or ways of thinking. It’s one of the jobs that truly help people.
As a rule, hypnotherapists use hypnosis as their main professional tool. By inducing a trance-like state, they guide their clients into the depths of their subconscious, using suggestions, verbal cues, repetition, and mental imagery.
Here are the most common issues that they help with:
- Anxiety
- Grief
- Anger management
- Stress
- Chronic pain, including headaches
- Insomnia
- Weight loss and weight management
- Performance
- Smoking
- Fears and phobias
- Drug and alcohol misuse
- Insomnia
In addition to health-related challenges, hypnotists can assist you in increasing your confidence and self-esteem, releasing unwanted weight, improving relationships, and attracting more abundance.
What does a hypnotherapist do?
They work with their clients to help them heal, treat various issues, and cope with daily stress.
During a typical session, they:
- Discuss the client’s challenges and desired goals
- Prepares them for hypnosis: how it works and what it entails
- Induce a hypnotic state using individualized methods and relaxation techniques
- Guide them out of hypnosis
- Assist with self-hypnosis methods
It’s important to mention that hypnotists may use various tools, not only hypnosis. These tools and techniques include neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), creative visualization, cognitive-behavioral therapies, and psychosensory techniques such as Havening Technique.
Famous hypnotherapists around the world
In one of the scenes of The Great Buck Howard, Buck Howard made people go into hypnosis while standing up, which wasn’t the safest thing to do. Nevertheless, some hypnotists use unconventional methods and became internationally famous for spreading the art and science of hypnosis through TV shows.
Let’s look at the most popular ones:
1. Dr. Paul McKenna
Paul is UK’s #1 hypnotherapist, behavioral scientist, television, radio broadcaster, author of self-help books, and trainer of Mindvalley’s Everyday Bliss Quest.
He is well-known for hosting self-improvement TV shows and seminars in hypnosis, NLP, weight loss, motivation, the Zen meditation Big Mind, and Havening Techniques.
2. Marisa Peer
Marisa is known as the “Best British Therapist” by Men’s Health magazine, featured in Tatler’s Guide to Britain’s 250 Best Doctors, and the founder of Rapid Transformational Therapy® training.
She has worked with royalty, Hollywood celebrities, Olympic athletes, CEOs, and political leaders for nearly 30 years. She is also a trainer of Mindvalley’s Rapid Transformational Hypnotherapy for Abundance Quest.
3. Dr. Michael Newton
Newton was a hypnotherapist who developed his age regression technique and established The Michael Newton Institute for Life Between Lives Hypnotherapy in 2002. The Institute trains qualified hypnotherapists to continue Newton’s work on past lives and spiritual realms.
4. Barrie Leslie Konicov
Konicov is a well-known American hypnotist, author, one-time Libertarian candidate for the United States Congress, and founder of Potentials Unlimited. During his hypnosis career, Konicev has created over 200 programs, selling millions of recordings a year, helping people lose weight and quit smoking.
5. Kimberly Friedmutter
Kimberly is a former model and actress, best known for Evil Obsession, Time Under Fire, and the reality series Sin City Rules. She is also a certified hypnotherapist and NLP trainer, a member of the UCLA Health System Board, the American Board of Hypnotherapy, the Association for Integrative Psychology, the American Board of Neurolinguistics Programming, and the International Hypnosis Federation.
6. Chris Hughes
Chris is a British-born TV hypnotist, hypnotherapist, speaker, and entertainer. He has become increasingly famous for hosting one of the biggest online hypnosis events, Socialtrance. It was streamed live on Facebook and Twitter and attracted over 1,000,000 listeners from over 130 countries.
7. Boris Cherniak
Boris is a Soviet-born Canadian-based hypnotist and motivational speaker, entertainer, psychological illusionist, and hypnotherapist. He motivates and inspires people across the world, addressing mental health at corporate events, conference keynotes, theater, fairs, cruise ships, universities, and talk shows.
8. Kevin Stone
Kevin Stone is a well-known master hypnotist and a sought-after certified hypnotherapist in Hollywood. You may have seen him on MTV’s hit shows Teen Mom OG, The Tyra Banks Show, Extra, Celebrity Fit Club, Good Morning Live, and Good Morning LA.
Questions to ask yourself before becoming a hypnotherapist
This profession implies working with clients to solve complex problems. You aren’t just a health coach who helps clients achieve their weight goals or quit bad habits.
Your ultimate mission is to assist people in healing, using the power of their subconscious. It requires your dedication to fundamental training and a profound aspiration to serve others.
Here are some questions to reflect on before you pursue this calling:
- Why do I want to become a hypnotherapist?
- What specific challenges and issues do I want to focus on?
- Do I enjoy counseling people?
- What skills and talents do I have that will help me become successful on this path?
- Are you committed to investing at least two years of your life to become competent before it pays off?
If you aspire to find your true calling, check the 3 Most Important Questions method. It will help you discover what you want and what will genuinely make you happy.
How much does it cost to become a hypnotherapist?
Hypnotherapy training costs vary from $100 to $3000, depending on the provider. If you feel led by your higher purpose, you want to prioritize quality over cost when looking for a training program. Moreover, if you are looking to create a six-figure practice, investing in a quality education sounds like a sensible thing to do.
Hypnotherapy quality training must include the following:
- Structured syllabus
- National accreditation or certification from a well-respected institution
- Credentialed instructor with a solid professional background and extensive practice
- Well-structured lessons
- Peers groups
- Advanced topic coverage, including advanced techniques
- Business building models
- Mentorship
- Real testimonials from alumni
In essence, a proper training and certification program will provide you with the tools for a successful, sound practice and build your confidence to help your clients.
Hypnotherapist average salary
The estimated total pay for a hypnotherapist is $77,974 per year in the United States. They can also earn roughly $41 per hour.
Hypnotherapists make the most in San Francisco at $117,050, averaging total compensation 50% greater than the US average.
As you can see, you can easily make a six-digit income annually with the proper training and solid practice built over time.
How long does it take to become a hypnotherapist?
Training programs for hypnotists vary greatly. Generally, you will need 25-300 hours of professional training. To be a clinical professional, you need a clinical background to be certified.
Most approved hypnotherapy certification programs require a minimum of 40 hours of hypnotherapy training workshops, 20 hours of supervised individual training, and at least two years of practical experience using hypnosis as a part of your practice.
With or without these requirements, apart from hours of training, it will take at least one year of post-qualifying experience to become fully competent.
List of hypnotherapy certifications
If you are a licensed health care professional, you want to seek hypnotherapy certification from a professional group such as the American Association of Professional Hypnotherapists (AAPH), the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis (ACSH) and the Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis (SCEH).
Let’s look at some of the major certifications out there:
1. The American Society of Clinical Hypnosis
ACSH is one of the largest health and mental care organizations, incorporating hypnosis in their practice and offering classes on hypnotherapy, training workshops, and hypnosis certification.
To get certified, you must go through 60 hours of ASCH-approved hypnotherapy courses and training and have at least two years of practice in the field of hypnotherapy.
2. International Hypnosis Association
IHA certifies professionals and practitioners of NLP. To become certified in NLP, check this list of IHA-approved courses.
These courses have met IHA’s approval standards and independent peer review.
3. Association for Transpersonal Psychology & Hypnotherapy (ATPH)
ATPH is a professional hypnosis organization supporting hypnotists and hypnotherapists and issuing hypnotist, hypnotherapist, and clinical hypnotherapist certifications. It also offers professional and associate memberships.
4. Hypnotherapy Training Institute
HTI offers short courses to get hypnotherapy certifications. Their programs consist of four levels with five days of class each, so it will take a month to get certified.
They hold weekly and weekend classes, and if you are a busy professional, it may fit your schedule.
5. Hypnosis Motivation Institute
HMI is a nationally accredited institute of hypnotherapy, offering offline and online courses.
The offline hypnotherapy training course includes a one-year training program and an on-campus clinical internship program. An online course is a 300-hours program open to anyone across the world.
6. Rapid Transformational Therapy® (RTT®)
Rapid Transformational Therapy® training is founded by Marisa Peer, internationally renowned hypnotherapist and trainer of Mindvalley’s Rapid Transformational Hypnotherapy for Abundance Quest. It consists of 300 hours of training, in-person and online.
What’s more, it offers you an opportunity to become a world-class hypnotherapist with no prior background, education, or experience needed.
7. Mindvalley Certified Hypnotherapist Program with Paul Mckenna
This certification program is new at Evercoach by Mindvalley and launched in November 2022. It is a four-month training led by Paul McKenna himself.
How to become a hypnotist with Mindvalley
Learning how to put people into a trance-like state is a relatively easy and effective relaxation technique. But the art and science of hypnotherapy go beyond hypnosis.
The thing is, a masterful hypnotist is a true healer who helps others heal their body and minds and cope with daily stress with ease and grace.
And if you aspire to become one, join the Mindvalley Certified Hypnotherapist program with Paul McKenna. In this four-month program, you will learn:
- Foundations of hypnotherapy
- Diagnostics and change work
- Applications of hypnotherapy
- Dealing with phobias
- Achieving peak performance
- Stage hypnotism
- And setting up a hypnotherapy business
In addition, you will have a live Q&A call every week with Paul and live hypnotherapy practice labs in groups.
Learning starts with curiosity. And that can begin with hypnotherapy.
Welcome in.
