Skip to the content
If you simply Google this question, you’ll find a lot of very upbeat answers. But as always when you are online, you need to check where those answers are coming from. You’ll find that most information quoted comes from hypnotherapy training schools, and the rest is largely from websites comparing different careers.
Surveys of Hypnotherapists
The information on these websites is mostly from surveys conducted in the USA, and is therefore WORTHLESS for a UK audience. This is because the UK and the USA are very different cultures. For one thing, having therapy has been normalised in the USA for many years. Also, Americans have no NHS and are accustomed to paying for treatment either directly or through insurance.
UK Hypnotherapy Training
What about the information from UK hypnotherapy training schools? This at least refers to our own country. But you do need to ask yourself- “what do these people want me to believe and why do they want me to believe it?”
Obviously like everyone in business they are trying to sell their product, and their product is hypnosis training courses. These courses typically cost at least £2,000, so running two classes of 15 students each would provide a decent average income for the trainer. (The overheads are just room hire and printing course materials, and some courses don’t even need a room as they are done online). Course fees are paid upfront, whether as a lump sum or an instalment plan, so once you join they’ve made their money. The trainers can still make a living even if none of their students succeed as hypnotherapists!
The Truth about Hypnotherapy as a Career
You may be told that hypnotherapy is “a career where it is easy to be self-employed.” What this really means is that you HAVE to be self-employed. Hardly anyone employs hypnotherapists. There is one NHS hospital (in Manchester) which uses hypnotherapy for IBS, but their therapists are health professionals like nurses who have also trained in hypnotherapy.
As to whether it’s “easy” to be a hypnotherapist, let’s look at some real research. In 2019 I surveyed most of the hypnotherapists in the UK, checking how long their websites had existed. You can see the results HERE.
How many Hypnotherapists succeed in their careers?
Notice that 44% of hypnotherapists had been in business for five years or less, and 72% for ten years or less. Less than 3% had practiced for 25 years or more. There are two reasons why most hypnotherapists are so inexperienced. Firstly it’s because more recently there are many more training schools churning out hundreds of newly qualified hypnotherapists each year. Secondly, it’s because most of these hypnotherapists go out of business within three years. I check my local area each year and I see them come and go. Most of them never stay in business long enough to really build their expertise- because in this profession, as in most professions, you learn most of what you ever know by seeing clients, not from books or lectures.
The rapidly growing number of hypnotherapists are competing for potential clients whose numbers are not growing so rapidly. Most insurance companies do not pay for hypnotherapy, and the NHS remains generally uninterested in it. So those hypnotherapists who stay in business are mostly not seeing very many clients. Surveys of hypnotherapists have shown that most are seeing ten clients or less each week, and many are only seeing one or two.
In a later post I’ll discuss why hypnotherapy CAN be a good career in the UK, despite the difficulties I’ve referred to. In the mean time I’ll just say, “Don’t believe the hype!”
