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Welcome to "Hypnotherapy Reflections: From Training to Practice!" Join us as we dive into inspiring stories of individuals who chose to train with CPHT as solution-focused hypnotherapists and transformed their lives. Discover how their specialised training empowered them to become successful practitioners, profoundly impacting their clients and communities. Each episode features candid interviews, valuable insights, and practical tips from seasoned hypnotherapists who share their journey, challenges, and triumphs. Whether considering this rewarding career or seeking motivation to elevate your practice, "Hypnotherapy Reflections" offers the inspiration and knowledge you need. Subscribe now and embark on a journey of transformation and success in the world of solution-focused hypnotherapy!
Good morning, and welcome to another episode of hypnotherapy reflections from training to practice. Today, we have the wonderful Ben Baker Pollard with us. Ben qualified as a solution focused hypnotherapist in our school in Kent. So we're gonna explore his journey, the unique insights, both from a personal point of view, and those gained from CPhD and the powerful impact that Solution Focused Hypnotherapy has had for him. So get ready for an inspiring conversation, highlighting the transformative power of hypnotherapy, but from a lecturer's point of view.
Gary Johannes:So, Ben, would you like to introduce yourself, where you are, where you work from, and any information what might be relevant?
Benn Baker-Pollard:Thanks, Gary. So my name is Ben Baker Pollard. I work in Sittingbourne down in Kent, where I work from my home. I have my practice in my house, and I started doing this probably coming up to two and a half years ago now, I think, maybe. So it's been a while.
Benn Baker-Pollard:Prior to me doing hypnotherapy, I was a police officer and worked in the Met Police for just around about 18 years now. So big change from my career to this, but it was the training course that I went on that facilitated that change.
Gary Johannes:So what inspired you to become a hypnotherapist? Because it's very different from being an inspector in the police force, particularly the MET, I would suggest. So what inspired you to make that massive step across?
Benn Baker-Pollard:So working in the police, I think everybody knows the austerity that is currently going on, the budget cuts that happened a few years back now in the under the coalition and things. And as a result of that, people were breaking because the pressure was increasing, support staff had been cut, and there was no one to pick up those jobs. So they were being allocated to people who already had a workload that was significant, and it was breaking them. Mhmm. It'd be breaking my staff in my teams, which I could see.
Benn Baker-Pollard:And as much as there is, you know, your primary care and employee assisted programs out there, the demand is still greater than what's available in terms of an offer it is. I started to look around that different elements of psychology, and I did a little bit of training in some positive psychology, on a 4 day course, and that kind of fed my appetite to learn a bit more. Immunotherapy has always been one thing that's kind of I think it sits in people's mind as it did my mind for a long time. How does it work?
Gary Johannes:Yeah. Yeah.
Benn Baker-Pollard:Magic. You know? And, obviously, we see the stage side of hypnotherapy as the predominant thing that gets people's attention. But as you start to dig into it, as I found, there's many layers to hypnotherapy in different types. And I came across Solution Fabulous Hypnotherapy training course with CPHT online.
Benn Baker-Pollard:And after reading it, I was like, actually, I could see some, synergy in the two things of what I've been already aware of and how this works. Quick conversation and, with Ali Holland, it was at the time. And I joined up to the course and started my journey. But I was still skeptical when I started.
Gary Johannes:Yes. So how did you first come across CPHD? You said you just found us online. You was obviously looking. What stuck out about CPHD in particular for you?
Benn Baker-Pollard:The key part for me was the fact that you set up a practice whilst you study. Right. And that you are you are building the entire journey as opposed to just going, here's a quick course, do the course, over to you. There was lots of elements within CPHT. It was around setting up a business and taking you through those steps.
Benn Baker-Pollard:We there's lots of courses out there. Of course, there's you can be a hypnotherapist in 5 minutes
Gary Johannes:Yep.
Benn Baker-Pollard:And pay, I don't know, £50. You can, be a hypnotherapist and do a 10 month course and pay triple, quadruple that amount. But as a result, you come out with a working, functioning practice.
Gary Johannes:Yeah. So when you looked at the online information, what was that about that that made you go, okay. I've got enough information. I I guess I'm asking, you know, when you looked at the website, when you looked at the you know, was it easy to get the information you needed?
Benn Baker-Pollard:Yeah. It was. I think the it was good that you had a call with a lecturer to explore some of the avenues in that course because, you know, to be you can't give everybody every answer. There's gonna be a few what if sort of dots and everybody don't mind. So that really helped.
Benn Baker-Pollard:But also looking at CPHG, it was the only one that kind of dominated the UK Yeah. On a national scale. So that in itself, to me, brings some credibility behind it. It's not a one man band. It's not just sat there on its own, and it's not most importantly for me, because I detest any form of elearning.
Benn Baker-Pollard:Mhmm. It wasn't a series of videos that you sit and watch, and then you click through some online script or form. It was in person, and it was being delivered by qualified people, qualified therapists.
Gary Johannes:Yeah. Absolutely. That's important
Benn Baker-Pollard:for me. I can't cannot entertain any form of elearning. It's like sticking things in my eyes. Yeah.
Gary Johannes:Well, moving on then to you're now a lecturer. You recently become a lecturer. You're now doing a big chunk of the training in Kent alongside our team with Claire and myself in particular. So what do you enjoy most about now passing on, like, two and a half years of experience you've got, plus the 18 years of leadership and management you had as a senior officer in the police force?
Benn Baker-Pollard:So I think it's probably the number one turning point for a lot of people is when you hear the icing.
Gary Johannes:Yeah. And So so don't do jargon jargon for people who don't understand. What's the IC?
Benn Baker-Pollard:So the initial consultation, the explanation ultimately of how our brains work Wow. And the different parts of our brain. And the the main thing that comes out of that is the reality that, actually, we do have the ability to control how that functions. And for me, that was one of the points in the course that was the point where I recognized myself and actually was, well, life changing if you you know, to go on for a better term, but I sat there and went, you know, I do have a choice.
Gary Johannes:Wow.
Benn Baker-Pollard:I can choose actually what I'm doing with my life rather than feeling like I'm stuck in a routine and something that I can't escape from.
Gary Johannes:So how does that benefit you now as a lecturer when you are lecturing, teaching all this knowledge to new students just coming into the world of hypnotherapy. Why is why do you enjoy that?
Benn Baker-Pollard:Because watching their faces when you show them the explanation, the cogs start to turn, and they realize just what it's about
Gary Johannes:Yeah.
Benn Baker-Pollard:Is a huge moment for them. And I think the one thing that they do is they they don't fully appreciate just how powerful it is at first
Gary Johannes:Yeah.
Benn Baker-Pollard:Being taught it. But when they go away and they digest it and they come back, guaranteed the next month, they all go, this is just unbelievable. This is the why do people not talk about this?
Gary Johannes:Yeah.
Benn Baker-Pollard:And that's the question. Why don't we? You know, we talk about it in our world Yeah. By the public. And, you know, we've all got brains in this world.
Benn Baker-Pollard:But, yeah, no one talks about how they work properly or educates anybody about that.
Gary Johannes:Do you find near the end of the course, it becomes that everything you're talking about, you then go and because it's just part of my brain working. So peep students are saying, I did this, but I was clearly in that part of my brain or this is thinking. So they started doing just in their own thinking quite early on, and it gets bigger and bigger as they go through the course.
Benn Baker-Pollard:Yeah. Absolutely. And what's also lovely when you're teaching is for a lot of people who come on the course, like it was for me, it's also a personal journey at the same time. And you see the students grow and develop into a different person, a much better version of what they were when they first arrived.
Gary Johannes:Yeah.
Benn Baker-Pollard:Particularly when they've got their own challenges around mental health going on, in the background from whatever whatever in their life, but you see them change.
Gary Johannes:So do you is that a purposeful part of the course, or is it just something what just slowly takes effect as they learn more and more?
Benn Baker-Pollard:It's what takes effect when they're learning. You know, they're not coming to the they're not coming to a rehab as part of the course. That's not what this is about. No. But equally, everybody who does come in the course will unfold their own journey.
Gary Johannes:Yeah. Absolutely. I I often say it's it's like a side effect.
Benn Baker-Pollard:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.
Gary Johannes:Yes. You're coming on and you're gonna be a great therapist. But the side effect is you're gonna benefit purely because you're on the course. And some of them, most of them have a similar sort of change to what you said. So how do you ensure your students are well prepared for career in hypnotherapy?
Gary Johannes:You said one of the decisions which led you to training was the fact that you were building your practice as you went through. That's what you said. So how do you prepare students who are well prepared for that career in hypnotherapy? Many of students who come on the course have never I mean, you work from your almost your first job, 18 years in the police force. So you'd never been in business for yourself.
Gary Johannes:You've never how do you prepare people who have stepped out of a career where they've been part of a bigger team and now they're self employed?
Benn Baker-Pollard:So we all have our journeys. We all have our learnings and our pitfalls that we can share as our own personal experience that we can then you know, that's what lecturing is about. It's about tailoring your delivery to the people that are sat in front of you to make sure you give them the best opportunity to succeed. And that's done by sharing the wealth of experience that you have and you gain yourself. You know, look across all the lectures that we have.
Benn Baker-Pollard:There's a whole broad dynamic there of life and experience, which gives them to be quite a a fantastic opportunity in order to find out, develop themselves while they're setting up that business and that side of it. But equally, the course content is tailored to educating you.
Gary Johannes:Yeah.
Benn Baker-Pollard:You don't need any prior experience of how to run a business to come on the course. We teach you that as we go through the course.
Gary Johannes:So a couple of personal questions then. How we're not really personal, but how you deal with things. How do you deal with skepticism about hypnotherapy when, you know, for public as a hypnotherapist or actually as a lecturer of hypnotherapy now, how do you deal with people who've always survived by a little bit, are you, or more?
Benn Baker-Pollard:Well, that comes back to that simple initial initial ex explanation of the brain that we would deliver an initial consultation. So as soon as we start talking about that and the neuroscience element, the skepticism disappears. Because people think it's woo woo. They think it's magic. It's something that's done to you.
Benn Baker-Pollard:Actually, it's not. It's the education around it that's the crucial part and giving you the understanding. But, also, you know, I've told you this many times before, the brain scanner, the EEG machine that was used on the course to demonstrate the effects that and the changes that take place in the brain is something that you can't argue with. It's scientific.
Gary Johannes:Yeah.
Benn Baker-Pollard:And that takes away any myth that's there or any skepticism because when you physically watch one part go quiet and another part come alive in the brain just from doing what we do, you can't tell me it's not doing something good.
Gary Johannes:Yeah. Absolutely. So, ultimately, you give them an information which just clarifies the fact, and and they can do with what they choose with that thing. You don't try and
Benn Baker-Pollard:do things. I've sat so many times at dinner dinner tables, restaurants with groups of people, and, of course, that conversation is, what do you do? I'm a hypnotherapist, and you get a mixed response. You get some people who go, oh, that's interesting, and others people go, oh, well, let it tosh. Yeah.
Benn Baker-Pollard:Then when you start talking to the people that are interested already, you start drawing out the brain and you start describing the different parts to it and how it works, it's the most comical thing because you just watched half the table that didn't have any interest
Gary Johannes:in something. Did.
Benn Baker-Pollard:Bit by bit. And you can see them. Their ears start twitching. They start focusing over, and they start paying attention, and the the frowns appear.
Gary Johannes:Yeah.
Benn Baker-Pollard:And then before they know it, that skepticism's gone because they're actually now more interested in what what benefit it can bring to them in their life.
Gary Johannes:I usually find that they're the they're the ones who are DM DM ing me later. They go, can can we sit down and have a proper conversation? Yeah. Exactly. Their their fear is completely washed away by the fact that, actually, this is clinical.
Gary Johannes:So that's cool. So moving on to another question. So what's been the most rewarding aspect of your career so far? Either as a hypnotherapist or as a lecturer?
Benn Baker-Pollard:So I think the biggest part for me is when you get clients who come and they're really broken. Mhmm. And, you know, I've I had a client not too long ago, and they were saying they've been thinking about ending their life. Mhmm. They're working a really demanding job.
Benn Baker-Pollard:I won't go into it for obviously obvious reasons, but they work in it. It's a similar role to policing, but it's not quite the same. And they've suffered abuse and injury and long term health conditions as a result of actions of individuals who've assaulted them
Gary Johannes:Wow.
Benn Baker-Pollard:That they now have to live with for the rest of their life. And that that very the anger inside, but also the upset and depression inside from this healthy issue that they've got going on now. To be able to flip that person on their head when they come in and they're very dismissive, they've got a chip on their shoulder, and they'd they've been sent by their other half to come and do this therapy session, to them turning around and saying, didn't see that coming. You've changed my life, and this is the best thing I look forward to coming to do every week.
Gary Johannes:Yeah. That's what
Benn Baker-Pollard:I It's the best feeling ever. Wow.
Gary Johannes:You know? But it's the sort of thing you could just do every single day and just get that feedback, which is probably where we are most of the time.
Benn Baker-Pollard:Yeah. And it's you know, like I said, we all have brains, but no one educates us around them.
Gary Johannes:Yeah.
Benn Baker-Pollard:We we don't if you go to the doctor, they don't sit and explain the brain to you. They decide which antidepressant to put you on or what medication is gonna suit to deal with your situation. And then ask you how you feel and how's life going, but they don't take the time to talk you through why that occurs
Gary Johannes:Yeah.
Benn Baker-Pollard:What is happening in the mind. And if they did, they probably have half of their patients that come in and see them walking out of their surgery, few points up that scale of happiness, already feeling like they've got a breath of fresh air and they can cope with what's coming their way because that's what happens every time we do a session with a client. They leave elevated and a few steps up the happiness scale, And we know that that continues in the time between the initial consultation and session 1 that they continue to improve and climb. Because suddenly, they have an insight into why things are happening, and it's no longer that they're a failure. There's no longer that they're broken.
Benn Baker-Pollard:It's actually something that was built and designed to operate in the way that it is.
Gary Johannes:So so, I mean, that's an amazing role we I mean, I I do as well, so it's an amazing, lovely role we do. How do you balance your work life balance to make sure you're, you know, you're a married man. You you you know, you you have quite a lot of other things you take part in. And you're now a lecturer, so you've got multiple roles in your life. How do you balance everything to make sure you're being the best version of you?
Benn Baker-Pollard:So I'm not gonna lie. That was that was difficult at first because when you start and you come out of a an institution, if I want for a better word, and you've got your regime laid out for you
Gary Johannes:Yeah.
Benn Baker-Pollard:To then have no structure, and it's down to you to decide, plus you're starting up your own business, you feel the need to accommodate everybody
Gary Johannes:Yeah.
Benn Baker-Pollard:In terms of times at your work, so you do sessions late at night because that's when the client wants to be able to come to see you because they've sorted out their life, and then they want you to fit in with it. And so, initially, you have to find that balance, and it's a bit of a struggle, and you'll find that it it doesn't quite match up. But then you begin to realize, actually, if I wanna go see the doctor, I wanna go see the dentist, I wanna go to the hairdressers, they don't stay open all night for me. I have to fit into them. And the same applies to us.
Benn Baker-Pollard:You have to decide when you're going to work and be quite robust with that in the times that you're willing to put in.
Gary Johannes:You set your boundaries?
Benn Baker-Pollard:Yeah. Absolutely. Set your boundaries. And so for me now, I'm quite clear on that. I can work late in the evening, but it will only be by exception and then prior an agreement to that.
Benn Baker-Pollard:Yeah. And that is dependent on what my life is happening happening in my life and my family life. Am I at home alone? Is my other half away working, or are they back? And if they're back, that tends to be when I fit in my time off.
Benn Baker-Pollard:Yeah. So that we are together.
Gary Johannes:Yep. Absolutely.
Benn Baker-Pollard:And try to stay around that.
Gary Johannes:Is this part you know, one of the questions I quite often ask lecturers is how much of you do you give your students to under so they understand how best to approach it? So, like, learn from your mistakes, learn from your experiences. So do you sort of pass a lot of, you know, how you dealt with clients, how you dealt with management of your time, things like that? Is that something you particularly pass on?
Benn Baker-Pollard:Yeah. Absolutely. When I lecture, I'm an open book. You can ask me the ins and outs of my life. You can ask me whatever you want to know.
Benn Baker-Pollard:You know, ask me whatever questions burning, and I'll give you how I navigated it or what challenges I faced in my journey.
Gary Johannes:Was that helpful when you as a student, if you can think that far back to when you was learning it, having somebody just not going do as I say, but actually going, this is how I do?
Benn Baker-Pollard:Of course it is. Yeah. Do as I say doesn't work, does it? We know that.
Gary Johannes:We know that, but that's what a lot of training is. It's like, do this training. But we you know, one of the things about CPH team, while your part of the team is as meant as I am, is, we have to be working hypnotherapist in the now. So we are experiencing every day what every one of our students will be experiencing. And I think that's a valuable aspect.
Benn Baker-Pollard:Do as I say doesn't work because when someone tells you what to do, you go, mind your own business. I'm not or, you know, or if they do follow it, that's great. They're following it, but it might only work because it's your way of doing it. That might not suit the individual. Yeah.
Benn Baker-Pollard:And I think most importantly, don't be afraid if you make a mistake. Mistakes help us learn. And you there will be mistakes along the way. That's guaranteed because that's just how life is. It's something that's new, and we've gotta find where we sit and work with that in our own steam.
Benn Baker-Pollard:But you have a wealth and support to guide you around it as well. And, yeah, you it's not forced upon you, but it's it's always there and available to you whenever you want it.
Gary Johannes:Absolutely. So moving on a little bit, what's the funniest or most surprising thing a student has ever asked of you when they're asking questions about, you know, what's going on here? What's this? What's that?
Benn Baker-Pollard:Well, that's an interesting one. What's the funniest?
Gary Johannes:Almost interest or surprising.
Benn Baker-Pollard:I think a lot of people have this misconception that we are able to make people like like chickens and do silly things and stuff like that. And and there's some students who come and they are desperate for that experience and that warmth and that idea, and they want to be able to control people's minds. Yeah. But, you know, it's when you actually break it down, that's not what we do. Yeah.
Benn Baker-Pollard:And and it so you see people come out with all sorts of weird ideas of how they may be able to replicate stage hypnosis if it wasn't you know? And that's not what we can do. Misconceptions. Yeah. Yeah.
Benn Baker-Pollard:Yeah. So that's
Gary Johannes:mostly when people probably in the first 2 or 3 sessions where they're asking, oh, does it is do we do this or do does that happen? So we dispel those myths quite quickly.
Benn Baker-Pollard:But I think and I also think what's impressive and it there's one we get a lot of people who come on the courses who are already in some industry of either health care, whether that's NHS or private counseling or something like that. And one of the students in particular was quite senior in the health service.
Gary Johannes:Mhmm. One of
Benn Baker-Pollard:the most interesting things that they said is they were absolutely blown away by the initial consultation Yeah. The explanation of the brain. And their their question is, why why is this not in the the NICE guide the the NICE guidelines? You know? Yeah.
Benn Baker-Pollard:Why is it not ultimately what we're saying in mainstream NHS as an offering and an available to to people who need help with whatever they're suffering from anxiety, depression.
Gary Johannes:Totally. And in fact, I you would have had this as well, and I've had a lot of people. We've got a lot of teachers on the course. I think we get a lot of people from all public services, and I think that's a lot to do with the pressure and strain put in those services. So they look for an alternative where they're still within the care industry or helping industry.
Gary Johannes:But we got a lot of teachers who who who in the same voices, what you've just said, go, why is this not taught in schools? Because it's fairly simple. It's fairly obvious, and it changes everything. And if every 14 year old knew it, it would change their perspective of their future. So I do understand where you're coming from.
Gary Johannes:So what's the best bit of feedback you've ever received from a student?
Benn Baker-Pollard:I think it comes again to the ability to take my time with the student and make sure that they get it.
Gary Johannes:So what's the feedback And so students giving you?
Benn Baker-Pollard:So, actually, one of them more recently was around that exact point in that although they were a bit different, although that they maybe had different ideas or came from a different background in terms of therapy, they were able I took the time to understand their point of view, but then educate them and show them that how we different
Gary Johannes:Yeah.
Benn Baker-Pollard:Differentiate between what we do and what they do. Yeah. Might be some crossovers because you can take therapy back to its early roots, and there's always gonna be a crossover wherever you go, whichever therapy you want to look at. But en enabling them, facilitating them to adapt and understand and change to the point where they said, I think I want to follow this now as my new option.
Gary Johannes:Yeah. I mean, that's wonderful. When you hear somebody who's got so much knowledge in a specific area, and you can show them an alternative. Not not something you have to do differently, but an alternative, and they can go, actually so I drive a BMW, so I won't drive a Mercedes. It's fact.
Gary Johannes:It's law, apparently. But, you know, you might get in a different car and go, actually, I really like this. And it's you you take the stigma away out of it's different. And and, clearly, you've done that where you've actually helped people see both camps really clearly and what fits them better. So it's amazing.
Benn Baker-Pollard:And I think it's also this was in my mind when I was talking, and I was like, do I or don't I put this across? But I will because I think it's important to share. We've had a number of students on the course who've gone through some really personal challenges, really horrific things that some people shouldn't experience in life. You know? But the support that we've given them has enabled them to continue to study and to be part of the course because, actually, it's become what they need and the support to succeed and grow.
Benn Baker-Pollard:So getting the feedback from them and the thank you and appreciation for propping them up during that challenging time Yeah. Adapting and adjusting to their needs and making sure they had everything that they needed, both from a lecturing point of view and in education to get through the course, but on a personal level Yeah. Of just being human beings and supporting somebody.
Gary Johannes:I I I think from looking at the team as a whole, I think that's really important that all the lecturers are genuinely caring people first.
Benn Baker-Pollard:Yeah.
Gary Johannes:And they're qualified therapists and they're lecturers. But before everything, they're just compassionate people, and I think that's really important. We've had 2 or 3 a number of incidents where people who didn't come on the course with any big challenges. But during the course, big challenges happened. We've had people who've had heart failure.
Gary Johannes:We've had people who've been diagnosed with long term illnesses. And it's like, how can the course support you through this? How do we work with that? How, you know and and I think that makes a huge difference because they've learned how to help themselves, and, of course, they're still supporting them. So that's cool.
Benn Baker-Pollard:And I think it's a you know, the end of the course is always a telling sign, isn't it?
Gary Johannes:Yeah. You
Benn Baker-Pollard:have to go to an end a graduation day where the room isn't full of tears and emotion.
Gary Johannes:In a nice way.
Benn Baker-Pollard:In a nice way. Yeah. But for the love and support that they've had and the their own journey that they've been on and succeeded.
Gary Johannes:I I think the the thing what I've heard on every single graduation, and I've done dozens, is what do we do next month? I I want to come again. I've had people want so many people want to reset the course again just so they can come for the weekend. You know? It's like, I don't want training to be finished.
Gary Johannes:It's now part of my empathy. It's so much enjoyment and fun. So that's quite nice. So moving on, because otherwise, we'll be talking for ages. If you were to give a recommendation for a resource or a book for people who are looking at at what we do, or they are already started students.
Gary Johannes:And we get I don't know about you, but I get so many. But what books should I read? What what what podcast should I listen to? So what what might you say? What do you what's your go to?
Benn Baker-Pollard:I would say a good one, and I'm gonna double check the name of it. It's because, otherwise, I might get it wrong. Mhmm. But to give you an understanding and to bolster your knowledge around what we're talking about and also highlights the the the scientific points behind what we do, the the research and the clinical perspective, is probably this one, Brain and Mind
Gary Johannes:Okay.
Benn Baker-Pollard:By professor David Nutt.
Gary Johannes:Okay.
Benn Baker-Pollard:And it talks about or what we talk about. It talks about the chemicals in the brain. It talks about the 2 elements of the brain and how it works and functions. And for me, it was not only it gave you that extra little bit that you might wanna know if you've got appetite to know more Yeah. Without being complicated or going too much into it.
Gary Johannes:Yeah. I totally agree. I I actually would recommend one of the books I recommend is something called Spark by John Ratey, which
Benn Baker-Pollard:Yeah. Yeah. It's a
Gary Johannes:little bit old now, but it still really unspeaks to our language. And, again, it's not about solution focused hypnotherapy. It's about how the brain works and how we respond and react to things. So, yeah, that's a really good book. So thank you for sharing that.
Gary Johannes:What's what's most surprising thing that you've learned from your students to make you a better practitioner or even a better lecturer?
Benn Baker-Pollard:I think so this is probably a more a more recent lesson for me, I think, and that is you know my personality type. I love I'm the social kind of person. I love having fun, and laughing and and making things entertaining. And more recently, I think I've learned that allowing myself to be more to be relaxed sometimes, it has a point. It has a point where it can open too many questions.
Benn Baker-Pollard:And as a result, sometimes I need to just recenter it back again. Because otherwise, we end up with it's almost like, an interrogation where we end up with a quick fire round of about a 100 questions. And rather than stopping and answering each one because you know that the content's gonna answer each question, it's about being a bit more assertive and saying, look. You need to pause.
Gary Johannes:Yeah.
Benn Baker-Pollard:Don't jump too far ahead. I know you've got this eager want to know more. And in the past, I'd probably facilitate explaining it there for them, but then it creates more confusion in that moment because they're missing the other element. So it's about, like, when you're on the course, pause, and I understand that we are going to give you the answers to everything.
Gary Johannes:Yeah.
Benn Baker-Pollard:I we totally appreciate you have an eager want.
Gary Johannes:So so you've learned to to to stay within the framework?
Benn Baker-Pollard:Yeah. Yeah.
Gary Johannes:It's a purpose for it. It's funny because I was lecturing this weekend in Nottingham, and one of the students said they're really now I think they're on module 6, and they're really getting the fact that we layer everything. So everything is layered, so they can build strong rather than all in and confuse half the boom and mystify the rest. So it it it takes a little bit of practice. So
Benn Baker-Pollard:in the Swedish shop, isn't it? They're running it.
Gary Johannes:So much off, and the questions were always interesting. You wanna answer them. I I I I've I've I'll do the same.
Benn Baker-Pollard:Yeah. And, you know, you wanna share that knowledge because you get excited about it too, and you wanna wanna help them understand. But the reality is is that, like you said, it comes in layers.
Gary Johannes:Yeah.
Benn Baker-Pollard:And it stops the overload.
Gary Johannes:And and it there is so much. It can overload, or it can be just beautifully laid out. And I think we we get a nice mix.
Benn Baker-Pollard:Yeah. Yeah. I see.
Gary Johannes:So what's one piece of advice you'd wish you'd received when you were starting that hypnotherapy journey, when you were just thinking about what should I do? Should I do hypnotherapy? Should I do this, or should I do that? Would you wish you'd got as a piece of advice?
Benn Baker-Pollard:I think, for me, that would be I I know for me was a bit one of the biggest worries was around seeing the number of clients. Mhmm. So I think the reassurance and advice around seeking those clients and the best ways of gaining them Because, you know, we start from pretty much day 1, don't we? Yeah. And they're looking to work with somebody.
Benn Baker-Pollard:And, yes, okay, that starts with relaxation with friends and family at the at the beginning and moves into paid clients by the end. But I think for me, that advice would have been just more around the best ways to secure them.
Gary Johannes:Yeah.
Benn Baker-Pollard:And and the reassurance that there's enough people in the world who want to come and see you.
Gary Johannes:Yeah. Oh, and and, unfortunately and I say unfortunately because seeing us means they're generally not in their best of themselves. Unfortunately, there are the world is overwhelming, you know, the amount of people out there that we you know? There is plenty.
Benn Baker-Pollard:Yeah. And I think alongside that, I'm going for 2 pieces of advice because it's me. You know? I don't see is when you look at the therapies that are out there in the world, our therapy doesn't involve sitting in the negative moment all the time.
Gary Johannes:But before you started at the course, you didn't know that, did you? No. So what piece of advice would you wish you'd got before you spend maybe hours, months, years investigating what to do next?
Benn Baker-Pollard:The Choose carefully because if you go to some some of therapies, you will have a long journey in a negative world.
Gary Johannes:Yeah.
Benn Baker-Pollard:And that's not to dismiss that therapy, but that's to highlight that it will become emotionally draining and challenging for you. And if you're someone that takes on other people's problems with passion and care, it will break you before you finish helping.
Gary Johannes:Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. And yeah. So there's nothing wrong with other modalities, but but definitely, but not everybody's suited to hold that space for people.
Gary Johannes:And you don't
Benn Baker-Pollard:people's worries a lot or you're you're passionate and you care about other people in the world, some of those therapies won't do you any favors. They will they will add to your worries Yeah.
Gary Johannes:And it'll
Benn Baker-Pollard:make your life harder to cope with.
Gary Johannes:So moving on again, what's your favorite motivational quote that you share with your students?
Benn Baker-Pollard:So probably, for me, it's the Nelson Mandela saying where everything seems impossible until it's done.
Gary Johannes:Wow. Yeah. That that's a good quote, particularly on module 2.
Benn Baker-Pollard:You know? Yeah. Absolutely. Because the reality is what we're teaching you is that it doesn't have to be impossible. It's just the way you think about it.
Gary Johannes:Yeah. Absolutely. I think mine one of mine I've got so many, but one of my favorites was which I say a lot is the brain is more Play Doh than porcelain.
Benn Baker-Pollard:Nice.
Gary Johannes:You know? Because we used to think it is such a rigid thing like a porcelain bowl, but actually it's like Play Doh. It's always changing. So yeah. So moving on, what is from your point of view, what's one thing you wish more people knew about hypnotherapy?
Benn Baker-Pollard:That it's not like you see on the stage.
Gary Johannes:Yeah. So it's It
Benn Baker-Pollard:is not it is not something that is done to you. We don't wave a magic wand, and we don't click our fingers and say you're fixed and you walk out the door in half an hour, and it's done and it's gone. That's not hypnotherapy. It's a process and it's a journey where you work together as a team. And the bit that we use the hypnotherapy for is at the end where we facilitate the brain joining the dots in the background to help you take that next step forward to achieve your goal.
Benn Baker-Pollard:Yeah. You know, we don't have the ability to make stuff vanish into thin air and and fix you in a heartbeat. It's a process that you have to commit to and work to. And it's a talking therapy rather than a receiving therapy. It is the best way to describe it.
Benn Baker-Pollard:Does that make sense?
Gary Johannes:Yeah. It does. And and a lot of people, even after they've come on a course and we we we on the 1st weekend, we say this is a hypnotherapy course. But, actually, you'd be qualified as a, clinical psychotherapist as well because they don't realize hypnotherapy is not psychotherapy. It's psychotherapy with hypnosis.
Gary Johannes:Mhmm. Yeah. I think that's the the big thing for me. But they they they think hypnotherapy is not part of the hip the psychotherapy world. It is part of the psychotherapy world.
Gary Johannes:Yeah. Couple of quick fire questions. What's one goal you'll have for your students when they by the time they finish their training? What what do you lecture for for your students? What is your hope for every single student?
Benn Baker-Pollard:You say hope. I'm gonna be really cocky here and say, I know that when they leave, they will leave with so much knowledge and confidence in what they do that no matter whether it's a talk in the community or it's a client and a condition they've never dealt with before, they will have the confidence and ability to deal with it better than a lot of people out there.
Gary Johannes:Oh, wow. That's that's a really good and and absolutely factual. So, yeah, I agree. It's not a hope. It's a fact.
Gary Johannes:So what advice would you give to someone now considering a career as a hypnotherapist? Full stop. They wanna get into the care world. You know, they wanna get into the helping other people as a hypnotherapist. Good advice.
Benn Baker-Pollard:Why are you still waiting?
Gary Johannes:Absolutely. Is there is there any things what they need to make sure they do?
Benn Baker-Pollard:Yeah. I think, you know, definitely consider where how and where you're gonna practice and think about what it is you want out of this scenario.
Gary Johannes:Yeah.
Benn Baker-Pollard:You know, if you're looking for a job that provides flexibility in your personal life and allows you to help people at the same time and get that reward from helping people, then it's a great job. If you're looking for action and explosions and drama, we get that in one way, but we don't get it like we see in the movies. So it depends what you want. If you want a physical running around active job or role, this isn't for you. If you're comfortable with holding a space and helping people navigate their lives and change their lives for better, then there's not much of a nicer way to do it than solution focused hypnotherapy.
Gary Johannes:Because That that leads on to my next question. So why do you think CPHT is the best place for aspiring hypnotherapist?
Benn Baker-Pollard:For everything we've talked about on this podcast.
Gary Johannes:Mhmm.
Benn Baker-Pollard:Because it is a national school. Mhmm. The therapists, hopefully, that you've seen today, like, I've portrayed that well enough for you, but we are truly invested in you as an individual with your Yes. And it comes from a place of passion, and it's something we all love and enjoy doing. So we have the best coverage in the country in terms of training.
Benn Baker-Pollard:We give you a qualification well, 2 qualifications, in fact, that are, you know, recognized, and I would say are probably some of the leading ones that are out there.
Gary Johannes:Yeah. We've been called the gold standard. We've been called the gold standard by many of the associations.
Benn Baker-Pollard:So if you want something that has a good reputation that brings credibility, then choose a PhD. I could demonstrate in heartbeat on social media courses that say you can be a hypnotherapist in a week or in a in a 8 hours or or whatever you wanna be, but I can guarantee you, you'll be left on your own. It will be a click through learning program that's a few videos and a few tick boxes. And if you feel you can practice and be capable of running a therapy and helping people safely from that, then that's up to you. But I'd rather have a 10 month training course that builds my practice and brings qualifications and credibility to everything that I do to give me the confidence and, ultimately, the reassurance to my clients that they're getting a professional service, and most importantly, a service that will help them change for the better.
Gary Johannes:Yeah. Absolutely. So last question. If hypnotherapy were a superhero power, what would your superhero name be?
Benn Baker-Pollard:Oh, Gary, that's an interesting one. I've got all the images of superheroes flying through my through my Oh. And then my brain keeps coming back to hypno.
Gary Johannes:Earlier about the newest I see.
Benn Baker-Pollard:You Iron Man. You've seen Iron Man? I'm thinking about Hypno Man or something. That's what keeps coming out in my brain.
Gary Johannes:Well, the hunt that's so an Iron Man version who does hypnosis.
Benn Baker-Pollard:Yeah. Yeah. Could you imagine if we had, like, a hypno symbol or something like that and the hypno symbol in the sky when you need help?
Gary Johannes:Well, we've got we've got my one, which is used on your one, the inspired to change one, which we could put that in the air to see.
Benn Baker-Pollard:That's definitely something to explore further. Superhero names for hypnotherapists.
Gary Johannes:Yeah. Well, sometimes our clients tell us we're we we are their superheroes, but they honestly do. That's why I asked the question. So thank you so much for sharing a little bit of insight into you. Hopefully, people who are looking to train their hypnotherapist will be able to see if particularly in Cairn and the southern regions where we train that, you know, a little bit more about you and about me.
Gary Johannes:So thank you very much, and I look forward to meeting you when we're delivering together next. So Yeah.
Benn Baker-Pollard:Thanks very much.
Gary Johannes:Thank you very much.
Benn Baker-Pollard:Take care.