Karen Thomas

A different kind of therapy
Welcome to 'Change Your Life'. Here you will find the latest up-to date techniques  to include; Psychology, Biology, Environment, Biochemistry & Neuroscience. I offer a friendly approach that is non judgmental ...a 
The first step is always the hardest …. The step of decision.
Perhaps you have been wanting to make changes for some time but somehow felt too busy, got side tracked or weren’t ready?
Maybe you were put off because you’ve had enough of talking about your problems through counselling, but weren’t experiencing any long lasting changes.
You want change but do not want it to be a long drawn out where you cannot see progress - you want to have hope!
My approach at Change Your life is to coach you into getting the results you need where we will work together in order to achieve that, safely and proficiently with long lasting changes so you get the life you want.
As a qualified Hypnotherapist and certified practitioner in Havening and a Master practitioner in NLP,  I use a blend of therapies that work using psychology and neuroscience, to guide and support you to make those long lasting changes.

What I use.
Therapeutic Techniques
I use a blend of therapies to help clear the pathway for positive changes to occur that are unique and personal to you.
Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP)
What is NLP?
Neuro Linguistic Programming is a technique that was invented by Dr Richard Bandler in the 1970s and is "a system of alternative therapy based on educating people in self awareness and effective communication to change patterns of mental and emotional behaviour”. Its like .learning the language of your mind … it is getting the unconscious mind (which is the tricky part) to understand what it is you want, so it can help bring about positive changes for you. The 1970’s provided important break-throughs in neuroscience and what Dr Bandler found through his research was people were getting over their phobias, anxieties and fears far quicker using his methods.
His methods are what we use in NLP today, which helps you to understand the workings of the mind better, help communicate better with yourself and others, help eliminate fears and phobias so you can go on to live a more fulfilled and happier life.

Hypnotherapy
What is Hypnotherapy?
There are many myths surrounding hypnotherapy due to the way that stage hypnosis is portrayed through the media and using language, such as ‘going under’, ‘being out of control’, the perception of being manipulated to do things you don’t want to do. The reality is that hypnosis was pioneered by medical doctors and physicians and when used positively can be an effective tool to combat anxiety, depression and help overcome phobias. They learned that relaxing patients into an altered state of mind or trance heightened focus and concentration showing an increased response to suggestion, whilst blocking out sources of distraction. This in turn helped people heal, deal with pain, anxiety in a positive way. Hypnosis is natural in many ways as we all go into a ‘trance’ state on occasions when driving, reading, listening to music – ever forget driving down that part of the motorway or carriageway? We can drift off in lectures, meetings, just walking without realising that our sub conscious mind has taken over.
The brain is made up of the conscious and subconscious mind. Hypnotherapy works on the subconscious mind where you will feel relaxed and calm and ready to bring about the positive changes in your life.

Havening
Havening is a term used to create a ‘safe’ haven in a therapeutic setting to help release an encoded traumatic memory or a deep rooted emotion safely and quickly.
Havening is based on neuroscience and how a traumatic memory is encoded differently to normal memory where it can sit on the brain where the client remembers it vividly or it can hide where the person feels the emotion but is unable to retrieve the event. Havening is a psychosensory technique working with the electrochemical mechanism in the brain. During 16 years of research it was found that by stimulating delta waves in the brain can help alter the way a previously traumatic memory is held and helps it to ‘decode’ to a memory that you have control over. When delta waves are stimulated in the brain through way of stroking the arm, face and palms of the hands, this helps induce serotonin, the neurotransmitter essential for our mental health which gives us a feeling of well-being. The brain cannot hold two conflicting emotions at once so the previous traumatic memory that was encoded initially becomes de-potentiated through the delta-wave stimulation leaving you feeling calmer, lighter. When underlying traumas are lifted people can feel able to move forward with their lives. There is much research in how underlying trauma can be at the root cause of addiction, so Havening provides a powerful tool in not only alleviating trauma but also to treat phobias, emotional wellbeing, anxiety and depression

Although we can make changes very quickly, it’s the lasting changing in our behaviour that create the success. In our very interactive quick changing world it is very easy to give up on something if you don’t get immediate results. We can make rapid changes quickly but we can just as quickly revert back to old habits.
The more we repeat something the more we give strength to that neural pathway in the brain, making it difficult to change our behaviour (Good or bad habits). The reason people feel they are failing is that they give up too early, due to the myth that it takes 21 days to break a habit. In fact this is untrue as ‘The European Journal of Psychology’ found that it took on average 66 days to form a habit so there’s no need to judge yourself if you are not mastering a behaviour straight away. It is unrealistic and not in conjunction with how your brain operates. Treating failure as learning and giving yourself permission to make mistakes and developing strategies, will help get you back on track quickly. Don’t kid yourself that it wont work and give up ! Would you go to the gym once and declare it didn’t work because your body was still the same? Would you plant a seed in the garden and go back a week later wondering where your flower was? Of course not .. this is where you really have to allow yourself the time to change especially if you are trying to lose weight… it takes time for the weight to come off. Whether it is 66 days or 600 days you have to put in the work. Remember it’s the smallest differences that bring about the biggest changes.

Specialising in helping people overcome trauma, PTSD, anxiety, depression, relationship break-ups, Addictive behaviour such as:

Cannabis use, smoking, overeating, too much alcohol consumption, cocaine use, sugar addiction, OCD.

Please call me for a free telephone consultation in complete client confidentiality.

Sessions are tailored to suit your needs. Please call for advice:

• Havening 2 hour session for trauma and phobias
• Hypnotherapy and consultation 90 minute session
• NLP and Hypnosis one hour
• Smoking Cessation Treatment 3 sessions
• Weight loss treatment 6 - 12 hours
• Addiction treatment 6-12 hours
• Discount offered for 4 or more sessions booked

How many sessions?

Although we can make changes very quickly, it’s the lasting changing in our behaviour that create the success. In our very interactive quick changing world it is very easy to give up on something if you don’t get immediate results.

We can make rapid changes quickly but we can just as quickly revert back to old habits.
The more we repeat something the more we give strength to that neural pathway in the brain, making it difficult to change our behaviour.

The reason people feel they are failing is due to the myth that it takes 21 days to break a habit. In fact this is untrue as ‘The European Journal of Psychology’ found that it took on average 66 days to form a habit so there’s no need to judge yourself if you are not mastering a behaviour straight away. It is unrealistic and not in conjunction with how your brain operates.

Treating failure as learning and giving yourself permission to make mistakes and developing strategies, will help get you back on track quickly. Don’t kid yourself that it wont work and give up ! Would you go to the gym once and declare it didn’t work because your body was still the same? Would you plant a seed in the garden and go back a week later wondering where your flower was? Of course not .. this is where you really have to allow yourself the time to change especially if you are trying to lose weight… it takes time for the weight to come off. Whether it is 66 days or 600 days you have to put in the work. Remember it’s the smallest differences that bring about the biggest changes.
So how many sessions does it take?
Managing expectation can be tricky, however my aim is to help people make long lasting changes as effectively and as quickly as possible.
Everyone is unique and individual  and it really is up to you to decide what you want your outcome to be.
This research acts as a guideline …but only you know how you feel!

Research carried out by Michael Lambert in the Handbook of Psychotherapy and Behaviour Change looked at how long it took for a client to start feeling better after beginning therapy. Amazingly, it showed that 30% of people enjoyed “lasting benefit after only 3 sessions” in therapy. 50% showed improvement after just 8 sessions, and 75% after 14 sessions.

- Irrational Fears/phobias (3 -6 sessions)

- Confidence Building (3-6 sessions)

- Weight Issues (4-12 sessions)

- PTSD (3- 6 sessions)

- Mild Depression (3 - 12 sessions)

- Severe Anxiety (3 - 12 sessions)

- Smoking ( 2 hours )