Penny Ling

Imagine your life as a perfect 10 - eating, socialising and getting on with life like other people do.

Hi, I'm Penny, a solution-focused hypnotherapist and I help people overcome Phagophobia, Pseudo Dysphagia, speaking anxiety and anxiety-related eating and gastric issues.

A Holistic Approach Tailored to You
I don’t believe in treating you like a collection of problems; instead, I see the whole person. Improve one area of your life—like sleep or diet—and watch how it has a ripple effect on your overall well-being. Clients often report that they have 'got their life back', and that they feel more confident. Others state that it's a 'totally transformational experience.'

In our sessions, we focus on moving forward. I don’t believe in endlessly digging into the past but rather, looking toward the future with positivity. Whether you’re seeking help with anxiety, phobias, or building self-confidence, together, we can create a better path forward.

Therapy Options That Fit Your Life
Not sure where to start? 

A FREE 30 minute online consultation where we dive deeper into the factors influencing your life.

Proven Expertise in Hypnotherapy and More
With over a decade of experience, I specialize in anxiety, phobias, and self-confidence issues. From driving fears to carer support, from self-esteem problems to IBS, my approach is rooted in real results. I use a blend of Solution-Focused Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Hypnotherapy, NLP, Human Givens, and more to ensure your therapy is as unique as you are.

I’ve faced my own struggles, overcoming a wide range of phobias during my training. Fear of driving, needles, spiders, and more—I’ve been there. These experiences give me an understanding and empathy for those going through similar fears, and I use this to fuel my practice.

Specializations Include:

• Fear of swallowing - Phagophobia 
• Fear of choking - Pseudo Dysphagia
• IBS and eating-related issues due to anxiety
• Speaking anxiety - can't speak due to anxiety
• Driving fear - In my book Driving Me Crazy: Overcome the Fear of Driving, I explain how hypnotherapy and other techniques can help you address driving-related anxiety, giving you back your confidence on the road.

Nutritional Therapy for Mind-Body Balance
In 2016, I added nutritional therapy to my practice to help clients with eating disorders, ARFID, fussy eaters, and weight loss. I firmly believe that food and mental well-being are connected, and I use this knowledge to help clients make lasting changes in their lives. I’ve also completed an Integrated Medicine foundation course with The College of Medicine, focusing on how complementary therapies can improve overall health.

Why Work With Me?

• Fully qualified (HPD), trained at the renowned Clifton Practice in Bristol in 2007.
• Insured, 
• DBS-checked.
• Additional qualifications in nutrition and coaching.
• Past Senior Associate of the Royal Society of Medicine
• Accredited by the AfSFH (Association for Solution-Focused Hypnotherapy), CNHC (Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council), and The College of Medicine.
• Contributor to BBC Radio Oxford, BBC Radio Somerset or seen me on Oxford Talk TV.
• Contributor to Happiful Magazine, and Brainz Magazine, and have been featured in The Daily Telegraph, Conde Naste, and the Huffington Post.
• Oxfordshire Hypnotherapist of the Year in 2021 and 2022.

Let’s Start Your Journey Together
If you’re ready to move forward, I’m here to help you make that change. Please specify whether you’d like to see me at my Oxfordshire clinic or prefer online sessions. Together, we’ll create a personalized plan to help you achieve your goals and overcome the challenges holding you back.

Explore the freedom of a life without anxiety or fear—contact me today!

CONSULTATIONS

Online via Zoom - 30 minutes FREE
Full hour at clinic - £80*

*Special concessions at certain times and places, please email to find out more

SESSIONS

1. Online and in clinic 1 hour - £80/session*
2. Stop smoking - either 2 hours @ £200 or 2x one hours sessions @ £100

*At the consultation, you will receive a link to my complimentary MP3 to listen to between sessions.

If we correspond about days and times, please note that those times may be given to the next enquiry after 24 hours, so please confirm immediately.

A minimum charge of £20 may be given if the session is cancelled within 48 hours of the appointment, to pay for the clinic room rental.

Also can provide some private health schemes with invoices, so you can claim back expenses.

Wednesday and Friday are online only
Thursday and Saturday are in Clinic only OX13

SUPERVISION

I have suspended supervision for the foreseeable future.

Mentoring for Oxfam

I am part of the Oxfam mentoring scheme to help women who wish to re-enter the workplace after having children, or who are about to retire and worry about what to do next.

Corporate Health

In January 2022, I teamed up with JP International Training who provide mental health first aid training to businesses and educational establishments. Any employees or students who can be helped by the variety of brain-based therapies are passed on to myself or one of my colleagues.
Having worked in industries which have either strict deadlines or a fast turnover of staff, I am very aware how important it is to look after the mental welfare of employees. Presenteeism and absenteeism cost companies a lot of money each year so making sure you have an appropriate mental health policy is essential.

I have either worked with companies to help managers utilise solution focused tools to help overcome problems, as well as providing stress management sessions for employees to show how visualisation can help focus their minds.

Or, I can help companies by providing them with subsidised therapy sessions as part of their employee benefits package.

Call for a consultation.

Testimonials

Back on the road to recovery
After struggling with the fear of choking, stemmed from anxiety and burnt out from my last job, I came to Penny to help me with my phobia. Penny was incredible as were the sessions, the first session I had I didn’t even think of my fear of choking when I ate. Not only did it minimise my fear of choking in the long term but I was starting to gain more confidence, energy and far more relaxed than I had ever felt for a long time. I would highly recommend going to Penny for any generalised anxiety disorder or fears. Thank you for all your help!
NB - Oxfordshire

Penny’s Great
I wasn’t sure what to expect when booking my first session with Penny, but she is a very welcoming and approachable person, quickly putting my mind at ease during our initial consultation, through to our final session. Penny brings a calming and open energy to every session and provides clear, easy to practice techniques for everyday use. I have enjoyed each session with Penny and I would definitely work with her again and highly recommend her. Thank you for everything Penny!
GH Surrey

Phagophobia
I started hypnotherapy sessions with Penny Ling to address my phagophobia, which stemmed from the stress of an abusive relationship. From the first session, it was clear that she had empathy and was willing tohelp me overcome my trauma and phobias. Penny is an expert hypnotherapist who skillfully handles anxiety, depression, and phobias. She aided me in finding my way during sessions, enhancing my self-trust and confidence and diminishing work-related anxiety. I recommend Penny highly. Despite us working online, myself in Greece and Penny in the UK, it was like we were in the same room. --- thank you so much for doing this.
K K Greece.

Overcoming Phagophobia (fear of swallowing) through hypnotherapy with Penny Ling
I was experiencing phagophobia (fear of swallowing) for 3 months before I came across Penny Ling's hypnotherapy service. It was a very dark, uncertain, and fearful time for me because I had lost the ability to eat a normal meal or drink any liquids. Doctors and GPs were not able to help me either because all medical tests confirmed that my dysphagia was not a physical problem. Day by day I was losing weight and mentally I was going in a downward spiral. I cannot thank Penny enough for all the support and guidance she gave me during this tough time. Her solution-focused approach helped me forget about the issue itself and focus on devising an action plan to solve the problem. I also gained a clear awareness and understanding of the connection of my fear of swallowing and my subconscious level of thinking. Initially, I thought that removing the fear of swallowing from my subconscious would take me a very long time and I also felt doubtful at times. Penny helped me switch these negative ideas and doubts into a positive perspective. In addition to the deep relaxation offered by her hypnotherapy sessions, Penny also prepared me with an essential toolkit with all self-help techniques that are useful in dealing with negative thoughts, fears, stress etc. After the end of every session with Penny, I always felt motivated and strong to face my fear of swallowing and I was very amazed to get a positive result out of the hypnotherapy sessions within just 5-6 sessions. My eating and drinking showed a positive gradual improvement over the sessions with Penny and I kept getting confident session by session. I was quickly able to gain back the body weight that I had lost. I am ever so grateful to have come across Penny. I would highly recommend Penny because she is a very kind, understanding and a great hypnotherapist with amazing skill. Thank you Penny for saving my life, you were God sent to me.

I wish I had had these sessions with Penny a long time ago, she has helped me so much
The sessions I’ve had with Penny and the tools she has given me to cope with my anxiety have been invaluable, I feel more relaxed and positive than I have for a long time. I wish I hadn’t left it so long to seek help.

Miracle worker
I was very sceptical at first but after 6 sections I feel so much more comfortable and confident driving Not sure how she managed to do it but it worked so well for me that I would highly recommend it to anyone

A "converted disbeliever"...  

Originally my reasons for seeing Penny were to do with improving my performance levels in my chosen sport....however, it became very clear after a couple of sessions that there was some "other stuff" not purely related to sport going on that was preventing me from playing to the best of my ability so we started to focus on those areas as well. Having completed my sessions I have to say that I feel both refreshed and energized far more than before. Day to day I am in a much better place and very little bothers me whereas before I might have gradually become distracted......Now in my sport, things are certainly looking up as I am gradually getting back to where I once was as and I am able to focus much more clearly on what I am trying to achieve. Highly recommend.

ST Abingdon

Incredibly helpful therapy, so much more effective than standard counselling  

Penny was recommended to me as I was at the end of my tether with regular and worsening bouts of depression. I thought I needed CBT because I wanted something functional to help me change my ways of thinking, so I was a little sceptical of the hypnotherapy side of Penny's work at first. Ultimately, I just can't tell you how very much Penny has helped me access the roots of those cycles of negative thinking, my self-loathing, the negative self-talk, the anxiety, the paranoia, the habitual catastrophising and a constant sense of helplessness and uselessness, and change them on a powerfully deep and subconscious level. It's the most bizarre thing, but what a blessing to have found it. I haven't had great experiences of standard counselling before and I appreciated that this was different: not surface-level, digging around in the past, trying to rationalise with my normal mind, things I have never found peace with. In the past I've found counselling generally fairly traumatic and it just fed the feelings of despair that I would never be able to fix myself in order just to be happy in my own head and enjoy my days. I feared the future and I feared for myself. I feel very differently now, having had 6 weeks with Penny. With her combination of hypnotherapy and other modalities such as CBT, and with her explanation of everything in a very rational, logical way, I could understand and learn to trust the process to 'change the polarity' of my thinking. The results are that I am still the same person with the same day-to-day problems to resolve, but she has fortified me in a way that is very difficult to put into words. It is as though she has given me access to my self-worth and my right to be happy, and has given me tools to cope with situations that might otherwise send me sideways, which has given me an optimism for the future and my own well-being that has been sadly lacking for most of my life. For the first time in many years, I feel content, stable, steady and calmly confident that I can cope. It was up to me to engage as fully as possible with Penny's work, and now it's up to me to continue with the tools she's given me, but she has given me a precious gift that I will do whatever it takes to protect and maintain. I feel so fortunate to have come across Penny, as I feel like, just in the nick of time, she has helped me to reclaim who I actually am and all my potential. She's given me hope, and tools to not be a victim to the past and all the learned behaviour that was eating me alive. I couldn't recommend Penny highly enough - she is a genuinely kind and decent human with an incredible depth of perception who can tailor her work to whatever issues you have been struggling to resolve. Even after this lengthy review, I still don't feel like I've adequately described the benefits I've had from this work. I shall be always grateful to you Penny. Thank you so much for your dedication to the good work. You are a magical woman.

EH France

Moving on  

I started seeing Penny after to struggling to get over a past relationship. After a long period of feeling caught in a cycle of negative thoughts, my self confidence and enjoyment of life were pretty low. I am so grateful for the help Penny has given me. She has enabled me to learn new techniques to deal with anxiety and helped me start to move on. The deep relaxation I feel during the hypnotherapy is wonderful and afterwards I always feel more positive, confident and relaxed. I value her sessions so much and would recommend them to anyone.

SG Didcot

Problems with a nervous tick
It is hard to put into words just how much Penny has helped both my daughter and myself. Having been through turbulent times my daughter had become very nervous, and had developed severe twitching of her head and eyes which she was unable to control. Penny has given her back the confidence to believe in herself and the ability to deal with whatever life brings. She no longer twitches and instead interacts well with others when under pressure. I can not recommend Penny highly enough.

TP - Vale of the White Horse

Problems with self esteem and emotional issues.
Hello Penny. I just want you to know I am still going strong. The BWRT really helped me. Thank you so much. My Dad is no longer a problem. If I can ever help you, in any way to help somebody please call on me.

TB Vale of White Horse

A level student helped to sleep to prepare for rowing championships
Hello, this is MB. I just wanted to let you know I’ve been sleeping very well for the past week and a half and therefore won’t need any further sessions. Thank You for your help, it was a great experience!

MB Abingdon

A level student regains confidence in exam results
Hi Penny, I thought I should let you know that your therapy has completely changed me for the better. Since our final session not only have I not suffered an attack like before, but the thoughts have hardly come into my head. I remember one night where the same thoughts came to me and caused me to sit up however despite something like that almost certainly causing me to have an attack a while ago, I was able to deal with the thoughts all by myself which was something I never thought I could do. I think your therapy also helped me to focus on GCSEs and I am delighted to tell you that I ended up getting 7A*s and 6As, something I am immensely proud of. Thank you again.

GF Oxford.

IBS sufferer gains her independence
“Penny was helpful, informative, professional with a varied background and education, she brought a lot of useful varied outlooks which helped me tremendously.”

JT Abingdon