I get lots of messages every day saying “How much for the stop smoking?”.
I get lots of messages every day saying “How much for the stop smoking?”.
Smokers shop around as if price was the most important aspect of choosing help to quit smoking, when really, price is only one of a few questions you need to be asking.
The vast majority of alternative therapists do nothing to address client’s individual smoking triggers and most hypnotherapists simply ladle on the fear of dying and the guilt in the hopes that they can break through a client’s denial, when recent science has proven beyond a doubt that frightening and guilting smokers simply INCREASES their desire to smoke. If gory pictures of lungs on cigarette packets actually worked, they wouldn’t need my help at all. They would just quit.
So what do I recommend smokers ask when shopping around for the right help to quit smoking?
- Do you use fear and guilt as part of your therapy?
- How long is your session (It should be no shorter than 90 minutes.)
- Do you address things like how to deal with a craving if I do get one, or how to avoid putting on weight or how to deal with a partner who is still smoking as part of your session?
- Do you offer a free backup session if I am struggling? Beware of offers of a lifetime guarantee of free backup sessions, think about what you are telling your subconscious with that!
- Do you insist that I have to have my last cigarette the night before my session so that I am already experiencing withdrawal and cravings prior to and during the session?
- Do you offer a CD or download or other resources for use at home?
- If they quote a success rate, ask them how do you calculate that rate? Do they phone up smokers after a few months and ask if they are still non smokers or do they only assume that they are still successful if they don’t hear back (a huge and very common red flag!)
I always say to my clients who are enquiring, please do shop around, but make sure to know what it is exactly that you are shopping for.
One last point. A lot of people don’t realize that for every hour spent with a client, a good hypnotherapist will spend between 6 – 9 hours in research, marketing, session development and training. Because the nature of a good hypnotherapist is such that the client will come to us with a problem, we will see them for one or a number of sessions, fix the problem as quickly as possible and then they go away and don’t need to come back to us. Which means unlike doctors or accountants or hairdressers we need to spend a lot of time and energy getting new clients. And this time is factored into the cost of bringing a session to a client.
Jennifer Allen
Clinical Hypnotherapist at HypnoBod
www.hypnobod.com
