Healing and Hypnotherapy Volume 5, Special Issue, 15 June 2021 | Page 22

Uses of hypnotherapy to improve children ' s emotional health and wellbeing


 Molly ’ s * story
Molly was a Year 11 pupil who was struggling with crippling anxiety , resulting in low self-esteem , shyness , and extreme exam anxiety .
She was academically above average and was predicted to attain good grades in her exams , but she had recently failed an exam when an anxiety attack prompted her to leave the exam only minutes after it had begun . After six sessions of individual hypnotherapy through the Hypnotherapy in Schools Program , Molly ’ s self-esteem had significantly improved as reported by herself , her teachers , and her parents .
She was able to attend all of her exams and achieved the good grades she was expecting . At a recent follow-up she reported that she had joined the Territorial Army , and in the application process she cited hypnotherapy as “ the reason I can do this ”. For Molly , hypnotherapy was life changing .
The times they are a changin ’ – and thankfully , so is education
The world for today ’ s children is a very different one than it was a century ago , or even a decade ago . The challenges and expectations young people encounter require a wider skill set than just academics , and our education system is changing to reflect that .
Schools now talk about the ‘ whole child ’ – not just their grades and levels . New government policies and protocols advise schools to focus on supporting and developing children ’ s emotional / mental health and wellbeing .
The education sector ( and indeed , society in general ) is becoming more and more aware of the links between behaviour / emotional health and learning , to the extent that it is now generally accepted that the two cannot be separated – they are very much two sides of the same coin .