About Hypnosis, Hypnotherapy and Therapy Masterclasses with Dr Tracie O’Keefe DCH, BHSc, ND

My masterclasses are for therapists who have already trained and are in practice or who are moving toward completion of their qualifications.

Masterclasses are a great opportunity to tap into a practitioner’s accumulated knowledge and skills.

In clinical practice I have seen over 20,000 patients with a huge diversity of presenting problems ranging from PTSD, recovery from depression and anxiety, overcoming phobia, substance abuse withdrawal and cessation to complex sex and relationship problems.

My training and practice crosses so many fields including counselling, psychotherapy, clinical hypnotherapy, sexology, family and couples therapy, naturopathy, medical nutrition and medical herbalism, so I teach holistically.

I believe it is important for therapists to have a broad perspective when considering the best treatment plan for a patient.

While my masterclasses are strongly based in established science and include academic referencing, when you have learnt the science, it is time for the art of doing what you know and exploring the possible.

Not only must therapists be aware of evidence-based medicine but you must also be able to think on your feet in the therapeutic situation.

As Milton Erickson said when he was teaching, “Don’t do what I do.” Every therapist must develop their own style of working. 

Since I am a naturopath I will always explore natural options for patients first to help them find their own ability to heal and move forward in life. We live in an age of over-pathologisation that patients can end up wearing their label for life, which then goes on to interfere with healing. So I teach that using a humanistic approach to help people find ways forward for themselves is the primary avenue that therapists need to explore in clinical practice.

My therapeutic influences include Erickson, Jung, Perls, Satir, and even at times Freud. The work we consider in the masterclasses tends to be highly eclectic, often focused on brief therapy.

I also introduce participants to many of my own techniques that have worked very well with clients in my clinics over the years.

My masterclasses tend to be quite intimate so that each participant gets attention and that attendees have a sense that they are connected to me and the material, so I often limit numbers. This can increase the comfort and relevance of the learning experience.

You also get notes to take away with you so that you are able to review the technical information and techniques that I describe. Since I am a recognised mental health professional, CPE (sometimes called CPD) points can count towards therapists’ or mental health professionals’ training.

In the masterclasses I include exercises for you to practise and develop your skills.

Becoming an astute and effective therapist can evolve when you become a practised therapist. The more you practise, the more you develop your skills.

For all the skills and knowledge we gain, however, there is a recognised need for constant continuing professional education (CPE) or as it is called in some countries continuing profession development (CPD).

As you grow in your skills and you change as a therapist you need to add to your skill set and change the way you work. The more you know and the more eclectic you become, often the faster you are able to work with clients to enable them to resolve their issues. This is just as important in hypnotherapy as the clinical application of hypnosis.

The perfect example of this happening in motion is the work of Dr Milton Erickson. He was an extraordinarily inquisitive man who constantly imbibed knowledge and learning. We can see from preserved footaged how his work changed in the way he helped clients over the years to make it faster and more client focused. As his health failed in his later years he developed his roots of brief therapy through hypnotherapy.

I know having attended hundreds of CPE sessions my own work has changed over the years as I have incorporated new learnings and left out some techniques I might have used many years ago when I first started as therapist.

I remember many years ago I got a letter from a woman who I saw in my clinic years earlier. She had visited me back when she was in an abusive relationship. I used a very simply hypnosis dissociation technique with her to help her see her own situation. It was a technique I had learnt in a workshop and it seems she had left her abusive partner, moved cities, married someone she fell in love with, had children and was having a wonderful life. She just wrote to let me know what a difference that session had made to her life.

As a member of your professional associations you are required to undergo professional development each year to retain your memberships.

For some therapists that is all the advanced education they undertake and if that is you, this will be limiting to your development as a therapist, particularly as there are so many wonderful clinicians and teachers around to learn from.

May I suggest that you undergo as much new learning as you can fit in during your career, as this will enhance your ability to be a better hypnotist and also as a psychotherapist and medical practitioner if that is applicable to you.

I know I get excited every time I am about to do a new workshop or course. I get excited about what I might learn. Most of all, however, when I hold masterclasses for therapists I design them so we have fun and even with the most serious of learnings we learn so much better when we are enjoying ourselves.

 
Enhance Your Hypnosis, Hypnotherapy & Therapy Skills with Dr Tracie O'Keefe DCH, BHSc, ND
 

Masterclasses are suitable for hypnotherapists who have already qualified as hypnotherapists and are in clinical practice or who are in training to become hypnotherapists. This includes the area of hypno-psychotherapy and medical hypnosis.

As a polymath with more than 10 health disciplines I tend to deliver a large body of wide ranging information in the masterclasses to help the practitioner be well equipped to deal with presenting problems. It helps to look at patients from many different perspectives as we devise the kind of individual hypnotherapeutic intervention specific for the client.

Those of us who practise therapeutic hypnosis come from a wide range of disciplines including hypnotherapists, doctors, naturopaths, psychiatrists, psychologists, coaches, nurses, psychotherapists, counsellors, dentists and social workers.

If the masterclass is based on hypno-psychotherapy attendees must have undergone at least counselling training or pure hypnotherapy training and must be qualified in hypnosis. If the training is covering medical hypnosis, the attendees must have a medical background and hypnosis training.

All attendees must belong to their relevant professional associations and carry practice insurance. I will accept hypnotherapists in training in the masterclasses but they must be advanced in their studies because I teach at advanced levels only.

All my masterclasses always include practical hypnotic practice and case histories so the attendees have skills and knowledge to walk away with at the end of the session that they can use and adapt in clinical practice.

As we, as clinicians, add to our clinical repertoire it is important to remain in permanent education and equally as important for that education to remain enjoyably and engaging.”