Approaches

Therapies, Techniques and Approach

Therapies and Techniques

I offer Coaching, Mindfulness, Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy (CBH), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and combinations of all four. I focus on techniques that are proven to deliver real success when used and tailored to you.

My approach

The driving force behind all that I do is empowering you to achieve the things you want, make the changes you need and live your life in the way you most want to. It is not about relying on me as a coach or therapist, but about helping you learn the tools and techniques to become the person you want to be.

As a member of the British Psychological Society and the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council, my approach is heavily informed by and grounded in Psychology, Neuroscience and ongoing research. The techniques I use are recognised as both safe and highly effective by the British Medical Society, American Medical Society and National Institute of Clinical Excellence. If you visit my Winchester office you’ll also see I’m a bit of a geek, as shown by my love of books. You’ll probably spot key Clinical Hypnosis texts such ’Hartland’s Medical and Dental Hypnosis’ through to books by business leaders such as Matthew Syed with ‘Black Box Thinking’.

Constantly evolving

I use techniques that are constantly evolving, and make a conscious effort to ensure I’m up to date with the latest developments and best-practices. My techniques are the same as those used by many medical professionals including Dentists, GPs, Nutritionists and Psychologists, as well as Sporting Professionals and Business Leaders. While I’ve built my practice around evidence-based approaches, I remain open-minded to other approaches.

Techniques and Therapies

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is a simple idea – it’s about being fully present and aware of your emotions, physical sensations and everything that’s going on around you. Mindfulness has significant and wide-ranging benefits, especially if you’re dealing with stress and anxiety. The difficulty for most people is in understanding how you do this, and how you integrate it into your daily life. This is something I specialise in – Mindfulness in the Real World.

I am a fully qualified Mindfulness Coach and Teacher, and have experience establishing Mindfulness into schools and education settings, working with individuals to establish their own mindfulness routines and I also have my own daily Mindfulness practice, very much ‘practising what I teach’.

Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy

CBH will help you take ownership of your own thoughts and behaviours, putting you in control of the changes you want to make in your life.

Hypnotherapy is the therapy of ’imaginative suggestion’, or words that are used to stimulate the conscious imagination profoundly enough to bring about genuine therapeutic change. Our brains and imagination work together a lot in our day to day life in this way – such as our heart rate increasing when watching a horror film. Unfortunately we tend to use this without realising and often in ways that are not very beneficial to us. When used in the right ways it can have incredible benefits.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is based on the approach that “thoughts, feelings, what we do and how our body feels are all connected. If we change one of these we can alter the others.” (British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies). It is one of the most successful, established and recognised therapies which is why the NHS use it as their biggest form of therapy.

CBH is a combination of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Evidence-Based Clinical Hypnotherapy. It is proven to have higher success rates and longer-lasting results than either can deliver in isolation.

Coaching

“Coaching is releasing a person’s potential to maximise their own performance. It is helping them to learn rather than teaching them.”

(John Whitmore, Coaching for Performance: The Principles and Practice of Coaching and Leadership).

I offer both online and face-to-face coaching sessions, both of which can have a hugely positive impact on your life, helping you to see things from different perspectives and gain clarity and focus when you’re stuck, or when you feel like you’re going in circles. My job is to ask you those questions which get to the heart of what’s happening and what’s stopping you from being where you want to be. And by listening to you, really listening, and perhaps gently challenging some of your thoughts and answers, helping you work out what you need to do next.

The success of this process is why I continue to use a coach myself, both in my professional and personal life. Even though I know the questions to ask, sometimes having someone fully engaging and listening and challenging your assumptions can set you on a path you hadn’t seen.

Embarking on your first session can be daunting, so if you prefer our first one can be online. That way you can get used to the process in the surroundings you feel most comfortable in. You can then choose to have the others in person, or by Skype, or a mixture, depending on your location and circumstances. It also means we can work together wherever you’re based, including overseas. If you want a face-to-face session, my offices are based in Bishops Waltham and Winchester.

Tom Cleary, Mindfulness & Hypnotherapy in Winchester, Hampshire

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (“ACT”)

“ACT” (pronounced as the word ‘act’ as it is very much about taking action), is a therapy based on Mindfulness, combined with developing your understanding of what is most important to you in life (your values) and deciding on or committing to actions that move you towards the type of life you want to be living.

There is strong evidence behind its effectiveness on both specific issues, such as anxiety, as well as helping people to live more fulfilling lives. If you are someone who likes the idea of Mindfulness but prefers more structure behind what you do, this approach works particularly well.