About Me

Heather Smith BSc Dip. CBH CQHP

I have a psychology degree and two counselling certificates which give me a good basis for understanding the problems that people find themselves facing in the complicated world we live in. One of the things I valued about my counselling training was the practise in listening, so you can be sure I will be focused on what you say.

Before training as a therapist I had a long and varied career across a variety of industries including publishing, public sector outsourcing and defence. I have worked as both employee and a freelancer, and I understand the stresses of working in different kinds of organisations and of worrying where your next job is coming from. At the same time I was raising a family – I learned to be an expert juggler of all the responsibilities that come with both work and family life.

Always wishing I’d taken my psychology degree training further, I finally took the plunge and trained as a hypnotherapist with the prestigious UK College of Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy based in London. Its experienced tutors have developed a comprehensive course that is approved by the British Psychological Society for registered psychologists. After qualifying I took extra courses in the treatment of insomnia and in smoking cessation.

Since then I have expanded my range of evidence-based techniques, giving me a comprehensive toolkit to help clients improve their lives. They make a powerful combination that can address issues like anxiety, but can also be applied where clients want to make improvements to their lives by moving forward with life goals.

I aim to give you the tools to become your own therapist within a fairly short set of sessions – generally up to six – using evidence-based techniques. This means my therapy has the best chance of working for my clients. For me, this is a very important aspect of what I do because I want to do the very best for everyone who consults me.

I make sure to keep up to date with all the latest research in the field. To help me do that I’m registered with the Register for Evidence-based Hypnotherapy & Psychotherapy (REBHP), which publishes a journal with all the latest studies and current information. I’m also registered with the General Hypnotherapy Register (GHR) and the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC) which have strict codes of ethics.

It’s important that you feel comfortable with your therapist, so do give me a call for a no obligation chat so we can talk about how I could help you.