How Clinical Hypnotherapy Works
Clinical hypnotherapy uses focused attention, imagery and therapeutic techniques to help you explore and change patterns in how you think, feel and respond.
Discover how the process works, what makes it different from simply talking about a problem, and how I use it to support meaningful change.
What is clinical hypnotherapy?
Clinical hypnotherapy uses hypnosis as part of a therapeutic process to help people explore and change familiar ways of thinking, feeling and responding.
Hypnosis involves a state of focused attention, often accompanied by relaxation, where you can become more absorbed in your thoughts, sensations and imagination. You're not asleep or unconscious, and you remain aware and able to
participate throughout the experience.
During hypnosis, we can use guided imagery, therapeutic suggestions and other techniques to work with the difficulties you're experiencing. For example, you might rehearse responding more calmly to a situation that usually triggers anxiety, or explore a different way of relating to a long-standing fear or belief.
Rather than relying on willpower or conscious understanding alone, hypnotherapy creates an opportunity to practise different emotional and behavioural responses.
The process is collaborative, and the techniques we
use are shaped around your individual
experiences, needs and goals.
How hypnotherapy can support change
Understanding why you react a certain way doesn't always make it easier to respond differently. You might recognise that a fear is irrational, for example, yet still feel anxious when the situation arises.
In our work together, we explore the responses you'd like to change and what you'd prefer to experience instead. During hypnosis, I may use guided imagery, therapeutic suggestions and mental rehearsal to help you engage with familiar situations in a different way.
For example, someone who becomes anxious when speaking in front of others might practise imagining that situation while experiencing greater calm, confidence and self-trust. The aim is to develop different responses that can become more familiar and accessible in everyday life.
We don't need to assume that every difficulty has a single hidden cause. Your experiences, goals and responses guide the process, and we can adapt the techniques according to what feels useful for you.
What matters most is how the work translates beyond the session, into the situations, decisions and experiences that make up your everyday life.
Every session is shaped around you and what we're working towards together.
We generally begin with a conversation about what's been happening in your life, anything you've noticed since our previous session and what feels most useful to focus on that day.
Depending on your needs, we might use clinical hypnotherapy, EMDR, therapeutic conversations or other techniques. Some sessions involve more talking, while others allow more time for hypnosis and guided inner work.
When we use hypnosis, I'll guide you through the process using my voice, imagery and therapeutic suggestions. You remain able to communicate, ask questions or pause whenever you need to. There's nothing you need to perform or get perfectly right.
We'll also explore how the insights and experiences from our sessions can translate into everyday life, so the work becomes relevant to the situations, relationships and challenges that matter to you.
What happens during a session with me?
How hypnotherapy fits into my approach
I'm Corinne Nijjer, a clinical hypnotherapist based in Upwey, Melbourne, with a background in social work and training in EMDR and NLP.
Understanding how hypnosis works is one thing. Knowing how to use it meaningfully for someone's particular difficulties is another.
I don't assume that hypnosis alone is the answer to every problem. I take time to understand your experiences, what may be contributing to the difficulties you're facing and what you'd most like to change.
Clinical hypnotherapy is one part of my integrative approach. Depending on your needs, I draw on different therapeutic methods to help you develop new ways of responding, build greater self-trust and create meaningful changes in everyday life.
I bring these approaches together through my Leading Minds Breakthrough Method, a personalised one-to-one program typically involving weekly sessions over 10–12 weeks, with support and resources between sessions.
Curious about whether hypnotherapy
could help you?
You don't need to understand everything about hypnosis before deciding to explore it. What's more important is finding an approach that feels right for you and the changes you'd like to make.
A free 30-minute clarity call is an opportunity to talk about what you've been experiencing, what you'd like to change and how my approach might help.
I'll explain what working together could involve, answer your questions and help you decide whether the Leading Minds Breakthrough Method is a suitable fit.
There's no pressure or obligation to proceed.