Why I Still Choose One-on-One Work

Over the years, I’ve noticed a trend in the hypnotherapy profession. When practitioners reach senior status, they often begin to teach — through expensive “transformational” programs or certification courses, each designed to systemize their distilled knowledge and methods to “reach more people.”

For many, it must be a natural evolution. Yet, when something becomes a trend, I sometimes feel it’s almost expected of me.

I have not chosen to take that route — at least not for now.

Here’s why.

1. True hypnotherapy work is deeply personal

Hypnotherapy, as a profession in most places in the world — including British Columbia — is not regulated or licensed. That means most clients pay out of pocket, expecting real and lasting results. As such, every session must be meaningful, effective, and tailored to the individual.

Because of that, hypnotherapy — when practiced sincerely — is hard to standardize.

In the mental-health world, I’ve watched many new modalities and submodalities rise with passion and promise, only to fade quietly. Each creates a wave of excitement until people realize that no single approach fits everyone. The human mind is endlessly creative; symptoms can play cat-and-mouse games with even the most elegant methods.

The way I practice hypnotherapy is highly individualized. It’s about exploring personal history and uncovering the unconscious motives behind our patterns, not applying a ready-made formula.

And that makes it nearly impossible to “teach” in a structured, mechanical way. Still, I have deep respect for those who dedicate themselves to teaching and training hypnotherapists.

2. Some things cannot truly be taught

Milton Erickson — often called the grandfather of modern hypnotherapy — was considered a genius. Yet those who met him said he couldn’t really teach what he so naturally and intuitively did.

Because he brought remarkable results to some of the toughest cases, in Erickson’s later years, other practitioners sat in his sessions and eventually systematized what they observed into Ericksonian Hypnosis, NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), and Conversational Hypnosis.

But just as Jesus Christ was not a Christian, Milton Erickson was never “Ericksonian.” He was his method.

For me, that insight feels deeply true. Every practitioner, if they stay authentic to their work, eventually becomes their own method.

3. I still love the intimacy of one-on-one work

I haven’t felt a calling to teach certification courses.

What still brings me joy is meeting one person at a time — in my Vancouver office or online — and witnessing that quiet moment when something shifts, when awareness blooms, when a client sees how they themselves created the problem and how they can release it.

That is still magic to me.

I do enjoy teaching in community centres and mentoring hypnotherapists one-on-one when invited. Those continue to feel natural, fulfilling and aligned with how I wish to contribute. But for now, as long as that spark remains, you’ll find me in the therapy room — not in a typical classroom — meeting each person where they are.

With that said, teaching may still come one day, in some organic form. But for now, my work remains deeply rooted in direct human connection.

Hypnotherapy, for me, is not something to scale — it’s something to share, one consciousness at a time.