On the 11th February 1997 I saw my first “proper” hypnotherapy client.
By proper I mean someone who was neither a relative, friend or fellow hypnotherapy student.
Janet was my first client at the South East Cancer Help Centre. She had been diagnosed with an inoperable and terminal brain tumour. I had been called in earlier than had originally been organised because the centres counsellor was on holiday that week. Janet was very distressed and I had been asked to help manage her anxiety.
The work we did was very effective she seemed so much better after only a couple of sessions that I thought she was going into remission. I didn’t really understand what was happening but the combination of the techniques I was using and the rapport between us was magical. This confidence in myself and the work I was doing continued with the other clients I was beginning to work with. I had found my true vocation and was off to a flying start.
When Janet died a few weeks later I was devastated and decided that perhaps this wasn’t for me. I couldn’t handle the emotional intensity, especially with people who were so sick. I thought she was getting better and then she had died, so I quit.
But then, a month after Janet’s funeral I received a card and gift from her mother and sister. They thanked me for the time I’d spent with Janet and explained that it had made a massive difference to the quality of her life in those final weeks. I took a deep breath and stepped back into the work again. I spent seven years working at the South East Cancer Help Centre, learned so much and met some truly amazing people. I was even given the opportunity to demonstrate hypnotherapy for HRH Prince Charles when he visited one afternoon.
Eventually I moved on and set up my own full time practice which has expanded to include the worldwide app business of today. I still think of Janet often, my first hypnotherapy client and one of my greatest teachers. I’m also very grateful to the South East Cancer Help Centre, a wonderful charity that still does great work today, for giving me the opportunity to work there.
I love what I do and have become much better at dealing with the emotions that inevitably surface on occasion.
Here’s to the next twenty five years of hypnotherapy!
Darren Marks
