Interview With Jon Rhodes…
What did you do before becoming a clinical hypnotherapist?
I actually studied law when I finished school, at Glamorgan University in Wales.
Jon Rhodes
Why didn’t you become a lawyer?
Well I studied law for 4 years. The first year was part time whilst I worked in an office, and the last 3 years were full time. When I finished my degree, I realised that to get a job in law required even more study. I’d had enough of studying law at that point. A big part of studying law was to empower myself.
What did you do?
I started working with my dad, gardening at various places. I liked it when the weather was fine, but I knew it was not my calling! I also joined my first band, which was called ‘Scenario’. We wrote and performed all our own songs. I played lead and rhythm guitar, and did a bit of backing singing.
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What happened next?
I was gardening at a lady’s house who ran a rehabilitation unit for people suffering from mental health problems. She asked if I would like a job, and I though “Why not?” It was something very different to what I had ever done before. I really enjoyed the job, and I wanted to learn more. I devoured many books on mental health and self help. I wanted to really understand and be more able to help these people. I often visited the library and second hand book shops to buy these types of books. One day I came across an old battered book on hypnosis. I think it was called the “Uses And Abuses Of Hypnosis”. I read this book several times and became very interested in hypnosis.
So where did you get your formal training from?
Well I scoured the internet for more information about various training courses. I eventually decided to learn at the London College Of Clinical Hypnotherapy. It was probably down to it being the most expensive course. I reasoned that it must be the best if it was the most expensive!
When did you start you own practice?
I did some free sessions for people whilst I was learning. Almost as soon as I finished my course I started my own practice. I hooked up with a friend of mine who had a Reiki practice. She got me quite a few clients and I was underway! I decided the easiest and most cost effective way of starting was to become a ‘mobile hypnotist’. I would travel to their homes to treat them. I could offer a convenient service at a good price, since I did not need to pass on any costs for hiring or buying premises. Word of mouth spread, and my practice grew quite quickly.
What made you decide to start practicing online?
I always prided myself on giving customers a good deal, so I made a few hypnosis recordings that I would give away in order to enhance the sessions that I gave them. The quality of these recordings started getting better and better the more I did them. I was also developing my keyboard playing skills for a new band that I joined around this time, called Ignition. I thought I would try and reach a wider audience of people I could treat, and utilise my skills as a hypnotherapist and a musician simultaneously. It gave me great joy creating all these therapeutic audio sessions, and it still gives me as much joy today.
What about the future?
I’m going to continue to build HypnoBusters up. I want it to be the best and most respected hypnosis downloads site in the world. For this I don’t mean contain the most individual sessions, or even to make the most money. I want it to have a reputation for providing audio sessions that actually work. I also want it to have a reputation for keeping its morals. There are limits as to what can and should be treated online. For example I see some sites that offer audios for things like sexual abuse. For a start even a very experienced hypnotherapist should have specialist training to deal with such heavy issues, and they should certainly not do it online. Who is going to provide comfort to their clients should they become traumatised with these terrible memories? There are also some sites that offer treatments for things like cancer. There is absolutely no proof whatsoever that cancer can be treated by hypnotherapy. I recently heard a story about a young lady who stopped her chemotherapy treatment because she was so convinced that her hypnotherapy sessions will cure her. As far as I’m concerned, those hypnnotherapists are taking advantage of people, and probably have not thought about the possible consequences of what they are doing.
What else in the future?
I am thinking of perhaps starting a guided meditation site, with audios, articles, and maybe videos on meditation. This is very embryonic in my thoughts right now as I still have a lot of work to do on HypnoBusters. I also have ambitions to write books in the future, so maybe I will write some on hypnosis, meditation, or more specific self help titles.
Thank you very much Jon. Any final words?
If you want to grow and improve, then you must be prepared for change. Change can unsettle us and make us feel uncomfortable. However it is necessary in order to facilitate growth. Do we really want to be doing the same things day in day out for the rest of our lives? Just keep reminding yourself every now and then that ‘Change is good’ and that it is well worth the temporary feelings of discomfort that you might experience along the way.
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You can stay in touch with Jon at the following places…