When I put my hand up to receive hypnotherapy five years ago for chronic insomnia, I never expected it’d lead to a career helping women as a menopause mentor.
At the time, I was a newly qualified therapist and holistic counsellor, having spent more than a decade as a stay-at-home mum to my daughter Elise, 16, and son Stirling, 14.
On that day, while my husband Carl, 50, stayed behind in Cambridge, I attended training in Sydney for Rapid Transformational Therapy, or RTT.
The technique is a type of hypnotherapy that’s used for relaxation of the central nervous system, allowing practitioners to talk to a person’s subconscious to find the root cause of issues like insomnia, anxiety and panic attacks.
When a colleague on the course needed help with a peer review and asked if anyone was interested in menopause, I jumped at it. After all, I was rattled by insomnia, waking every morning at two and unable to return to sleep.
As I sat in the RTT session, I learned the real cause of my insomnia was an urge to be present and awake for my children, which was triggered by the changes in hormones I was experiencing.
I was able to work through it and realise I didn’t need to stay awake all night to be available to my kids, and the results were instant for me. My insomnia went away. Suddenly, I wanted to lap up all the information I could on menopause support!
From that moment, I was fascinated by the mind-body connection, and decided to study and understand menopause, and everything to do with hormones and periods. I wanted other women to know they have options that don’t only include being prescribed antidepressants and hormone replacement therapy.
This story is from the October 25, 2021 edition of New Zealand Woman's Weekly.
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This story is from the October 25, 2021 edition of New Zealand Woman's Weekly.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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