Paul Levrant’s journey into hypnotherapy, CBT, and mindfulness began after his own struggles with anxiety and depression during his successful career in commerce.
Recognizing the need for therapeutic intervention, Paul sought out inspiring therapists and eventually trained in multiple disciplines to offer a comprehensive approach to mental health. His practice is built around tailoring sessions to the unique needs of each client, focusing on empowering them to create a healthier future through a combination of techniques.
In this interview with MysticMag, Paul shares how his holistic methods help clients overcome challenges such as anxiety, depression, and habits like smoking, while also enhancing performance in areas like public speaking and sports.
What inspired you to specialize in hypnotherapy, CBT, and mindfulness for addressing mental health challenges?
I had always been in commerce, beginning my working life in jewellery design and production, and then expanding into fashion accessories. Eventually, I formed a hugely successful business supplying many of the most famous names on the High Street both in the UK and across Europe.
I frequently saw that the pressures associated with this business badly affected many of my colleagues, and I, too, was far from being immune. Anxiety and depression swiftly followed, and although I’d previously associated emotional difficulties with some kind of weakness, it became obvious that I also needed help.
I was very fortunate in meeting some truly inspiring therapists in all of those disciplines, and when I decided to make the leap and train as a therapist myself, I wanted to be able to offer a broad range of approaches to my clients. This led me to develop the combined approach that I use in my practice today.
How do you determine the most effective approach—hypnotherapy, CBT, or mindfulness—for a client’s specific issue?
I rarely use just one approach. Deciding the most effective course of action comes out of the extensive conversations I have with my clients, and what these talks may reveal about how they uniquely think and feel. I am very much a fan of giving my clients “homework” as I strongly believe we must all take a proactive role in our own healing.
This could be simply re-listening to the session’s hypnosis recording, or perhaps some ideas to promote a more robust style of thinking. Invariably, though, every session is completely individual to each client, and never “off the shelf”.
Can you share how your techniques assist clients dealing with anxiety, depression, or phobias?
Very often, a client will be fixated on discovering “how” and “why” they came to be unwell, and will look for these origins in the past. There is a great desire to explore events and experiences in childhood or in some cases even earlier, as in a “former life,” so that these “causes” might be revealed.
My own approach, though, is to focus more on the future and to determine what wellness would look and feel like, regardless of how these emotional difficulties came to be. Working towards a state of acceptance is extremely empowering, as through this approach, we realise that, as distressing as it may be, we have no control over and can never change the past, but by working on ourselves with compassion and kindness, we can create a healthy and wonderful future.
What strategies do you employ to help clients overcome habits like smoking or manage weight effectively?
Once again, I must emphasise that I treat every client as a unique individual and tailor all treatment accordingly. One size does most certainly NOT fit all! In broad terms, though, habits and addictions can only be successfully dealt with in the long term by a commitment to self-care.
Once the client has begun to accept and realise that their need to “soothe” uncomfortable emotions through destructive habits can be met in other, healthier ways, changes can be made without resistance.
How do you support clients in enhancing performance in areas such as public speaking or sports?
This has always been a fascinating field of my practice. Why is it that otherwise highly successful individuals so often struggle in these areas? I generally seek to help them “model excellence”.
Most of us will have had experiences of where we were feeling pretty much indestructible, however fleeting; and through gentle guided visualisation and graded exposure, we can help recreate and incorporate those feelings into wider areas where there may be current difficulties. After treatment, clients often report back that they feel “completely liberated” from past inappropriate and unnecessary inhibitions.
What can clients expect during their initial consultation and subsequent therapy sessions with you?
An initial consultation is always provided without charge or obligation. It’s very important that a potential client feels able to express themselves fully and without restraint from the very beginning, and I will always endeavour to provide a safe space for them to do so. From this conversation, if both the client and I feel that genuine improvement could be achieved, we will book the first session in one of my consulting rooms or online.
Throughout each subsequent session, progress is always discussed, so that we can both be satisfied with the results and the pace at which we move forward. It is very important to me that my clients feel they are being fully supported as they make what could be crucial but potentially uncomfortable changes on their journey to wellness. I love hearing from past clients, always encourage them to keep in touch as best they can. It’s a source of great personal pleasure to me that in my practice today, most people come to me through recommendation from previous clients!
Find out more at: www.hypnowellness.co.uk
