Stephen Brooks (hypnotherapist)
Encyclopedia
Stephen Haig Brooks, is a British
hypnotherapist
and a pioneer in the development of indirect hypnosis
. He introduced Ericksonian techniques to the UK
and Europe
.
during a demonstration of hypnotic phenomena at a psychology lecture at the University of Cambridge
in 1969. He had previously developed an interest in experimental psychology while at school after winning a book on the subject as a school prize. Experimental psychology and, especially, experimental hypnosis subsequently became an obsession of his, fuelled by a belief that research into hypnosis - particularly its creative and ethical application in therapy - had not been fully explored or developed.
, who was largely unknown at the time except within clinical hypnosis circles in the USA. It was Erickson’s only publication in book form at the time, although some of his papers had been published separately in American journals.
, where he then lived. He set up practices in Chelmsford
, Southend, Rayleigh
, Brentwood
and Harlow
using hotels, government offices and training centres. As a result, he averaged nine clients a day for over twelve years.
where Erickson lived, for an informal meeting along with several other well known Ericksonian therapists including Rossi, Sidney Rosen, Carol Erickson and Frank Farelly, with all of whom Brooks would later train. Unfortunately, Erickson died on the day of the meeting. Other Erickson pupils with whom Brooks trained included Michael Yapko, Joe Lustig, Bill O’Hanlon
, David Gordon and David Caloff.
(where in 1993 Brooks would give a talk about advances in hypnosis and meet with His Holiness, the Dalai Lama
to discuss the relationship between hypnosis and meditation).
in Tooting
, London, Dr Tony Wabba, a psychologist and anaesthetist at Eastbourn General Hospital and Frank Franklin a psychotherapist and one of the first people to train in NLP
with its originators, Bandler
and Grinder
in Santa Cruz
, California
. Brooks thus had assembled an appropriate "medical" team of trainers. St George's Hospital was chosen as a suitable venue for the courses. Rossi and many of the experts with whom Brooks had previously trained also served as BHR trainers, so as to provide students with the most advanced techniques available.
in a therapeutic context and thereby enhance their relationship with patients and clients.
to record an example of contemporary hypnotherapy. Together with the University of Sussex
he made a studio video recording of a hypnotherapy session with a patient. He based the video on an earlier studio recording of Erickson made by Joe Lustig. The video of Brooks’s session quickly became popular with hypnosis training organisations and has been used extensively on hypnosis courses ever since. In 2009 it was re-mastered for DVD and Brooks added a commentary to explain his method in detail. French subtitles were subsequently provided, translated by Deborah Bacon-Dilts (wife of Robert Dilts
).
work, others left the NHS to set up in private practice and others set up well known training organisations. Notable graduates include Joe Griffin and Ivan Tyrell who created a master's degree based on their Human Givens
therapeutic approach, Igor Ledochowski who has published books and set up courses in conversational hypnosis, Adam Eason who set up Adam Eason Personal Development, Mark Tyrell who set up the Uncommon Therapy organisation, Kerin Webb who runs EOS Hypnosis courses and is author of “The Language Pattern Bible” in which Brooks is acknowledged many times throughout, NLP trainer Ian McDermott
who runs International Teaching Seminars, Peter and Mary Lawrence who set up the British Institute of Hypnotherapy, NLP trainer Andrew Austin, author of the book “The Rainbow Machine”, Hugh Willbourn author of books with British stage hypnotist Paul McKenna
and many others.
, London and in Selly Oak Hospital, Birmingham
with other shorter courses running elsewhere in the country. Brooks decided that his original role as a hypnotherapist and trainer had evolved into that of a businessman, something that had happened to him rather than being intended. He therefore decided to downsize the organisation and spent a period of self discovery and personal development meditating in the jungles of northern Thailand
for several years.
(except that Brooks's course was free). By this time Brooks was living as a Buddhist in Thailand and flying over to the UK for a few weeks each year to teach his Practitioner Diploma Course (now at Roehampton University
, London). The online course grew steadily and in 2011 has over 4000 students. It is based on the theory and principles of Ericksonian hypnosis, so it does not qualify students to actually practise as therapists as it is not a Practitioner Course, but it does give students academic training in the theory and principles of Brooks’s techniques.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
hypnotherapist
Hypnotherapy
Hypnotherapy is a therapy that is undertaken with a subject in hypnosis.The word "hypnosis" is an abbreviation of James Braid's term "neuro-hypnotism", meaning "sleep of the nervous system"....
and a pioneer in the development of indirect hypnosis
Covert Hypnosis
Covert hypnosis is the ability to subtly communicate with another person's unconscious mind without their noticing. As it often takes place in the course of a seemingly regular conversation, it is also known as conversational hypnosis or sleight of mouth...
. He introduced Ericksonian techniques to the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and Europe
Continental Europe
Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe or simply the Continent, is the continent of Europe, explicitly excluding European islands....
.
First exposure to hypnosis
Brooks acquired his initial interest in hypnosisHypnosis
Hypnosis is "a trance state characterized by extreme suggestibility, relaxation and heightened imagination."It is a mental state or imaginative role-enactment . It is usually induced by a procedure known as a hypnotic induction, which is commonly composed of a long series of preliminary...
during a demonstration of hypnotic phenomena at a psychology lecture at the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
in 1969. He had previously developed an interest in experimental psychology while at school after winning a book on the subject as a school prize. Experimental psychology and, especially, experimental hypnosis subsequently became an obsession of his, fuelled by a belief that research into hypnosis - particularly its creative and ethical application in therapy - had not been fully explored or developed.
Rejection of traditional methods of inducing hypnosis
Lack of publications and available research into experimental and permissive hypnosis in the UK led to him becoming disillusioned with the traditional direct approach, which he considered far too authoritarian and disrespectful to hypnotic subjects. He felt that instead of empowering people, it disempowered them because it implied that the hypnotist had control over them.Discovering Milton H Erickson
In the 1970s while browsing in his local county library, Brooks discovered a book entitled “The Practical Application of Medical and Dental Hypnosis” (Published 1961). There were three authors, one of whom was Milton H. EricksonMilton H. Erickson
Milton Hyland Erickson, was an American psychiatrist specializing in medical hypnosis and family therapy...
, who was largely unknown at the time except within clinical hypnosis circles in the USA. It was Erickson’s only publication in book form at the time, although some of his papers had been published separately in American journals.
Rejection of traditional hypnosis training courses in the UK
Brooks acquired "Hypnotic Realities" (1976) by Ernest Rossi and armed with this, decided to concentrate on developing a career as a hypnotherapist. Alarmed by the standard of training provided by traditional hypnotherapy training schools, he felt confident enough to set up in private practice as an Ericksonian hypnotherapist based on what he had learned from the books of Erickson and Rossi.Setting up in private practice
He decided that, as the public were still fairly sceptical (or even afraid) of hypnosis, due mainly to how it was portrayed in the media and by stage hypnotists, whom he detested, he would not set up a permanent practice in one location. Instead, he would set up five different practices, one for each day of the week in different towns throughout the county of EssexEssex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
, where he then lived. He set up practices in Chelmsford
Chelmsford
Chelmsford is the county town of Essex, England and the principal settlement of the borough of Chelmsford. It is located in the London commuter belt, approximately northeast of Charing Cross, London, and approximately the same distance from the once provincial Roman capital at Colchester...
, Southend, Rayleigh
Rayleigh, Essex
Rayleigh is a market town and civil parish in the District of Rochford in Essex, England, located between Chelmsford and Southend-on-Sea. It lies to the east of central London. It has a population of 30,196, having expanded rapidly in the 1960s.-Toponymy:...
, Brentwood
Brentwood, Essex
Brentwood is a town and the principal settlement of the Borough of Brentwood, in the county of Essex in the east of England. It is located in the London commuter belt, 20 miles east north-east of Charing Cross in London, and near the M25 motorway....
and Harlow
Harlow
Harlow is a new town and local government district in Essex, England. It is located in the west of the county and on the border with Hertfordshire, on the Stort Valley, The town is near the M11 motorway and forms part of the London commuter belt.The district has a current population of 78,889...
using hotels, government offices and training centres. As a result, he averaged nine clients a day for over twelve years.
Erickson’s role as a mentor
During this time, he established contact with Erickson and received papers from him on a regular basis during the 1970s. He arranged to visit PhoenixPhoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
where Erickson lived, for an informal meeting along with several other well known Ericksonian therapists including Rossi, Sidney Rosen, Carol Erickson and Frank Farelly, with all of whom Brooks would later train. Unfortunately, Erickson died on the day of the meeting. Other Erickson pupils with whom Brooks trained included Michael Yapko, Joe Lustig, Bill O’Hanlon
Bill O'Hanlon
Bill O'Hanlon, M.S., is psychotherapist, prolific author, and popular workshop presenter. He co-developed Solution-Oriented Therapy, a form of Solution focused brief therapy, has authored or co-authored over 28 books , and has given over two thousand workshop...
, David Gordon and David Caloff.
The British Hypnosis Research Association
In 1979 Brooks set up British Hypnosis Research (BHR) as an association to research into Erickson’s techniques. The association was based in Cambridge and mainly attracted undergraduates from the local university as it was located in the university's Union BuildingCambridge Union Society
The Cambridge Union Society, commonly referred to as simply "the Cambridge Union" or "the Union," is a debating society in Cambridge, England and is the largest society at the University of Cambridge. Since its founding in 1815, the Union has developed a worldwide reputation as a noted symbol of...
(where in 1993 Brooks would give a talk about advances in hypnosis and meet with His Holiness, the Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama is a high lama in the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The name is a combination of the Mongolian word далай meaning "Ocean" and the Tibetan word bla-ma meaning "teacher"...
to discuss the relationship between hypnosis and meditation).
British Hypnosis Research (BHR) training courses
In 1985, Brooks developed the first ever Ericksonian Hypnosis course in Europe. The success of this course enabled Brooks to create a one year professional Diploma training at weekends. He realised that to be accepted by the medical profession the course needed to have strong academic elements and (ideally) be taught by doctors, as this was the norm. At this time, interest in Erickson’s work was growing and so Brooks invited four of Ericksonian-inclined clinicians to teach along side him on the first BHR Ericksonian Hypnosis Diploma course. The trainers were Dr Tony Bastic, author of a book about intuition, Dr Elvider Adamson-Mecado, a psychologist at St George's HospitalSt George's Hospital
Founded in 1733, St George’s Hospital is one of the UK's largest teaching hospitals. It shares its main hospital site in Tooting, England with the St George's, University of London which trains NHS staff and carries out advanced medical research....
in Tooting
Tooting
Tooting is a district in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is situated south south-west of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-History:...
, London, Dr Tony Wabba, a psychologist and anaesthetist at Eastbourn General Hospital and Frank Franklin a psychotherapist and one of the first people to train in NLP
Neuro-linguistic programming
Neuro-linguistic programming is an approach to psychotherapy, self-help and organizational change. Founders Richard Bandler and John Grinder say that NLP is a model of interpersonal communication and a system of alternative therapy which seeks to educate people in self-awareness and effective...
with its originators, Bandler
Richard Bandler
Richard Wayne Bandler is an American author and trainer in the field of self-help. He is best known as the co-inventor of Neuro-linguistic programming , a collection of concepts and techniques intended to understand and change human behavior-patterns...
and Grinder
John Grinder
John Grinder, Ph.D., is an American linguist, author, management consultant, trainer and speaker. Grinder is credited with the co-creation with Richard Bandler of the field of Neuro-linguistic programming. He is co-director of Quantum Leap Inc., a management consulting firm founded by his partner...
in Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, California
Santa Cruz is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, California in the US. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Santa Cruz had a total population of 59,946...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Brooks thus had assembled an appropriate "medical" team of trainers. St George's Hospital was chosen as a suitable venue for the courses. Rossi and many of the experts with whom Brooks had previously trained also served as BHR trainers, so as to provide students with the most advanced techniques available.
The mainstream hypnosis bodies
The only providers of clinical hypnosis training courses in the UK at that time were the British Society of Medical and Dental Hypnosis (BSMDH) and the British Society of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis (BSECH), the former catering to doctors and dentists and the latter to psychologists. Brooks believed that training in hypnotherapy should be made available to those outside the medical field and that Ericksonian techniques should be given a wider exposure. BSECH eventually accepted Erickson’s approach as valid and one of Brooks’s own students, psychologist Phyllis Alden, a graduate from his Diploma course at St George's, was made Honorary Secretary of BSCEH.Acceptance within the health profession
By the mid-1990s, Brooks was running training courses in over twenty hospitals and universities throughout the UK and abroad. As recognition of the efficacy of his methods increased, health professionals such as doctors, nurses, counsellors, occupational therapists and social workers were all able to study conversational hypnosisCovert Hypnosis
Covert hypnosis is the ability to subtly communicate with another person's unconscious mind without their noticing. As it often takes place in the course of a seemingly regular conversation, it is also known as conversational hypnosis or sleight of mouth...
in a therapeutic context and thereby enhance their relationship with patients and clients.
The Training In Indirect Hypnosis video
In 1990 Brooks was asked by the British Library Sound ArchiveBritish Library Sound Archive
The British Library Sound Archive in London, England is one of the largest collections of recorded sound in the world, including music, spoken word and ambient recordings....
to record an example of contemporary hypnotherapy. Together with the University of Sussex
University of Sussex
The University of Sussex is an English public research university situated next to the East Sussex village of Falmer, within the city of Brighton and Hove. The University received its Royal Charter in August 1961....
he made a studio video recording of a hypnotherapy session with a patient. He based the video on an earlier studio recording of Erickson made by Joe Lustig. The video of Brooks’s session quickly became popular with hypnosis training organisations and has been used extensively on hypnosis courses ever since. In 2009 it was re-mastered for DVD and Brooks added a commentary to explain his method in detail. French subtitles were subsequently provided, translated by Deborah Bacon-Dilts (wife of Robert Dilts
Robert Dilts
Robert Dilts has been a developer, author, trainer and consultant in the field of Neuro-linguistic programming since its creation in 1975 by John Grinder and Richard Bandler....
).
Notable graduates
While many BHR graduates incorporated Brooks’s hypnosis skills into their NHSNational Health Service
The National Health Service is the shared name of three of the four publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. They provide a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use to residents of the United Kingdom...
work, others left the NHS to set up in private practice and others set up well known training organisations. Notable graduates include Joe Griffin and Ivan Tyrell who created a master's degree based on their Human Givens
Human Givens
Human Givens approach or Human Givens Psychotherapy is form of psychology and psychotherapy developed by Joe Griffin and Ivan Tyrrell introduced in their 2003 book Human Givens: A new approach to emotional health and clear thinking...
therapeutic approach, Igor Ledochowski who has published books and set up courses in conversational hypnosis, Adam Eason who set up Adam Eason Personal Development, Mark Tyrell who set up the Uncommon Therapy organisation, Kerin Webb who runs EOS Hypnosis courses and is author of “The Language Pattern Bible” in which Brooks is acknowledged many times throughout, NLP trainer Ian McDermott
Ian McDermott
Ian McDermott is a global leading authority on NLP Coaching, for over 20 years he has established the growth of NLP around the world.-Executive Coaching:...
who runs International Teaching Seminars, Peter and Mary Lawrence who set up the British Institute of Hypnotherapy, NLP trainer Andrew Austin, author of the book “The Rainbow Machine”, Hugh Willbourn author of books with British stage hypnotist Paul McKenna
Paul McKenna
Paul McKenna is an English hypnotist and self-improvement author.McKenna has written and produced books and multimedia products, hosted self-improvement television shows and presents seminars in hypnosis, neuro-linguistic programming, weight loss and motivation.-Career:Paul McKenna started in...
and many others.
1990s
During the 1990s Brooks had over twenty hypnotherapy trainers and supervisors working for him and students would be supervised while working with actual patients at the hospitals after each training weekend. At that time his Diploma Courses were based at St Ann’s HospitalSt Ann's Hospital
St Anne's Hospital is a psychiatric hospital located in the Canford Cliffs area of Poole, Dorset. It was designed by Robert Weir Shultz and opened in 1912 at a cost of £46,500.00....
, London and in Selly Oak Hospital, Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
with other shorter courses running elsewhere in the country. Brooks decided that his original role as a hypnotherapist and trainer had evolved into that of a businessman, something that had happened to him rather than being intended. He therefore decided to downsize the organisation and spent a period of self discovery and personal development meditating in the jungles of northern Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
for several years.
Brooks’s online hypnosis course
In 2006 Brooks created a one year online degree level hypnosis course using the same online training platform as the UK’s Open UniversityOpen University
The Open University is a distance learning and research university founded by Royal Charter in the United Kingdom...
(except that Brooks's course was free). By this time Brooks was living as a Buddhist in Thailand and flying over to the UK for a few weeks each year to teach his Practitioner Diploma Course (now at Roehampton University
Roehampton University
The University of Roehampton is a campus university in the United Kingdom, situated on three major sites in Roehampton, south-west London.-History:...
, London). The online course grew steadily and in 2011 has over 4000 students. It is based on the theory and principles of Ericksonian hypnosis, so it does not qualify students to actually practise as therapists as it is not a Practitioner Course, but it does give students academic training in the theory and principles of Brooks’s techniques.
External links
- http://www.british-hypnosis-research.com British Hypnosis Research