When working with clients, don’t skimp on the pre-talk and pre-session interview. If conducted properly, the pre-talk will prepare your client to have an easy and enjoyable experience, and the pre-session interview will allow you to get most of your work done, even before your client experiences “formal trance”. However, if these two segments are conducted improperly, you could find yourself struggling with your client, losing rapport, or flat out unable to help your client at all.

Let’s begin with a brief explanation of what these two areas are and how they are used in a session.

The “Pre-Talk” is an interaction you have with your client to answer any questions they have about hypnosis and what they can expect to experience during the session. It is also where you will address any myths and misconceptions your client may have about hypnosis as well as dispel any fears they may have about the hypnotic process.

Some therapy offices utilize pre-recorded audio or video to conduct the pre-talk. The recording usually consists of an introduction to the office and the therapist(s) who work there. Then the recording goes on to address the most common myths and misconceptions about hypnosis. Often, the recording will end with a series of client testimonials or industry statistics about the effectiveness of hypnosis for a number of areas.

This approach is a good idea, and can save a lot of time with the initial session with a new client, however you should re-cover some of these areas when you are face-to-face with the client, just to ensure you have covered any additional concerns or pre-conceived notions the client may have.

It’s also a good idea to explain to the client how your session will run, what they can expect to experience during the induction and subsequent trance state, and any other protocols that will help to level set expectations and put your clients mind to ease.

The “Pre-Session Interview” follows the pre-talk and in this segment, you will gather information from the client about what they have come to see you for; some history about the issue to be addressed; any other change methodologies they have tried in the past, etc. This is also where you allow the client to ‘vent’ a little bit about their issue and how it has affected them; it’s all part of the healing process.

Very soon into the pre-session interview, you will begin to ask probing questions of the client. These questions will begin by trying to identify any specific trigger points that may be compounding the issue they have come in for, however the bulk of the probing questions should be to identify resources and results information that you will use later on in the interview, and again during the trance portion of the session, to conduct the change work. This interactive discussion with the client is also where you will identify the clients internal vocabulary around the issue, their expected results, and resource states.

Of all the things you can uncover with a client, their internal vocabulary is probably the most important. You see, we all have certain words that we use frequently to describe our environment, life experience, dreams and aspirations, and even our fears. By learning the clients specific vocabulary, we can communicate with them in “their own words”. This is one of the main reasons why I don’t use pre-written scripts. With a pre-written script, you are delivering a generic “one size fits all” approach to an issue, and although it may have some degree of effectiveness, it will never be as effective as a dialog that contains the clients own choice of vocabulary.

Once you have uncovered a sufficient amount of information from the client, you can begin utilizing conversational hypnosis to begin laying the foundation for your change work. This is very effective, because in the client’s mind, the “hypnosis” hasn’t started yet, so there is no reason to resist, therefore the suggestions submitted during this “conversational” portion of the hypnosis session are allowed to enter the subconscious mind of the client easily. Also, since this is the last bit of information to enter their mind prior to the formal induction, it will also be the first thing to “drop through” once trance is achieved, allowing you to further compound those suggestions again during the trance portion of the session.

The pre-talk and, to a certain degree, is utilized in nearly every hypnosis context. Even a stage hypnotist delivers a pre-talk to the audience as a way to pre-qualify likely volunteers and to begin opening the minds of the audience to the awesome experience they are about the encounter. In a hypnotherapy or coaching context, the pre-talk and pre-session interview are vital to ensuring a successful and enjoyable session with your client.

Well, that’s all I have today, I hope you enjoyed this newsletter and that it has stimulated your thoughts about how to approach working with your clients. If you would like further discussions about this topic and how to conduct them in your practice, then bring your questions to a meeting and we’ll put them to the group for shared discussion.

Michael C. White, C.Ht.