The Building of Rapport Is Often Considered one of the Most Important Aspects of a Hypnotherapists Work

Unit 2: Initial Consultation and Induction Techniques

Module 3 – Essay

Word count = 2,022

The building of rapport is often considered one of the most important aspects of a Hypnotherapists work, discuss.

What is Rapport

The word ‘rapport’ is defined as “a close and harmonious relationship in which the people or groups concerned understand each other’s feelings or ideas and communicate well”. (http://www.dictionary.com/)

Rapport and Hypnosis

Rapport is the ability to relate to others, to gain trust, communication and understanding, and with regards to the work of a Hypnotherapist, building rapport will enable their client’s unconscious mind to accept and begin to process suggestions, as this will allow the Hypnotherapist to bypass the client’s filter between the conscious and subconscious mind, the Conscious Critical Faculty (CCF). The subconscious mind is the part of our mind responsible for all our involuntary actions, the place where beliefs and memories are stored, and its primary objective is to maintain our survival. The conscious mind is responsible for logic and reasoning, and controls our intended actions. It acts as the ‘gate-keeper’, meaning that if someone presented you with an idea or belief that doesn’t match your own belief-system then your conscious mind will filter that belief. The way to change a limiting belief through Hypnosis is once a person is in a hypnotic state, the barriers between the conscious and subconscious mind are relaxed, and therefore the subconscious mind is open to suggestion. However, for hypnosis to be effective and to even take place, the hypnotherapist must first build a good rapport with their client. A Hypnotherapist will encounter a wide variety of people, all from different back-grounds with differing beliefs and personalities, and it is essential to know how to build rapport with all types of clients.

How to build rapport

There are various verbal and non-verbal mechanisms that a Hypnotherapist can use to build rapport with a client, and their client relationship will immediately start at the very first contact with that person, whether that be at first meeting them, talking on the telephone, an email, website, or even through ‘word-of-mouth’. First impressions are very important, and a person will use their deductive logic to make assumptions about another persons’ appearance, speech pattern and body language before they have even gotten to know them. It is important for the Hypnotherapist to be dressed in an acceptable way for the client, smart but casual with no extreme or provocative clothing, to give the impression of being open, confident and welcoming, to greet their client into a comfortable and appropriate consultation room, and to not be overtly opinionated or vocal of their own view-points and belief-system.

In order to start building rapport the client needs to know that they are being listened to and that the hypnosis is interested in what they have to say, which can be conveyed through our behaviours, body language, posture and speech.

Attending Behaviours

Attending behaviours demonstrates to a person that they are respected and that what they have to say is interesting and important. The effect of attending behaviours is that the client is encouraged to continue talking about their feelings freely. Without using words, the hypnotherapist is communicating that they are listening to the client. These attending behaviours that are key to good rapport include;    + maintaining eye contact

+ sitting next to the person without a barrier in between

+ having an ‘open’ posture

+ encouraging responses (nodding, smiling etc)

+ avoiding distractions (ie. turning phone off).

Non-Attending Behaviours

Contrary to attending behaviours, an individual can exhibit what is known as Non-attending behaviours which prevent the building of rapport, or destroy existing rapport between two persons. As a hypnotherapist, we know that rapport is key to the success of therapy, so these behaviours should be avoided;

+ Avoiding looking directly as the client

+ Becoming distracted with someone other than the client

+ Creating a physical barrier between yourself and the client (such as a desk)

+ Looking at the time (indicates that you wish to stop talking to the client)

+ Yawning (implies that you are not interested in what the client has to has).

Posture

Body posture has a large part to play in the building of rapport between a client and hypnotherapist. The hypnotherapist should attempt to keep an open body posture, which attempts to be confident and non-defensive. Matching and mirroring the client’s body posture, also helps to build rapport, but the hypnotherapist should attempt this in a subtle manner, not directly coping the actions of the client.

Empathy and Sympathy

Being empathetic is having the ability to understand and share the feelings of another, whereas being sympathetic is having feelings of pity or sorrow for another’s misfortune. A therapist should attempt to remain empathetic and not sympathetic, as feeling sympathy for a client could undermine the therapy and allow the client to remain in a detrimental state. Empathy is part of the foundations of rapport building, which leads to effective communication, therefore a Hypnotherapist should attempt to enter into the feelings of the client, but from a perspective of focusing on finding a solution to help them overcome the presenting issue.

Paraphrasing

To paraphrase means to restate or reword a statement given by the client which the intent of giving clarity to what is being said and to also demonstrate that the client is being listened to, and understood. A therapist would usually use less words that the client when paraphrasing and will focus on the facts rather than the emotions, and conveying that they are being actively listened to.

Reflecting

This will concentrate on the feelings of the client, where the hypnotherapist demonstrates that they have thought deeply and carefully about what the client is telling them. Similar to paraphrasing, the hypnotherapist will restate what is being said to them, so show that the hypnotherapist has understood correctly what the client is feeling, and also that the client is being listened to.

Clarifying

This is simply ensuring that the client has been understood correctly, but clarifying the information they have given. It is very important that the hypnotherapist seeks clarification for any points that are unclear to check their understanding of the clients’ thoughts and emotions. This enables effective treatment and further rapport building. It is also important for the client themselves to clarify the situation and their feelings that have lead them to therapy, as a step towards acceptance and healing.