Erika Slater
Erika Slater is a hypnotherapist, “a UK transplant living in central Massachusetts”.
What sort of practitioner are you?
I use hypnosis and NLP and have been practicing for 10 years.
Do you see clients from home or in a clinic?
I have an office in North Grafton – a small town southeast of Worcester, Massachusetts. Worcester is the second largest city in Massachusetts, about 40 miles from Boston.
What problems/issues do you treat most frequently?
Smokers and weight loss – especially for sugar.
What are your biggest frustrations running your practice?
NO SHOWS!!!!
What do you find hardest about your daily work?
Sometimes it can be very lonely especially if you have had a client that has proven to be difficult.
Do you find your professional body supportive and helpful? Do they help you create connections with fellow therapists?
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I did start my own meetup for conversational hypnosis. Had 23 people sign up and NO ONE has ever contacted me or turned up!
I used to go to NGH convention but have had less contact in recent years.
What training have you done that has really helped you in your therapy work?
A couple of wonderful resources for me has been UNK – I did the depression training years ago when I was a fledgling trying to find my feet. And more recently I did the smoking cessation. I have used the scripts frequently for inspiration.
I also like the Hypnosis Academy – Igor Ledochowski’s trainings. The common denominator for me has been the sympathetic and sincere approach to the care and concern of people in distress displayed by both Mark and Igor. There is something that is supremely respectful of the hypnotherapists they train and their whole approach to helping people solve problems.
How do you balance work and life?
I read for the blind and participate in Radio Active Theatre.
What frustrates you most about the way mental health is dealt with in your country?
My own experience with the mental health services has been really positive on the whole. There is a tendency here to push a pill but people are coming away from that. Smokers in particular dislike the effect of drugs like Chantix.
However for serious conditions such as schizophrenia I find it a very sorrowful situation. Many seriously ill people end up on the streets and/or eventually in prison.
Can you tell us about your most uplifting experience treating a recent client? (anonymously of course!)
I tell my smokers to refrain from smoking for at least two hours before coming. Well, one particular lady was effing and blinding on the phone to me because she couldn’t find the building. She continued this tirade all the way up the stairs – on the phone with me and out loud for the entire building to hear.
Somewhat cheekily, I asked whether she was craving a cigarette.
She did send me a wonderful testimonial because she was unshackled.
I liked her feistiness!
You can visit Erika’s main website here and her smoking cessation site here.
Pictured above: Erika Slater’s therapy office.
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About Mark Tyrrell
Psychology is my passion. I've been a psychotherapist trainer since 1998, specializing in brief, solution focused approaches. I now teach practitioners all over the world via our online courses.
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