Pierre Benoit
Montreal West Island
Hypnotherapist
ADD, Dental Anxiety, Cancer and More.....
I am happy to introduce you to my friend and colleague Pierre Benoit. Pierre is a bilingual (French and English), experienced Registered Clinical-Counselling Hypnotherapist.
He also has a special role to play in the Canadian Hypnosis world as the Eastern Canada Representative of ARCH (Association of Registered Clinical Hypnotherapists, Canada).
Learn more about how Pierre is helping people using hypnosis out of his Office on the West Island of Montreal and further afield with his online hypnosis sessions and training.
Pierre, could you briefly introduce yourself to our readers please
I worked as a Specialized Educator and Child and Family Counsellor for 25 years. As I was taking courses in NLP, I learned hypnosis and really liked that approach. So I decided to specialize myself in Hypnotherapy. I have been a full-time Clinical Hypnotherapist since 2004 and I have my own Hypnotherapy clinic in Ste-Geneviève, Quebec where I help people reconnect with their potential for success.
What first attracted you to a
career in Hypnosis?
I was looking to get
better at helping the different clienteles I was working with.
Through different courses I was taking, I ran into hypnosis. I was
amazed at the rapid results I could get with that approach and how
simple it was to utilize. I was also amazed when seeing the people
after the sessions. They looked and said that they felt so much
better. I felt I had no choice but to specialize in this modality.
Have you experienced any
personal benefits from using hypnosis for yourself that you would
care to share with our readers?
Hypnosis helped me in many different occasions. As a business owner, there are numerous ups and downs. Hypnosis has helped me in dealing of the stress and anxiety of those more difficult periods. It also helped me in dealing with more personal issues that I had to face through the years.
Can
you tell us about some of the professional hypnotists that you have
admired or actually trained with who have influenced your approach to
hypnosis the most?
Two names come to mind. Dr Anne Spencer with whom I have taken my Medical Hypnoanalysis training with. I learned what I would call the ‘process’ of hypnotherapy. There is also Cal Banyan whose course helped me when starting my clinic by showing me a simple protocol to follow with my clients.
What issues do your clients
typically come to you for help with?
It seems to vary according to the time of year. At this time, I have a lot of clients coming for phobias, anxiety, panic attacks. I also see clients with ADD and cancer patients that are referred to me. I have sports people (hockey players, golfers, gymnasts, etc.) coming to see me to enhance their performance. Many people come to see me for dental anxiety.
Do
you specialize in helping people with certain issues?
I would say that the main focus of my business is ADD, Dental Anxiety and Cancer.
Do you find any particular
phase of your hypnosis work to be
of special
interest to you? If so, why?) e.g. one on one sessions, training
hypnotists, writing scripts, producing recordings etc.
I really enjoy one on one
sessions. I like the contact I have with people that come to see me.
I have started doing Online live sessions also and I get the same
satisfaction as in my office.
Another aspect of my work
is training the hypnotherapists of the future. I work very hard at
being seen as a professional and I care about hypnotherapy and its
future.
Pierre, I know you play
a special role in your region as the representative of ARCH. Can you
tell us a little more about ARCH and your role in it?
ARC stands for the
Association of Registered Clinical Hypnotherapists of Canada. It is a
Canadian certification body for hypnotherapists in Canada. We have
members across the whole country. ARCH has been representing Clinical
Hypnotherapists to different levels of government to protect and
promote our profession. We have a Code of Ethics and provide
different services to our members such as training, mentorship,
mastermind meetings and so on.
I am presently the Eastern
Canada Representative for ARCH. I strongly believe that there are
excellent hypnotists and hypnotherapists in Canada. It is about time
that we recognize our worth and have our own Canadian organization to
represent us instead of relying on outside organizations.
What are the three most
important bits of advice would you give a client before their first
session of hypnosis?
- Be sure that you are ready to make the change that you want now.
- Do not be afraid to ask questions and verify the hypnotherapist’s credentials.
- Make sure that you feel comfortable with the person you are about to meet.
If you could give
potential and beginning hypnotists at least one piece of advice, what
would it be?
I would have two:
- Find a good training program. This will be your base to start your business. If all you have is one of those quick programs, you may fall short when seeing clients.
- Don’t spread yourself thin. When I first started, I found that there was so many good ideas out there that it kept me from being good at what I was doing initially. Use what you learned in your training program and get good at it (which can only be done by practicing). Then and only then can you start at expanding your knowledge base.
What is the most frequent
misunderstanding about hypnosis that you encounter with clients or
the public?
Most
of the time they have a tendency to mix hypnotherapy with stage
hypnosis because that is the only contact they have had with hypnosis
before. Another thing is the ‘Magic Wand’ belief where they think
that hypnosis is a quick fix.
As
we both know, Hypnosis as a healing and helping modality has existed
for hundreds of years now. However, it is more widely known and
accepted in some areas than in others. How would you rate the public
acceptance of hypnosis/hypnotherapy in Pierrefonds and Montreal generally?
Although there are still resistance out there, I strongly believe that people are being more and more open to hypnosis and hypnotherapy. People seem to be looking at alternative types of therapy and hypnosis/hypnotherapy is getting more popular.
What would your favourite book
on hypnosis be that you would recommend to others?
There are three books that
I constantly refer to and use since I have started my practice:
- Hypnosis for Change by Josie Hadley
- Client Centered Hypnotherapy by Mary Lee Labay
- Ideomotor Signals for Rapid Hypnoanalysis by Ewin, Dabney M., M.D., Elmer, Bruce N., Ph.D. and D. Corydon Hammond
Is there anything else that you
would like to expand upon or add that we have not covered?
Hypnotherapy is a
wonderful field and I believe that it will only grow as people are
looking at new ways to deal with their problems and increase their
well-being. This is a field of the future.
Thank you Pierre, it's always good to talk with you and now I am happy to let my readers get to know you as well.
Here is a fuller List of the Services Offered by Pierre
.Weight loss/Eating problems
.Smoking cessation
.Learning and test anxiety
.Addictions (alcohol, drug, sugar, etc.)
.Attention and hyperactivity problems
.Cancer, Pain control
.Hypnotherapy with children
.Childbirth
.Depression
.Diabetes
.Habits (Stuttering, nail biting, grinding teeth, etc.)
.Hypnodontics (for dental work)
.Self Hypnosis
.Phobias and fears
.Pre and post surgery hypnosis
.Sports
.Snoring
.Irritable Bowel Syndrome
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