About Us
Hello, and welcome to the home of New Creative Therapy (NCT), the psychotherapy and hypnotherapy organisation run by Patrick William Jemmer, based in Swansea, Wales, UK.
We are especially interested in personal development, creativity, stress management, and education and learning, and are happy to work to achieve desired goals in many different areas.
These include, but are not limited to: breaking unwanted habits, confidence and self esteem; education and learning (enhancing creativity, enabling study skills, overcoming exam anxiety, and so on); medical issues (for example, high blood pressure or hypertension, irritable bowel syndrome); performance (sports, memory, public speaking, and so on); phobias and compulsions; stress and anxiety. We are, moreover, committed to working with all clients to achieve their desired goals in the most effective and lasting manner.
We work actively and respectfully with clients at their own pace and in their own way, to discover and change limiting patterns of thought and behaviour, and creatively craft novel modes of being, thinking and doing.
In achieving these goals we seek to enhance our own creativity and that of our clients through insights gained from anthropology, art, language, literature, music, mythology, philosophy, poetry, and any others fields, as appropriate.
In order to achieve these goals we make extensive use of Ericksonian hypnotherapy, Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) and the novel field of Psycho-Chaotic Semiotics (PCS).
About Patrick Jemmer
The Principal, Patrick Jemmer, holds the Hypnotherapy Practitioner Diploma (HPD); He is a Fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health (FRSPH); a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine; a Member of the National Council of Psychotherapists (MNCP); a Registered Member of the National Council for Hypnotherapy (MNCH(Reg)); and a Licensed Master Practitioner of Neuro-linguistic Programming (MPNLP). He is a Registered Member of the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC). He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts (FRSA); and a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute (FRAI). He has published widely in the therapeutic use of all the ideas and techniques discussed above.
Membership of these therapeutic organisations is dependent upon a demonstrably high level of training and qualification (both theoretical and practical), together with a commitment to ongoing continuing professional development, and subscription to well-developed and clearly-defined Codes of Ethics designed to protect the interests of both the client and the therapist.
Between 1988 and 1997, Patrick studied for and was awarded a BA (Hons), CertPgSt and MA from Cambridge University and an MA from Oxford University (all in Natural Sciences); and a PhD from Birmingham University in Mathematical Chemistry. He then worked as a Research Fellow at the Universities of Oxford, Exeter, and Sussex. Between 1999 and 2011 he worked as a Senior Lecturer in Mathematics at Northumbria University in Newcastle, whilst simultaneously training in hypnotherapy and psychotherapy. He has carried out and published a considerable amount of research in mathematics and science.
Please note that Patrick's title of "Dr" relates to Postgraduate (PhD) training and research in Mathematical Chemistry, and that his membership of Health- and Medical-related professional bodies does not imply that he is a registered UK Medical Practitioner. He is, however, fully licensed and insured to practice in psychotherapy and hypnotherapy throughout the UK, and has been in practice since initially qualifying in Newcastle in 2003 with his Clinical Supervisor Mr Joe McAnelly BSc (Hons, Psych) MNCP MNCH (Acc) MBACP (Sen Acc) MBPsS MPNLP MISMA (UK). He undertakes regular continuing professional development activities in psychotherapy and hypnotherapy, and publishes regularly regarding his interests in both scholarly and practice-based journals.
What the UK Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC) says about Hypnotherapy
Hypnotherapy is a skilled communication aimed at directing a person’s imagination in a way that helps elicit changes in some perceptions, sensations, feelings, thoughts and behaviours.
In a typical hypnotherapy session the hypnotherapist and client will discuss the intended alterations or therapeutic goals desired. The hypnotherapist will ask questions about previous medical history, general health and lifestyle to decide on the best approach for the individual.
Hypnotherapy may be found to be helpful for those seeking relief from a range of problems and is used alongside a person’s own willpower and motivation to seek a desired goal. It is often used to help relieve anxiety, aid sleeping, address attitudes to weight, and help clients achieve behavioural change to stop smoking. It may also help with minor skin conditions that are exacerbated by stress and confidence issues, and may also be used to enhance performance in areas such as sport and public speaking.
It is important to choose a qualified hypnotherapist who has undertaken all the necessary training to understand the theory and practice of hypnotherapy. Patrick is registered with the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC) as can be seen by searching the register at www.cnhc.org.uk. His registration code is 001313-L10, and he is currently registered until 9 March 2013. By choosing hypnotherapists registered with the CNHC you can be confident that they are properly trained, qualified and insured.
How Do Therapy Sessions Work?
Therapy is all about positive change in attitudes or behaviours. It is even more about enhancing your options for choice in life, and enabling you to achieve your full potential. When you take the first step of seeking a properly qualified therapist or coach [please see below for an explanation of qualification and insurance], you are already part of the way to solving your problem, because you have acknowledged to yourself that you need help and have made that all-important decision to do something about it. On your first appointment, the therapist elicits from you your personal details, a description and history of your problem, and various aspects of your life. The therapist needs to understand your problem: this type of understanding is called "empathy." He or she also needs to establish mutual trust or "rapport," the therapeutic relationship within which both you and your therapist can work together upon your problem.
One thing that a therapist does not do is make moral judgments. If you have had a bad time arising from your particular problem, the last thing you need is a moral judgment. You may indeed have already had that from yourself, your spouse, family or friends.
So, we can ask: "how can hypnosis help us?" In considering why we use hypnosis, we have to think about the structure of the brain. We can consider the brain as having two areas: a logical thinking process and an automatic feelings processing system. The latter deals with feelings reactions and habits, and the former deals with all logical processing. However, problems arise when we attempt to use the logical thinking process to change automatic feelings processing systems, in so far as the harder we try, the more they work against us. We know from experience that if we relax the thinking processes the feelings processes also relax and thus creates a bridge between the logical thinking processes and automatic feelings processing systems. To achieve this bridge we need to use a tool, which we call hypnosis.
Some people are under the misapprehension that in a state of hypnosis a person is "zonked out," asleep or unconscious. This is a myth. It is perhaps better to consider the description of this process as "a passive state of awareness." In such a state, you would be aware of everything that was going on around you but wouldn't want to do much about it. This is similar to what people who have a normal sleep pattern experience twice in every twenty-four hours. It's that point when you are going off to sleep or on the point of waking up. In that state, you are very susceptible to suggestion, so if you hear a taping on the window as you are going off to sleep and you start thinking about someone breaking in, then you can get yourself into a panicky state very quickly. Alternatively, if you are thinking about something pleasant that has happened to you during the day, you may find that you are overcome by pleasant feelings. The job of the therapist is to bring about that change and then guide you through useful suggestions that help make changes in the part of your brain, which governs feelings, reactions or habits.
In preparation for hypnotherapy, the therapist helps you to make yourself comfortable on a couch or reclining chair, and then talks you through sequences which are designed to help even the most tense of people to relax both physically and mentally. This process of helping you to relax into the hypnotic state is called "induction." Most modern hypnotherapists find their voices sufficient for this and have no need of devices such as pocket watches, metronomes, flashing lights or staring eyes.
The therapist then focuses on the areas you wish to change or enhance, and helps you to gain insight into their nature by, for example, bringing to the surface the hidden thoughts, fantasies and events from the past and present, and possibly by helping you to release bottled-up feelings associated with these. There is no need to go back into "past lives" or "relive" painful events from the past: in fact, quite the opposite is true and generally hypnotherapy is a pleasant, highly relaxing experience. The worst that can happen is that you fall asleep!
One excellent way of changing unwanted behaviour patterns (for example addiction to smoking, phobic responses, or lack of confidence and self-esteem) is to think of them as programs playing in our minds like a loop of cassette tape, or something like a computer program. Many scientific studies have shown that if we use the correct language when "talking to ourselves" we can "reprogram" ourselves, and substitute more appropriate behaviour patterns: this is the cornerstone of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), and these ideas work extremely well in conjunction with hypnotherapy. These techniques are potent in bringing about safe and lasting change through the process of Psycho-Chaotic Semiosis which allows access to unconscious creative states.
In this way, you yourself overcome your problem, or increse your performance, or enhance your creativity yourself by mobilising the hidden resources of your unconscious mind. Thus hypnotherapy is a joint venture whose success depends on how strongly you wish to improve. It is simple, safe and effective and offers the additional benefits of relaxation and mental toning-up. Of course, to understand fully what takes place and how it works, you need to experience it for yourself.
Why not get in touch at your convenience to discuss getting started together on the journey towards achieving your desired goals in the best possible way?