Hypnotherapy for children
Children under the age of about five are naturally in hypnosis, so I wouldn't see them in the hypnotherapy clinic. For older children, the main thing is to engage them and have fun. They too are mostly in or close to that natural and creative state of hypnosis all day long.
They don't need to go too deeply into hypnosis in the therapy room, not like an adult whose mind is thinking and criticising a lot more, where we would need to spend more time to get that part of their mind settled down.
Kids love magic fingers... I show them how they can bring their fingers together like there are magnets on the tips of them, and then they are stuck together and no matter how hard they try, they can't pull their fingers apart. It wows them and makes them laugh and they get to thinking about the power of their mind.
I ask them what it is that they want to achieve, not what their parents or anyone else wants, they need to be there because they want to be there. I spend some time finding out what things they like, what makes them happy and build rapport with them by having fun.
Then I get them to go into a light trance, which is a natural and normal feeling for them, and then just get them to imagine things.
One chappy I saw loves the Marvel comics and his favourite hero is Ironman, because he can make his own suit with lasers and can teleport. That made it easy for me! Among other things, I got him to go into his own control room, where there are all kinds of dials and buttons and levers, there is a dial for (issue), and he can dial it all the way down. There is a dial for happiness, confidence, etc. and he can dial those all the way up. He gets his own instruction manual and can look around at everything and make his own adjustents, turning all the positive ones all the way up to the top. I just love to see the expression on their faces and the wee hands working all the dials and buttons! Kids are so clever and creative in hypnosis, it is natural to them.
Then I got him to make his very own Ironman suit with lasers that can zap the (issue) and a special button to make him feel calm in that situation. And give him time to add anything else he wants on the suit. I got him to teleport back to the first time that relates to the issue, give that younger kid a hug, tell him anything he needs to know and that everything is going to work out just fine and there are lots of great things to look forward to (the things he told me previously that makes him happy), then he turned around, told the younger one that he loves him and waved goodbye.
I also got him to teleport into the future into a situation where he may have had that old (issue) previously, and see himself there calm, happy and confident.
Then I do a couple more things on empowerment, happiness and confidence.