On the weekend, I watched some of the material on convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislain Maxwell, Prince Andrew and the late Virginia Giuffre, who sadly passed away in April this year.
This subject I’ve avoided looking into for so long, as I feel it’s abhorrent that most people involved will walk away from it. Now she has died. For sure, this scandal, even though it’s been talked about, will probably disappear for those individuals, including Prince Andrew. She was so brave coming out to the world, so humble and truthful. Unfortunately, I hear more often than not about sexual abuse in my treatment room, even trafficking.
Abuse Is Far More Common Than We Think
You may be shocked, or not, to hear that you are in the minority if you haven’t had some negative sexual abuse or inappropriate experience perpetrated by someone towards you.
Clients from all walks of life, male, female, young and older, from every ethnic background, fall prey to such acts.
When clients tell me of their experiences from something like exposure all the way to full on and regular sexual assault that can start at a very young age, all the way into adulthood by one or even multiple offenders, I find it’s essential not to treat them like a vulnerable, weak victim — I think that it is even more important not to give them the look.
Yes — there is a look. I’ve experienced the look myself when I gave interviews on my experience of severe domestic violence from a previous relationship, which seems like a lifetime ago to me now and one of the many reasons I started to pursue the route of hypnotherapy and help many others as a therapist.
The “Look” That Silences Survivors
The look makes you feel uncomfortable, powerless, feeble, and weak.
I think it’s essential to encourage the individual who’s brave enough to come forward, like they are strong enough to do so — not weak for enduring it — as it takes their self-esteem and power away from them and makes them feel flawed in some way; that they fell for it, or it was somehow their fault for not speaking up sooner.
Why the Inability to Speak Up Causes Long-Term Harm
For many, the trauma is more damaging than whatever age they were at when this occurred — that they felt that they couldn’t speak up, they wouldn’t be believed or supported, that it would have a detrimental effect on those around them if they did — and this also sets the tone for people-pleasing, dissociating, PTSD, and feeling flawed.
Many people who have experienced abuse often attract it through no fault of their own, and this has been echoed in these tragic stories that Virginia and the other Epstein survivors have disclosed. There’s a vulnerability that predators can seem to sniff out.
Often first abused by a family member or friend of the family, it seems to continue in many situations unless the child feels comfortable and able to disclose to caregivers, as I’ve mentioned.
If not able to voice, this has a severe impact on future health — mental, physical, and emotional.
Inner-Child Work and Healing
I encourage clients in session to view the situation with a different mindset, taking an adult perspective through inner-child work — actually rescuing that version of yourself, re-parenting, and taking control.
“It’s an experience you have had for some reason that we can get through and move on from.”
I find that, with the help of subconscious mind therapy, we take the emotional charge out of these experiences, and we see them for what they are. An experience that happened — that has no value in carrying the negative charge and the perpetual feeling of it into the future.
Why Hypnotherapy Works When Talking Doesn’t
This is why I am not keen on many sessions of talking therapies, as I think labouring and going over the same trauma only engrains it deeper within the psyche and resurfaces it, keeping it alive.
If I can use a metaphor — using hypnotherapy as a healing modality to remedy such things and seeing it as like removing a tumour or an abscess from the body — the patient can heal, repair and recover after the procedure, permanently helping the client to move forward with life as the blocks previously hindering them have freed their subconscious.
The Moment Clients Open Up
Some clients tell me about their experience during the consultation, and others at their first session, when they feel safe to open up. I know what they are going to say before the words fall from their mouth. It usually goes something like, “Something I didn’t mention last time is……” and they naively think they are in the minority or that I haven’t heard it before.
It’s not something that’s often spoken about openly.
Since I have been doing this work for nearly 9 years, unfortunately, they are in the majority. So it’s become commonplace for me to learn very quickly how to resolve the effects this has on an individual. And it has usually had a significant impact on most areas of their life, as the side effects manifest as fears and phobias, to weight gain and addiction issues, even autoimmune disease and pain in the body.
Watching the Epstein Story – And Feeling Powerless
When I watched the interviews and documentaries of the Epstein and Prince Andrew scandal, my heart raced, and I felt sick to the stomach and horrified by what these women had endured. I only wish they had the right therapy to help them recover.
This is one of my biggest bugbears and frustrations — when I hear not just from clients but also the media — the misleading information regarding what hypnosis is and what it is not.
The Truth About Hypnosis and the Subconscious
Many well-known influential figures talk about the subconscious mind in their courses, podcasts and books, but they never mention how to access it with the help of a hypnotherapist. Hypnotherapy still has this outdated stigma of either mind control or being associated with stage hypnosis for entertainment.
On my podcast, you will see the last episode where my comedian and hypnotist friend took me to Blackpool to see a live hypnosis show. It was terrific — but nothing like the work I do!
The Wish I Have for Survivors
My wish for anyone who has experienced any trauma is to tap into this healing modality to feel what my clients feel after I have helped them.
My Mum has read Virginia’s book “Nobody’s Girl”, and it’s made an impact on her. She keeps encouraging me to read it, but I just can’t. The empathy I have, I have felt for years.
So, how do I listen to this from clients, you may say?
The difference is that I can help my clients. I know with subconscious mind therapy and hypnotherapy using NLP techniques, I see a drastic change in survivors of abuse.
But when I watch, read, or hear something beyond my control, it stays with me for a long time, leaving me feeling powerless.
If You or Someone You Know Is Carrying This…
So if this is something you want to explore to help you or someone you know who has carried this feeling, please take comfort in knowing that subconscious mind therapy has helped so many, and that the help, understanding, and transformation are there for you.