The first contact that I had from Marianne was a telephone call from a gentleman called Andrew. He explained that he represented Marianne as her Guardian since neither of her parents spoke any English. Andrew ( from New Zealand originally ) explained that Marianne was from an island off the coast China and had been studying in this country from the age of 17. She had achieved good A levels and then attended a University in Surrey where she had achieved a Distinction in her chosen diploma however she had not been happy at the university and had recently transferred to the local one in Hertfordshire where she is struggling and unhappy. Andrew said that he had encouraged Marianne to see a hypnotherapist whilst in Surrey and she had indeed visited one and that the purpose of his call to me today was to find out how I worked and to ascertain whether my skills would be of any use to Marianne. 

I said to Andrew that I would be more than happy to work with Marianne and would answer any questions he had regarding how I work, however I would like to talk to Marianne myself if possible before booking the appointment. I explained that my therapy was underpinned by a requirement that both parties in the alliance make commitments to the other and if they felt for any reason that they could not meet these requirements then I may not be the right therapist for them. I explained that as the therapist I would be fully prepared and in a positive frame of mind to work with Marianne at all times and effectively. I would treat her with respect and professionalism and treat all communications / discussions with complete confidentiality. However in return I would ask that Marianne turns up on time wherever possible and also agrees to spend a little time each day ( no more than half an hour ) on for example any tasks that I may set her, to listen to my recordings or anything else that may be of benefit to the desired outcome. He explained that she was not as confident on the telephone as she was ‘face to face’ since she believed she ‘understood more ’ in face to face conversations and she did not like to keep asking someone to repeat themselves if she had not heard and understood what they may have said. 

Preparation – When I had been speaking to Marianne on the telephone her primary modality seemed to be Auditory ( she processed information in a ‘ hearing ’way ) and secondary Kinaesthetic ( feelings / touch ). She used words like ‘talk / speak out.’ When telling me about tutorials she said ‘ I don’t want the person to think I have difficulty listening’ and 

 

‘ ….particularly if there are students who are particularly outstanding then I will switch off. I find it very odd with myself when I feel nervous, I talk in a way that is very strange like how Chinese people speak English but when I am with people I feel familiar with sometimes I pick up the British accent and things and talk, I feel ok. I don’t want them to hear that I feel nervous and speak in a way that is flat intonation….in my first two years I did not say much in class because I was brought up to listen and learn.’ 

 

Marianne had also said that when she was deciding which country to study in she chose the UK because she liked the British accent. Andrew had said that Marianne felt much more confident talking face to face with people than on the telephone and in fact Marianne herself said when I had asked her if it was difficult to transfer universities mid term that ‘ I personally find it a lot more difficult to talk to a native speaker on the phone, to understand, than face to face talking ’ hence why Andrew was so important to her. 

 

Marianne came across as a very bright girl and her understanding and use of the English language was excellent so apart from deciding to speak slightly more slowly and clearly I was not concerned that we would have a language problem. 

 

Marianne had returned the client intake registration form to me in the post prior to the first session ( signed ) so I was able to process the information.  

Preparation – During our initial telephone conversation Marianne had said that she found it very difficult and stressful to concentrate when her neighbours were making a noise either during the day or especially at night playing music into the early hours. She was not ‘ here to have fun – I could have stayed at home and had fun and not wasted my fathers money.’ 

 

However she had said that sometimes she felt jealous of the English students because they had so much free time. She had also said that she enjoyed very much the style of teaching in the UK. I decided to explore this with her today with the desired outcome being improving her self-esteem, emphasising her inner awareness, the recognition and acceptance of her own uniqueness and the ability to make choices on her own behalf therefore helping her participate more comfortably in social and study groups. 

 

The Session – Marianne was on time again for the appointment and was relaxed. I asked her how her week had been and she was pleased to say that the Dean of Students despite the fact that she had initially thought he was ignoring her requests for alternative accommodation because of the noise her fellow student neighbours were making had in fact found her a host family who were happy for her to move in with them. She was now sharing with a fellow student and was much happier except that the mother did not like Marianne leaving her computer on standby overnight ( something that Marianne still did because she felt connected to her family and friends ) – the father was lovely and the housemate was also very nice. I asked if she had any feedback on our session last week and she said that she had enjoyed looking at the lemon as it very much reminded her of what had happened in the session and the power of her mind. It had also reminded her to do ( practise ) her relaxation exercises – she had placed it on her desk in her room and even took it to one of her lectures. The lecture taught by the man who had a strong accent that she struggled to understand however she took the lemon with her to the class and put it in her cardigan pocket and squeezed it when she felt herself getting tense because she was struggling to understand. 

Preparation – Marianne had agreed she would come today with a few ideas of the personalities that were in her mind eg. Braveheart. I wanted to address the fact that perhaps it was the voices in Marianne’s mind that were causing her anxiety and stress, her own high standards. 

 

For example she did not want to go home without her degree as it would be a ‘waste of her fathers money’ however we had already established in session one that actually her family wanted her to be happy above all and if she returned home then that would not be a problem. It was Marianne who had ‘decided’ that she did not want to return home because she would miss lectures / waste her parents money / fail / spoil the dream etc. I felt that perhaps Marianne was being a little hard on herself. 

 

I hoped that if Marianne could identify certain characters in her mind then she could dissociate from what they were saying to her – they were merely voices with opinions and whilst she was welcome to listen to them she could also say ‘ thanks, but no thanks ’ to them and make her own decisions. The dissociation has the potential to ‘take some of the heat ’ out of a situation/ emotion / feeling. Having talked to Marianne about her characters and the advantage of dissociation I wanted to then look at slowing down her thought / feeling / action processes again ‘to take some of the heat out ’ for her benefit and to discuss how even the smallest of changes can lead to more positive outcomes. 

 

The purpose of today’s session was for Marianne to focus inwards and consider that she is not the voices in her mind – she is Marianne, and as such she has control over what voices she listens to and how she acts. It may not be the noise from next doors television that is stressing her but rather perhaps ( and she would have to come to any conclusions herself ) the fact that the Victim character in her mind was telling her that even if she wanted to watch tv she did not have the time / there was too much work to be done etc I stress again here that any conclusions would have to be Marianne based – not led by me. 

Preparation – We had spent a lot of time over the last three sessions quietening the voices in Marianne’s mind and helping her to be a bit kinder to herself – realising that she herself was putting herself under pressure and showing her how to be more comfortable with herself and love herself more. Marianne had asked for assistance with study skills this week as she had an examination in three weeks. I considered that she may benefit from a much more active process now since she had experienced and learned to relax well over the past three weeks and was more confident within herself. Marianne very much respects structure and as such I thought an ‘ active alert trance ’ would be both of benefit to her and of interest to her. She had enjoyed the Five Aspects of Your Life Experiences exercise and also the Map of Consciousness in fact she had emailed me in the week to say that she liked the ‘games’ we had played. 

 

The Session – Marianne was on time and relaxed and we chatted about her week – she was pleased to say that she had managed to secure a job over the Summer at the University making contact with the Education Agencies in China ( a huge business in China since many parents do not speak English so rely on agencies to place their children in Universities in the UK ) and encouraging them to use the University she was attending. 

 

I explained as usual the structure of today’s session namely that we would do a short exercise and then something quite different ‘ because she is a bright young woman and because I think she is ready for this exercise…..not everyone is ready for this…but you have done really well and you have a quick mind and I think it will help you in your examination and in your studies.’ I said that we would not do any hypnosis today rather an alert trance exercise. I asked her is she was ok with that and she said she was ‘ happy to have a go.’