“I do not give you the answers. I work with you to find them”
Meeting and working with Etai is like sitting down and getting to know a new friend. He was welcoming and I felt instantly relaxed and at ease in this Art of Change session.
Prior to our in-person session, Etai and I had talked over the phone to establish an area in my life that I would like to work on/improve.
I identified that I would like to improve the quality of my sleep as this would also help improve many other areas such as my energy, eating habits and moods. Etai began by explaining the science behind sleep and why, even when I was getting eight hours, I still woke up feeling exhausted, groggy and flat. This was really helpful for me and allowed me to begin unpacking the reasons I was not getting quality sleep and what I could do about it.
This is Etai’s secret! He does not tell you what to do, he works with you asking a series of therapeutic questions in his relaxed conversational style, until you come up with the answer yourself. For me this was an instant weight lifted off my shoulders. It helped me identify what I could not change and provided clarity about what to do next.
One of the techniques Etai used to help me discover this was EFT, or acupuncture without needles. Etai had me repeat a series of “I” statements while tapping on a series of pressure points on the face and upper body. Some of the statements I repeated word for word and others he left for me to fill in the blanks.
Another technique that Etai used was a mild hypnosis where Etai had me visualise a time in my life when I was truly happy and a time in my life when I felt powerful. He then asked me to picture the action I am going to take and to enter into that moment with these feelings at the forefront. We then moved into the future after the event and how I felt afterwards. Once the hypnosis was over I felt confident to move forward and relaxed and energised.
In the one session I had with Etai I could already see the problem more clearly and the feelings of frustration were less. I was instantly relaxed and at ease with him. I can see the benefits of working with the Art of Change regularly over multiple sessions. When I was looking for a therapist four years ago at a really difficult time of my life I would have jumped at the chance to work with Etai.
Q&A with Etai
What services do you offer?
Brief-therapy Solution-focused Hypnotherapy.
I’m passionate about helping people to lift clinical depression, reduce anxiety, overcome trauma (PTSD) or address any other issue that will positively impact the client’s life. Each session is different and tailored to meet the client’s own needs. I’ve been helping people to make changes in their life since 2009.
Brief therapy is a relatively modern development in psychotherapy. Brief therapy techniques include goal setting, finding exceptions to the problem, therapeutic tasking, using humour and paradox, viewing the situation from fresh, new perspectives and much more.
Hypnosis is a state of narrowed focus of attention that naturally occurs during the day (like daydreaming or being absorbed in a movie or a book). We are moving information (learning) on an instinctive (unconscious) level in this state.
Solution-focused hypnotherapy is all about evoking your natural strengths and resources as a human being and then connecting these resources to the times in your life when you need them.
Some of the other therapy approaches I use for good measure:
EFT (emotional freedom technique), NLP, Systemic therapy, CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy), positive psychology and the Human Givens approach
Why is this work so important to you?
I believe we all have resources and abilities within ourselves and our environment to help us overcome any issue that bothers us. My primary intention as a therapist is to create a lasting positive change in a person’s life and empower them to continue on their path to a happy, free and healthy life.
Could you tell us about how your interest in holistic healing began?
I was introduced to different forms of therapy and self-development as early as my teens. It was the 80s, and the new age movement was coming forward. My older brother was a workshop facilitator, so I joined many of his workshops.
I saw people coming to the workshop after workshop, “working on it” and “trying to embody it”. But if it was working, why did they have to come back for more and more?
In mainstream psychology, I knew people with a longer relationship with their shrinks than with a partner. In addition to this, people in times of need often received a cocktail of drugs that help very little and entail horrible side effects.
But not all. Some people created a significant transformation in their life.
I became curious about the process of change. What are those people who make positive changes in their lives doing differently? And how I can empower people to do the same? This put me on an ongoing journey.
What obstacles did you face to get to where you are now, and how did you overcome them?
Because of the way books, movies and stage shows portrayed hypnosis, some of the public are afraid or have a wrong expectation around it, and the establishment (in some countries like NZ) dismissed it as a form of therapy.
I realised that I don’t have to convince anyone and I trust that the right people will find me. I don’t take every person that contacts me for therapy. We have a clarity phone call to make sure that we are a good fit to work together.
Who should seek your service as a holistic wellness technique?
I would like to work with people that are ready to ‘dive in” and go on a healing journey.
Could you share a well-being tip with the community?
Check if you are meeting your basic needs and take small measurable steps towards meeting them in a healthy way. You can watch a video and download a helpful worksheet at https://artofchangetherapy.com/basic-human-needs/
If you could tell your younger self one thing, what would it be?
I love you, you are Awesome.
– Experience and Interview by Vicki Shannon
