About me

About me

Before I entered the world of therapy in 1989, as a hypnotherapist, I had led a somewhat chaotic career life – in fact, after I left school at 16 years old, I managed to get through 16 different jobs by the time I was 24! They included TV engineer, electronics design, tailor, carpet-layer, furniture shop assistant, factory hand, clothes shop assistant and more. I was never actually dismissed from any of them but had a very low boredom threshold and a rather intense dislike of being told what to do. So I moved on. Often.

I became a salesman with no immediate boss and stayed with that for four years – a record! Then I qualified as a Ballroom Dance teacher and ran my own school (for thirty years) during which time I taught myself computer progamming and was the oldest computer games programmer in the UK in 1984. But still I felt that I was somehow just not in the right place…

And that got me thinking about psychology, though in those pre-internet days, it was not easy to study such a subject. And so it was that I enrolled on the nearest thing that was available – a course on hypnoanalysis. I qualified in 1988 and opened my practice in 1989 – and knew immediately that I was most definitely in the right place!

There followed many years of growth in the profession, though I was always inclined towards psychotherapy rather than hypnotherapy. I wrote books and manuals (you can find out about them on the Books page), opened The Essex Institute of Clinical Hypnosis in 2000, formed the Association for Professional Hypnosis and Psychotherapy in 2002, and then, in 2007, reached what was the dizzying height of my career at the time.

 A first in the Profession…

In October 2007 I was the first person from any of the psychotherapy-related professions to achieve the level of ‘MCGI’ – Member of the City and Guilds Institute. This is deemed to be comparable to a British Masters degree.

The MCGI was awarded for my work on the creation and implementation of a specialist training course in psychosexual disorders.

It was a course I had extensvely researched and created to teach at the Essex Institute of Clinical Hypnosis and it was on the adivce of a colleague that I decided to submit it to the City & Guilds Institute.

So, at the age of 65, I had to learn how to write academically (which I had never done before) so that I could produce the required 20,000 word thesis – and that was followed by a two-hour interview with three university dons. It’s fair to say that I did not excactly feel full of confidence!

They were apparently impressed, since in addition to being awarded the membership, I also receive a ‘medal for excellence’!

If you wish to read it, you can download my presented thesis as a pdf file (260kb).

My Graduation Ceremony

My Work

I’ve created many therapy courses and concepts but my proudest and most recent is BrainWorking Recursive Therapy® a totally new style of psychotherapy with its roots firmly in the latest discoveries in Neuroscience. Conceived in May 2011, launched in October 2013, There’s never been a more effective or efficient therapy and it’s actually difficult to see how there ever could be!

More about BWRT

Current and past memberships

I am proud to be a Freeman of the City of London as well as the following:

I am currently:

  • Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine
  • Founder/Principal: The Institute of BrainWorking Recursive Therapy (2014, now the International BWRT Institute)
  • Founder/Principal: Essex Institute of Clinical Hypnosis (Est. 1999)
  • Member: The City & Guilds Institute of London, UK
  • Fellow: The National Register of Advanced Hypnotherapists
  • Fellow and Senior Clinician: The National Council for Hypnotherapy
  • Honorary Member: The Society of Stress Managers

Past memberships include:

  • Past Founder/Chair: Association for Professional Hypnosis & Psychotherapy (Est. 2002)
  • Past Founder/Chair: The National Register of Psychotherapists and Counsellors (Est. 2011)
  • Past Founder/Chair: The British BrainWorking Research Society
  • Emeritus Fellow: The Hypnotherapy Society
  • Emeritus Fellow: The Counselling and Psychotherapy Society
  • Member and Committee Member: The International Association of Hypnoanalysts
  • Member: The Professional Hypnotherapists Center (Harley Street, W1)
  • Member: The International Stress Managers Association
  • Member: The National Council of Psychotherapists until the sudden change of management in 2011/2012 at which time I founded the NRPC
  • Fellow: Royal Society for the Promotion of Health
  • Member: The Society of Authors

Contrary to popular belief I am not always dressed up in a collar and tie – that’s pretty much reserved for professional engagements and occasions!

Here I am in our garden with my amazing wife, Julie, who not only supports all that I do but is very much a part of it all – she really is most definitely Mrs BWRT!

We’ve been together for forty years although we first met longer ago than that in the dance school that we would eventually run together – Julie’s parents were also professional dancers with their own school and so she grew up in the world of dance.

We’ve done a lot together… and will do a lot more yet!