Interview with Ray Jenkinson

As part of our build up to the shows, we have been posting interviews with some of our exhibitors. Today we're posting an interview with Ray Jenkinson.  Ray is one of the tutors at the Northern College of Creative Hypnotherapy in Manchester.  He has been practising and teaching for over twenty years. Often at the events at the Monastery, but the college can be found online at www.ncoch.co.uk until the next time we see them at an event!


To start with can you tell us a bit about yourself.


Hypnotherapy is my life and I am dedicated to helping others discover their dreams and bring them to fruition.

I began my Foundation Course in 1989 with the Academy of Curative Hypnotherapy at The Tameside General Hospital Post Graduate Centre. At first I trained in two widely different hypnotherapy disciplines. However, I quickly developed my preference for a more naturalistic approach. After successfully completing the Foundation course with Sally Hamilton and Gail Gifford, I went on to complete the Advanced Course under the tutorship of Norman Vaughton, one of the most respected names in hypnotherapy.
During the many years I have been practising hypnotherapy I have had the pleasure and privilege to study with and learn from some of the many greats in the hypnotherapy world: Dr Ernest Rossi, David Grove, Michael Yapko and of course Norman Vaughton.

I was guided to meditate and joined a development group training to be a platform medium and have had many wonderful and inspiring experiences, one of which was channelling. Over the many years since, I have been able to help many others connect to that very powerful, very loving energy that resides within and around us. My clients realize that they are part of the oneness, and as they become more aware of the true energy of themselves, change happens more easily and more beneficially.

For over 10 years I have been training others to become successful hypnotherapists. The course at The Northern College of Creative Hypnotherapy offers the opportunity to make a difference, taking a more dynamic approach. Our aim is to take hypnotherapy to the next level, letting go of the “old school” and taking hypnotherapy into the future as the most successful of therapies. There has never been a greater need.


What initially drew you to hypnotherapy?


About 30 years ago I went to see a hypnotherapist. I was a mess, with many issues. Not only did I come away from that experience with a new sense of my own power, I also realized that I had discovered a method of helping others to make positive changes in their lives. My love for hypnotherapy was born. I believe that if the power of the mind was taught at an early age in schools, then in the future hospitals and prisons would begin to empty. This is my purpose and the reason I am training others.

Do you have a particular aspect of hypnotherapy that you prefer studying?


We train creative hypnotherapists, Creative because we appreciate that when a client seeks help they are the creator of the issue. We will encourage them to go within and discover just how powerful they are and how simple it is to let go of that which is now longer serving a useful purpose. The most inspiring work is when we introduce the client to their higher self and they discover the reason for their issue and also the solution. This work is so very beautiful, and over the last 25 years I have been privileged to share in so very many magical moments.

Can you tell us more about false memory syndrome, is it really possible to do that?


We do not import. We help our clients export. We teach clean language, which means all information comes from the client. Under no circumstances do we pollute the landscape of the client’s mind. All hypnosis is self-hypnosis. The client will only share what needs to be shared. We dance to the client’s tune, we do not ask them to dance to ours.

Which writer/thinker has influenced you the most.


Milton Erickson, the father of modern hypnotherapy has always stimulated me, although now his methods seem, although brilliant, a little long winded. We train in a similar way including many of his techniques, but we have made them simpler and easier, so what in the past took weeks of therapy is now achieved more rapidly.


What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given.


Go Within or Go Without. This saying came to me and indeed is as simple as it needs to be.


Would you name 6 “Desert Island” books or films (ones you would like 
if you were stranded on a desert island - for young ones who don’t know about 
Desert Island discs!)


I love the work I do and I am not sure I would do well without company, without the opportunity to share my insights and experiences.
The Shawshank Redemption is a film that shows how we can become institutionalized.
Conversations with God by Neale Donald Walsch is really a conversation with truth, a book that encourages the reader to accept that they are indeed the creator of their own reality.