by Charlotte Jane Grimaldi Phillips Dip.Hyp NLP Pract. HPD
Recent statistics highlight the critical need for Well-being interventions. Mental Health UK Burnout Report found that one in five UK workers reported feeling unable to manage stress and pressure at work in 2023. The Deloitte 2023 Workplace Well-being Report highlights the economic impact, revealing that poor mental health costs UK employers £56 billion, up from £45 billion in 2019. Additionally, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) reports that poor mental health accounts for almost half of all work-related illnesses, 1.8 million working people suffering from a work-related illness, of which 875,000 workers suffering work-related stress, depression or anxiety. There are 35.2 million working days lost due to work-related illness and workplace injury.
The Burnout Report survey suggests workplaces could be ill-prepared to support employees experiencing high levels of stress, with nearly half of workers (49%) saying their employer doesn’t have a plan to spot signs of chronic stress and prevent burnout, while a further 22% don’t know if their employer has such a plan in place. In response to these alarming trends, Charlotte Phillips a clinical hypnotherapist and Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) practitioner at What Is Your Story Hypnotherapy, has been leveraging her expertise to deliver group hypnotherapy sessions to support financial services’ employees aimed at reducing stress and enhancing their well-being.
The innovative group hypnotherapy sessions that Charlotte has been leading help employees manage stress and improve their overall well-being. Charlotte integrates hypnotherapy into the corporate environment and supporting wellbeing activities as poor mental health is increasing in the modern workplace.
“99% said they would recommend this type of event to their colleagues or friends outside of work from 68% definitely and 31% probably,”
“85% reported they were relaxed or very relaxed after the group hypnosis sessions compared with 11% at the beginning of the sessions”
During Mental Health Awareness Week in May, a well known Financial Services hosted a range wellbeing sessions, including an online group hypnotherapy session led by Charlotte. The session attracted 181 participants, with 118 actively engaging during the event. The session covered a range of topics, including the benefits of hypnotherapy, managing anxiety, and stress reduction techniques. Charlotte used interactive online tools like word clouds and online polls to engage participants, which revealed that anxiety, phobias, and weight management were the top areas of concern. She offered practical exercises, suggestibility tests like magnetic fingers, copy what I do game, gave examples of reframing sentences to positive action sentences, and demonstrated simple techniques that could be practiced discreetly in a workplace setting, like focusing on breathing and repeating I am calm.
In another online well-being event about sleep, Charlotte discussed the impact of mobile phone usage on sleep and anxiety. A poll revealed that 65% of participants used their phones at night and in the morning, potentially affecting their sleep quality and mental health. She provided insights on reducing phone usage and conducted a mobile phone hypnosis session to help participants establish healthier habits.
Charlotte’s sessions have led to a significant increase of interest in hypnotherapy, with 110 employees signing up for her fortnightly online group hypnosis sessions. Since February 2024, Charlotte has hypnotised over 900 people through group hypnotherapy, both in-person and online. She continues to run an online Viva Engage community in the workplace for fortnightly lunchtime sessions that cover a range of topics, including anxiety, stress, confidence, sleep, and habit changes. These sessions utilise NLP, reframing techniques, and hypnosis to help employees manage their thoughts and feelings, ultimately fostering a more positive and productive work environment.
Charlotte’s group hypnotherapy sessions demonstrate the profound impact hypnotherapy can have on employee well-being. By providing accessible and effective tools to manage stress and anxiety, hypnotherapy not only improves individual mental health but also contributes to a more positive and productive workplace culture. As companies continue to recognise the importance of mental health, initiatives like Charlotte’s group hypnotherapy sessions may become a model for promoting well-being in workplaces across the UK.
Charlotte Phillips is a clinical hypnotherapist and NLP practitioner based in the UK, offering services for corporate, group and individual sessions through her practice, What Is Your Story Hypnotherapy. She is also a Proposition Manager at Lloyds Banking Group, where she speaks and advocates for employee wellbeing, diversity, equity and inclusion and delivers group hypnotherapy sessions to help reduce workplace stress and improve mental health.
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References:
Mental Health Burnout Report https://mentalhealth-uk.org/blog/burnout-report-one-in-five-needed-to-take-time-off-work-due-to-stress-in-the-past-year/
Deloitte 2023 Workplace Wellbeing Report
https://action.deloitte.com/insight/3455/work-and-wellbeing-still-arent-working-well-together
Health and Safety Executive (HSE)
https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/overview.htm
Reference for is stress contagious – New Perspectives on Emotional Contagion: A Review of Classic and Recent Research on Facial Mimicry and Contagion https://www.researchgate.net/publication/285893709_New_Perspectives_on_Emotional_Contagion_A_Review_of_Classic_and_Recent_Research_on_Facial_Mimicry_and_Contagion