As you can see from the string of letters after my name, I have worked hard to acquire the knowledge that I will use to help you. I studied for a Professional Hypnotherapist and NLP diploma and an Advanced Hypnotherapy and NLP diploma with the Anglia School of Hypnotherapy. (I'm very proud to say I passed both with Distinction.) My qualifications have been recognised and ratified by the General Hypnotherapy Standards Council. My main practice is carried out in a therapy room in Thorpe St Andrew, Norwich, but I am also able to visit clients who, for whatever reason, are unable to visit me.

In my youth, I worked in Government offices and in industry and also as an auxiliary nurse on the ward in hospitals, when my children were young. However, my main career was - for many years - as a teacher in a Norwich High School. It was through the stress illness and debilitating symptoms I suffered as a Head of English that I discovered hypnotherapy. I was working extremely long hours in a very stressful situation. I dreaded every day and longed for that elusive ideal called 'work-life balance'. The physical and emotional consequences of that made me feel inadequate and out of control. I lived on various medications to alleviate a range of symptoms from arrhythmia and shaking to being unable to think, sleep or relate to the world naturally. I felt I had a permanent lump in my throat and in my chest, and continually felt panicky as if something terrible was about to happen.

The mind is a wonderful thing: eventually it will find a way to stop us, but the experience is both traumatic and it can be humiliating. I was so thankful I had a doctor who explained that all my symptoms were ENTIRELY A NATURAL RESPONSE to long-term overload, and that she saw a great many people suffering in the same way. Amazingly, as a consequence of my illness, many other sufferers felt able to share their experiences with me, and I was shocked to find how many people exist on medication, suffer quietly, or have serious illness caused by long-term stress.

In my determination to change my life, I discovered Hypnotherapy and had my 'Road to Damascus' moment - the revelation that there was a wonderfully natural way of healing and alleviating a wide range of problems, harnessing the immense power of the sub-conscious. I am so grateful to my teachers, and to the colleagues who gave me such successful therapy before, during and after my own training. (I wish I had found them 25 years earlier.)

Now I am determined to help others. Because of stage hypnotists, many people have a very distorted perception of hypnotherapy and how it affects people. All I can say to you is "Try it." You have nothing to lose finding out more about this powerful, natural therapy.

Deborah Foyster