The things people ask before they book.

No. You stay fully aware the whole time. Hypnosis isn’t sleep, it’s not unconsciousness, and it’s not a stage show. You hear everything I say, you remember everything you want to remember, and you can stop the session at any point. If I suggested something that didn’t sit right with you, your mind would simply ignore it.

Most people describe it as deeply relaxed but mentally sharp — somewhere between meditation and the moment right before you fall asleep. You’re not floating, you’re not gone. You’re focused, calm, and aware. Most people are surprised by how normal it feels.

Almost everyone can. Hypnosis is a focused mental state your brain enters every day on its own — driving a familiar route, getting lost in a book, zoning out in the shower. The only requirement is that you want to be there. If you don’t want it to work, it won’t. If you do, your brain will do most of the work for you.

That’s what the free consultation is for. Twenty minutes, no commitment. If it’s not a fit, I’ll tell you. If someone else is a better match for what you’re working on, I’ll point you there. The goal is for you to get help — not necessarily for me to be the one who provides it.

I’m not a licensed mental health provider, and I don’t diagnose or treat clinical disorders. If you’re working through a diagnosed mental health condition, a licensed clinician is who you want for that. What I do is help you change patterns — stress responses, habits, sleep, focus, how your body interprets pain. It’s practical work on a specific goal, not long-term clinical care.

We talk for about 20 minutes on the phone or Zoom. You tell me what’s going on. I tell you whether hypnotherapy is a good fit for it, and if I’m the right person to do the work with you. No pitch, no pressure. If it’s not a fit, I’ll tell you that too.

First sessions run 60 to 90 minutes because we need time to talk through what’s going on, set the goal, and do the work. After that, regular sessions are 60 minutes. You’ll know going in how long we have.

Most goals move in three to six sessions. Some people see a real shift in the first one. The honest answer is: we work the problem until it’s solved, then we stop. I’m not going to sell you a package you don’t need.

No, and there’s a reason. Hypnotherapy works best when your mind has one clear target. Splitting focus splits results. If you’re carrying more than one thing — and most people are — we pick the one that’s loudest, work it until it shifts, and then move to the next one in a future session. Faster in the long run.

Then you cry. People do, sometimes. It’s not a problem and it’s not something I need you to apologize for. The work we’re doing is sometimes uncomfortable before it gets easier. I’ve seen it. I’m not going anywhere when it happens.

Eat something, hydrate, and skip the alcohol that day. Wear something you can relax in. Show up five minutes early if you’re coming in person so we can do paperwork without eating into your session time. If it’s a Zoom session, find a room where you won’t be interrupted for 90 minutes — door closed, phone silenced, headphones on if you’ve got them.

Both work. In-person sessions at 405 The Hill use the Inharmony zero-gravity chair, which does some of the heavy lifting for your body before we even start. Zoom sessions skip the chair but get you the same hypnotherapy work from wherever you are. If you’re local and you can get to Portsmouth, the chair is worth the drive. If you can’t, virtual is a real option, not a consolation prize.

The Inharmony chair tilts you into a zero-gravity position — feet slightly above your heart, weight distributed so your body stops working to hold itself up. Built-in haptics send low-frequency vibrations through the chair that sync with the acoustics in your headphones. Your nervous system reads it as safe and starts to stand down. By the time we begin the hypnosis work, your body has already done about half of what we’d otherwise spend the session getting to.

For your first session, yes — a spouse, a friend, anyone you trust can sit in the waiting area or join the consultation portion if you want them to. The hypnosis work itself is one-on-one. Most people prefer it that way once they understand what we’re doing.

Yes. What you tell me stays with me. I keep session notes secured, I don’t share names or details with anyone — not your spouse, not your command, not your doctor unless you give me written permission. The only exceptions are the ones every practitioner has by law: if you tell me you’re going to hurt yourself or someone else, or if a court orders disclosure. Beyond that, what happens in the session stays in the session.

No. Booking a session with me is no different than booking a massage or a haircut as far as anyone else is concerned. You pay out of pocket, nothing routes through TRICARE, nothing shows up in your medical record, nothing crosses your chain of command. What you do on your own time is your business.

Sessions aren’t recorded by default. What I do send you is a custom audio recording made specifically for what we worked on, so you can listen between sessions and reinforce the work on your own. If you want a recording of the actual session itself for personal use, ask and we’ll figure it out together. Nothing leaves my system without your written okay.

No. Hypnotherapy isn’t typically covered by health insurance in the U.S. I keep my rates straightforward for that reason — $150 standard, $80 military.

I ask for 24 hours’ notice if you need to cancel or reschedule. Cancel inside that window and the session is charged in full — my time was already set aside for you. If you show up and the work doesn’t feel right within the first 15 minutes, we end the session and you don’t pay. I’d rather refund a session than do work that isn’t going to help.

For most things, no. But if you’ve been diagnosed with a clinical mental health condition — PTSD, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, active eating disorder, anything similar — or if you’re working on hypnotherapy support for a medical condition like chronic pain, I’ll ask you to get a written release from your treating provider before we start. It protects you, it protects the work we’re doing together, and it keeps your clinical care coordinated.

Yes. The military rate applies to active service members, veterans, and their immediate family. If you’re carrying weight because of someone else’s job, that’s still your weight. You’re welcome here.

Yes. Most of my work is with the military community because that’s the language I speak best, but anyone carrying the kind of weight I help with is welcome to book. The standard rate applies for civilians not connected to the military.