Mariann Sebestyen is an expert in inner child wound healing, breaking free from unhealthy patterns and restoring a healthier self-concept. Adversity in early life left her with developmental challenges, childhood wounds, unmet needs, and the feeling of powerlessness and helplessness. Mariann generated strategies to extraordinarily change her relationship with herself, step into her power and create a positive self-image to become. She has since dedicated her life to helping others unleash their power, letting their true selves shine, and confidently move towards a new life. She is the founder of Inner Child Wound Healing and the Childhood Trauma Healing Journey program. Her mission: Self Restoration.
Mariann Sebestyen, Hypnotherapist, Brainspotting Practitioner
Introduce yourself! Please tell us about you and your life, so we can get to know you better.
Hello, my name is Mariann Sebestyen. I have lived in the UK for 11 years but am originally from Hungary.
I am currently working on my Psychology dissertation research project which investigates whether attachment styles, self-esteem and satisfaction with life predict eating attitudes. It is quite a fascinating topic. People can take part or gather more information if they navigate to my public LinkedIn Profile and search for the study in my posts.
I also work for the National Health Service in the community mental health sector. I find it a really rewarding career and it drives me to learn more and more and become better at working with people. I love being part of the client's transformation journey and leading each of my sessions and assessments with a focus on the individual.
I worked in hospitality before changing careers and becoming a hypnotherapist.
I feel I have found myself fully in this psychology field of working with people. This is the kind of profession I am happy to do for the rest of my life.
I am just like every woman who likes to enjoy shopping, have a chat, go for a coffee, connect with nature and also have some me time fit into my busy schedule. Recently, my sister took me to a safari park along with my adorable nephew which was amazing and I enjoyed every minute of being in nature.
Helping people live a better life or change perceptions, and the way they feel and implement new behaviours gives meaning to my life. It gives me purpose to get up every day and make a difference in people’s lives.
What inspired you to start a hypnotherapy practice, and what do you hope to achieve through your work with clients?
Hypnotherapy helped a lot for me when I went through hard times in my life and had suicidal thoughts. It helped me understand why and how things affected me and provided hope and an updated interpretation of my past. I made sense of and let go of many things. Realising the way a child interpreted some events is actually different from how I interpret them now as an adult. That experience shifted everything. It was like planting a seed and seeing how it grows.
So that same reason inspired me to help people who might lose hope, feel helpless, or not even see themselves as worthy enough to change or have a better life. Often that negative thinking can overtake you to the point that you do not see anything positive at all. You lose hope that things can change for the better.
In many cases, people do not see a way out of their situation or have tried a number of therapies without success. I would like to create awareness of mental health problems and make it possible for people to seek help out instead of suffering in silence. I would also like to remove the stigma around mental health and hypnotherapy. I always encourage people to talk to professionals rather than keep negative emotions inside. Make the people who reach out to me feel heard, and understood and create a space for their transformation. If a client finds the right professional to work with, together they can achieve the client's goals. Hypnotherapy has been proven to be effective for treating a variety of issues, from anxiety and depression to addiction and trauma. It is a safe and non-invasive way to address mental health issues and make positive changes in your life. Ultimately, hypnotherapy can help you become the best version of yourself. Everyone deserves the chance to be heard and understood, and I am committed to helping people reach their potential.
How do you customize your hypnotherapy sessions to meet the specific needs and goals of each individual client?
I always tailor my hypnotherapy sessions to meet my clients' needs. I believe each client transformation journey is unique and must be handled with care. Setting the client up for success is the key to every therapy session. Setting realistic goals and assessing how they can be achieved is tailored to the client’s ability and where he/she is right now on that journey. Each individual client has a different desired goal to achieve through hypnotherapy. There can be 2 clients suffering from anxiety but they do not share the same goal about how they want to think, feel or behave without anxiety. I cannot generalise a hypnotherapy session and it has to be person-centred and customised to the client’s needs and goals.
Therefore, I gather detailed information from the client and often employ behaviour-changing tools to ask questions that I learned during my Psychology degree studies that can help me and the client be specific about the goal. I do use practical tools and discuss with the client if that resonates with her/him before we go ahead with using them. Gathering information about the preferred settings and if there is anything I would need to know or do so the client can work with me comfortably, preferred times and words that might need to be avoided or changed in her personalised hypnotherapy recording.
I am quite flexible and open to making sure what we do together resonates with my clients. I do find honesty important in therapeutic relationships so I would like my clients to tell me how I can help them to make their hypnotherapy session comfortable and unique. I learn a lot from my clients and I am so grateful for it. I think it is imperative to be able to receive feedback and ask what their needs are. This is so I can ensure there will not be barriers to working with my clients towards the desired goals. I want to make sure that they feel safe and respected. It is my goal to create an environment of trust and open communication. I want them to feel empowered and supported. I also use this feedback to adjust my approach if needed and make sure I am providing the best service possible. I believe in creating a space for collaboration and cooperation and I strive to make that a reality for my clients.
Can you walk me through a typical session with a new client, from the initial consultation to the end of the session?
Of course, in the initial session, people book an initial session we usually discuss the problem and what they want to gain from hypnotherapy. Of course, it is a really crucial thing to assess during the initial consultation if hypnotherapy is the right fit for the client and readiness to change. The client can ask questions and we can discuss how the problem affects her/his daily or overall life. If all are in agreement, we proceed with the booking and paperwork. I want to remind you that it is all personalised and client-based. I do not have a script that fits all clients because they are all unique individuals. Before the hypnotherapy session, we have a separate session to discuss past history, presenting problems, risk assessment, and life without a problem. The client usually receives an intake form in advance that the client needs to fill out. We can discuss during the pre-session and I can gather more information to add to the client's personalised transformation recording. After that, we agreed on a hypnotherapy session and book that. It can take from 1,5 hours to 2 hours for a session.
In hypnotherapy sessions, the main goal is transformation/change, but also to help the client understand how things came to be that way and what meaning he associated with it and what actions led to the problem. It can sometimes seem quite complex but most importantly it will all make sense to the client. This is most significant for the client to understand how the past events impacted her/him and change those meanings and interpretations and, create a new perception. There are many tools used during the Hypnotherapy session, but it depends on the client's needs. The transformation recording happens at the end of the session. This is recorded and personalised to the client’s goal as life without the problem, how the clients, want to think, feel and behave. The recording is sent to the client after the session. There are follow-ups after the hypnotherapy session where I check in with the client on the 2nd, 4th, 7th, 10th, 14th, 21st and 28th day. This is when we have a review appointment. The follow-up can, of course, focus on practical tools and jump on a video call if the client wants to discuss anything. I will also provide the client with resources and advice to help them continue to make progress towards their goals. Any questions the client may have will be answered by me, and I will always listen and provide feedback.
That was a brief overview of how a typical session with a first-time client works.
What sets your practice apart from other hypnotherapy providers, and how do you ensure that your clients receive the best possible care?
The field of hypnotherapy and psychology is becoming increasingly competitive today. However, it is vital to understand the client in front of us and be empathic, compassionate, and attuned to their need rather than focusing on the time they paid for. The most important thing is not how many qualifications or certifications I have. It is about how I can apply all the techniques that I have learned to the clients. It is possible to create a profound therapeutic relationship when we work together towards the client's goal. I often find that using my interpersonal skills is more beneficial than using my professional skills. The reason for this is that it helps to connect with the person and that it provides them with full attention, allowing them to be heard, seen or understood in a way that they may not have been able to experience before. This type of connection with the client helps to build trust, which is essential for the therapeutic relationship to be successful. It also helps to foster empathy, understanding, and a sense of safety. This can be the beginning of a powerful therapeutic journey.
I hope that explains what sets me and my practice apart from other hypnotherapy providers. I'm confident that with my approach, clients can feel safe and comfortable enough to open up and explore their challenges. This is the key to successful hypnotherapy and I'm dedicated to helping my clients achieve their goals.
Have you seen any particularly inspiring or transformative results from your work with clients, and if so, could you share an example with me?
One of the clients I worked with had difficulty studying. She felt there was a block and she just could not study at all so had to ask for time from her course provider. That was the reason she reached out to me and wanted a memory she could use for her own benefit.
During the initial consultation, she burst into tears telling her that her husband had lived a double life and had a family with another woman for 30 years. It must have been a horrible feeling to deal with. However, somehow it connected to her and her issue with not studying. As we talked she made some realisations about her relationship and was ready to change.
I still do not know what happened but she made a 360 turn for sure. She decided she had to spend more time on herself since she had raised three boys.
There were interesting scenes in our hypnotherapy session. She could understand how she became that way which was really powerful for her based on her feedback.
Obviously, it was not just about memory but having a better relationship with herself, self-love, self-care, putting herself first and boosting her self-esteem. The way she realised the changes was so amazing, one of her colleagues asked her about something where she had to use her memory and remember things. She remembered and remembered the information so well that she was pleasantly surprised that it had happened to her. Of course, the key was to listen to her personalised recording daily 1-2 times. She had more time in the morning so she started her hypnosis recording and went to work. She said her words to herself and used markers to write down how amazing she is to boost her self-esteem. We also discussed journaling and she started writing down her feelings instead of keeping them inside. So as we had the review appointment on the 28th day, she contacted her training provider and set up a meeting to return to studying. She left her husband and completely changed. She dyed her hair and bought herself a dress to wear out in.
It was truly amazing to see how she transformed and improved week by week. She decided to listen to her personal hypnosis recording because she could get support and power out after our work together. She sent an email a couple of weeks later saying she was preparing to take her exam. She knows that her amazing, brilliant mind will help her locate and recall all the information she needs in that moment just like Google.
