Spring Newsletter November 2022

As I write this newsletter, I look out my window in Melbourne and see rain yet again. We face another La Nina weather pattern system, for a third year in a row and rain is all around us, bringing heartache to many people around the country. Rivers are swelling, country towns are under water, and it makes me contemplate how suddenly things can change on this planet. As we humans manage to navigate the changing weather systems on our planet, it is nice to know that some things remain the same – friendship, learning, networking and an enthusiasm for sharing. These are all things I witnessed at our recent 2022 Congress, in Noosa.

The beautiful weather in Noosa, now seems like it happened a long time ago, but we were able to enjoy three glorious days of sunshine. I was able to take a walk to the National Park and experience the beach and see the myriads of cool cabana beach umbrellas and patrons on the last day before I caught the shuttle bus back to the airport.

The ideas and new thoughts that I was able to contemplate whilst at the conference, were still whirring through my mind as I reflected on how my colleagues from interstate and overseas practiced the art of hypnosis and how I may adjust what I do to incorporate what they do into my clinical practice.

The workshop by Mark Grant went through in detail the psychological underpinnings of why pain occurs from a trauma perspective, and we were able to see firsthand videos of patients who had benefitted from his approach. Mark went through bottom-up and top-down strategies and explained how to do this with patients in a very easy to follow way. It was indeed wonderful to see the great work he is doing with complex patients.

The second day saw a workshop by Patrick McCarthy on his approach to managing anxiety and we were able to see his work firsthand as he practiced his techniques on a willing volunteer. Thank you, Patrick, for your workshop.

Whilst learning is a major aspect of the congress, the networking meeting up with colleagues and having informal chats about their work and how they practice was invaluable. I really enjoyed my meal-time chats with colleagues as we discussed how they practice hypnosis and how they approach their patients, again interesting food for thought.

Many phone numbers were exchanged, and promises made to catch up for coffees and to do talks which will be followed through.

By the way, there was a saying at Congress – ‘doing a Glenda’. That was because dear Glenda had a dreadful fall at Brisbane airport on her way to Congress and had to spend the night in ED. In the true spirit of ‘The show must go on’. Glenda teamed up with Di McGreal to do their excellent workshop on the last day of Congress.

Our Secretary, Di Mc Greal is already working on plans for our next Congress in 2024 with thoughts of it being in Cairns or Darwin and on Trauma and some other very interesting topics. If you have a suggestion for a good local or international speaker on this subject, please let Di know. di@doctordi.com.au

Our webinars this year continued to be successful. Our last webinar, on Monday 31 October 2022 and was presented by James Auld and Lynda Dolan, was excellent. The topic was post hypnotic suggestions and was very useful for clinicians practicing the science and art of hypnosis.

This year you might have noticed that, where possible, we have incorporated Active Learning into our webinars by including some reading material, usually research, for those who register to participate. I would particularly like to thank Professors Kevin McConkey and Amanda Barnier for making some of their research on post hypnotic suggestions available to our members. This research, from our last webinar, will be made available in the members password protected section on our website.

Our last webinar of the year will be on Monday 28 November 2022 at 7.30pm. The presenter will be our intrepid Queenslander Glenda Robertson on Hypnosis and Grief and the notice will go out to you very soon.

If you have suggestions for webinar topics and presenters, please email our Executive Officer – boeashltd@hypnosisaustralia.org.au

We hope that many of you will be able to attend the Society’s Annual General Meeting to be held by zoom on Sunday 27 November 2022. It’s your society and we would like to ensure that you can be updated on what’s happening in the society. We would love to hear your ideas and feedback, so please email us about what we are doing well and what we could do better.

If you have not yet received the AGM Email Notice, please email us at boeashltd@hypnosisaustralia.org.au. That notice, the minutes of the 2021 AGM and the Auditor’s report will also be placed in the members section of our website on/by Wednesday 23 November 2022.

Take care everyone and I really do hope to meet you either ‘online’ or in person soon.

Dr Annette Webb
President