Solution Focused Hypnotherapy in Belfast
A positive, practical approach to helping you feel calmer, more confident and more in control.
Solution Focused Hypnotherapy combines forward-looking conversation with clinical hypnosis and guided relaxation. Rather than spending extensive time analysing past problems, it focuses on where you are now, where you would like to be and the manageable steps that can help you move forward.
At Belfast Wellness Clinic, Clinical Solution-Focused Hypnotherapist, Sharon Clare, provides a gentle, supportive approach informed by modern neuroscience, Solution-Focused Brief Therapy and positive psychology.
Moving towards calm and control
Stress and anxiety can affect more than how we feel emotionally. They can influence sleep, energy, concentration, digestion, physical tension and our ability to cope with everyday challenges.
When we feel overwhelmed, we may become caught in cycles of worry, avoidance, unwanted habits or repetitive thinking. Solution Focused Hypnotherapy helps you recognise your strengths, notice signs of progress and develop a clearer picture of how you want to feel and behave.
You will not normally be asked to describe difficult past experiences in detail. Sharon works collaboratively, helping you understand what may be happening in your mind and body and translate that insight into positive, achievable change.
What can hypnotherapy help with?
People seek Solution Focused Hypnotherapy for many different reasons. It may help you with:
- stress and anxiety
- sleep difficulties
- fears and phobias
- confidence and self-esteem
- preparation for medical procedures
- unwanted habits or patterns of behaviour
- intrusive or repetitive thoughts
- motivation and personal performance
- weight management and healthier choices
- coping with persistent pain or a long-term condition
Hypnotherapy can also complement appropriate medical or psychological care, particularly when anxiety is making another condition or experience more difficult to manage.
Hypnotherapy Support for medical procedures
Sharon has particular expertise in supporting people who feel anxious about medical procedures, including radiotherapy, MRI or CT scans, surgery and needle phobias.
Her approach may include clinical hypnosis, self-hypnosis, breathing and visualisation techniques. These practical tools can help you prepare for a procedure, manage anticipatory anxiety and feel calmer and more in control.
Sharon also volunteers at the Cancer Centre at Belfast City Hospital, supporting patients experiencing anxiety related to radiotherapy.
Hypnotherapy support during cancer treatment
A cancer diagnosis brings its own kind of anxiety — around scans, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, needles, and the uncertainty that comes with treatment itself. Sharon runs a voluntary hypnotherapy clinic within Belfast City Hospital's Head & Neck and Brain Cancer Radiotherapy Services, working alongside the clinical team to help patients manage treatment-related anxiety and distress.
This same support is available privately, and can help with:
- Anxiety and dread around radiotherapy, chemotherapy, scans or treatment planning
- Anticipatory nausea and vomiting — the learned nausea response that can build up around chemotherapy appointments, sometimes starting before treatment even begins
- Needle and cannula phobia in a treatment context
- Claustrophobia or panic in scanners and radiotherapy masks
- Difficulty sleeping or "switching off" between appointments
Working through cancer treatment is stressful enough without the additional weight of anxiety about the treatment itself. Hypnotherapy won't change the treatment plan, but it can change how manageable it feels to go through it.
Hypnotherapy for bladder urgency
Sudden, frequent or hard-to-predict bladder urgency can shrink someone's world quietly — routes get planned around toilets, plans get cancelled, and the anxiety about needing to go can end up worse than the physical symptom itself. Where urgency has a strong nervous-system or anxiety component rather than a purely physical cause, hypnotherapy can help retrain the mind-body response driving it.
This is a good fit if you: notice urgency spikes with stress or anxious anticipation; have already had the physical causes checked out by your GP; or feel like your bladder has started running the day rather than the other way round.
As with all of Sharon's work, this isn't a substitute for medical investigation — it works well alongside it, particularly where anxiety has become part of the cycle.
What happens during a hypnotherapy session?
Each appointment combines solution-focused conversation with hypnosis.
During the first part, Sharon will help you identify what has been going well, what you would like to change and what small signs of progress might look like. The conversation is encouraging, collaborative and focused on your goals.
The hypnosis element uses guided relaxation to help you enter a comfortable state of focused attention. Positive ideas and suggestions are then used to reinforce the themes explored during your conversation.
A typical programme involves approximately six to eight sessions, ideally held weekly. The number required will depend on your goals, circumstances and response to the process.
What is hypnosis?
Hypnosis is a natural state of focused attention and relaxation. It can feel similar to becoming absorbed in a book, losing track of time during a familiar activity or relaxing just before falling asleep.
You will not be asleep or unconscious. Most people hear the therapist throughout the session and remember the experience afterwards.
Hypnosis is not mind control, and you cannot be made to do something against your wishes or values. It is also not a passive or instant cure. Your motivation, participation and willingness to practise new responses all contribute to the progress you make.
Hypnotherapy to stop smoking or vaping
We offer one-off intensive hypnotherapy sessions for people who are ready to stop smoking or vaping.
The session helps you explore your reasons for stopping, strengthen your motivation and prepare for situations in which you might previously have smoked or vaped. Hypnosis is used to reinforce your decision and commitment to becoming smoke- or vape-free.
This approach is most appropriate when you have made a clear decision and feel ready to stop.
Is hypnotherapy suitable for everyone?
Solution Focused Hypnotherapy is available for adults and young people aged 12 and over. Parental or guardian consent may be required for younger clients.
It may not be appropriate for someone experiencing psychosis or certain complex psychiatric conditions. If you have epilepsy, a serious mental health condition or concerns about suitability, please speak with Sharon or your healthcare professional before booking.