Academy of Advanced Changework

23/10/2026

Helping compassionate practitioners who care deeply but feel stuck with a proportion of their clients.

A practical, evidence-based training that helps psychotherapists, counsellors, psychologists, and other mental health workers recognise client coping patterns, reduce resistance, and restore motivation.

09/10/2026

Register with promo code UC10MH and save 10% https://www.hypnotherapy.training/offers/dwuZ2cvV

30/08/2026

When Your Hypnotherapy Client Wants the Symptom Fixed – But Avoids What’s Underneath

There's no doubt you will at some stage of your career experienced a client who genuinely wants hypnosis to help—but seems to pull away whenever therapy gets close to something important?

They might:

• Joke when the conversation becomes uncomfortable
• Change the subject or minimise the problem
• Say “I don’t know” when emotions are explored
• Want you to “just hypnotise me and fix it”
• Engage well during the session but make little change afterwards
• Cancel or disengage as the work becomes more challenging
It can be tempting to interpret these behaviours as resistance or lack of motivation.

But what if the client isn’t resisting change? What if they’re protecting themselves from what change requires them to experience?
Avoidant coping can develop when withdrawal, distraction, humour, minimisation or emotional disengagement provides relief from shame, anxiety, vulnerability or overwhelm.

For hypnotherapists, recognising this pattern is particularly important. A client may hope that hypnosis will remove an unwanted behaviour or feeling without having to engage with the experiences maintaining it. If we move too quickly into trance, suggestion or symptom-focused work, we can sometimes unintentionally work around the avoidance rather than helping the client move beyond it.

In this practical CPD workshop, we’ll explore:

• How avoidant coping develops and why it persists
• How to recognise subtle withdrawal and disengagement in hypnotherapy
• Humour, distraction, minimisation and superficial compliance
• When a request for hypnosis may itself contain an avoidant element
• Building sufficient psychological safety before deeper therapeutic work
• Working with ambivalence without increasing pressure or shame
• Recognising and repairing therapeutic alliance ruptures
• Using hypnosis collaboratively while protecting client autonomy
• Practical strategies for supporting sustained engagement and behavioural change

A key shift throughout the workshop is moving from:
“Why isn’t this client engaging?”

to:

“What might this client be protecting themselves from?”

Understanding that difference can help you respond more effectively when hypnosis alone doesn’t seem to be enough.

As we're already connected, reach out and let me know if you want a complimentary place on the next course:
Live 3-Hour CPD Workshop
📅 Tuesday 15 September 2026
⏰ 12:30pm–3:30pm AEST
💻 Online via Zoom

For more details check it out https://lnkd.in/gRM9cXjz

Warm regards,
Karen Bartle

Academy of Advanced Changework
HealthTalk Psychology: The Psychology of Patient/client Change

29/08/2026

Another amazing student to graduate from AAC ~ Amazing and well done Katya!

"Thank you so much! I’m so happy to have officially completed the course 🎉

Thank you both for all your teaching, support and feedback throughout the training. I’ve really enjoyed the course and learned a lot from it, and I’m excited to keep building on everything I’ve learned in my practice."

15/08/2026

When thinking becomes the thing that keeps a client stuck…

Many clients don’t lack insight. In fact, they may have too much of it.

They analyse every option.

Second-guess every decision.

Try to work out the “right” thing to do before they act.

And become increasingly frustrated with themselves for getting nowhere.

In my new 3-hour live online CPD workshop, Rumination — Managing Over-analysis Without Action, we’ll explore rumination not simply as “overthinking”, but as a coping response to uncertainty and perceived threat.

We’ll look at how to help clients step out of cognitive loops and towards meaningful action — without pushing so hard that we trigger more anxiety, self-criticism or shame.

Particularly relevant for counsellors, psychotherapists, hypnotherapists and other mental health practitioners working with anxiety, perfectionism, indecision and clients who seem highly capable but remain stuck.

Next workshop: Tuesday 20 October 2026

12:30pm–3:30pm AEST

Live online | 3 CPD hours

Find out more and register:

https://www.hypnotherapy.training/offers/dwuZ2cvV

07/08/2026

When a client says:

“I’ve already researched that.”

“Let’s just focus on solutions.”

“I don’t really do feelings.”

“What exactly are you suggesting?”

…it can be tempting to explain more, defend your expertise or push harder.

And that may be exactly what escalates the dynamic.

Perceived threats to competence or autonomy can increase control, dominance and defensiveness.

Join me on a practical CPD workshop exploring how to recognise that process early — and respond in ways that preserve
collaboration rather than create a power struggle.

📅 Thurs13th Aug 26 (5:30pm-8:30pm AEST
💻 Live online | 3 CPD hours
Unmitigated Agency: Managing Over-Control and Relational Dominance
https://www.hypnotherapy.training/offers/ad7wLKz9

25/07/2026

-:¦:- Congratulations! -:¦:- to our latest graduate :)

Here's what she said about her training experience with us in her Google review :)

"Wow... what a journey! Completing the Diploma of Clinical Hypnotherapy with Karen has honestly been life-changing.

Karen is an incredible teacher who somehow manages to be both incredibly supportive and incredibly thorough. She genuinely cares about her students and has such high standards because she wants every graduate to become a safe, ethical and confident hypnotherapist.

I've grown so much over the past year, not only as a therapist but as a person. The course challenged me in the best possible way, and I finished feeling confident and excited to begin this new chapter. Thank you, Karen, for sharing your knowledge so generously and for believing in your students every step of the way. I couldn't recommend the Academy of Advanced Changework more highly."

--------------------------------------------------

Final opportunity is just a few weeks away to start your hypnotherapy training in 2026. Don't miss out on this opportunity to graduate and set up your new practice in early 2027! :) Reach out www.hypnotherapy.training/contact ;)

08/07/2026

Why "Just Prioritise Yourself" Often Fails

Many practitioners unintentionally increase resistance when it comes to working wth clients using unmitigated communion as a coping strategy - a coping pattern characterised by extreme focus on others’ needs, emotional attunement, and caregiving, to the exclusion of one’s own needs.

For example...

Practitioner:
"You need to put yourself first."

Client:
"That feels selfish."

Unmitigated Communion lacks the balancing effect of agency (self-focus), leading to:
• burnout
• poor self-care
• resentment or depletion
• difficulty receiving support

Connection is the foundation of safety for these clients and when connection feels secure, emotional regulation remains stable leading to empathy, warmth, responsiveness.

When connection feels threatened the threat response is activated leading to over-giving, appeasing, and self-abandonment.

Key dynamics:
• “Being needed” = safety
• “Being liked” = security
• “Letting others down” = threat

Alternative example that maintains connection and safety:

Practitioner: "How can we protect your energy so you can keep doing what matters to you?"

Are you a compassionate practitioner who wants to learn more about working with some complex but not uncommon coping stragies?

https://www.hypnotherapy.training/psychology-of-patient-change-cpd-options

The Psychology of Patient/Client Change offers a series of practical, evidence-based frameworks for recognising and understanding coping patterns and reducing aclient resistance.

29/06/2026

When Caring Becomes Self-Neglect

Leanne works in aged care.

She skips meals.

Eats leftovers between tasks.

Feels exhausted.

She says: "My clients come first. I'll sort myself out later."

Most people would describe Leanne as caring.

But what happens when caring for others consistently excludes caring for yourself?

Unmitigated communion is a coping strategy characterised by extreme focus on others’ needs, emotional attunement, and caregiving, to the exclusion of one’s own needs.

It is “unmitigated” because it lacks the balancing effect of agency (self-focus), leading to:

• burnout

• poor self-care

• resentment or depletion

• difficulty receiving support

https://www.hypnotherapy.training/offers/eSTm6RP5