London College of Clinical Hypnosis

University validated clinical hypnosis and hypnotherapy training
London Exeter Birmingham Manchester Leeds Glasgow
In partnership with the University of West London

Lecturer: Nicky Matthews

Jung¹s original work on personality types has over recent years been extended and refined into what is commonly called the MBTI, the Myers-Briggs Personality Inventory. The MBTI identifies individual "preferences", rather than placing individuals squarely within an unhelpful pigeon-hole! In the same way that we all have a preference for using our left or right hands, we also have facets of our personalities that we can use but, naturally, we have an inclination or preference for certain ways of thinking, feeling and behaving. Understanding your preferences, and the stretch between preference and actual behaviour, can be useful in many ways; from choosing the optimum way of working to appropriate stress management techniques.

Knowing your MBTI "type" helps you understand yourself and the people around you. With this knowledge individuals are better able to define their direction and know their strengths and capabilities. Resources that are essential for successful therapy. The MBTI is also used for gaining a deeper understanding of personal relationships, especially partnerships and family relationships.

Since the late 1970s MBTI has been used in organisations and governments for improving such areas as team building, relationship counselling, management and leadership skills, communication, training and career development. It has been validated by extensive research, has proved highly reliable, and is used by a growing number of national and multinational companies. On average around 3.5 million people per year use MBTI worldwide.

For therapists, an understanding of personality types is essential. They are immensely useful when thinking about how we communicate with our patients and how we build rapport. Often, if our patients are of a similar "type" to us, we quite naturally are able to understand and empathise and, equally, they will be able to follow our language and work with the scripts and choices that we make therapeutically. But what happens if your patient has some different preferences to you? Maybe they have to really stretch themselves to follow your words and ideas? Maybe you are just finding it really difficult to "click"? Difficult to understand exactly what they are saying, feeling or doing?

In this masterclass you will develop an understanding of the MBTI types and be able to easily identify your own preferences. We will then explore how you can take this tool into the therapy room, for use as an educational model to explain relationships and behaviour to patients and, also, to be used as a tool to explore the therapeutic relationship.

Nicky Matthews BSc (Hons), PD.Hyp, MBSCH is an experienced and practising hypnotherapist and psychologist. She has worked in both the voluntary sector and the National Health Service as a psychologist and therapist and also has a special interest in working with HIV/AIDS after spending 3 years in Namibia training HIV counsellors. She now works in private practice, with two clinics in central London, and is a lecturer for the LCCH with particular responsibility for academic assessments. Nicky undertook training in the Myers-Briggs Personality Inventory in Sydney Australia and is a registered MBTI practitioner.

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