Close-Up Talk Radio spotlights hypnotherapist Alesia Simco

Kings Park, NY – While much of our perception of hypnosis is associated with stage hypnosis – participants clucking like chickens in front of a live audience – hypnosis has been proven to have many valuable therapeutic uses.

Alesia Simco is a licensed mental health counselor and certified hypnotherapist. A long-time sufferer of migraines and a habitual smoker, Simco didn’t really believe in hypnosis herself until it worked on her.

“The tools I’d learned to help other people I used on myself,” says Simco. “I want to dispel the myths about hypnosis so more people can experience its wonderful benefits.”

Hypnosis begins by guiding a person toward a physiological state in which they are completely relaxed and their breathing is slow and rhythmic. At this point, the subject’s conscious mind is less active and suggestions can be delivered to the subconscious mind. When you wake from hypnosis, you implement the suggestions.

“Hypnosis is not sleep,” explains Simco. “You’re merely in a relaxed state of mind. You’re not going to surrender your will or reveal your secrets. The hypnotherapist is merely a facilitator. After hypnosis, it’s still the subject’s responsibility to change their behavior.”

Certification as a hypnotherapist requires a background in mental health. “Therapy” implies treatment and hypnosis is not a treatment.  It’s simply a tool professionals can use to enhance the therapeutic process. Simco believes she’s helping to bring credibility to this tool.

“The reason I’ve been successful is because I will turn people away,” says Simco. “My colleagues think I’m crazy, but I’m in this field to help people. I don’t need more people thinking hypnosis isn’t real.”