Hello, I’m Steve
I’m a trainee Solution Focused Hypnotherapist, training with CPHT Birmingham, and the person behind The Space In Between.
For almost 30 years, I’ve worked in education. During that time, I’ve spent much of my career involved in pastoral care, SEND, middle and senior management and, most recently, Alternative Provision. Different roles, different people and very different challenges – but there has been a common thread running through all of them: supporting people.
I’ve worked with young people who have found life or education difficult, colleagues who have needed encouragement and support, and teams I’ve been responsible for leading and developing. I’ve learned that people are capable of remarkable change when they’re given the right support, the opportunity to recognise their own strengths and, sometimes, simply the space to work out what comes next. That experience now sits very naturally alongside my work as a Solution Focused Hypnotherapist, supporting both adults and young people.
Why Solution Focused Hypnotherapy?
I’ve experienced Solution Focused Hypnotherapy myself on two separate occasions. I didn’t come to my training having learned about the approach from a textbook or in a classroom. I already knew what it was like to sit on the other side of the conversation. More importantly, I knew the difference it had made for me.
I particularly connected with the positivity of the Solution Focused approach. We don’t define people by their problems or spend our time continually analysing what’s gone wrong. Instead, we look at where you want to be, what’s already working and the small changes that can help you move forward. I don’t believe my job is to give you all the answers – it’s to help you recognise that you may already have rather more of them than you realise.
Why The Space In Between?
The name grew partly from the language of Solution Focused Hypnotherapy – that idea of movement, of where we are now, where we might want to be, and what happens in the space between the two. I’ll be honest, though, I don’t want to define it too closely: The Space In Between can be whatever you need it to be.
It might be the space between how things are and how you’d like them to be. Between deciding something needs to change and noticing that it already has. Between one way of thinking and another. It might simply be a little space in a busy life where you get to stop, think and focus on yourself.
Your space doesn’t have to mean the same thing as somebody else’s. Perhaps that’s rather the point.
For me, The Space In Between is about possibility – that sometimes undefined space where something different can begin.
What am I like to work with?
I’m naturally curious about people. I enjoy conversation, I like humour and I don’t believe therapy needs to feel intimidating or overly clinical. You can expect our sessions to be relaxed, positive and focused on you. There’s no judgement and no expectation that you arrive knowing exactly what you want to say. And you certainly don’t need to be ‘good at’ anything to benefit from these sessions. You just need to turn up. We’ll take it from there, together.
When I’m not doing this…
There’s considerably more to life than work.
For me, that means family, the dog, music, gaming, Dungeons & Dragons, anime (yes, all that good stuff, even at my age!) and gardening — although not necessarily in that order, and occasionally several of them at once. Having interests, enjoying things and being able to laugh matter. Therapy involves serious responsibilities, but that doesn’t mean every conversation has to feel serious. I’m a real person working with real people. I like it that way.
A little professional reassurance
I’m currently training as a Solution Focused Hypnotherapist with CPHT Birmingham.
I’m a Student Member of the National Council for Hypnotherapy, the National Hypnotherapy Society and the Association for Solution Focused Hypnotherapy. I’m fully insured and hold a current Enhanced DBS certificate.
Alongside my hypnotherapy training, I bring almost three decades of professional experience working with and supporting young people and adults.
I take my training and my responsibility towards my clients seriously, while trying very hard not to take myself too seriously.
Most importantly, you should feel comfortable with the person you choose to work with.
That’s why your first step can be a FREE Initial Consultation. It’s a relaxed opportunity for us to talk, for you to ask questions and for you to decide whether I might be the right person to work with. No pressure. No obligation. Just a conversation.
And perhaps the beginning of a little change.