Open Skies Hypnotherapy

30/11/2025

I have a lot to say about this wonderful blog from my friend Sally. Here is where I am going to start.

We have to have the hard conversations.

At this point, several of you have probably stopped reading and closed down your browser. That's not helpful. Because avoidance of the issue does not eradicate the issue - it just makes it worse. We have to face hard things. Sorry, I'm not up for sugar coating.

I wrote my first children's book over a year ago. It talked about running away because the child was caught up in an acrimonious divorce between his parents. I always remember with disbelief the day when a highly educated and intelligent friend of mine, told me they were not going to show their young niece the book because "it might encourage her to run away".

We all want to run away sometimes, even us adults. I'd rather be having a chat with my child about WHY she feels that way, than having to ring the police to report her missing. That was the whole point of the book I wrote. I wanted to encourage CONVERSATION which may have PREVENTED a child from going missing.

If we talk about self-harm, it doesn't make a child want to go out and try it. Self-harm is a fact of life and needs to be discussed as such. It is not a dirty word, a stigma, a taboo subject.

I treat children and teenagers who self-harm because it helps them get through a moment. It quietens the noise in their heads. Time and again they tell me parents have kicked off at them when they discovered the self-harm, followed swiftly by removing all dangerous objects from the house. And I get it. I do. I understand that as a parent, watching your child in this state is terrifying. But this is NOT the way to handle it.

We need to LISTEN to our kids. Really listen. Not impose our own agendas. Not fob them off with an "I'm too busy" or "I am the adult and I know best". Stop that. LISTEN to what they need from you. PLEASE.

If we keep ignoring the issue, it will just become worse. Talking about LGBTQIA+ issues does not make your child gay. Talking about running away does not make your child pack a bag. Talking about self-harm does not make them go out and do it. By hearing what our kids need and how they feel, we open doors to honest dialogue that can help them heal. Surely that's what we all want.

I am running self-harm workshops and presentations in a safe space, so if you do want to find out more about this subject, you can message me for the details.

Sally at S&L Self-Harm Distraction Kits is also around to provide support and information.

The dangerous myth that talking about self-harm causes self harm.

Following my somewhat controversial post about a school not allowing me to have my stall at their event, I decided to write a blog post explaining why I found it disappointing, and hopefully this will help anyone sitting on the fence to have a bit more clarity and understanding why it is important to be open about self-harming behaviours.

The link below will take you to the blog. Please feel free to share 🧡💚

https://www.harmdistractionkits.co.uk/post/the-dangerous-myth-that-talking-about-self-harm-causes-self-harm

30/11/2025

Open Skies is looking for local charities to donate Selection Boxes to this Christmas! If you know anyone who may be interested, please pass on our details and ask them to message us. We will be deciding our final charities next week :)

22/11/2025

If you are looking for a Christmas gift that will last long after the tree has gone down, this could be it! For all children out there who don't feel enough, for parents who are under pressure and sometimes say things they don't mean, for adults who still have a child part inside them that doesn't feel enough.

This book is my absolute proudest achievement of my whole life (apart from giving birth to my daughter!). I wrote it to help families heal, grow and flourish. I wrote it to help children feel heard and understood. I wrote it because as a kid I did not feel enough, and in so many ways I still don't. That inner child has a lot of healing to do still.

Plastic toys will break, clothes will be grown out of, but this book will leave a lasting impact long after the magic of the season has faded.

Available on Amazon OR you can order direct from me at a special promotional price of just £10. I can also make small self-care hampers to accompany the book at an extra cost. Please enquire for details.

Email emma@openskieshypnotherapy.co.uk or telephone 07904 839416

21/11/2025

Open Skies tree is up ready for the Dereham Christmas Tree Festival! Do come along and support the festival, have a drink and mince pie and look at all the lovely trees.

Proceed are split between Dereham Meeting Point and St Nicholas Church.

A copy of my book is also on display next to my tree for you to browse. If you’d like to order a copy for Christmas do get in touch. Flyers with my contact details are also next to the tree 🌲

20/11/2025

It's hard having therapy, isn't it? Yesterday I had a session myself. I had thought I was going along just to talk about some surface level stuff around my business and why I feel the need to sell myself short. We were only a few minutes into the session when I found myself losing it. The emotions that rose to the surface were painful, and that shocked me. After all, I thought I had dealt with all this stuff, so the fact it still had the power to make me feel so crappy...well, that did not sit well with me. I felt uncomfortable, exposed and if I'm honest a bit lost.

But here's the thing. If I hadn't gone, and hadn't considered the questions the therapist asked, I would perhaps never have delved that bit deeper. Today I sat with the feelings and tomorrow I will sit with them again, and the day after that, until I come to a place where I feel able to process it all.

Sometimes we think we are fixed, and we go about our lives. But there are always signs that more work is needed, and now I have sat with this I can notice what those signs were for me. How many are familiar to you?

1. Short tempered and lashing out
2. Overwhelmed and feeling out of control
3. Panic attacks or feeling on high alert
4. Frustration
5. Noticing areas of your life that make you unhappy
6. Masking problems by using addictions to distract from the issue (in my case this is retail therapy)
7. Worrying about things that have not happened
8. Unable to enjoy and live in the moment.

That's quite a list, right? But all of that stuff was happening for me, and it's always a sign that more work is needed.

I'm looking forward to having another session to see what we can do next.

19/11/2025

The John Lewis Christmas advert has become as much of a tradition as turkey and tinsel, and the anticipation is akin to that feeling of barely contained excitement when Christmas Day has almost arrived.

This year, once again, I cried as the advert filled my TV screen. Perhaps more than any other year, this year’s advert really resonated.

As a therapist, I help people from all walks of life. My work is hugely varied, but the one thing that has always stood out for me is the dynamics between parents and children. Time and again, I hear from children (sometimes adult children) who tell me they are in therapy because of their parents. On the flip side, I see parents who are deeply hurt by what they see as being overlooked or taken for granted by their kids.

Maintaining a connection is not always easy, perhaps especially for men – which is why my heart was warmed by the John Lewis advert as it chronicles the difficulties men face in “finding the words”. I watched with tears rolling down my face as I tried to understand my own emotions. For me, the advert brought up themes of getting older, and the joy when we find our way briefly back to our younger days through music. I was reminded of the feeling I had when Oasis reformed this year – a feeling I still can’t quite put into words. Perhaps it’s bigger than words. Maybe that’s the whole point – the son wanted to speak to his Dad’s heart in a way that he couldn’t articulate, but he knew that a certain piece of music would say everything he couldn’t.

The scene where father and son face each other across an empty club elicited a full-on sob from me, as I thought of my own daughter. I wondered, what would happen if everything stopped and it was just us? How often do we get that luxury? Perhaps more to the point, when we do get alone time, do we use it to truly connect? Would we even know how?

I’ve always had an uneasy relationship with gifts. I treat people who have had privileged upbringings and are broken. They tell me they were emotionally starved as children. They never felt a connection to their parents and instead felt their parents tried to buy their affection rather than investing time and effort into the relationship.

John Lewis have made me reassess my thoughts. How much did the record cost that the son gave to his Dad? Probably not a huge amount. And yet, it said so many things that the men didn’t know how to voice out loud. The reconnection was so wholesome and complete – the hug at the end of the advert eliciting a sense that each man had found his way back to the other.

So, this Christmas, don’t go mad on the gifts. Emotional connection, not material overexuberance, is the order of the day.

Whether it’s that one present that says everything, or a simple gesture that you know will mean the world – it’s about the receiver of the gift feeling you know and understand them. That is the greatest gift of all.

Have a Christmas of connection – not perfection. It’s what we all need more of .

John Lewis & Partners

13/11/2025

https://openskieshypnotherapy.co.uk/john-lewis-christmas-advert-2025/

A little blog about the John Lewis Christmas Advert 🎁🎁

Like many others, I was looking forward to the John Lewis Christmas advert again this year. It has become as much of a tradition as turkey and tinsel, and the anticipation is akin to that feeling of barely contained excitement when Christmas Day has almost arrived. This year, once again, I cried as....

10/11/2025

Morning everyone!

Starting this month, I am going to be posting a monthly article aimed at children. This follows my recent work writing a column for a children's newspaper. Each month we will be focusing on a different topic.

For November the topic is life skills and the link to the article is here:

How can I get started with cleaning my room, helping at home or remembering to do my chores? What should I do if I feel overwhelmed by new responsibilities like looking after myself or my space? Growing up is not easy. As children, we are encouraged to think about what we would like to be […]

05/11/2025

Good morning everyone! I’m sorry I’ve been offline for a few days. I’ve been taking time to process all the lovely comments I’ve received about my children’s book.

That looks like it’s taking off and I’m super excited to get the message of You Are enough into schools and other settings where it is needed.

In the meantime, the cost of living continues to bite us all and so I’m offering, once again, my discounted therapy for a very limited time!!

I have some huge discounts available for block bookings so please drop a message if you would like to hear more 😊😊

30/10/2025

It's been a day! Just popping on to say thank you to everyone who came to my book launch at The Garage Norwich this afternoon! It was lovely to see you turn out to support me and my work and I hope everyone enjoyed the interview, which was conducted wonderfully by the amazing Rachel H**e. This book is my proudest and arguably my most important work to date. Please keep sharing it, keep recommending it, and above all keep its message close in your heart. We are all enough.

As a child I doubted myself, and as a writer I never thought I would be able to move in circles with eminent established authors - yet here I am! Sitting here today with Rachel made me feel so overwhelmed and grateful that finally I am being seen, my voice is being heard and people are connecting with my message.

Check out these wonderful reviews I also received a week ago at another event. My heart is so full right now. Thank you for everything x

23/10/2025

I am absolutely buzzing from delivering a presentation to a networking group this morning in this beautiful setting!

I spoke about my books, before moving on to the subject of people pleasing. It was an emotional presentation, which touched everyone in the room. After I had finished, they came to hug me and to cry. They came to tell me they could hear my passion and sincerity about what I do. And one lady came to tell me I’d made her understand some things she hadn’t understood before. She thanked me. It felt amazing.

Then another lady offered to help me get my children’s book, You Are Enough, into schools!!! I’m not going to lie, I jumped up and down. My inner child was excited as she always wanted to be a successful author.

Everyone loved my book and agreed it needs to be in schools and offered advice on how to make this happen.

I’m humbled, I’m grateful. I stand true to my core beliefs that drive me to deliver work like this. And every single day, I will continue to make a difference. No more words left, just pure gratitude.

23/10/2025

Morning! As I’ve had a few new followers to my page I thought I’d tell you something about me. I think it’s important that people get to know the person behind the page 😊

So, I’m Emma, I’m 46 and I do this job because I want to use my own past trauma to help others.

I was abandoned by my biological father at birth. I had a fractured relationship with my mother which turned into a non-existent relationship. I was bullied at school for 5 years. All of these things caused me significant mental and physical trauma and affected the decisions I made in adulthood.

I was in a coercive control marriage and found it hard to release myself from this. I went from job to job as I never felt I belonged. I was hot headed, impulsive and angry a lot of the time. I sabotaged things in my life that were good, because I didn’t think I deserved them.

I’m now a single mum to my 9 year old precious daughter. I home educate her because I don’t want her to suffer the same school trauma that I did.

I’ve found my voice after many years of thinking I didn’t deserve one. I write books, I speak at networking events. I treat clients in my therapy room. I take up the space that was always mine to step into. I just didn’t know how to before.

So I have a complicated background, but it made me the person and the therapist and the author that I now am.

I’m just like everyone else. And I’m not fully healed yet. I still don’t like certain things about myself. But I’m in such a better place than I was before I took this journey. And I know there is so much more good stuff to come out of this.

That’s me in a nutshell. If anything resonates with you and you’d like a chat, drop me a message and let’s continue our journey together. 😊😊