Interview with Marifran Cooper from Rochester, New York

I want to introduce everyone to Marifran Cooper, a very successful hypnotherapist in Rochester, New York, who has agreed to do this interview with me today. Her credentials are impeccable, and her dedication to doing the very best hypnotherapy sessions is unsurpassed. I am very proud to count her among the graduates of the 5-PATH® courses I teach.

With that, let's get right into the interview and Marifran can tell you more about herself and what she does.

Cal Banyan: Marifran it is great to be able to do an interview with you like this. I know that your story will inspire others to be great hypnotherapists. I am especially excited to enable you to tell your story because of your high level of professionalism. Tell me, how did you decide to enter into the professional world of hypnotism and hypnotherapy?

Marifran Cooper: Hi Cal, I've been excited about doing this interview ever since you first mentioned the idea!

I was introduced to hypnosis at a Nurse Practitioner convention about 7 years ago in Newport, RI. The presenter was a PhD candidate in Nursing. Her doctorate was about using hypnosis in Pediatrics. She showed a video of her doing hypnosis with a teen who was afraid of needles, a child with bed wetting and a surgical procedure for her husband. I was quite impressed.

Time passed, and a psychic I worked with several years later used progressive relaxation for her meditation/hypnosis sessions. Long story short, I was looking for some kind of self owned business venture and hypnosis resurfaced. I started surfing the internet and researched what it was all about and how I could use it with my nursing background.

Cal: So then you just took off and started your own hypnosis office! Is that right?

Marifran: Let me tell you Cal, as a child I lived in a suburban home with my father's dental office attached. I moved into the family home after my mother died in 2002. I attended your 5-PATH® certification course March, 2003. And, then, not long after, my father's dental sign was replaced by my CooperHypnosis sign in May, 2003 and I opened for business.

The office itself has a waiting room, secretary's station, powder room, Dental lab (storage), and two rooms. One has my big blue chair in it for sessions, and the second room is a guest room/library.

The office is located on a main street in our suburb and directly across the street from "the famous House of Guitars". It's been a great landmark in directing clients to my office!

Cal: I really think that a lot of people who aspire to be successful in this profession forget that you have to get started. The answer isn't in taking another course and then another. Just seek out the best training you can find and then start doing what you learned. You did that exactly right and of course it helped to have a ready-made office to get started in. Good for you!

While we are on the subject of training, why don't you tell everyone about your training in hypnosis?

Marifran: I have been a nurse for over 30 years, and a Women's Health Nurse Practitioner for over13 years. I attended your certification course (back when you were in Mounds View, Minnesota ) in March, 2003. I have attended two NGH Conventions, attended a Hypnobirthing® certification course, and have your Banyan Online Supervision CDs as well.

Cal: And now you are going to be a Certified Professional Hypnotherapy Instructor (CPHI) as well! That is really great. I think that you are going to be a great teacher and that you will do a fantastic job of teaching our NGH Approved Hypotherapy Certification Courses and the Week of Power Advanced Hypnotherapy Certification Courses.

Tell us about how you approach your practice of hypnosis.

Marifran: My approach to hypnosis is maternalistic with a focus on health and wellness for women. I thought that was a logical approach as my medical specialty is OB-Gyn. The longer I do hypnosis, however, the more varied are my clients.

Cal: I think that is great. I ask just about everyone I interview if they could tell us about an interesting case. Would you do that for us?

Marifran: I had a couple, a husband and wife, who came to me. The husband found me on the internet for smoking cessation. I worked with him and sure enough he quit smoking. After that he told his wife about me, and she started sessions of 5-PATH® for weight loss.

What was interesting about the case was the different perceptions husband and wife shared during their respective sessions. Everything was confidential. I was amazed at the wife's anger at the workaholic husband and his unwillingness to stand up for her when it came to his mother.

According to the husband, everything was "hunky-dory"! He wanted to make good on a challenge that his teenage son had made with him to stop smoking and to this day, he's smoke free.

As I conducted the hypnotherapy sessions with her, the wife started to stand up for herself to his mother! It all worked out in the end. That's why I always say there are three sides to every story. His, hers, and what really happened!

Cal: That is an interesting case. It can be difficult working with family members like that. I am always on guard to make sure that I keep everything confidential between the different members of the family. It can be quite challenging. Luckily at the Banyan Hypnosis Center for Training & Services, Inc. we usually have several hypnotherapists working and we can refer the different members out to other therapists. Of course, most hypnotists don't have that option. But, it is evident that you did a wonderful job with that couple.

Is that case typical of the population that you serve?

Marifran: The population I see in my hypnosis office is middle class professionals. The population I serve in my nursing practice is a mixture of all races, creeds and ethnicities.

Cal : Oh, I see. You get most of your hypnosis clients through your medical practice.

Marifran: That is right. I give out my hypnosis card there when I have an appropriate candidate. Then several clients follow up and see me for hypnosis. I keep a log of people that are interested.

Cal: That is interesting. You have kind of a system that allows you to identify people who are appropriate for your hypnotherapy services and then streamline them into that service. That is really nice.

I suppose that most of the work that you do using hypnosis has a medical component to it. Is that right? Do you think of it as being a specialty of yours?

Marifran: I enjoy being their health and wellness "go to girl". I am amazed everyday at how resilient women are in their day to day lives. For a while there, I would read of some terrible accident, crime or death in the newspaper, and then within the week, a family member would show up for a medical appointment and tell me their saga! I credit that work to 7th Path Self-Hypnosis®.

I know I am a "cheerleader" for the women I see. I remind them of all they accomplish everyday, even through some terrible situations such as homelessness, rape, trauma and death of children, parents and spouses.

Cal: Well, it is easy to see that your practice is not just limited to stop smoking sessions and weight loss! You really get into some heavy duty issues. That is great, and I can see that you are handling whatever comes your way with the help of 5-PATH® and 7th Path Self-Hypnosis®! You are a shining example of what a hypno-1%er can do.

I'm curious about why your clients choose you. There are probably more hypnotherapists in your area?

Marifran: I believe that clients come to me because of my nursing background and the reputation I have developed over the years. It's not unusual for patients in my nursing practice to refer their sisters, daughters or friends to come and see me. The people I see as hypnosis clients also find me on the internet and the telephone directory. Now I am working on having a stronger Internet presence, and I think that is going to also help my future clients to find me.

Another thing that I do, that I think that some other hypnotists fail to do is that I return my potential clients' calls in a timely manner, and explain what I do in a simple down to earth way of speaking to them.

Cal: Excellent! It sounds like you have it all down to a system that is really working for you. And, I think that there are a lot of hypnosis professionals who can learn from your example.

Do you only see clients on a one to one basis or do you teach classes as well?

Marifran: I have conducted several of 7th Path Self-Hypnosis® classes and also do demonstrations of hypnosis for professionals and for the public. The thing I use most often in my nursing practice is EFT. Once patients see that I can help them...right then... they are more willing to come to my office for the hypnosis.

Now that I'm a CPHI, I have an entire class program that I am developing.

Cal: You are really keeping busy, and I am very excited to have you teaching classes for us now. Now that you have all this experience and you are going to be teaching hypnosis and hypnotherapy, I'm curious, what would you like everyone to know about hypnosis?

Marifran: I want everyone to know that this is a feel good profession. The more you talk about it, the more comfortable you become with the information. The first time I hypnotized a client I felt like Rocky Balboa on the steps of that building he ran up!

Bit by bit, the people I work with in my nursing practice are realizing this is not a passing fancy of mine. They see and hear about my successes. They watch in awe as I calm a patient with EFT before an office procedure, and smile as I induce hypnosis throughout the procedure.

The doc I work with was very impressed with my explanation of your book, The Secret Language of Feelings. Little by little, step by step......inch by inch they all will eventually become believers and hopefully practitioners.

Cal: I love it. You are really "walking the walk" as they say. I especially like to hear how you are educating other medical professionals. And, thanks for the plug about my book!

What do you see as being the future of hypnosis?

Marifran: This is the crest of the wave for hypnosis. The medical consumer is demanding complementary and alternative medical therapies. Even the Joint Commission of Hospitals, a regulatory agency, is mandating that each hospital have a referral source or access to other options very soon.

I see hypnosis as a great vehicle for increasing self-confidence and ego in our young women. I see it being taught in community colleges and continuing education programs. The public is clamoring for the rhyme and reason of all the war and violence in the world. What a wonderful dream for us all to practice the 7th Path Self-Hypnosis® together. I have great hopes for the future of hypnosis.

Cal : Thanks for the interview. I feel even more inspired about hypnosis after this, and I didn't think that was possible!

Once again thank you so much for doing this interview and for your role in helping hypnosis into the medical office!