Welcome to the National Council For Hypnotherapy Podcast, where we dive into the fascinating world of hypnosis, lifting the lid on hypnotherapy, sharing insights and tips for change as we chat. So sit back, relax, and enjoy all the wonderful possibilities of Hypnotherapy. My name is Tracey Grist, and I will be your host today. Well, I'm here today with Cathy Powell or or Catherine or Cath.

Or Cath. Yeah. So

Kathy Powell, who is a trauma informed therapist, coach, and neurodiversity specialist. So how did you happen upon your training? What was your pathway into this world of therapy? Wow.

Yeah. So I've had many an incarnation in my life, but, but I met a questi as we call ourselves, the those of us that were trained through the Quest Institute. And, and I met this person and thought, they sort of get me, or they, you know, they're they've got very interesting way of looking at things or encouraging me to be me.

Yeah.

And I dealt a bit more, and I was like, I really would like to know more about this. And and and and at the time, I was working a lot with families and young people supporting those with a lot of difficulty. And the more I got to know about the training of that way of thinking, I just recognized that that was something that I really wanted to do. I really wanted to learn more about, not just to support other people, but also learning about myself.

Yeah. So so before you trained with Quest, were you involved in the neurodiversity world? Yeah. In that area?

Yeah. So so we have a very beautiful neurodivergent family. Uh-huh. You know, quite a wide and the more I've learned, the more I recognize. And and so I was working at the time and had been for a number of years working in the field of SEN support in in education, and then moving into family services, supporting families, and doing quite a lot of advocacy and recognizing where people really needed more support as opposed to judgment and really needed to understand their own power and and the fact that there's nothing wrong with anybody at all. They just need to understand why certain things might be difficult for them or where that may have come from. So, yeah, it was it was I've been involved in SEN, I suppose, for 30 years now.

Yeah. And is that in the classroom as well as at home, or how does it

Yeah. So I started off helping us to set up a a support group that's that's I'm quite proud to say has gone on to be quite a massive organization or a big organization in the area that I used to live in. And, made great friends with with somebody. We were introduced by a psychiatrist that was working independently with our own children. And that became a great friendship, and we understood the need to support, and we did that. Then I had an opportunity to sort of change career directions.

Yeah.

And and at the time I thought, you know, I really want to get involved in education. And so I started off doing SEN support in schools and then gradually morphed into different versions of that, becoming an outreach support worker for young people, then recognizing how important it was to support the family. So I ended up in in family support.

Yeah. So in in terms of the neurodiversity, are we talking about autism and ADHD? Does that are there variations?

Well, the the the the umbrella now that covers neurodivergence is is quite broad. It's quite big. It's sort of, it has an awful lot under that umbrella. I suppose in Maine, I end up working with people that either have been given an ADHD diagnosis or suspect they may, maybe may may qualify. Likewise, people who recognize they may have autistic traits or have a diagnosis of autism and because of my background of working with young people, I do obviously end up being approached by lots of families where there are young people that are struggling quite often in schools nowadays.