About Me
Michael Surmon
About Me
Deciding to consult with a hypnotherapist and choosing the right one is a very important step on your journey to achieving your goals. The purpose of this page is to give you a bit of an insight to me, and to help you get a better idea of whether I would be a good “fit” for you as a hypnotherapist.
I love working with people. I love hearing about their lives, their stories and everything that makes them unique.
After completing a degree in psychology at the Stellenbosch University in the beautiful Western Cape winelands area of South Africa, my work has always been centered on people. Different managerial, facilitating and negotiating roles
in various settings, ranging from Film and TV, right through to the civil engineering industry always had one very important thing in common for me – the people.
Being curious, understanding, compassionate, open and genuinely interested is not something that a university degree or any other course could teach me.
Years of experience in dealing with people, helping to solve issues with and between people, and facilitating and negotiating the best possible solutions and outcomes with people from all walks of life brought me to the decision to make helping people solve their own personal issues on a one to one basis a full time career.
I live in the beautiful coastal town of Nairn in the Scottish Highlands. The beaches are beautiful. The sea is often alive with dolphins, seals, otters and the occasional Orca. I love the beach and the sea, and I very often paddle my specialised ocean kayak in preparation for an up coming race on the sea.
Every day starts with a walk on the beach with our wayward son Fievel Mousekiwitz – he is a greyhound/whippet cross
who loves cheese and is a constant source of entertainment. Appreciating the natural beauty of my surroundings helps
to keep me grounded in the moment. For me, it is a brilliant way to start my day.
My wife, who has been a hypnotherapist and counselor for many years, is a constant source of inspiration and a great person to discuss ideas and our next step in our continuous development journey with.
Some more about my qualifications
My qualifications are ongoing, as I am dedicated to continual learning and development. The field of hypnotherapy and therapy in general is developing almost daily and the best way to stay up to date is by continuously learning.
To date I hold the gold standard Diploma in Clinical Hypnosis and NLP Practitioners certificate, obtained through an intensive 10 month course at the Anglo European College of Therapeutic Hypnosis. I also have a degree in psychology from Stellenbosch University. I am qualified in Sequent Repatterning Therapy (SRT), a method proven to reduce the impact of misophonia for sufferers.
I recently completed a course in the application of Polyvagal Theory to clinical practice, which pertains to navigating the nervous system when applied to issues like anxiety, depression, anger and many more.
I also regularly attend courses, talks, seminars and conferences on various subjects around therapy and hypnotherapy.
I am a member of the UK Hypnotherapy Council which is dedicated to ensuring its members adhere to a strict code of ethics and professionalism in order to maintain high standards that represent the field of hypnotherapy accurately and positively.
The UKHC keeps it members up to date with quality research within the field of clinical hypnotherapy to help the
members access the most effective, evidence – based approaches and to correctly educate the public via the dissemination
of that information.