About

This site is written and edited by Joel Annesley, a practising clinical hypnotherapist based in Sydney.

A brief background

I hold a Diploma of Clinical Hypnosis and Strategic Psychotherapy from the Institute of Applied Psychology (IAP) and a Master Practitioner qualification in NLP with Gordon Young. I’m a member of the Hypnotherapy Council of Australia (HCA) and a founding member of the International Strategic Psychotherapists Association (ISPA). I was previously a member of the Australian Hypnotherapists’ Association (AHA), which gives me some direct perspective on both sides of the Australian self-regulation landscape and informs the neutrality I try to maintain when writing about either body.

I’ve been practising as a clinical hypnotherapist since 2021. Before that, I worked as a life coach, starting in 2017. My clinical work focuses primarily on anxiety and the patterns that affect high-functioning professionals, including perfectionism, performance anxiety, and the kind of self-criticism that quietly limits otherwise capable people. I see clients both in person in Sydney and via telehealth across Australia.

Professional profiles

You can find more information about my qualifications and practice on these external profiles:

Joel Annesley on the HCA Australian National Hypnotherapists Register — lists my qualifications and association membership with the International Strategic Psychotherapists Association (ISPA).

Joel Annesley on the ISPA practitioner directory — my practitioner profile with Mindpath Makers, ISPA membership number 41.

Joel Annesley on Psychology Today — lists my practice, training and areas of work. Psychology Today displays verification of my membership with the International Strategic Psychotherapists Association (ISPA).

Joel Annesley on Sydney Hypnotherapists — lists my qualifications and practice history, including clinical hypnotherapy since 2021.

These listings provide information about my professional background and memberships. They do not constitute an endorsement or an independent review of the content on The Hypnotherapy Guide.

Why I built this site

A few reasons that overlapped.

The first is that I get a steady stream of curiosity calls from people considering becoming hypnotherapists themselves. They want to know what the training involves, what the work is actually like, whether it’s a viable career, what the field looks like from the inside. The honest answers to those questions aren’t easy to find online. What does exist is either marketing material from training schools or generic career-aggregator content. I wanted somewhere to point people that wasn’t either of those.

The second is that the public-facing information about hypnotherapy in Australia is similarly thin. Most of what ranks on Google for “what is hypnotherapy” or “how to choose a hypnotherapist” is either a practitioner site trying to convert the reader into a paying client, an association page doing the work the body needs it to do, or generic international content that doesn’t account for the regulatory landscape in Australia. I wanted to write something that addresses these gaps honestly.

The third is the simple one: I can’t see every client who reaches out, and not every client who reaches out is the right fit for me anyway. If someone lands on this site and decides to pursue hypnotherapy with another practitioner, that’s a good outcome. Better than them not pursuing it at all because they couldn’t find clear information. This site is a guide, not a marketing funnel for my practice.

Disclosure of my clinical practice

I run a separate clinical practice called Mindpath Makers, based in Sydney and offering telehealth across Australia. It’s separately branded, separately marketed, and is not the focus of this site. If you’re looking for a hypnotherapist, the HCA national register and the AHA register are both credible starting points. Whether you choose to consider my practice or another is genuinely up to you.

The full set of editorial disclosures, including affiliate and referral relationships, is set out on the Editorial Standards and Disclosures page.

Contact

You can reach me at joel@hypnotherapyguide.com.au.

If you’ve spotted something in the site that’s inaccurate or out of date, or you’d like to suggest a topic, you can reach me at joel@hypnotherapyguide.com.au. I read everything that comes through, even if I can’t always respond at length.