Creature Courage FAQ

Location:

Creature Courage is currently located in South West London.  The closest public transport to the location is only a few minutes walk from Cheam Rail Station. We will travel to you for custom sessions if desired for an extra fee which would include all travel costs. We do cater to many events in surrounding areas such as Surrey, Hampshire and in Kent.   

When:

Our therapy can be booked at a date that is convenient for you.  Just get in touch to find our availability to pick a date that works. Most of our therapy is based on powerful one day workshops. The one day phobia therapy workshops take place between 9:30am and 6pm. Book well in advance as spaces often fill up very quickly.

How will you help me overcome my fear or phobia? 

We uniquely use a combination of proven phobia techniques to achieve our incredibly high success rate. We understand that hypnotherapy alone will not cure an animal phobia. This is why we include gentle immersive therapy for all animal phobia treatment.  Additionally, our therapy not only helps our clients get over their animal phobia, but also build overall courage. This allows our clients to build better habits with anxiety triggers in many areas of their lives. Our approach is holistic, aimed at creating lasting freedom and overall better mental health. Therefore the benefit of our therapy goes far beyond just the animal phobia. Most of our clients get over their animal phobia in just one day! Some of the techniques we use are:

-Education to build compassion and fascination

-Art therapy

-Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)

-Meditative imagination exercises

-Education around neuroscience and how our survival instinct operates in our brains.

-Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) techniques 

-Hypnotherapy 

-Immersive therapy 

They are very effective and safe methods that have been used for many years to treat phobias. Our methods have been proven to be the quickest and most effective ways for people to overcome fears and phobias.

How much does it cost?

Our one day animal phobia workshops are £349 for over 8 hours of life changing therapy. That works out very reasonably at £50 an hour. Please go to our PRICES page for a more detailed breakdown of our prices for all of our services.

Will the Creature Courage Experience work for anyone?

Yes, our workshops can work for anyone who is serious about change and takes on board what we teach. The techniques we use have proven and powerful results with people with phobias for years. Most people can get rid of most if not all of their fears in one session. We also teach self-calming techniques so that you can continue your self-development on your own. Occasionally, some people might need a little more time to feel 100% over the fear. We offer very affordable top-up sessions for only £100.  

Additionally, we now offer anxiety coaching services for people who have more severe anxiety. Animal phobias are connected to our wider anxiety and how we choose to handle any stressful situation will affect results. Therefore, creating better habits around all anxiety triggers to build greater courage is key to lasting phobia freedom. So we can support our clients in this more holistic and in-depth way if desired.

We will work with you to get the results that you want. Moreover, we’ll also train you and give you all the tools you need to keep your phobia away for good. But ultimately human behaviour is unpredictable and we can’t control your choices around how you think or how you act. The long term success of the therapy is based on the effort you are willing to put into following the advice given. It is your choice to use the techniques we teach and to continue to practice exposure to completely desensitize yourself. If you follow our advice, there is no reason why you should not have every success after the therapy. 

What if I have a medical condition?

You must disclose any known medical conditions and medication (both professionally prescribed or self-medicated). You must let us know of any other reasons that may prevent you from being a suitable candidate for hypnotherapy or any of the other therapies we have listed. You MUST also disclose any mental health issues or any history of being sectioned (voluntarily or via doctor/police) under the Mental Health Act. This usually will not disqualify you from our therapy as many of our clients have mental health conditions. However, some mental health conditions can be made worse by hypnotherapy so we NEED to know.  

We reserve the right to refuse to treat or discontinue treatment in any case where we have not been fully made aware of any medical or mental health condition or reason that could be counterproductive for the use of hypnotherapy or associated treatments. We will not be held liable if this information has been withheld.

Do you treat children?

Yes. Due to high demand and a great need, Creature Courage is now doing phobia workshops for children between the ages of 8 and 14. We have adapted our animal phobia workshop for a younger mind. A parent must accompany any child attending our workshop.  The price is £349 per child. If a parent has an animal phobia, we highly recommend that they get treated first. This is so the child’s therapy is not wasted. A child’s can easily relearn the fear if the parent still has the animal phobia.

For children ages 5 to 7 we cannot treat with our full therapy module. However, we have a special educational creative and exposure session to help children learn and appreciate animals. They will find out more about the animal, do some creative therapy and have some immersive therapy. The aim is to build fascination and help to desensitize the child to the trigger animal. A parent must be present at all times. The price is £150 per child for a 2 hour session. A max of three children can be booked in at the same time.

Do I have to see or touch the animal I am afraid of during the therapy? 

No, we will not force you to do anything. The therapy is completely in your control.  However, the therapy will not really work in a lasting way unless you are willing to fully face your fears. This means interacting with your trigger animal.  If you want our phobia free guarantee you must be willing to not put any barriers to your success. However, we can assure that exposure will be done in a gentle way and taken at your pace.  No animals or pictures of animals are used until the end part of the therapy.   We are confident you will be able to do the immersive therapy option at the end. The therapy before doing this is highly effective. Imagine how proud you will be when you say you have faced your fears and have conquered them!

Will I go unconscious or lose control while in hypnosis?

No, you will always be IN CONTROL. A hypnotic state is a natural state we go in and out all of the time. It is a place of deep relaxation and though very peaceful, you are always aware of what is going on. You are not out of control of your body or your mind. It is simply a state where the mind is able to think more clearly and come to positive solutions. A hypnotic state makes it is easier to connect with our subconscious while your consciousness. Hypnosis is actually more about giving you back control, empowering your mind in a new way to make needed changes.You can read more about what hypnotherapy is HERE.

What is NLP? 

NLP stands for Neuro -linguistic Programming. Neuro Linguistic programming is how the relationship between mind, language and behaviour work together. NLP techniques help us learn how to get these three components working together with positive purpose. NLP techniques are simple but powerful. They quickly help change the way we think about our problems and help us generate new patterns of behaviour. You can learn more about NLP HERE.

What Is CBT?

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a form of psychological treatment that’s highly effective for a range of mental health issues. CBT primarily focuses on the interplay between thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. CBT aims to address current problems and provide practical strategies to modify unhealthy thinking patterns. Through a goal-oriented, structured approach, CBT helps to identify and challenge distorted thoughts. Additionally, CBT provides tools for better managing stress and emotional responses.

Some CBT techniques include:

-Learning to recognize and alter problematic thoughts and behaviours

-Practicing new skills in real-life settings  

-Using exercises such as journaling and role-playing to reinforce new coping mechanisms. 

You can find out more about CBT Therapy HERE.

Does this replace medical treatment?

Though this is a very successful form of therapy, this does not replace medical treatment. We advise that you seek advice from your GP or other relevant medical professionals for various options and to assess your needs for what is right for you. Our therapy can complement other methods of help to assist you on your journey.

What about the treatment of animals used for the therapy?

Every effort is put into assuring that any animals used for therapy is done in the least stressful manner possible. We have multiple therapy animals so no animal is in constant use. All of our therapy animals are well taken care of and used in a gentle and considerate way of their nature.  Most therapy animals enjoy the therapy sessions as extra attention and stimuli. They are beloved pets kept in fantastic condition when not being used for therapy.  We are fully insured and licensed to use our animals in therapy.

Are there any restrictions of people who can’t do the therapy? 

You must be at least 16 years of age to do the therapy alone. If you are under 16 you must book with an adult. We can do special children’s sessions but please get in touch before booking this to discuss to see if your child is a good candidate.  Though rare, a few mental health conditions are not suitable for hypnotherapy and could make it worse, so please consult your doctor if you are unsure. However, we can still do other parts of the therapy if you can’t do the hypnotherapy part.

What if I can’t make my session, will I get a refund? 

All sales are final but we can reschedule your appointment with the next available space if you give us at least 24 hours notice. This needs to be given by text or email if you are not being able to make it. This includes illness as if you are ill, we cannot expose our therapists.  If our therapist is ill, then we will also move your therapy date to a time that works for both parties.  In the unlikely event that something happens and we have to cancel on our end for another reason, we will refund you in full or move your session to another date. Please read our Terms of Services for more information.