Creature Courage FAQ

Location: Creature Courage is currently located in South West London with the closest public transport being Cheam Rail Station. We will travel to you for custom sessions if desired for an extra fee. We do cater to many events in surrounding areas such as Surrey and in Kent.   

When: Our therapy can be booked at a date that is convenient with you, just get in touch to find a time that works. The session will take place between 9:40am and 6pm. Book well in advance as spaces often fill up very quickly.

How will you help me overcome my fear or phobia?  We use a combination of education to build compassion and fascination, art therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy, imagination exercises, education around neuroscience, NLP techniques, hypnotherapy and immersive therapy to achieve our incredibly high success rate. The techniques we teach well be of benefit far beyond just the animal phobia as they can help you build overall confidence and stay in control of your emotions in any stressful situation you may face in life.  They are very effective and safe methods that have been used for many years and have been proved to be the quickest and most effective ways for people to overcome fears and phobias.

Will the Creature Courage Experiences work for anyone? Yes, our workshops can work for anyone who is serious about change and take on board the things 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 that you can use to continue the work on your own. Occasionally some people might need a little more time to feel 100% over the fear and our second sessions are very affordable only £100 for a top up session.  

Keeping your phobia away for good is up to you. We will assure by the end of our work together that you are calm around your trigger animal and happy with your results. We will 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, using the techniques we teach and to continue to  practice exposure  to completely desensitise yourself. There is no reason why you should not have every success after the therapy if the advice and training we teach is followed.

It is essential that you disclose any known medical conditions and medication (both professionally prescribed or self medicated) and any other reasons that may prevent you from being a suitable candidate for hypnotherapy. You MUST also disclose any mental health issues or any history of being sectioned (voluntary or via doctor / police) under the mental health act. Though this might not disqualify you from our therapy as many of our clients have mental health conditions, 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 and 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 9 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 £347 per child. The parent can go free however if they want to participate in the phobia treatment as well, a small fee of £50 will be applied.

For children ages 5 to 8 we cannot treat with our full therapy module however, we have a special educational creative and exposure session to help children learn and appreciate spiders. They will find out about spiders, be able to touch a tarantula and house spider and do a special spider art activity. The aim is to help children at this age to get over any fears they might have and learn to appreciate spiders in a new way. A parent must be present at all times. The price is £99 per child for an hour and half 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 and that 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 photographs are used until the end part of the therapy.   We are so confident that the therapy we provide will be so effective that you will be able to do the immersive therapy option at the end. 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 the person is always aware and in control of what is going on. It is simply a state where the mind is able to think more clearly and come to positive solutions easier by being able to connect better with our subconscious. Hypnosis is about giving you back control and learning how to calm yourself.

What is NLP?  NLP stands for Neuro -linguistic Programming. NLP techniques are simple but powerful as they quickly help change the way we think about our problems and help us generate new patterns of behaviour. Neuro Linguistic programming is how the relationship between mind, language and behaviour work together and empowers people with tools of how to be in control and get these three components working together with awareness and positive purpose.

Does this replace medical treatment? Though this is a very successful form of therapy, this does not replace medical treatment if this is what is needed. We advise that you seek advice from your GP or other relevant medical professionals for a variety of different options and to assess your needs for what is right for you. Our therapy can complement other methods of help and is one of many ways 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 are used in a way that is gentle and considerate of their nature. 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 need to 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 by text or email of 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 any other reason, we will refund you in full or move your session to another date.