fbpx

About me

Oliver Newton HypnotherapistI grew up in the seventies in Queensland, Australia, on a cattle farm before my family moved back to Cornwall for 5 years and then to the South-West of France in the early eighties to restore a traditional French farmhouse, surrounded by sunflowers. Within 3 months I was attending the local French Secondary School.

After taking a French degree in Gas, Plumbing, Heating and Electrical installations, I moved to Portugal where I set up my own successful business for 12 years. In 2006 I moved back to England to work for major contractors – Aquatonics (UK) Ltd and Shire Integrated systems, working on such major projects as the London 2012 Olympic Park, the Royal London Hospital and Dyson HQ.

Through out my professional career I always maintained that “calm and collective”  appearance on the outside, with many coping mechanisms in place to deal with the pressure. But after an emotional event, the cracks started to appear, moments when I  felt completely overwhelmed, stressed and anxious. My mind would just go over and over the same thoughts and always with worst case scenario outcomes. 

Professionally I was struggling to concentrate, losing that confidence in myself to take those important decisions, and even not being able to answer the phone. At home I was becoming distant, distracted, short tempered and argumentative. And the worst was that I didn’t know how to put into words how I was feeling inside and why. I started shutting out close friends and family, all consumed with negative thoughts, what if… what if…

It was very difficult to talk about mental health in, what was back then, essentially a very male dominated construction industry with a “we are men” attitude! Thankfully that bravado and stigma has changed in recent years, and companies have seen the huge benefits in including mental health in their day to day running operations.

About 15 years ago now I was fortunate to be asked to design some graphics and drawings for the Clifton Practise Hypnotherapy Training (CPHT) school, founded by my father David Newton a few years earlier, after a very successful career as a hypnotherapist. I read the whole course from cover to cover, understanding the whys to so many symptoms I’d experience over the years.

Being involved from the side-lines with the expansion of the CPHT schools to now 29 across the country, I decided to follow in my father’s footsteps and completed my  training at CPHT Bristol with the lovely, all knowledgeable Susan Rodrigues and charismatic Stuart Taylor.

 I now assist in CPHT operations and enjoy a successful career helping clients in my own practice.