1-to-1 Hypnotherapy for Alcohol: Consultations with Tansy Forrest

Most clients work with me across four sessions, which is why the four-session block is the most common starting point. Some people notice significant change after one or two sessions. Others continue beyond four as their goals evolve. The initial consultation is the best way to get a sense of what's likely to be right for you — there's no fixed formula.

First — it's not a sign that change isn't possible for you. Most people who drink more than they'd like have already tried to cut back using willpower and determination, and found it only works up to a point. That's not a failing. It's how habits work: the evening drink isn't a conscious choice you remake every night, it's a pattern that runs automatically, often tied to stress, routine, or emotion. Willpower alone doesn't reach it. That's exactly where hypnotherapy can help — working at the level where the habit actually lives, rather than trying to override it from above.

The first session is about understanding where you are right now — your current relationship with alcohol, what you'd like to change, and what has and hasn't worked before. From there, we work together using clinical hypnotherapy and practical behavioural tools to address the underlying patterns: the triggers, associations, and habits that keep drinking in place. Sessions typically last 60 minutes. It's a collaborative process — not a prescription.

My book, Ten Steps to Drink Less and Live Well, is a complete self-help guide with strategies, exercises, and hypnotherapy tools you can work through independently. Many people achieve real results with the book alone.

Private consultations take things further. Instead of working through the steps by yourself, you get my personal guidance to make sure the approach fits your specific situation — your triggers, your lifestyle, your history with alcohol. The sessions are tailored in a way a book can't be.

It's quite different. AA and rehab are designed for people with severe alcohol dependence, where stopping drinking is medically necessary. I work with grey area drinkers — people who drink more than they'd like, but whose drinking isn't at a crisis point. My approach is built around moderation rather than abstinence, and it doesn't involve labelling yourself or attending group meetings. If you're unsure whether this kind of support is right for you, the Am I Drinking Too Much? post on the blog is a useful starting point.

Hypnotherapy works by addressing the patterns and associations that keep a drinking habit in place even after the awareness is there. For many people, the evening drink has become a stress ritual — a way to mark the end of work, a social script, a reward that has come to feel necessary.

These patterns run below conscious decision-making, which is why knowing you want to drink less doesn't always translate into actually drinking less. Hypnotherapy works at that level, making it easier to change the pattern without relying on willpower alone. I combine clinical hypnotherapy with practical tools from my book and programme.

No. My approach is built around moderation — finding a relationship with alcohol that genuinely works for you, which for most clients means drinking meaningfully less rather than stopping entirely. If you want to stop completely, that's something I work with too. But it's not the default assumption, and it's not a requirement.

A single session costs £350 (60 minutes, via Zoom or in-person at the London practice).

A block of four sessions costs £1,200 — this is where most clients start, as it allows for a structured programme with time to see lasting change.