Clinical  Hypnotherapists are educated, trained and duly certified by qualified experts as practitioners in the art and science of  therapeutic hypnosis. They do not demonstrate hypnosis or use it to entertain. It needs to be understood that Hypnotherapy is in an exclusive and distinctly different stand alone profession requiring very different education, preparation, skills and qualifications than is required of  psychologists, psychotherapists, psychiatrists, therapists counselors and others such a social workers. Although many of the latter do some brief training in hypnosis and employ it to some degree in their practices they rarely do so in any comprehensive manner. Their education and training is also specifically designed based on their individual schools of thought /theory and practicing methodology. They are required to be licensed by the states in which they practice. One does not have to be a licensed psychologist or medical doctor or any other kind of licensed practitioner of the psychological arts and sciences to be a qualified hypnotherapist. Hypnotists and hypnotherapists are specialists in a highly specialized field.   A college degree is also not a requirement. Although a good and varied background in psychology is an essential ingredient to prepare them for the work they will be doing.   There are a few states that require hypnotists to be licensed, Michigan is not one of them. Elaine Kissel’s educational history and  qualifications  follows. Since age 15 Elaine Kissel has been exploring the realms of psychology and psychic phenomena, including hypnosis; her own varied psychic experiences led to her investigations into the field of parapsychology in an attempt to understand the sources of, and verify extra sensory information she received. When Elaine’s first born daughter was diagnosed with brain damage, cerebral palsy and epilepsy, Elaine began to study the mind and brain with great intensity. However, it wasn’t until she met Carolyn Sall MD, the Kissel family’s doctor, that the subject of hypnosis came into clearer focus. Although Elaine had read a great deal about hypnosis and how it had been the subject of research and experiments by the Society of Psychical Research in England for almost a hundred years, she had never had the opportunity to actually experience it personally or meet a practitioner of the art.   She discovered that Dr. Sall was also a medical hypnotist and hypno-analyst and very interested in the subject of ESP: Dr. Sall knew of Elaine’s psychic abilities and invited Elaine to participate in some hypnosis experiments; her aim was to determine if hypnosis enhanced the accuracy and reliability of the phenomenon.   While engaging in those experiments, during which Elaine was hypnotized and tested for ESP in and out of hypnosis, Dr.Sall encouraged Elaine to learn all she could about hypnosis and to become a hypnotherapist.   She told Elaine that with her gifts, her in depth studies of psychology, her compassion, her incredible ability to attune to people’s inner workings and needs and  her innate desire to help people, she would make an exceptional practitioner of the art and science of hypnosis. “You are a natural,” she said. Although Elaine was interested in learning all she could about hypnosis and its uses, her goals at that time, besides raising her four children, were to develop her Mind Mastery course, and help other people develop their own psychic ability.   She also wanted to devote more time to her creative and journalistic writing. However, during that time Dr.Sall become pregnant and she began to seriously consider moving to California. When her baby was born with its heart on the wrong side, Dr.Sall decided to sell her family practice and make the move to California, she persuaded Elaine to continue the experiments and her training to their completion before she left. By the time Dr.Sall left Michigan Elaine had spent almost two years under the tutelage and supervision of Doctor Carolyn Sall, but did not plan to develop her own hypnotherapy practice; partly because what Elaine called her “apprenticeship” was not certified and documented by Dr.Sall; also because Elaine still strongly believed then, as she does now, that we all have ESP and it only needs to be recognized as a natural human faculty and be developed to be of use.  She decided to go forward with her plans to start teaching psychic development and Mind Mastery skills, and in 1977 she opened The Elaine Kissel ESP Development Center in Southfield, Michigan. Soon, however, Elaine began to help her students overcome a variety of problems with hypnosis and word got out about her unique approach and remarkable success rate, and her hypnotherapy practice soon took up a larger and larger amount of her time. Because of the integrity of her work and her highly respected practice of hypnosis, Elaine was the first to be allowed to advertise her hypnosis services in the public media. Newspapers and TV personalities and news casters who had given her attention because of her unique ESP training and self development courses, now also sought her out as an expert in the field of hypnosis.   She became a well known and respected figure as an expert on local radio and TV interview programs. She was also written about, not only because of her innovative approach to employing therapeutic hypnosis, also because of her intuitive as well as her down to earth and scientific approach to the subject of parapsychology hypnosis and related subjects. Elaine conducted, with the help of her husband Don, countless para- psychological experiments and did a great deal of research on hypnosis and healing, engaging her ESP course post grad students in the process: At times employing hypnosis in the endeavor to explore its relationship to helping people to actualize their potential in every aspect of their lives. It was Elaine’s innovative idea to provide healing and supportive therapeutics via hypnosis to cancer patents that also brought her work to the attention of the medical community, and once again the TV and newspapers. Elaine was certified as fully qualified hypnotist practitioner by the American Association of Professional Hypnologists in 1979 and The American Association of Hypnotist examiners. While continuing her independent studies in psychology and related fields, Elaine was busy attending myriad workshops, courses and symposiums; often as a popular educator and speaker; conducting workshops, teaching other hypnotists how best to employ hypnosis and to increase their skills and broaden the scope of their practices. In 1980 Elaine was awarded the coveted Hypnologist of the Year Award  by The American  Association of Professional Hypnologists (AAPH) for her contribution to the art and science of hypnosis; a major contributing factor was that she had  proven in a scientific experiment that blood sugar could be controlled with hypnosis. With this experiment,like so much of what Elaine did in her clinical practice, in public appearances, and giving lectures, she proved that hypnosis had more and better uses than that of entertainment, popular “one shot” and group practices in hotels etc. She educated the public to the fact that the popular media and public perceptions about hypnosis were sadly misleading. Her reputation as a highly qualified and effective hypnotherapist grew so that people were coming to her from around the country. When the American Institute of Hypnotherapy (AIH) developed and was authorized by the State of California to do so, they began to offer on and off campus courses for higher learning, including PhD programs exclusively for hypnotherapists, Elaine was intrigued. By that time her practice was as well established as her enviable reputation. However, she thought that if it was a legitimate course sanctioned by the highly critical CA state boards, she would be interested in what it had to offer her. Elaine says, “At first I was skeptical; I wasn’t interested in buying a degree from a diploma mill.   After I discovered that it was the renown Dr. Krasner who was heading the institute, and I learned of the contents and requirements of the program, I decided that it wouldn’t hurt me to engage in a course of study like that. Surely I would not only learn, I would be contributing to the profession while earning a valid degree.   However, I wanted to be sure before enrolling, so I asked a lot of questions. It was when Dr. Krasner himself contacted me and persuaded me of the value and authenticity of the credentials of the Institute and teachers those I would learn from if I proceeded with the program, that I seriously considered it. I also wanted to be sure I could follow through with my commitments to my clients as well as the course work without sacrificing any of the quality that has always been so important to me. When I do anything I give it my all! Dr. Krasner told me that my name and reputation would help set the standards for other students as well as the AIH; a compliment he did not have to give to encourage my trust because I already knew of Dr. Krasner reputation and work. However, when I expressed concerns about the lack of accreditation, he told me they were in the process of getting accredited. The only thing he said could be omitted from the course in my case was the supervision aspects; because of all my years of proven safe and effective practices. I was also given a huge amount of credit for my years of experience and contributions to the profession, including credits for my Mind Mastery Course, all of my recorded lectures (47), plus my ESP development courses, my Weight Control Seminar, and the many self help and other self development workshops I had created and conducted. Of course they all had to be submitted to be examined by the teaching staff and board before they could qualify for any credits were given for them. I was first required to get my Master’s degree, which I did through the AIH. Actually I must confess  that was one of the highlights of my entire program. Partly because of the varied subject matter and particularly the course credits required for the subject of American Government;because I was not yet a citizen of the US, it was important and most interesting to me. Because of my years of study and experience most of the Masters and the PhD course content were already familiar to me. However, it was good to know that this was all included. It took me almost 19 months to complete the required PhD courses and pass the examinations and then submit my thesis for approval. I did my Thesis on the control of blood sugar, hypnosis and healing, and was awarded my PhD. This coincided with my move from the office in Southfield we had inhabited for ten years to our now famous address on Telegraph Road in Southfield, where The Elaine Kissel Hypnosis Center spent the next 20 years. Shortly after my book, The Mind Is Willing, was published I learned that the AIH had changed hands and was then under the direction of an entirely different management and training team. It was some time later that I discovered it was with a less impressive curriculum; and that my degree was no longer on public record. To my dismay I learned that the current reputation of the AIH seems to be tarnishing its predecessor’s reputation and de-valuing the credentials of those who graduated with an AIH PhD degree. I am deeply concerned for those who had not yet developed the kind of successful practice that I had when they found out how the AIH had changed. Some I have heard have stopped using the letters after their names.   For me, though, because I had earned my sterling reputation over a period of many years before achieving the degree, and have still maintained a highly respected and successful practice, perhaps it is a less critical concern:   Although I certainly am concerned that those seeking the validity and sources of my credentials do so through this now less than reputable organization. And I am disappointed that the records of mine and others’ AIH degrees are no longer available to the public. Having employed my PhD status alongside my name for so long, and believing that it is as valid now as it was then, I have no plans to discard it. I earned the degree, not just through my years of acquiring my empirical knowledge,   education and practical experience before I was duly awarded the AIH degrees, also in my more than 25 years of highly reputable practice since it was awarded to me and the entire 35 plus years of having earned my fine reputation.”   For those people who feel degrees and licensing in and of themselves provide personal safety and security for patients, and assurances of professional competence, genuine caring and integrity, I would suggest that they look beyond the letters after a person’s name and the number of certificates on the wall. That is not to say that degrees and certificates are of no consequence; however, their value naturally depends on who is practicing under their auspices.   Reputation, experience, genuine compassion, intuitiveness, commitment and many other qualities are sadly not included in any certification process. Passing examinations does not a good people helper make: A natural affinity for the work and the ability to empower their clients are essential ingredients in the qualifications of all therapists. . Professional Hypnotists and Hypnotherapists are educated, trained and duly certified by qualified experts as practitioners in the art and science of hypnosis. It needs to be understood that Hypnotherapy is in an exclusive and distinctly different stand alone profession requiring very different education, preparation skills and qualifications than is required of  psychologists, psychotherapists , psychiatrists, therapists counselors and others such as social workers. Although many of the latter do some brief training in hypnosis and employ it to some degree in their practices they rarely do so in any comprehensive manner. Their education and training is also specifically designed based on their individual schools of thought /theory and practicing methodology. They are required to be licensed by the states in which they practice. One does not have to be a licensed psychologist or medical doctor or any other kind of licensed practitioner of the psychological arts and sciences to be a hypnotherapist. Hypnotists and hypnotherapists are specialists in a highly specialized field.   A college degree is also not a requirement. although a good and varied background in psychology is an essential ingredient to prepare students for the work they will be doing.   There are a few states that require hypnotists to be licensed, Michigan is not one of them. There are many legitimate hypnosis schools operating, offering and providing quality education training and supervision to qualified students.   Unfortunately there are also some all too brief certification training courses available and open to anyone who can pay the fees. When seeking any professional help, one should learn about all of the provider's qualifications, not just the academics . Neil Simon, former president of the AAPH said, “Great Hypnotherapists, like Elaine Kissel, are born, not made. She is one of only a few who truly understands hypnosis, who knows how to employ it to its best advantage, and is a credit to the profession.” All the degrees and letters after a person’s name mean nothing without the talent to put to use their education.