Stop smoking hypnotherapy in Penzance and online

Quit for good by dealing with why you smoke, from a therapist who quit with hypnotherapy herself.

Patches, gum, vapes, and willpower all share the same weakness. They deal with the cigarette, but not with the reason you reach for one.

I smoked from my school days until I was 25, when eight sessions of hypnotherapy ended it. I have not wanted a cigarette since. Now, as a cognitive behavioural hypnotherapist, I help people quit smoking and vaping by getting to the root of the habit, not just papering over it.

Why willpower isn’t enough

Willpower is short term. It runs out precisely when you need it most, at the end of a hard day, in the middle of a stressful week. That is not a character failure. It is how willpower works.

Smoking persists because it does a job: it calms you. For some people there is a real nicotine addiction underneath. For many others it is not dependence at all, but a deeply grooved habit. Part of what makes it feel calming is the breathing itself, the slow inhale, the hold, the long release, a pattern that regulates the nervous system, and one of the components we work with directly when you quit.

Take the cigarette away without replacing what it does for you, and the pull back is enormous. That is why quick fixes fail, and why we do this differently.

How Hypno-CBT helps you quit

The CBT work uses your conscious mind. We work through your triggers, notice exactly how the habit formed and what keeps it running, and then disrupt the habit loop using behaviour change, cognitive reframing, and practical experiments you test in real life between sessions. Because the loop is visible and specific, this part can move in a relatively short timeframe.

Hypnosis then works with the subconscious, which is where cravings, compulsions, and any underlying addiction get rewired. Alongside cementing your new habits, I build a genuine aversion, an automatic repulsion to cigarettes, the smell, the look, the taste, and strengthen your pull towards health, energy, and a long life.

The same approach works for vaping. If you swapped cigarettes for a vape and now cannot put that down either, the root cause is the same, and so is the way out.

I quit with hypnotherapy myself

I started smoking at secondary school and quit at 25, after eight sessions with a hypnotherapist. That was decades of habit, gone, and I have never wanted to smoke since.

Life afterwards demanded I stay healthy, through police fitness tests and then a career as a personal trainer, and I have also lost someone close to me to a smoking related illness. I know from both sides exactly what is at stake, and exactly what freedom from it feels like.

Worried about quitting?

Fear of weight gain is the most common worry, and it deserves a straight answer. Some people do eat more at first, because food steps in as the new soother. In our CBT work you learn to meet those feelings directly, and if eating does become a struggle, that is work I specialise in and we can tackle it together. A few temporary pounds against decades of health is a trade worth making, and even the pounds are optional.

The other fear is losing your coping mechanism. You will not be left without one. Building your new ways of coping is the heart of the work, before the cigarettes go, not after.

What about relapse?

Lasting change comes from the CBT tools you will keep practising, and your personal hypnotherapy recording stays with you to reinforce everything whenever you need it.

On top of that, your programme includes a complimentary one hour session, available up to six weeks after you finish, built in for enhanced relapse prevention. If something wobbles, we deal with it while it is small, and the door is already open.

What smoking is costing you

At current UK prices, a 20 a day smoker spends around £5,000 a year. Over a smoking lifetime, that can pass £150,000. That is a small house.

The money is only part of it. Think about where you want to be in 10 or 20 years: the energy, the health, being around for the people who matter to you. Your reasons are the fuel for this work, and we will dig them out together in the first session.

The 4 day intensive stop smoking programme

I treat smoking differently from my other work, because when you are breaking a habit loop, concentrated momentum beats a slow drip. The whole programme runs over four consecutive days, online via Zoom or at home within about 10 miles of Penzance.

Before day one

your free 20 minute discovery call, then preparation homework, so the work starts before we ever sit down

Day one

an intensive two hour session

Days two, three, and four

a one hour session each day, with focused homework in the hours between

Personalised hypnosis

recordings, made for you with your name in them, to keep for life

A complimentary one hour session

available up to six weeks after the programme, for enhanced relapse prevention

The format is deliberate. Four consecutive days front load momentum and carry you through the hardest first days, the daily homework keeps the change moving in the hours between sessions, and the six week follow up is there to protect it.

Fees

For a 20 a day smoker at current prices, £575 is around six weeks of cigarettes. The programme pays for itself before the follow up session, and then keeps paying you back every week for the rest of your life.

About me

I’m Kathy Brewerton, HDipCBH, CPT, MNCIP. I hold a Level 5 Higher Diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy from the UK College of Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy in London, I am a registered member of the National Council of Integrative Psychotherapists, and I work in regular clinical supervision. And I am an ex-smoker who quit with hypnotherapy, so I am not asking you to do anything I have not done.

A note on medication and your GP

If you are using prescription stop smoking medication, keep your GP in the loop. This work sits happily alongside it, and alongside NHS stop smoking support. There is no conflict, and more support is better than less.

Frequently asked questions

Does hypnotherapy work for stopping smoking?

It worked for me, permanently, and it helps many people. I will be honest with you: the research on hypnosis alone producing lasting quits is mixed, which is exactly why I combine it with CBT. The CBT deals with why you smoke and builds your new coping tools, and the hypnosis makes it stick. Root cause first, reinforcement second.

Can you help me quit vaping?

Yes. Vaping runs on the same engine as smoking: a habit that regulates your feelings, wrapped in nicotine. The approach is identical, and so is the goal, being free of the whole cycle rather than swapping one dependency for another.

What if I start smoking again?

Your programme includes a complimentary one hour session up to six weeks after you finish, designed exactly for this. You will also keep your personalised hypnosis recordings, and the CBT tools do not expire. A slip does not undo the work. We treat it as information, deal with what triggered it, and carry on.

Will I gain weight when I quit?

Some people eat a little more at first, but it is not inevitable, and we address it head on in the CBT work by dealing with the feelings that drive both habits. If eating does become a struggle, helping people with emotional eating is one of my specialisms. You will not be left to figure it out alone.

Take the first step

The first step is a free, confidential 20 minute phone consultation. No pressure, no obligation, just a conversation about what you are experiencing and whether this approach is right for you.

kbhypnocbt@outlook.com