Confidence and performance
Online hypnotherapy for confidence
Confidence is a response you learned, so it can be relearned. Hypnotherapy can help you find it and use it when it counts, including on the video calls where so much of working life now happens.
How hypnotherapy helps with confidence
Hypnotherapy can help with confidence, and research on performance is encouraging. In a randomised trial, adding hypnosis to cognitive-behavioural therapy for fear of public speaking improved results compared with the therapy alone (Schoenberger et al., 1997). A 2025 systematic review of 13 studies associated hypnosis with better athletic performance and less distress (Miró et al., 2025), and an earlier review ranked hypnosis among the most consistently effective relaxation techniques for performance (Pelka et al., 2016). Most of the sport studies were small, but they fit with what I've seen working with performers, sportspeople and business leaders.
The same person can be completely at ease with friends and tongue-tied in a meeting of six. What feels like a lack of confidence is usually an old protective response, learned at school or after one embarrassing moment, still running long after it stopped being useful. In hypnosis we can update it.
What we can work on
- Presentations, pitches and speaking up in meetings
- Interviews, including video interviews
- Auditions, performance and stage nerves
- Exams and driving tests
- Sport and competition nerves
- Imposter feelings and the fear of being found out
- Social confidence, assertiveness and difficult conversations
- Self-esteem and a harsh inner critic
Why online works especially well for confidence
So much of the pressure people bring to me now happens on screen: the interview on Teams, the pitch on Zoom, the all-hands where your face is one square among fifty. Working online means we practise in the very medium you need to perform in. By the time the real call comes, sitting in front of a camera already feels associated with calm.
You can also book a session close to the big day without losing half a day to travel, from your own office or spare room. In my experience people are more relaxed at home and let their guard down more easily, and with my voice in their headphones the rehearsal in hypnosis becomes vivid and personal.
What a course looks like
- A free consultation. 15–30 minutes by phone or video. Tell me what's coming up and when.
- Finding where it was learned. There's often a specific starting point, and it isn't always the one you'd expect.
- Updating it. Hypnosis and reframing so the old experience stops setting the terms for today.
- Reconnecting with your resources. You have felt confident somewhere in your life. NLP techniques help you call that feeling up when you need it.
- Rehearsal and tools to keep. Vivid mental rehearsal in hypnosis, plus self-hypnosis for the minutes before it matters.
Sessions are an hour, by Microsoft Teams or Zoom, drawing on my background as a life and executive coach as well as a hypnotherapist. After 7 hours (usually five sessions), any further sessions for the same issue are £97.50 an hour: see my halve-fees promise. If nerves have spread into wider worry, see anxiety.
Questions about confidence and online sessions
Can you help with nerves on video calls and online interviews?
Yes, and working online is ideal for it, because we can rehearse in exactly the setting you'll be in. Many clients find the camera stops feeling like an audience.
I have a big presentation soon. Is there time?
Often, yes. Tell me the date at the free consultation and I'll give you an honest view. Because there's no travel, it's easier to fit a session in the days just before.
I hate seeing myself on camera. Will that get in the way?
Not at all. You can hide self-view in both Teams and Zoom, and during hypnosis your eyes are closed anyway.
Do you work with businesses and teams?
Yes. I work with professionals and companies on presence, presentations and handling pressure, and all of it can be done online.
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Format | Online by Microsoft Teams or Zoom |
| First step | Free 15–30 minute consultation |
| Fee | £150 per hour; see fees |
| Typical course | Usually around five sessions (7 hours) |
| Session length | 1 hour |
Who you'll be working with
I'm Tim Dunton: an Advanced and Ericksonian Hypnotherapist with more than 20 years' experience, a Master Practitioner of NLP trained by Richard Bandler and John Grinder, a life and executive coach, and a member of the General Hypnotherapy Register. My clients have included celebrities, film producers, sportspeople and business leaders, and I worked with Samsung on a global TV project, helping cast members see things afresh without stress and anxiety. More about Tim.
The research
- Schoenberger NE, Kirsch I, Gearan P, Montgomery G, Pastyrnak SL (1997). Hypnotic enhancement of a cognitive behavioral treatment for public speaking anxiety. Behavior Therapy 28(1):127–140. DOI
- Miró A, Mesperuza M, Jensen MP, Day MA, García F, Miró J (2025). Therapeutic hypnosis and sports performance: a systematic review. International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology. DOI
- Pelka M, Heidari J, Ferrauti A, Meyer T, Pfeiffer M, Kellmann M (2016). Relaxation techniques in sports: a systematic review on acute effects on performance. Performance Enhancement & Health 5(2):47–59. DOI
Individual experiences vary. See everything I can help with on what can be treated.
15–30 minutes by phone or video, no obligation. Or call 07923 495558.