Notes from the President
Bernhard Trenkle, Dipl
March 2019
A look behind the scenes:
When Kata Varga asked me when my presidential letter for the newsletter will be ready, I answered that we were so busy with so many projects, I did not have the time to write the letter. She asked, “Why don’t you describe these projects in your letter?” I thought that this was a good idea. Why not give our members a glimpse behind the scenes? Which projects and topics are we currently working on?
Our new administrator, Shady Tonn, is currently reviewing more than half a dozen software solutions to make membership management easier and more efficient. Included in this process are Enayat Shahidi, Mark Jensen, Julie Linden, Suzanne Malik and myself. For this we need external advice from time to time. There are a number of good solutions but most of them are quite expensive, and the question is whether we can get good solutions that are less costly.
My son-in-law Manni Henke, Shady Tonn and I recently sat together in front of a big screen for more than 6 hours without a break on a Sunday to optimize the webpage www.whoISHwho.com.
Woltemade Hartman wrote a questionnaire to all Constituent Societies of ISH asking for information about the rules and legal regulations that exist in the different countries and continents: Who can work as a psychotherapist? Who can describe themselves as such? Which professional groups are taught hypnotic techniques? Which occupational groups can train others in the use of hypnosis?
The rules in China are different from those in Hong Kong and the rest of the world. And in Australia, different rules apply from province to province. America First or Europe First only works to a limited extent, if at all. Given this, how can we best set standards that fit all countries and constituent societies? Some ISH constituent societies and training institutes are waiting for us to set standards so that they can contain irregularities and excesses in their home countries.
Giuseppe de Benedittis, a long-standing member of the ISH Board of Directors, continues to work on the recognition of hypnotherapy by the WHO and other board members are also involved.
Katalin Varga produces together with Julie Linden and Nicole Ruysschaert the ISH newsletter, which is really worth reading. It’s an immense job. For almost two decades I published the newsletter of the MEG in Germany, and know how much work goes into this.
Our Polish colleagues, under the leadership of Kris Klajs, are continuing to organize the World Congress on Hypnosis, scheduled for 10-13 June, 2021 in Kraków, Poland. The webpage with registration will be available soon.
Enayat Shahidi, Mehdi Fathi and I also work almost daily to organize the 1st Asian Conference in Mashhad. Iran. The programme will be available soon online at www.iran2019.com. A large number of international speakers from many different countries will be represented.
Our Chinese colleagues, under the leadership of Xin Fang, are also working on a large conference project, which will again serve as preparation for a 2nd Asian Conference in July 2022, in Beijing. At the same time, preparations are underway to establish an Asian hypnosis society.
Brian Allen and his wife, Irina Allen (who is originally from Russia), are helping us to make contacts in the former Soviet Republics. Brian Allen is also supporting a former board member of the South African Milton Erickson Institute, Callie Hattingh, who immigrated to Australia. Callie Hattingh quickly established a new training concept and a new constituent society there.
Cecilia Fabre from Mexico is working together with some younger colleagues (Stephane Radoykov, Raphael Kolic), involving the Youth where to buy ambien over the counter Committee of ISH, on concepts how to make work with social media fruitful for ISH.
Claude Virot is very active in France. France is one of the strongest countries at the moment in the field of hypnosis. Claude also works with the youth committee he initiated when he was the President of ISH, and maintains contacts in Latin American countries and organizes jointly organized congresses there.
Shady Tonn has also made some improvements to our ISH website. Shady is in training as a psychotherapist. To get a license she has to work for 9 months full time in a psychiatric hospital. With some emails and telephone calls it was possible for me to give her a place in her desired clinic. The whole board is satisfied with the very good and committed work of Shady Tonn. Since February of this year she is our chief administrator. And I am happy that I was able to find a training place for her in this renowned clinic so quickly.
Shady Tonn and I, in cooperation with many colleagues around the world, are preparing a complete list of hypnotherapists whom we would like to invite to the conference in Kraków. Already in 2010 – in preparation for the International Conference 2012 in Bremen – I had compiled a list of 850 colleagues worldwide. Although I had asked many insiders for additions to my list, even some prominent colleagues were forgotten. The total number on the list will certainly be over 1000 hypnotherapists throughout the world. Not everyone will be able to lecture in Kraków. But we hope to have a very well attended ISH World Congress again. This conference is something like a family reunion of our international hypnosis family that takes place every 3 years.
Here, now, is a special request: Please send us the names and email addresses of colleagues whom you think we should include in this list. Please send them to info@ishhypnosis.org. We are also interested in getting information regarding their area of specialization and their home country. Perhaps you have organized a conference once and, can send us the contact information of the speakers from that conference. Or perhaps you have edited a book, and you can send to us the addresses of the authors who have written a chapter for that book. Our goal is to gather, in one place, a list of the most innovative, prominent, and impactful hypnosis experts throughout the world in one place.
Once again, a very motivated board with a very small budget is doing a lot of work. At the end of May of this year, the ISH Board of Directors will meet for our annual in-person meeting. In addition to their time, most board members invest their own money to contribute to the costs of the lodging and airfare to attend this meeting.
Sometimes we have more ideas for advancing the field of hypnosis than the resources to realize these ideas. But as ISH grows – as we continue to increase the number of members and constituent societies – we will be able to be even more successful in these efforts. Please support us by motivating your colleagues to become members of ISH. And if you are not yet a member, please become one, by going to our website. As a member, not only will you be joining our family and supporting the growth and acceptance of hypnosis in the world, you will also receive a number of important personal benefits, which you can find, described on the ISH webpage www.ishhypnosis.org
With best regards
Bernhard Trenkle
Dipl. Psych., Dipl.Wi.-Ing.