The deep pain in the caller’s voice is only too apparent. They are obviously very upset and with good reason. Their child has just become part of a growing, devastating epidemic that promises horrifying responsibility for them and their child.

In the last article you were promised how to effectively help a client when you only have one session. This is especially important if you only have one session to show a deeply pained parent that you can be a very effective part of their child’s diabetes success team.

With the above challenge in mind here’s what you’re going to do: you are going to bend time and

conduct two sessions simultaneously.

While we are together as you read this article, I want to share with you one way in which I attempt to give my client’s twice as much as they pay for; instead of just one person receiving the healing benefits of trance, two will enjoy.

Following you will receive some interesting Ericksonian hypnosis techniques along with a very useful script that helps both child and parent at many levels.

But first, let’s get through the phone call. You assure the caller that you know of some effective methods for helping children with diabetes.

Then, you state the following: "In fact Mrs. Powers, some of the most noticeable characteristics about children diagnosed with diabetes is denial, helplessness and/or significant anger."

At this point you then ask the parent: "Have you noticed these or any other emotions?" This serves two purposes: first, you will probably push their talk button (because you will have more than likely hit a major symptom in their child) and second, the person on the phone really needs a big listening ear. Look, I (CDH) know how bad it is to be diagnosed as an adult with diabetes but if I were a parent and I was just told my kid had a disease that required them taking shots everyday and they could possibly go blind or die from kidney disorders? I would probably be babbling to my cat’s litterbox just for the company.

By the way, one thing that Milton Erickson was famous for, was asking vaguely specific questions. They allow the subconscious more room to communicate. The following question (from above paragraph) is deliberately vague to help stimulate several results. "Have you noticed these or any other emotions? This question is consciously directed toward information about the child but the parent is very likely feeling these same emotions.

Now, because you have demonstrated competent understanding of your client’s situation (simply by listening and asking one or two questions!) you have a good chance of doing more healing work with your caller. This will happen because you will explain to them that you want to share with them some very important information (S.U.G.A.R. and A.C.E. mentioned in previous articles) but it will take some time. Then you ask if they would be interested in coming in to discover what else can be done to help their child.

Once your caller has shown up in your office with her/his child, your immediate goal is to have a realistic and significant impact on the emotional well being of your client (which is both child and parent).

So, once you and your client(s) are more acquainted with each other, the following ‘mini-script’ is worth committing to memory:

Once you’ve done an induction appropriate for the child and their eyes are closed, you read the following script. By the way, I strongly suggest supplying an audio copy to the parent with the ‘idea’ that it will work best if they listen to the tape with their kid.

"Austin, as you hear my voice, let yourself imagine, see or hear your hero (Spider Man, Dr. Evil or whoever the child’s hero is) actually speaking the words I say, okay?" (Be sure to get an affirmative head nod before proceeding)

"Here we go! Spider Man is saying ‘Austin, let’s go for a magical journey. I want you to close your eyes as soon as you feel comfortable, okay? Good." (Austin’s eyes are already closed but this is an effective technique.)

"Austin, as you hear me count from 10 down to 1, I need you to please mentally repeat the words I say to you, okay?" (This is a bit confusing and is meant to be because it will enhance the process.)

At this point, any child roughly under the age of 10 should be in a comfortable level of trance. You will be able to tell by more lethargic nodding of the head and other standard trance signs.

Now, you tell Austin that you want Spider Man to keep giving him words of encouragement while you talk to his mom/dad. Make sure he is doing this and then you say to the parent:

"Now Mr./Mrs. Powers, I’m going to read this script (Hartland Ego Script) and I want you to just let yourself easily remember whatever seems important to you so that you can read this to Austin in a flowing, natural way, all right? Now, please focus..... as if these words are going right inside and finding a permanent place to help......Austin....I need you to please listen to Spider Man telling you these words...........................are somehow......giving you strength..... courage..... and optimism aren’t they?" .

Now, you pause a moment and see who is nodding their head. Doesn’t matter if anyone nods or both people do. Just continue on reading the Hartland Ego Strengthening Script and finishing the count from 7 to 1 at the same time. As a general rule, if this is a young child (under 7 or 8) you want to keep the script to about 6 minutes.

At the end of the script, you tell Austin to say goodbye to Spidey for now. Give him a few moments to do this. I have found it useful to ask if my client’s super hero has any other words of encouragement. Usually they do. Suggest that Austin keep those healthy, healing words deep in his heart because no one else has to know them unless he wants to tell them.

Exit your client from trance by saying the following:

While you are saying the above paragraph to Austin you are also directing your attention/intention to Austin’s mom so that she too, wakes up none the wiser that you have given her a gift.

Before ending, let’s cover a great question I received yesterday. The person who emailed me wrote: "Dear Sir, I am related to a diabetic. It is confusing to figure out what is good information and what is not. For example, I recently read that coffee may prevent Type 2 diabetes. Should I start drinking lots of coffee like they mentioned in the article? Thanks for the advice. (name withheld)

This question illustrates the tremendous problem with newspaper articles. They are typically written by well-intentioned reporters who are not medical researchers. I have read several newspaper articles about the ‘coffee solution to diabetes’ and though the articles give caveats, the headline still gives the reader the idea that there is a ‘magic bullet’ in a cup of coffee.

My reply to the question then? Simple. "No. Please avoid large amounts of coffee because it acts as a stimulant that can ultimately lead to greatly enhanced levels of physical and emotional stress which can worsen a person’s predisposition to diabetes."

The moral of this story is that newspaper headlines are more for interesting reading rather than in-depth medical value. The same thing goes for most of those ludicrous vitamin/herbal claims. By the way, I am a big fan of herbal and vitamin supplementation (especially for people with diabetes) but it must be done responsibly and not according to ‘too good to be true’ claims usually seen in advertising. Speaking of natural supplements, we’ll be covering several that are diabetes specific in future articles.

So, it’s time to say goodbye. Thanks for reading this article.