by Linda Sechrist

Melissa Stefanaski, director and founder of Insight Hypnotherapy, in Fort Myers, and Know-Stress-Zone.com, has been helping individuals to deal with anxiety, overcome challenges and make significant life changes since 1998. After earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from McGill University, in Montreal, Canada, in 1996, Stefanski resumed studying and in 1998 earned a Master of Arts degree in Counseling Psychology.

A search for an additional tool that could help the clients she served in settings such as inpatient substance abuse rehabilitation centers, behavioral programming treatment facilities and individual therapy at mental health counseling centers, led the Fort Myers resident to hypnotherapy. While helping clients with the new self-help tool since 2011, she discovered that the science-based approach helped her overcome her lifelong personal struggle with worrying and nervousness that presented itself as headaches and physical uneasiness. 

Today, as certified hypnotherapist through the National Guild of Hypnotists, she refers to hypnotherapy as her “labor of love”. “I used to worry so easily and throughout the years. I bought numerous products and countless self-help programs in search of that ‘thing’ that was going to make the terrible feelings of anxiety to go away. I wasted a lot of time and money, remaining stuck in self-help hell until I was trained in self-hypnosis, which has a natural affinity with psychotherapy. Now I consider it a labor of love to teach my clients this effective, solution-based tool for achieving goals, whether it be to reduce stress, lose weight, quit smoking, pass a test or build confidence,” says Stefanski. 

She advises that while hypnotherapy seems magical, it's not magic. “Improving will power to replace a bad habit such as eating unhealthy food or snacking between meals with a good habit takes more than thinking, ‘I won’t eat that piece of cheesecake’. What’s likely to happen is that after thinking about not eating it, you’ll do it and think, ‘I’ll start my diet tomorrow or I’ll make a New Year’s resolution and start fresh after the holidays.’ Hypnosis offers what I think is missing to building willpower—the emotional commitment to making the change that will make us happy. Hypnosis is a tool for tapping into emotions that help get us excited about making a commitment to change, rather than relying on our intellect,” she advises.

“Insight Hypnotherapy, your very own reset button, is about turning inward, looking for your answers inside you. Many individuals get stuck in the category of self-help, looking for a guru or special program to tell them what to do. The missing key to your life and the goals you want to accomplish is you—the main contributor to your success. Inside you is where insight comes from, uncovering the answers that are already there and committing to activate them in your life. That’s the real reset button,” enthuses Stefanski.

For a free consultation or to make an appointment, call 239-980-2507.