Chatting About the Antwerp Conference 2026 S9 E1

Send us Fan MailDenise Billen-Mejia MD CH www.healandberadiant.com       [email protected] Roberts ACH www.lesrobertshypnotherapy.co.uk [email protected] to Two Hypnotherapists Talking with me, Denise Billen-Mejia, here in Delaware, USA. (0:06) And me, Les Roberts in St Helens, United Kingdom. (0:10) This weekly podcast is for anyone and everyone who would like to know more (0:14) about the fascinating world of hypnosis and the benefits that it offers.(0:19) I'm a clinical hypnotherapist and specialist in working with children. (0:25) And I'm a retired medical doctor and consultant hypnotist. (0:30) We are Two Hypnotherapists Talking.(0:33) So let's get on with the episode. (0:36) How about your presentation or everybody else's presentations? (0:40) It's fine. (0:41) It was an amazing weekend.(0:44) Absolutely exhausting, but an amazing weekend. (0:48) So I went to Hypnotic 2026 in Antwerp, Belgium. (0:54) Who's the governing body that organizes that? (0:58) Naila, her name is.(1:01) Naila, yeah. (1:02) So and her lovely sidekick Angelique, which she's such a lovely, lovely person. (1:08) I made some very good contacts there.(1:11) Some really, really nice people. (1:13) Met some lovely people and caught up with two of at least two of our guests. (1:18) Or could potentially could be three.(1:20) And it was just a fantastic weekend. (1:24) And they really look after you in Belgium. (1:27) Shame they couldn't save your throat.(1:29) I know. (1:30) So we were fed and we were watered regularly. (1:34) And it was such a lovely, lovely experience.(1:38) And it was just great. (1:39) It was just lovely, but it was so, so tiring. (1:42) Because you know, and I'm sure everybody else knows who networks.(1:46) The minute you hit the ground is the minute you start to network. (1:51) Yeah, so even over breakfast, you're talking to people. (1:54) Then you're attending presentations on the Saturday and the Sunday.(2:01) So you can consistently talk. (2:04) Non-stop. (2:05) Yeah, so.(2:06) How late did the conference go? (2:08) Did you get a decent night's sleep? (2:09) Did you get any social time built in? (2:11) Yeah, there was a little bit of social time. (2:13) Like we got, I flew in on the Thursday. (2:17) So I had the Thursday evening with one of my colleagues, Cara.(2:22) And then on the Friday, Jackie Thompson, another one of our colleagues. (2:27) She met us for breakfast and we spent the day in Antwerp. (2:32) We were tourists for the day.(2:33) We had lunch in Antwerp and then we came back to the hotel. (2:37) The hotel's quite a distance from the town. (2:39) So you have to either get an Uber or you have to get the bus.(2:44) So it's quite a distance. (2:46) And then on the Friday evening, we did some more networking, some more talking. (2:51) Everybody was there, you know, everybody was arriving ready for the Saturday morning.(2:56) It was just a brilliant convention. (2:59) Very, very well run. (3:01) Very put together, you know, so, so well.(3:04) And Neela and Anjali just ran it perfectly. (3:08) It was lovely. (3:09) All right.(3:10) So let's go with who did you listen to during the talk then? (3:15) I listened to quite a few people. (3:16) I listened to Jackie, of course. (3:18) And I listened to Cara.(3:20) I also went to John Scanlon because every time John has appeared at the UK, (3:27) I've never been able to see him because it's always ran against something else. (3:31) Either I'm talking or, you know, so I've always missed John. (3:36) So that was very, very good.(3:39) John is going to be a guest. (3:40) John's going to be a guest, yeah, during the season. (3:42) I also went to see Nicole Wackenegels.(3:47) Nicole was talking about what she does, (3:50) this wonderful thing to help with surgeries. (3:54) So nobody has any anesthetic. (3:57) It's all to do with hypnosis.(3:59) Really? (3:59) What sort of surgeries does she work with? (4:04) I don't think it's anything really, (4:06) but I think it's anything to do with any musculoskeletal or anything. (4:12) I know in Belgium particularly, (4:18) it's fairly well established for those patients who cannot undergo regular anesthesia. (4:27) There are a few conditions that make it difficult.(4:30) For those of you that don't know, (4:31) Nicole's from Switzerland and she runs the Swiss Hypnosis. (4:37) And I met her husband, Jacob. (4:39) What a gentleman.(4:40) Absolutely lovely gentleman. (4:42) I also went to, on the Sunday, I went to Giancarlo Russo's presentation. (4:52) What an extraordinary guy.(4:55) If we can get him on here one time, it would be amazing. (4:59) It would be lovely. (5:00) I haven't heard him since.(5:01) He was a presenter with the Elman conference about two, three years ago. (5:08) Yeah. (5:09) He was very helpful when a friend of mine had a stroke.(5:14) Because he's a physio, isn't he? (5:16) As well as a physiotherapist, yeah. (5:20) I've seen quite a few of these things on YouTube, yeah. (5:23) I also went to see a guy, I forgot his name, I do apologize.(5:28) And he did all havening and he did havening with hypnosis. (5:33) An Irish guy, such a gentleman. (5:35) So I'm hoping to see him in Ireland.(5:39) He was very, very good. (5:41) Get him on the show. (5:43) Well, I will actually.(5:45) I'll try and get him on if we can. (5:47) He was just fantastic. (5:49) And it made me look at the things that I do with children.(5:52) You know, when children are struggling with their feelings, (5:56) struggling with their emotions, if they can do the havening themselves, (6:01) then, you know, it would be great. (6:03) And I know he actually did it, you know, to someone, (6:06) but I just think it would be so, so good. (6:08) Yeah.(6:10) So I'm very, very interested in what he does. (6:12) So yeah, do you know what? (6:13) I shall email him and see if I can get him on. (6:16) If not, it will be next season.(6:19) But all together, it was such a lovely, lovely environment. (6:23) And everybody supported everybody. (6:26) Can you guesstimate how many people were there? (6:29) And how many countries were represented? (6:33) People don't seem to realize how far flung hypnosis is.(6:38) It's well-established in Iran, for example. (6:41) Yeah. (6:42) So there was the UK, of course.(6:47) There was American hypnotists there. (6:50) Giancarlo's Italian. (6:53) Nicole is Swiss.(6:55) John is Irish. (6:57) Cara's from Scotland. (6:59) Paulina's from Scotland as well.(7:01) And I'm trying to think who else was there. (7:04) There was a lot of Belgium hypnotists. (7:06) Of course.(7:07) Rob was there. (7:08) Rob de Grasse was there as well. (7:12) I'm trying to think who else was there.(7:13) Quite a few British, quite a few English, British people. (7:17) Oh, that's close. (7:19) Yeah, so I mean, people did travel, didn't they? (7:22) A lot of people flew in.(7:24) Oh, there was Astrid as well. (7:26) Astrid's from the Netherlands. (7:29) And the lady from Portugal.(7:31) She was amazing. (7:32) I went to see her speech as well. (7:35) It was all about narcissistic behavior.(7:38) She was absolutely fantastic. (7:40) She runs the Portuguese one as well. (7:43) Oh, yeah.(7:44) I'm going to go to the Portuguese one. (7:47) We'll see. (7:48) We'll see.(7:49) If you're going to be a speaker at one of the European ones, (7:53) do you have to speak in the language of the country? (7:57) No, the majority. (7:58) I would, well, I would say everybody. (8:01) I assume you were not speaking Nederlands when you were in Mantua.(8:04) Well, everybody, everybody was speaking English. (8:08) Everybody presented in English. (8:10) Yeah, that's the embarrassing thing about Europe, isn't it? (8:14) And then you look at me and get, speaking English, a bit of schoolgirl French.(8:18) Yeah, it was, it was just, it was just so, so nice. (8:22) It was, it was quite relaxed as well. (8:24) Even though it was busy, it was quite relaxed, you know, (8:28) and there was plenty of time for talking to people.(8:32) Everybody broke for lunch at the same time. (8:34) It was one central thing where, because lunch was provided, (8:38) we all stayed within, you know, that area of the hotel where we all had lunch. (8:44) And it just seemed to, it just seemed to sit nicely.(8:50) You know, it wasn't, I can only speak for London and Belgium now (8:54) because I haven't done the Irish. (8:55) What were the, what were the topics that you most appreciated? (9:00) Because you've been in the business now for 10 years. (9:03) So, yeah.(9:05) So, as a newbie, everything is amazing, (9:09) but you've probably been to several conferences now. (9:11) What did you feel was most groundbreaking for you? (9:15) Mine, the Havening. (9:16) The Havening definitely, for me, that was just fantastic.(9:20) And it was something that I thought, this is definitely something I want to bring in (9:25) and have as my, you know, as part of my toolbox. (9:29) Jackie's talk about the inner child was really, really interesting, (9:34) about how we can look, you know, even, even though I see the children, (9:39) I always look at the parents as well and see where the parents are coming from. (9:43) And sometimes you can see they need a little bit of inner child work and everything.(9:49) Cara, of course, neurodivergent, which I see neurodivergent children as well. (9:54) So, there were, I don't think there was anything that I didn't take away (9:58) from each and every one that I sat and watched. (10:03) Even Nicole's, you know, even though I don't, I don't want to do surgery, (10:09) I think it's just helped me to sort of think, (10:12) how can I use those sorts of tools in an indirect way? (10:16) It's also, it also helps you to refer people too.(10:20) Yes. (10:20) To let people know it exists. (10:22) Yeah, definitely.(10:24) And also to help the chil