Merrilly Watson established Hypnosis Today in late 2012 with her friend and colleague Marta Lohyn.
After running introductory and advanced training courses for 7 years, the pandemic put a stop to their teaching. In 2024, when Merrilly was ready to get things moving again, Marta decided it was time for her to retire from Hypnosis Today.
Merrilly is convinced that Hypnosis Today still has a role to play in supporting hypnosis practitioners in their clinical work, and so has turned her focus to providing ongoing professional development, rather than teaching introductory courses.
Merrilly is a psychologist who completed the Australian Society of Hypnosis Diploma in Clinical Hypnosis in the early 90s. She has also undertaken many other hypnosis training courses/workshops over the years, including Dr Michael Yapko's 100-hour training in Clinical Hypnosis and Strategic Psychotherapy. Influenced by the traditional approaches to hypnosis and the more contemporary utilisation approaches of Dr Milton H Erickson and Dr Yapko, Merrilly's work combines whatever aspects are appropriate for the client with whom she is working.
Having also taught for the South Australian and Australian Societies of Hypnosis, she Merrilly is aware that healthcare practitioners commit time and money to learning how to incorporate hypnosis in their clinical work, but then often lose their confidence and stop using it. Having witnessed the power of hypnosis to make an enormous difference in the lives of many of her clients, she is passionate about helping these professionals reconnect to their skills and start offering it to their clients/patients.
MERRILLY WATSON
BA,DipAppPsych,GradDipGroupWork,DipClinHyp
Merrilly has had close to 40 years of experience in the field of psychotherapy, initially employed as a youth worker, and then as a couple therapist and group counsellor before establishing her own psychology practice in Adelaide, South Australia in 1995. Working with individuals, couples and families, she has been incorporating hypnosis in her work for the past 30 years.
Merrilly taught for the South Australian Society of Hypnosis for a number of years, taking a major role in developing a new, more structured and integrated direction for the course. She has also presented workshops and provided training for the Australian Society of Hypnosis (ASH), and was a keynote presenter for the New Zealand Society of Hypnosis Conference in 2011 and an invited symposium presenter at the International Society of Hypnosis Congress in 2015.
Merrilly was a member of the Executive Committee of the South Australian Society of Hypnosis for 11 years, serving as its chairperson for 5 years. She has also served on the Federal Council of ASH, as well as being the Honorary Secretary of ASH.