Sheffield woman sets up hypnotherapy business in career change after suffering long Covid

Jane, aged 45, had to take time out from her job in children and family services when her long covid symptoms intensified.

She said: “When it was most severe I experienced shortness of breath, I could not climb the stairs well, I had to take it slowly.

“I built up to being able to walk to the end of the road, it feels like carrying a lead suit.

“My heart was racing during the night. Lots of things were feeling sore.

“I experienced brain fog, I couldn’t think clearly, i had to point to objects rather than remember their names.”

Jane had a positive experience with hypnotherapy previously which helped her to cope when she suffered a miscarriage.

After experiencing long covid, Jane again turned to hypnotherapy.

She said: “It helped me to find ways to be relaxed.

“It was about finding things I could do rather than finding things I’d lost due to Covid.

"Hypnotherapy is solution-based. It is focused on the future and what you can do rather than going into the past.

"It is about gaining strength from how you coped with things in the past.

"What’s wonderful about this approach is that it involves neuroscience.

"It helps you to understand how the mind works and helps us to understand why we think and feel and behave the way we do.”

Jane is currently holding appointments over Zoom but hopes to start face to face sessions with her clients in the next fortnight.

She said: “I’ve had a really positive response from clients. It’s been amazing.

“I have also been working with clients that have had long covid themselves.

"Clients are finding that they are feeling more in control over their lives and feel more positive and confident to deal with life’s obstacles.

"Clients have said they now have a toolkit to use for themselves.”

Jane is specialising in helping women cope with the menopause.

She said: “I am coming to that stage of life myself.

“The menopause is getting more of a presence in the media.

“I am specialising to help women to feel that they can have more control over their life.”