Christy: [00:00:00] All right. Welcome back to another episode of The Calm Collective Conversations. And today I am here with Crystal and I'm so excited to introduce Crystal to you. She is a nurse with over 29 years of experience in multiple different arenas and uses her transition as a nurse life coach and a hypnotherapist in amazing ways.
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Christy: So I'm so excited to introduce everyone to Crystal today. Hey Crystal, [00:01:00] how are you doing?
Crystal: Good, thank you.
Christy: Good. I said in the intro that you have been a nurse for 29 years, so can you take us back to what first called you into nursing 29 years ago?
Crystal: So long ago I was in college and a major in biochemistry and so I decided I was gonna volunteer on the oncology floor, the hospital there.
'Cause I thought maybe I'd work in the field of cancer and a nurse oriented me on the oncology floor and I just thought, this is it. None of my families in healthcare had no idea what nursing was about or healthcare. Really, other than just going to the doctor for checkups and I was going to a college that didn't have a nursing school, so I had to change schools and changed my major.
And luckily I didn't know at the time that nursing school was hard to get into, so I only applied to one and luckily I got in and [00:02:00] just went straight on to do that. It was a surprise change and. A wonderful decision.
Christy: Oh my goodness. I actually, I've known you for a little bit and I didn't know the backstory there.
So it was these seeds that were planted while you were experiencing oncology, which is working with people that are living with cancer, are somewhere on their cancer journey. So and so that was 29 years ago, and the last 14 years you've worked in hospice and palliative care.
Crystal: Yeah. Yeah.
Christy: So I'm so curious, oncology and maybe even hospice and palliative care, what did that teach you about people that maybe most nurses or even most clinicians don't fully see?
Crystal: I think working particularly the last 14 or so years. First in hospice and now palliative care. I think I really [00:03:00] just know that people at the heart of who they are, once we can see and understand who they are, people are so good patients and their caregivers, it's amazing what they. Go through and what they have to go through and they really just need to be seen and acknowledged for that.
Christy: Yeah.
Crystal: It's really
Christy: it's a deep
Crystal: human need by that.
Christy: Yeah.
Crystal: Yeah.
Christy: To be seen and acknowledged. So I'm curious when you, when I hear you say that, that, that's at the essence what people need, and maybe most nurses and clinicians don't fully understand that it really is just this need to be seen and acknowledged.
So was there a moment as you're thinking about your own career path, or maybe a series of moments where you really started to feel there has to be another way to help people?
Crystal: I think it was [00:04:00] a series of moments.
As far as. Coming up across the coaching and hypnosis world. I, it wasn't anything I was planning on or expecting to do.
I was listening to a palliative care podcast once a few years ago, and one of the doctors on there just mentioned that she did hypnosis with patients for symptom management and that it was so effective and I'd never heard of such a thing. I really, I had in my mind what hypnosis was, but I did not know really anything about it, but it just piqued my interest.
And then I purchased a program that included a hypnosis audio, and it was so different than I thought it was gonna be. And it was really remarkable just listening to the audio. And then I started to become intrigued about nurse coaching and what that was. And when I was looking into a nurse coaching training program, I actually came across [00:05:00] your Hypnosis for Nurses program and something in me, I was just like, I need to do that.
I need to do that first. And later I got my nurse coaching certification and so glad I did. It was life changing. It was life changing for not only the way I care for patients, but for myself and for my family, my friends and colleagues. For everyone.
Christy: Yeah. I see how your face lit up and, excuse me for sneezing there.
See how your face lit up when you were talking about this and it's not lost on me. The pattern of you. You didn't know that you were gonna end up in nursing. You had to switch colleges in order to get a nursing degree. And then by happenstance you're listening to a podcast around a palliative care physician who was using hypnosis.
I'm curious if you can recall what was happening internally for you when you decided to create this pivot for yourself [00:06:00] towards hypnosis and nurse coaching. What was happening inside of you?
Crystal: I think at that time I had, I'd been a nurse for a very long time and we all know healthcare is changing, but I also have been.
A nurse long enough to know it can be better. And I've been a lifelong learner and really believe that there is always more out there to know and to learn and always how to drive to continue to improve the kind of nurse that I am. But something was just. Again, really calling to me and so intriguing about nurse coaching and hypnosis and I had no idea really how impactful they would both be.
Christy: Yeah. I'm so glad that you found Hypnosis for Nurses and started on that path. I, hypnosis is one of those things that [00:07:00] has a lot of mystery behind it. Like you mentioned, even when you're listening to that podcast and you're like, wait, how can hypnosis help? These things don't seem like they're in the same ballpark.
Can you like, let our listeners know, and maybe this is a question that you haven't even pondered for a little bit yourself, but what surprised you most once you actually experienced hypnosis?
Crystal: You know what really surprised me is hypnosis is just using language to guide you to access your own inner knowledge.
It, I think that there's a huge misconception, which I had as well, that it's mind control and it's really just taking control of your own mind and using language in a thoughtful, compassionate. Very kind way of honoring people's, again, their own agency and ability [00:08:00] to create whatever changes they're wanting or uncover what they're wanting to uncover.
I just found it to be amazing and change the learning the language, and how powerful. That is, I don't use hypnosis in my work right now, but it has changed the way I communicate with patients, families my colleagues, my own family, and myself, my own internal dialogue. And it's been a game changer to not have to jump in and fix things for people.
They're actually not wanting that.
Christy: Yeah.
Crystal: But learning ways to communicate with them so they can. Be empowered to come to their own conclusions and
Christy: yeah,
Crystal: create the changes they're wanting.
Christy: What I heard you say earlier too is like what people want most. That seems so simple, but we're in a [00:09:00] complex healthcare symptom system, but people just wanna be seen and acknowledged.
Those were the words that you used, which I think are so empowering, right? This is giving agency back to the actual person. And you also said that hypnosis is a way, a tool of language, right?
And. That you have changed the way that you talk to clients or patients at work, maybe your colleagues and even your family, because of the way that you now understand hypnosis is a language tool, right?
That you're not maybe doing this formal process of, hypnosis at the workplace, but you've changed your language skills, right?
And I guess I really wanted to pause there and just take that in, because. I know that you and I are pretty aligned on this, that a lot of times what we can offer as hypnotist or in the hypnotherapy world, or even in the coaching world, is using language to give people their [00:10:00] power back so that they can see and acknowledge themselves, we're acting like as a mirror for them almost. Yeah.
Yeah.
Crystal: Yeah, definitely. And because I've been in nursing for so long, I, when I first started learning this, I really went through a period of feeling sad in a sense, and that I was never taught this before. Like, why weren't we taught some of these basic.
Skills that are involved in both coaching and hypnosis as nurses. Yeah. But also in our everyday lives. Yeah.
Christy: I hear that a lot now, I've, I'm going on my fourth year of being an instructor for hypnosis for nurses, and I hear that all the time. Like, why weren't we taught this initially? This would've actually changed so much of how I.
I interacted with the world and even interacted with ourselves because when we learn hypno, hypnotic [00:11:00] conversation, hypnotic tools, we actually can what I loved about your description earlier is we can interrupt a habit. And maybe that was before we're recording, but we could go back on that.
We can interrupt our own habits. If we're having, that thought, oh, it's time for me to have a glass of wine 'cause it's after work and I need to de-stress. We can interrupt that by taking some control back, some agency back. And noticing our own language so we can communicate differently with ourselves, which gives us maybe the outcome that we desire.
More than that, just short term dopamine hit, right?
Crystal: Yeah.
Christy: Yeah. So I'm curious because I have never asked you this question, but I pondered it myself. How did your identity shift from being a bedside nurse to somebody who facilitates change at that unconscious level, right? So what was that trajectory of your identity shift from I guess I'm gonna put this in air quotes, so if people are watching right from that. [00:12:00] Traditional nurse to actually a nurse that facilitates change at this deeper unconscious mind or subconscious mind level.
Crystal: I think it is so empowering to give that power back to the, when we're talking about work to the patients.
Yeah. To really learn how to ask the right questions. So that they can answer in a way that truly aligns with their values and goals, because different people want different things, right?
Christy: Yeah.
Crystal: So when we know how to ask them questions. In that open, caring, non-judgmental way that we learn how to communicate in, when we learn hypnosis and coaching, then they can come to the conclusions that are right for them.
It is not about what [00:13:00] I think is right for them because that would be foolish to think that I know what's right for them when we're talking about these. Really important things that we're talking about in these palliative care discussions.
Christy: Yeah.
Crystal: So it has been empowering for me to be able to empower them.
And so meaningful.
Christy: I'm curious if, if your colleagues, or if your patients, or if your supervisor at work has noticed any difference or have you gotten any more kudos or gold stars or anything just for changing your language protocol, if you will? I,
Crystal: yeah I think so. And it's been gradual over time 'cause I've told people what I was learning.
All along the way and shared a lot of that information and knowledge all along the way. So we would [00:14:00] talk about different ways to communicate, different ways to ask questions that again are more gentle ways of asking questions. Again to allow people to answer in a way that's right for them.
When I started this training, we, I had some cards and I would go around the office and different, especially nurses and social workers. We would practice different ways of asking questions. I created a kind of a template that people can use if they want to about. How to ask these questions and in what order to, again, give patients and their families the best ability to come to conclusions and answer in a way that is right for them.
So I think overall there have been a lot of [00:15:00] little changes that have led up to bigger changes. Everyone has been very supportive and nice and enthusiastic about kind of learning alongside me.
Christy: Yeah. I love that.
I love that you've been able to take it and actually create some tangibles, right?
Here's some different thought processes. This is a way to interview clients. Here's the order of questions, because the secret that you and I both know, that maybe somebody who's not trained in hypnosis doesn't yet know, is that there is a series of getting to those deeper layers of what the client really wants and desires, right?
We need to shift those questions from being something that we respond to in the conscious mind, right? With just our, what we think is the right answer when we get to in the heart, and this is also a nurse sort of thing. Get to the heart of the matter, and we hear that in our language as well.
Can you just get to the heart of the matter? The heart is where. Their deepest desires are, that's what longs to be seen and acknowledged. So when [00:16:00] we can ask the questions, we can get into their heart and get them out of their head.
And that's really more aligned with what they want, what they desire.
So I love that. And the other thing I know about hypnosis is oftentimes it is a more efficient way at getting to the heart of the matter. D o you find that your interviews with your patients or getting to palliative care goals, is it, is this a smoother process? Is it, does it take less time?
What does that look like when you're talking about from like a nurse to the client interaction?
Crystal: Yeah. And again, just learning some of the language things that I learned.
The coaching program and the hypnosis program, I, I have. Found that the conversations are definitely more effective, I think I would say, and more efficient.
Yeah, we [00:17:00] can, they aren't fast conversations, of course, but it's. Just using some of those principles again, of acknowledging that they are the expert of themselves and allowing them to access their own inner knowledge to come up with the conclusions that are right for them and learning how to ask questions to bring that out.
Can make for a thoughtful, compassionate, and productive conversation.
Christy: Yeah.
And I imagine not just for the client, but also for, like you mentioned, the caregivers there. Everyone's seeing is seen and acknowledged in that space, right?
Yeah.
Crystal: Yeah. Cool.
Christy: Alright, maybe this will be our final question 'cause I definitely wanna have you back 'cause I know that you also have some [00:18:00] specialties that you like to practice in, which is menopause and sleep and habits.
So I think we're gonna have to get to that in another session, which people will be excited to hear about. But how do you feel like hypnosis specifically allows you to reach people in a way that traditional care sometimes co couldn't?
Crystal: I think when we use some of the hypnosis principles of the mind body connection and really allowing people to feel in control and regulating their nervous system, I think that then our communication with each other and with ourselves is really just on a whole nother level. When we can get that busy brain that's always [00:19:00] telling us why we can't do something, or we shouldn't say this, shouldn't say that, when we can just allow that to rest a little bit and get to the heart of who we are and who they are.
Then we can really come to the conclusions and solutions that are really best for each person.
Christy: I love that. I love that when we use hypnosis, we can come to those conclusions that are best for them and faster and more efficiently.
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for taking the time to chat today.
And I'm excited to have you back 'cause I wanna learn more. You have such a metered and thoughtful approach to everything that you do. And I just, I'm so thankful that I have you in my circle of colleagues around the world that are doing nursing and hypnosis. So that's really cool.
So thank you so much for your time, crystal.
Crystal: Thank you. Thanks for all you're doing. [00:20:00]
Christy: You are welcome. See you next time. All
Crystal: right. Bye-bye. ​
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