Reinvent your life after trauma, grief and loss

Meet Hema Patel, RTT hypnotherapist at Reset and Rediscover.

A career coach for over 10 years, it was losing her 27-year-old cousin to suicide that prompted Hema to change her own career. Fuelled by a desire to make a difference, Hema almost became a mental health first aid instructor. However, she decided that instead of making people aware of conditions, Hema wanted to help people become free of them.

What does International Women’s Day mean to you?

It’s a chance to come together and celebrate. I spent most of my 30s self-isolating, in the cycle of work, eat, sleep, repeat. In my 40s, I learned that isolation is a big risk factor for suicide. Connection is key!

Often we find it easier to celebrate others and more challenging to celebrate ourselves. We forget ourselves in the busy-ness of life. We also don’t want to be seen as showy or egotistical. However, if we’re not visible, people won’t know what we do or how we can help them.

Why do people fear being visible so much?

We’ve all witnessed cases where people have been put on a pedestal and then shot down. We worry people will judge and reject us. When we lived in tribes, we’d have had little chance of survival outside the tribe so, ultimately and unconsciously, we fear death. People tend to overthink every word, because of that fear of judgement and rejection. Whether it’s a presentation, pitch or social media post, the dialogue in our head can sometimes be noisier than what’s out there.

What do you do differently to other therapists?

I support clients to get to the ROOT CAUSE of their fears, using hypnosis. To understand how, when and why their fear was formed and then release it. Often, what started initially as self-preservation can turn into self-sabotage. e.g. being asked to read aloud in class, stumbling upon a word, other children laughing. As a child internalising the belief that it’s painful to be seen, heard and judged. Creating a ‘not good enough’ wound, trust and visibility wounds.

The work I do using Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT) helps people release their wounds, heal their inner child and reprogram their subconscious for success. Our subconscious mind is responsible for 85-95% of our day-to-day thoughts, habits and actions. We have 50,000 to 80,000 thoughts a day. 80% are not true and 90% are recycled from the previous day. The thoughts that aren’t true, e.g. “I’m not good enough”, “I can’t trust myself to do the right thing ”, “It’s not safe to be seen” are like grooves on a vinyl record. I help my clients take the needle off the record and play a new groove instead.

What is the most common misconception about hypnotherapy?

That it’s just for quitting smoking or drinking. I’ve helped people to move past fears of being seen, heard and judged. I’ve supported people to release long-held self-sabotage patterns such as perfectionism, procrastination and people-pleasing.

People massively increase their self-belief, confidence and courage when they work with me. Scaling their business, by putting themselves out there in a bigger way through networking and on social media.

What’s new for 2025?

I’m launching a programme called REINVENTION. A combination of one-to-one RTT hypnotherapy and group coaching, giving people the blueprint to go from undercharging, overworking and second guessing themselves to increasing their impact and income, by reaching the people who truly need them.

Transform how you show up for yourself and it transforms how you show up in the world!

You were involved with Baton of Hope in Brighton. How was that?

I was already campaigning for suicide prevention and contributed towards gaining over 128,000 signatures on a petition calling for a statutory duty of care for University students. My cousin was a final year Med student when he died.

I saw a LinkedIn post from Rose Rowkins, also featured in this edition, asking for volunteers for Baton of Hope. I signed up, not really knowing what I was signing up to. In under 15 weeks, five of us, none being events professionals, organised five daytime events and an Evening of Hope. 90 people, affected or bereaved by suicide, carried the Baton from the Peace Statue in Hove, across different parts of Brighton ending at Brighton Dome. With speakers, musicians and local community leaders at each event. A highlights film was made and won a People’s Choice award at the Smiley’s, the charity world’s version of the Oscars.

I realised that when you make your purpose bigger than your fears and get really visible and vocal, ANYTHING is POSSIBLE!

How to get in touch?

For support to STAND OUT, without burnout or self-doubt, message Hema on Instagram @resetandrediscover or email hello@resetandrediscover.com