Two-day clinical training · Live online by Zoom
Two-day clinical training with consultant gastroenterologist Dr Elena Eliadou
Learn how to assess, formulate and treat irritable bowel syndrome using hypnosis and cognitive behavioural therapy together, tailored to each client. Open to qualified Hypno-CBT® practitioners, Hypno-CBT® Diploma students and therapists trained in other modalities.
Not yet a qualified Hypno-CBT® practitioner? See how to apply
Dates
13 to 14 November 2026
Format
Live online by Zoom
Fee
£495
Group size
Maximum 30 places
Why IBS work needs clinical depth
Around one in seven people in the UK live with irritable bowel syndrome. Many receive short GP appointments, long waits for specialist care, dietary advice that can lead to restriction and fear of food, and medication that eases symptoms without addressing what keeps them going.
Psychological therapies, including gut-directed hypnotherapy and CBT, are recommended in UK clinical guidance for IBS. Working well with this client group takes more than a protocol. You need to recognise overlapping conditions, screen for disordered eating risk, make sound formulation decisions and know when to refer.
Around 1 in 7 people in the UK live with IBS
Psychological therapies for IBS are recommended in UK clinical guidance
Taught by a consultant gastroenterologist with Hypno-CBT® training
Who can join this training
The training is open to practitioners who already work with hypnosis, CBT or both. How you join depends on your training background.
Route 1
Qualified Hypno-CBT® practitioners: book directly
You already work with hypnosis and CBT together. These two days add the IBS-specific medical knowledge, assessment tools and clinical decision points.
Route 2
Diploma students and therapists from other modalities: apply for a place
If you are currently training on the Hypno-CBT® Diploma, or you trained in CBT, another psychological therapy or hypnotherapy, you can apply. The two days give you a structured way to combine hypnosis and CBT for IBS, grounded in a medical understanding of the condition.
We review each application to check the training is a good fit for your current skills.
What the two days cover
A clinical training programme designed around what you actually need to know to work safely and effectively with IBS, taught by a consultant gastroenterologist, including when not to proceed and what to do when presentations are complex.
1
Day One
IBS as a disorder of gut-brain interaction
Physiology, epidemiology, the biopsychosocial model in clinical practice, and the updated Rome V diagnostic criteria.
The evidence base for psychological therapies
What the meta-analyses show for CBT, gut-directed hypnotherapy and mindfulness, their distinct mechanisms and targets, and the case for integrating them.
Safe practice: red flags, risk and scope
Alarm symptom identification, psychological risk screening including suicide risk, referral decision-making, and the clinical boundaries that protect client and practitioner.
Structured IBS-specific assessment
Biopsychosocial framework, validated measures (IBS-SSS, GAD-7), and building an assessment that drives your formulation.
Case formulation using the 4Ps framework
Applied to the Sarah case vignette: mapping predisposing, precipitating, perpetuating and protective factors, and using formulation to guide each clinical decision.
Language, expectation and nocebo as clinical mechanisms
How what you say, and how you say it, alters physiological outcomes. Brain-gut neuroscience applied to therapeutic practice.
2
Day Two
Gut-directed hypnotherapy: mechanisms and evidence
What the research shows, how gut-directed hypnotherapy influences visceral hypersensitivity and central pain processing, explained by a gastroenterologist.
Manchester and North Carolina protocols discussed
Structure, session format, imagery and suggestions of both protocols, evaluated critically so you can draw on both with clinical judgement. The protocols are not provided in full as they are subject to copyright.
Personalising Hypno-CBT® from formulation
Five live case exercises: urgency, pain and bloating, constipation, post-meal symptoms, and unpredictable mixed patterns. You write and adapt script frameworks in real time.
Integrating CBT and mindfulness with hypnosis
Building a session that uses cognitive restructuring, attention training and hypnosis on the same maintaining cycle. This is where the training draws on the full Hypno-CBT® model.
Treatment planning, relapse prevention and between-session work
Structuring a course of sessions, setting realistic expectations, preparing clients for symptom fluctuation, and sustaining gains after treatment ends.
Special considerations: complexity, risk and when to refer
Overlapping DGBIs, disordered eating and ARFID risk, trauma history, extra-intestinal symptoms, and the red/amber/green risk stratification framework.
Your trainer
A decade of IBS practice, brought into the training room
Dr Elena Eliadou
MBBS (Distinction) · MRCP · FRACP · Dip Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy
Founder, Gut Brain Metamorphosis
- Specialist gastroenterologist, UK and New Zealand
- Over a decade of IBS clinical practice
- Thousands of IBS patients across two healthcare systems
- UCL graduate with distinction in medicine, 2002
- FRACP gastroenterology specialist, 2014
Elena came to Hypno-CBT® through her work as a consultant gastroenterologist. Trained across the UK and New Zealand healthcare systems, she saw many IBS patients receive inadequate care, and trained in Hypno-CBT® to address that gap. She has also worked with the Manchester and North Carolina gut-directed hypnotherapy protocols.
You do not need a medical background to take this training. Elena provides the medical grounding, so you meet the key clinical decisions with knowledge rather than guesswork.
The case formulation framework, assessment tools, risk stratification criteria and special considerations all come from her work with thousands of IBS patients.
Her clinical position: IBS symptoms are real, physiologically grounded and modifiable. The training is built from that starting point.
What is included
Comprehensive manual
Script frameworks, intake forms, assessment templates, case formulation tools, and a metaphor and imagery directory for IBS presentations.
Clinical frameworks
The biopsychosocial assessment model, 4Ps formulation framework, treatment planning structure, and red/amber/green risk stratification, all built for IBS practice.
Small group
Maximum 30 places, so there is time for questions and live case work. This is the second delivery of the training.
Certificate in Hypno-CBT® for IBS
Available to participants who complete the full assessment after the workshop: an MCQ, a written case study and supervised practice. Assessment opens later in 2026.
Assessment support
A 20-question MCQ and a written case study based on the Sarah case vignette used throughout both days. Marking guidance provided.
How to gain the Certificate in Hypno-CBT® for IBS
Attending the two days gives you the knowledge and frameworks. The certificate is awarded only to those who then show they can apply them, through assessment of clinical reasoning and supervised practice.
1
Attend both training days
2
Complete the MCQ assessment
20 questions, pass/fail, up to three attempts
3
Submit the written case study
Structured questions on the Sarah case vignette
4
Complete supervised practice
Requirements confirmed before assessment opens
5
Receive your certificate
Issued by Hypno-CBT® College
The Certificate in Hypno-CBT® for IBS is a College certificate. It is not a regulated qualification and is not part of the Hypno-CBT® Diploma’s NCFE Customised Qualification.
Book or apply for your place
13 to 14 November 2026 · Live online by Zoom · £495 · Maximum 30 places
Book: qualified Hypno-CBT® practitioners. Apply: Diploma students and therapists from other modalities.