• Cirieco Design
  • World Radio Switzerland
  • Alzheimer's Association

hypnotherapy500

Jennie Chen Volet is a highly qualified and experienced hypnotherapist, who has recently opened an office in the Geneva Plainpalais area. Keen to spread the word about her new business, she offered a session to Lisa Cirieco-Ohlman last November. Lisa was suffering from unrestful sleep due to clenching and grinding her teeth. Would hypnotherapy help?

Before she went, Lisa asked those around her if they had ever tried hypnotherapy and what impression they had of it. Most had preconceptions involving losing control and being under the power of someone else... how wrong they were!

Jennie's smile, welcome, and calm disposition were a welcome sight at the rendez-vous. “Sit down, take off your shoes, put your feet up, and let's talk. I'll explain what I am going to do, that you will be conscious all the time, that at any moment you can scratch your nose if you like! Your mind has layers of conscious, preconscious, and subconscious. All I am going to do is lead you there. Once we are at the subconscious we will try to unlock the reasons for clenching and grinding your teeth. Once we have discovered the basis we can find alternatives. Understanding is the key.”

Wikipedia’s definition of “understanding” is “a psychological process related to an abstract or physical object, such as a person, situation, or message whereby one is able to think about it and use concepts to deal adequately with that object.”

wiser humans hiba

Hiba Giacoletto, an experienced psychologist and coach - and long-time knowitall.ch guest blogger – has just launched a new business in Geneva and Lausanne aimed at teaching clients “skills for living”.

Called Wiser Humans, Hiba’s new business is targeted at all those people who sometimes find that life seems a little too crazy, either because they are feeling out of control, or stuck, or lost … or any number of other adjectives that describe that hopeless feeling you get when things are just not going right!

With a Masters Degree in Psychology from the University of Lausanne, and qualified as a certified Integrative Nutrition Health Coach from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN), Hiba has, for the last few years, been running her own food-oriented coaching business called Healthwise.  However, as her individual and group session work has increasingly taken her in the direction of more general issues to do with psychology, she has now decided to set up “Wiser Humans” because, as she puts it, “being human is hard” and we could all benefit from being a little bit wiser!

Hiba told us, “I created Wiser Humans because I noticed there is so much unhelpful information out there like ‘just choose happiness’ or ‘just think positive!’. And then we are told there is something wrong with us if we can’t do this.”

fabienne reflexology1

In 2015 we featured an experienced reflexologist on our site, called Fabienne Mourgue d’Algue.

Using a unique combination of Reflexology and Maïeusthésie, Fabienne’s treatments are considered to be quite special in the Geneva area, helping clients to overcome a variety of conditions such as depression, lack of confidence, tiredness, sleeping difficulties, constipation, and stress. You can find out more about her services in our article here.

Since we last wrote about Fabienne, she has developed her skills to add a number of new reflexology treatments targeted at two specific groups of people: pregnant women, and anyone keen to maintain the quality of their immune system, especially during the cold winter months.

Talking about her pregnancy treatments, Fabienne told knowitall.ch, “Over the years, I have received a number of enquiries from pregnant women, experiencing a range of difficulties throughout their pregnancy. So I have developed two treatments specifically for these women, one focusing on the emotional aspects of pregnancy and the other focusing more on physical difficulties.”

Christmas services2015

We have now updated our list of Christmas church services for 2016.  If you would like to attend one of the many services happening in Geneva, Vaud and neighboring France this year, please take a look at the following list, which we have compiled from the websites of local churches. Some of them are French-speaking but most are English-speaking churches. Please check the websites before setting out, in case any of the times or locations have changed.

If your local church has not yet posted details of their services, please come back and check the article again later, as we will update the list when details become available.

If you know about other services in your area, please let us know.

lindsey500

As the festive season approaches, it can be a tough time for many people, especially expats who don’t have the benefit of family nearby to draw upon for support.

Even those with a vast network of family and friends can feel lonely at Christmas as everyone seems far too busy with their own festive preparations to concern themselves with other people’s worries.

At times like this, it can be helpful to call upon the services of a professional therapist, trained to help clients manage the wide range of daily issues that can prove particularly challenging, not just at Christmas, but on other occasions throughout the year as well.

One English-speaking therapist, who was recently recommended to us, and has a special interest in relationship issues in the home, family and at work, is Lindsey Anderson.  Having been married, divorced, a working mum, a stay-at-home mum, self-employed and re-located several times herself, Lindsey knows how difficult it is to juggle the roles of parent, partner, professional, wage earner and non-earner.