Hypnosis Safe Option To Beat Addiction
A Whangarei hypnotherapist wants to see more clients using hypnotherapy to beat drug addiction.
Arpi Procter, a registered social worker who was for eight years an alcohol and drug counsellor with Northland District Health Board, regularly treats people with addictions and says she would like to see more people utilising hypnotherapy as an organic, safe and holistic way to address addiction – especially considering other treatment options can require medication, inpatient admission to a detox unit, and time away from work.
Arpi has been inundated with clients seeking to quit smoking following the January 1 rise in tobacco tax, but would like to see more people breaking addiction to other drugs via hypnotherapy.
“If people come to me, they don’t have to worry about going away to rehab,” Arpi says. “Women don’t have to worry about losing custody of their kids. A person’s work is not impacted. They keep their lives while they are in hypnotherapy treatment rather than going away and being put in a system.”
“Hypnotherapy enables you to remain at home, living your everyday life while you make changes.”
Beating Addiction Without Drugs or Detox
Under Te Ara Oranga, Northland DHB refers most clients experiencing drug addiction to non-residential treatment programmes delivered by providers such as Salvation Army, Rubicon, Odyssey House and iwi health providers. Hypnotherapy is an ideal option for mostly well-functioning people whose problematic behaviour is due more to addiction than to mental unwellness. Medical journals including The Lancet have published studies linking hypnotherapy with success around methadone withdrawal, irritable bowel syndrome treatment and ulceration treatment.
Hypnosis is a blend of physical relaxation and extreme mental alertness. When a person undergoes therapeutic dialogue during hypnotic trance, the therapist is able to address problematic behaviour by talking to a person’s subconscious rather than conscious mind. Arpi likens the subconscious to the ‘base of the iceberg’ rather than the tip and estimates 96 percent of clients she sees do not relapse into addiction after a recommended 4-5 sessions across five weeks.
Arpi said her approach is focused more on where the client wants to take his or her life in the future than on regression. “I get a person to reflect on where they’re going; I eliminate cravings. That’s the big part of it – if you don’t eliminate cravings, people are going to be back into using.”
While methamphetamine is the most difficult drug to break addiction to, Arpi says she has seen many patients in Kawakawa and Kaikohe respond well to hypnotherapy for alcohol and cannabis cessation. “While social work is about social change, hypnotherapy is about individual change.”
“One successful patient I’ve worked with was a 40 year old male out of jail and rehab who was sent to me by probation services. He was difficult to do an assessment with. He demanded to know what I could do with him that no one else had done. I suggested hypnotherapy and he just went for it. Not only did the addiction change but the anger and hostility disappeared.”
“I remember another young man who was in the probation system with addictions to cannabis and alcohol. After hypnotherapy he was very excited about going out to find a job. For the first time, he was motivated about the future.”
Have you got New Zealand's best shed? Show us and win!
Once again, Resene and NZ Gardener are on the hunt for New Zealand’s best shed! Send in the photos and the stories behind your man caves, she sheds, clever upcycled spaces, potty potting sheds and colourful chicken coops. The Resene Shed of the Year 2026 winner receives $1000 Resene ColorShop voucher, a $908 large Vegepod Starter Pack and a one-year subscription to NZ Gardener. To enter, tell us in writing (no more than 500 words) why your garden shed is New Zealand’s best, and send up to five high-quality photos by email to mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz. Entries close February 23, 2026.
Poll: 🤖 What skills do you think give a CV the ultimate edge in a robot-filled workplace?
The Reserve Bank has shared some pretty blunt advice: there’s no such thing as a “safe” job anymore 🛟😑
Robots are stepping into repetitive roles in factories, plants and warehouses. AI is taking care of the admin tasks that once filled many mid-level office jobs.
We want to know: As the world evolves, what skills do you think give a CV the ultimate edge in a robot-filled workplace?
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53.8% Human-centred experience and communication
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14.1% Critical thinking
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2.7% Other - I will share below!
Whangarei Film Society - screenings for Thursday February 26th, 2026
Good People
Welcome to 2026!
The film night for our first WFS screening for the year will be on Thursday 26th February in the Capitaine Bougainville Theatre at Forum North, 7 Rust Ave Whangarei.
Please note: There will be one screening only for the evening. It will follow the WFS AGM at 6pm.
We will be screening the NZ doco, Not Only Fred Dagg But Also John Clarke at 7:15pm.
Thanks to all for your continued support of WFS and hope to see you there.
NOT ONLY FRED DAGG BUT ALSO JOHN CLARKE
New Zealand, 2025, Documentary, 103 mins
Cast: Sam Neill, Ben Elton, Bryan Dawe
Director: Lorin Clarke
When satirist John Clarke died in 2017, the world mourned an icon. He was a defining comedic voice who wrote and appeared in numerous films and TV productions, and who – in a beloved double act with Bryan Dawe – skewered political hypocrisy for almost 30 years on current affairs shows.
In a series of recorded conversations with his daughter, writer/director Lorin Clarke, John traces his steadfast resistance to authority back to his childhood and offers delightful insights into his four decades in the entertainment industry.
Weaving together personal anecdotes, a rich television archive, tales from international comedy greats and riches from Clarke’s work and letters, this is a deeply personal insight into a legend of the antipodean screen and a tribute to the disruptive power of creativity.
"In New Zealand, he was bigger than The Beatles." - Sam Neill
Showing at Forum North, 7 Rust Ave Whangarei on Thursday, 26th February at 7:15pm following the WFS AGM at 6pm.
View the trailer at: www.youtube.com...
Tickets: Door sales only. $10 WFS members. Non-members pay $5 extra as an Associate Membership fee per film (Total of $15).
WFS members from 2025 who register and attend the WFS AGM will be admitted to the film screening that night for free.
All welcome. Cash only please – NO EFTPOS AVAILABLE.
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