Therapy
In-personand
onlinetherapy
Psychotherapy and hypnotherapy help bring hidden parts of the mind to the surface, so you can uncover the deeper thoughts that guide you and find a more balanced way of seeing yourself and the world.
Psychotherapy
How can psychotherapy help you?
Psychotherapy, or talk therapy, has helped people improve their mental health for more than a century. It looks at both the past and the present, helping us understand our behaviour and what may be holding us back from a balanced life. It gives us space to see ourselves more clearly and notice the blind spots we all have.
As your psychotherapist, I can help you uncover things about yourself that bring deeper self-understanding. With more self-awareness, you feel empowered to shift unhelpful beliefs, compulsions, thoughts, and emotions into healthier patterns. This awareness becomes the foundation for real change and better mental wellbeing.

Psychotherapy is clinically proven to help various mental health conditions such as stress, anxiety, depression, insomnia, addiction, self-esteem and relationship issues. According to the American Psychological Association, there are five broad categories of psychotherapy:
Behaviour therapy
Cognitive behaviour therapy
Humanistic therapy
Holistic and integrative therapy
Psychodynamic therapy
The best way to get to the bottom of things is to share them and talk them through.
What makes psychotherapy both distinct and therapeutic compared to everyday two-way sharing is that the whole conversation is directed towards you. I will listen intently as you share things about yourself, like a sounding board, and guide you to understand your own motivations.
With this careful shepherding, I can lead you back safely to the root.
The root of your phobia, trauma, issue or compulsion, so you can discover its origin, which is not always as obvious as it may seem. This process of discovery can be challenging and even frightening. My job is to guide you through this journey of self-discovery, help you to mitigate overwhelming negative emotions and champion useful ones, so you come out stronger, safer, and happier.
Clinical hypnotherapy
The hypnotic state is incredibly powerful
In this state we can become our most amenable, intuitive and most creative selves.
What happens during hypnosis is the agreed upon surrender of your body and mind. You allow yourself to relax fully and open up. You become receptive to safe suggestions and positive changes.
A number of ailments can be treated with professional hypnotherapy, from obsessions to anxieties, phobias, depression, eating disorders, insomnia and even the physical pain associated with cancer or migraine. Hypnotherapy has also been proven effective for increasing self-confidence and self-esteem, and even improving athletic performance.
Hypnotherapy has the power to dig deep into the root causes of our troubles, so we can learn to understand them and regain a sense of self-control, emotional freedom and true empowerment.

Brisbane hypnotherapy
How can we help you?
Every session is tailored to the individual, using a combination of hypnotherapy and psychotherapy.
Hypnoanalysis
Most therapies help with what's happening on the surface. Hypnoanalysis goes deeper, aiming for the root cause.
Just as knee pain can come from flat feet, a simple-looking psychological issue can come from an early experience. Many problems trace back to a single moment in childhood. This is where regression therapy is powerful. By finding the true starting point and working through it, we can ease many present-day struggles.
Not every issue has a deep origin, and hypnoanalysis isn't a cure-all. But it can create strong, lasting change. As your therapist, I'll help you understand your situation, tailor your treatment, and guide you toward healing and a better quality of life.
Anxiety
Anxiety is more than feeling worried or unsettled. It can take away your sense of control and affect your daily life, relationships, confidence, and even your physical health. Hypnotherapy is a highly effective way to treat anxiety and the behaviours that come with it.
Anxiety and panic attacks come from the body's stress response, the fight or flight system that's meant to protect us from danger. Because everyone's experience is different, treatment is tailored to each person. Effective anxiety therapy:
- Finds the root cause
- Shifts unrealistic and fearful thinking
- Reduces physical symptoms like a racing heart, hot and cold flushes, and shallow breathing
- Helps you regain control and live life on your terms
Work stress
High performers, whether on the field or in the office, face stressors that can be hard to spot and even harder to manage alone. Low self-esteem, anxiety, and burnout can build up without clear strategies, support, and expert guidance.
As your therapist, I can help you manage workplace stress, burnout, and feelings of inadequacy. Together, we'll develop positive habits, strengthen your mindset, and give you the tools to set, achieve, and sustain your goals.
Weight loss
Over-indulgence can feel like punishment for some people and comfort for others. Our struggles with food are often tied to deeper issues, which is why hypnosis for weight loss isn't about crash dieting. It's about finding the root cause of under- or over-eating.
Hypnosis helps release the idea of good and bad foods and the guilt that comes with those labels. By reaching the real psychological reasons behind unhelpful patterns, hypnotherapy helps you build a healthier relationship with food and a more balanced lifestyle.
Depression
Sadness, as a passing emotion, can be useful in identifying something that is misaligned within ourselves. But depression, as an ever-present and unshakeable feeling of intense sadness over weeks, months or even years, is something entirely different.
While the symptoms can present themselves subtly at first (inability to concentrate, indecision, lack of confidence), they can soon compound into more serious manifestations like feelings of worthlessness or failure, isolation from loved ones, inability to feel joy, substance abuse, insomnia and self-harm. This is not an exhaustive list, but it is enough to raise concern in anyone feeling these symptoms.
Pain management
Hypnosis enhances concentration and heightens responsiveness to suggestions, which can alter behaviours, thoughts, feelings and even pain perception. An experienced hypnotherapist can use hypnotic suggestions to target mental activity that signals pain and discomfort to the rest of the body, and alleviate that discomfort.
Chronic conditions often require a comprehensive plan that targets more than just the singular pain experience. The plan should include exercise, restoration of proper body mechanics, healthy diet, and other habits that foster vitality and wellbeing.
Sleep difficulties
We've all struggled with poor sleep, but for some, insomnia is a constant battle. Restlessness, tossing and turning, and waking repeatedly can leave you drained, unfocused, and frustrated.
Hypnosis helps uncover the underlying causes, calming the mind and improving both sleep quality and duration. By addressing the subconscious fight or flight state that keeps us alert, hypnosis targets the root of insomnia, allowing lasting, restorative sleep.
Business performance
Confidence, fear, anxiety, memory, skills, and motivation all shape your career path. Hypnosis is a powerful tool to improve these areas, helping you cope with stress, build self-awareness, and enjoy a more fulfilling work life. It supports mastery of:
- Confidence
- Fear
- Anxiety
- Memory
- Skills
Hypnosis trains the subconscious to be a supportive partner, encouraging positive self-talk and a stronger mindset.
Sports performance
Being a good athlete is all about mind over muscle. Sports hypnosis has been shown to have performance-enhancing effects on the mental state of athletes during training and competition, by improving their subconscious thoughts.
Hypnosis also helps athletes manage anxiety and stress. The mental relaxation achieved through hypnosis allows athletes to focus on the task at hand, which translates to better skill retention in training and better execution on the field.
Fears and phobias
A phobia is an irrational fear of a specific object, activity or situation. When we have unusual fears or phobias we are often aware that our feelings are irrational, but thinking logically isn't enough to defuse the fear.
Most phobias develop as a by-product of traumatic experiences. During hypnosis sessions, you work on detaching the trigger from the emotional response, and updating the brain with a new, more realistic response.
PTSD and trauma
The conscious mind is rational. It analyses and judges. By contrast, the subconscious mind retrieves and stores information. Post-traumatic stress disorder is rooted in the subconscious mind, and the best way to work with what a traumatic experience has left behind is to better understand our triggers.
Hypnotherapy is effective for treating PTSD because it is like a key that unlocks the subconscious mind, allowing us to relieve the symptoms of trauma and the underlying causes of PTSD.
Relationships
Humans are social beings in need of healthy interaction with others. Limited beliefs or unpleasant experiences can get in the way of building healthy connections.
Our subconscious, where we store information from previous experiences, drives our behaviours, thoughts and desires. Through hypnosis, you can re-learn how to communicate openly, express yourself clearly, show genuine interest in your partner, and create intimate and lasting relationships.
Fear of public speaking
The thought of public speaking can drive fear into the hearts of even the most confident people. Our hearts pound, our hands shake and many of us almost lose the ability to speak. Often we set unnatural expectations for how we want to perform, and when it doesn't go to plan, anxiety takes over.
Hypnosis helps identify the root cause of this fear so we can change our automatic response to public speaking, overwrite unhelpful thoughts and build thinking patterns that let self-confidence flourish.
Gambling addiction
Gambling addiction was thought to be a problem with impulse control, but recent evidence shows it has a similar profile to other addictions. The anticipation of a big win raises dopamine, contributing to a temporary high.
Hypnosis helps people re-route those reward systems and surface the issues they are trying to avoid, finding productive ways to deal with what is fuelling the addiction so that gambling no longer needs to be an outlet.
IBS (irritable bowel syndrome)
IBS is a painful and limiting gastrointestinal disorder affecting one in seven Australians. It restricts food choices and freedom of lifestyle, and can bring anxiety and depression with it.
Psychotherapy and psychology are highly recommended in conjunction with hypnosis to treat IBS. Hypnosis for IBS is safe and effective regardless of a person's hypnotic capacity. It relieves gastrointestinal symptoms and has long-term psychological benefits, decreasing anxiety and depression.
Coaching has its own page
Coaching for individuals, couples and executives is all in one place now, with how it works and the ways to start.
Three-day intensive therapy
Reset & Rewire
A three session protocol for rapid mind-body recalibration.
Many people come to this program after months or even years of struggling with ongoing physical discomfort, nervous system overwhelm, exhaustion, or symptoms that no one has been able to explain or relieve. They've tried multiple approaches, yet something still feels stuck.
The 3-Day Intensive is designed specifically for these complex cases. This process works at a level most traditional approaches don't reach: the subconscious mind, the nervous system, and the body's natural healing rhythms.
Over three extended sessions, we work deeply with
- Unresolved emotional patterns
- Suppressed stress responses
- Subconscious protective mechanisms
- Somatic memories held in the body
- The nervous system's capacity to shift out of survival mode
Clients often describe this experience as life changing because it helps the body finally do what it hasn't been able to do on its own: reset, release, and repair.
“Before the three sessions, I struggled to work, walk comfortably, or live normally for months. After the intensive, I can function again, and I keep improving every day. It truly changed my life.”
“I lived with constant exhaustion and never felt truly rested. After the three sessions, my energy has returned and I'm finally able to treat myself with care and compassion.”
Hypnotherapy
What is hypnotherapy and how does it work?
Hypnotherapy guides you into a deeply relaxed, focused state, known as a hypnotic trance, where your subconscious mind becomes more open to positive suggestion and change. In this state, a trained hypnotherapist can help you explore and reshape the beliefs, habits, and emotional patterns stored beneath conscious awareness. Unlike stage hypnosis, clinical hypnotherapy is evidence-based, client-led, and safe.
What is the difference between hypnotherapy and hypnosis?
Hypnosis is a tool and hypnotherapy is the utilisation of that tool. Hypnotherapy is a therapeutic process applied by a professional mental health therapist such as a psychotherapist, psychologist or medical doctor. Hypnosis is a process where suggestions are given to a person in a trance state.
What conditions can hypnotherapy treat?
Hypnotherapy is used for a wide range of conditions including anxiety, stress, depression, phobias, PTSD, insomnia, IBS, weight management, smoking cessation, low self-confidence, chronic pain, and performance issues at work or in sport. At Ontrack Therapy every session is tailored to the individual, using a combination of hypnotherapy and psychotherapy.
Is hypnotherapy safe?
Yes. Clinical hypnotherapy performed by a qualified and registered hypnotherapist is safe. You remain aware and in control throughout the entire session, and you cannot be made to do or say anything against your will or values. Some people feel a little dizzy or drowsy for a short time after a session. Sessions are conducted by Annelie Peusschers, a certified member of the American Board of Hypnotherapy and registered with PACFA (no. 26782).
Can everyone be hypnotised?
The vast majority of people can enter a hypnotic state. Hypnotic responsiveness exists on a spectrum, and a skilled therapist will work with your natural receptivity. Willingness, trust, and an open mind are the most important factors. If you have any concerns, Annelie will discuss them with you openly before your first session.
Is hypnosis like sleep?
Studies of brain activity have confirmed that hypnosis is not like sleep. Hypnotic states are associated with increased theta wave activity, while delta is the dominant brainwave when sleeping.
Can hypnosis make people act against their will?
No. Hypnosis is not mind control, and it does not take away free will. It is true that hypnosis makes people more open to suggestion.
How do you know if hypnosis worked?
The impact of hypnosis is seen in the degree to which it creates direct change. For example, someone who undergoes hypnosis to let go of anxiety will experience a significant decrease in anxiety afterwards.
Sessions, cost and location
How many sessions will I need?
This depends on the nature and complexity of what you are working through. Some clients notice meaningful change after one or two sessions; others benefit from a longer course of treatment. In your initial consultation, your therapist will assess your goals and recommend a plan, whether that's a one-off intensive, a short course, or ongoing sessions.
How much does hypnotherapy cost?
Ontrack Therapy offers individual sessions alongside intensive programs like the 3-Day Reset & Rewire. We recommend booking a consultation to discuss the right format for your situation. Contact us directly for current pricing.
Is hypnotherapy covered by private health insurance?
Some Australian private health funds provide rebates for hypnotherapy under their Extras or Natural Therapies cover, though this varies by insurer and policy level. Please check your entitlements with your health fund directly. Medicare does not currently cover standalone hypnotherapy sessions.
Do you offer online sessions?
Yes. Ontrack Therapy offers in-person sessions at the Newstead clinic and online sessions via secure video call, available to clients across Brisbane, Queensland, and Australia. Simply select your preference when booking.
Where is Ontrack Therapy located?
Lobby 1, Level 2, Gasworks Plaza, 76 Skyring Terrace, Newstead QLD 4006, an easily accessible inner-Brisbane location close to the Story Bridge. Parking is available at Gasworks, with public transport options nearby via Teneriffe and Fortitude Valley.
Book or enquire
Let us help you get back OnTrack
Book an in-person or online session, or send a message and Ontrack Therapy will be in touch.