Sea Life Entertainers Need ‘Hypnotherapy’ To Face New Attraction
Weymouth Sea Life Adventure Park is planning a special week-long ‘Face Your Fears’ attraction straddling Halloween.
Before these staff members can join other work colleagues helping visitors to conquer their nerves and get up close to a variety of creepy-crawlies, snakes, geckos and toads, however…they will need to conquer a morbid fear of their own. One staff member in particular has a fear so bad it is more of a phobia!
Marine life enthusiast Sarah Johnson is comfortable with most animals and certainly with fish…but freezes in terror at the sight of even the tiniest spider.
Sarah, 25, of Clebes Close, Weymouth is a valued member of the Park’s entertainments team and bosses want her fully involved in the ‘Face Your Fears’ event.
So they have persuaded local hypnotherapist Jacqui Hinson to visit and help Sarah overcome her phobia.
“I don’t remember how it started but I’ve been terrified of spiders my whole life,” said Sarah, a former Hull girl who plans to study marine ecology and conservation at Kingston Marwood.
“If I find a spider in the house I just scream for my mum and stand rooted to the spot watching it, so it can’t hide anywhere before mum arrives to get rid of it,” she said.
Jacqui Hinson, who shares the successful Lotus Moon hypnotherapy practice in St Mary’s Street, Weymouth, is confident she can help Sarah conquer her phobia.
Jacqui, a founder member of the Dorset Hypnotherapy Hub, reckons one three-quarter-hour session with Sarah should have her handling a huge tarantula with confidence.
“I work mainly with smokers who want to quit and people with anxiety problems,” said Jacqui.
“I also provide a massage and aromatherapy service for care homes, however, and on more than one occasion have helped care staff overcome a fear of spiders so they could remove them from residents’ rooms.”
Reptiles Plus owner, Ian, came along with a boxful of goodies (or baddies depending on how you look at them) and placed a tarantula in the girls hands and all three of the SeaLife staff members happily held the spider for a photo shoot and, quite rightly, looked very pleased with themselves afterwards.