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You are feeling very slim: Hypnotist who wants to help Met lose weight
Tom Harper24 Jan 2011
A Scotland Yard superintendant has discussed hiring a £200-an-hour hypnotist in a bid to tackle obesity levels among police officers.
Superintendent Raj Kohli discussed using "cognitive hypnotherapist", who describes himself as "Derren Brown without the jazz hands", about a pilot scheme for 20 fat officers in Camden.
Trevor Silvester, 51, helps people lose weight by lulling them into a trance at his surgery in Harley Street or through recordings that can be listened to on MP3 players as patients fall asleep.
In one part of Mr Silvester's "Thinking Slimmer" programme, called Lose Those Love Handles, he talks in comforting tones to relax the patient before persuading their "unconscious mind" to stop eating.
About five per cent of Scotland Yard police staff are thought to be overweight, nearly 2,000 officers.
Mr Silvester was a sergeant in the Met for 18 years before retraining as a "cognitive hypnotherapist". He told the Standard: "There is a concern within the Met about obesity. It's very difficult to stay fit when you work shift patterns in that kind of environment. They struggle to eat well and take regular exercise.
"Supt Kholi wants to do the hypnotherapy programme. He was blown away by the idea as the Met are on a big health drive at the moment. My methods play on the psychological principle of 'priming' which helps people to make better food choices."
In November 2009, it emerged that 16,000 Scotland Yard officers were offered "fat club" memberships and advised to sign up for a strict fitness regime to get them into shape.
Alison Segal, 38, from Ruislip, claimed she lost 18 pounds in 11 weeks through Mr Silvester's programme. She said: "I don't have to worry about what I'm doing during the day, I just find that I have to eat less. I'm not as hungry as I used to be and it's just changed my life. I don't need to eat cakes, I just don't feel the urge for sweet things,
Mr Silvester claimed hypnotherapy is a vital tool in combating the root causes of obesity and warned "quick fix" options such as gastric bands do not solve the problem.
He said: "Gastric bands are madness. If you use them to deal with obesity you are only dealing with the symptoms. The mind needs to be brought into play. It would be much better to buy and listen to one of my clips."
Mr Kohli, the most senior Sikh officer in the Met, has met Mr Silvester's business partner Sandra Roycroft-Davis several times to discuss the venture.
A Met spokesman said: "Supt Kohli recently spoke informally with a professional colleague to see if there was any merit in working with the Met. No agreement has been entered into."
Talking coppers into losing pounds
Excerpt from a 10-minute clip called Lose those Love Handles read by Trevor Silvester:
"Let's spend a few moments going inside and see how you feel. Let your unconscious begin to do what it does each and every time you listen to my voice. It relaxes you and allows your mind to open ... That keeps you at the place you have reached, your body balanced to the way you are happy with. Soon your unconscious recognises you for the shape you are ... in the things it has you do, in the food it has you eat ... gently noticing day-by-day those small changes in the way you live, how your unconscious mind is keeping this goal in mind, so you don't have to.
"The habit of you becoming slimmer is becoming permanent. In all the things you do, so that, at the end of the day you might realise with surprise just how these small differences have added up to significant changes in your life ... It is all your doing, your choices, your changes. Like a glove your new body fitting the you you are having fun being. And feeling it fit you so comfortably that you will do whatever it takes to keep it. Whatever it takes you have the time to do. And what you are gaining in your life is so more important than what you have lost from your plate."
Reader views (6)
Apparently this article is mostly fabricated - backed up by Derren Brown himself on his blog and by Trevor.
Terrible bit of journalism. You should be ashamed.
- Chris, Croydon, 02/02/2011 12:30
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I would be interested to know what religion has to do with anything ("the most senior Sikh officer in the Met"). I have yet to read an article desrcribing the Commissioner as the highest ranking Christian in the MPS. Maybe Mr. Harper would like to explain what he was trying to imply with this remark?
- Raj Kohli, London, 24/01/2011 22:10
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Trevor is an amazing Hypnotherapist and Trainer, if more companies utilised the skills of Hypnotherapists to help with weight matters and maybe smoking they would clearly benefit from increased morale, less sick days and an overall more productive work force. Though Mr Kohli states he is still considering Trevor's services, in the long run it would save the Tax Payer a lot of money, go ahead Mr Kohli and be amongst the progressive 'thinkers' in management and begin to see improvements beyond expectations, the results are amazing.
- Bonita Rayner-Jones, London, UK, 24/01/2011 20:34
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I completely agree with Supt Kohli, it's beyond me too. At no time have I said to anyone that I've spoken with him - I didn't even know his name before this article. And I don't know what 'Derren Brown without the jazz hands even means'. I spoke with the journalist twice, and he still can't accurately report what it is that I do to help people.
What a shame that the fact that people like Alison can listen to a slimpod for 10 minutes a night and lose weight isn't considered newsworthy enough. And that something that could help the Met might be lost for the sake of a headline.
- Trevor Silvester, Cognitive Hypnotherapist, London, 24/01/2011 20:33
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The above article is misleading and I wish to relay the facts.
I have never met, spoken to or in any way communicated with Mr Silvester so quite how I was about to (sic) 'sign up for his £200 per hour services' is beyond me.
Ms Sandra Roycroft-Davis (Mr Silvester's partner) is a personal friend of mine. During a single informal and social meeting I wondered whether the work her company does could augment the excellent work of the MPS in maximising health and well-being for its staff. We discussed 'what if scenarios' and that was the sum total of the conversation.
There has not been any pilot study arranged and there has never been a discussion about cost.
As a senior manager within the MPS I retain my right to explore and discuss potentially new and innovative ideas. To that end I will always seek out whether I can work in partnership with people or organisations who can help the MPS achieve its aim of making London a safer place.
Such misrepresentation is unhelpful and disappointing and it is a shame the ES has run such a piece despite my best attempts to explain the reality.
- Superintendent Raj Kohli, Camden police, Metropolitan Police Service, 24/01/2011 15:37
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I find this laughable. If the Met wants to improve the fitness of its police officers, why is it selling all its sports facilities at the Peel Centre in Hendon?
Barnet Council's 'Colindale Action Plan hearing' was continually told that concreting over the running track and sports fields was "sustainable development". How those words have been devalued!
The monitoring body 'Sport England' must start to fight this terrible plan, which of course is designed to make some short-term money for the Met. Instead of building lucrative blocks of flats on its land, the Met could instead share the sporting facilities with the local Colindale and Hendon communities.
- Jay, London, 24/01/2011 13:22
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