When Dolores Cannon first introduced her teaching method, she required students to already hold professional hypnotherapy credentials. Over time, she made the training accessible to anyone eager to learn her approach. This means Level 1 practitioners often include psychiatrists, doctors, psychotherapists, and other seasoned professionals who bring advanced hypnotherapy expertise—sometimes surpassing that of Level 2 practitioners who may lack formal therapy backgrounds outside of Cannon’s specific technique.
She created Level 2 to address questions from students to help them refine their skills, and Level 3 later developed with Dolores’s passing with an emphasis on capturing her unique voice and delivery style. As a result, when clients find it challenging to reach deep relaxation, some practitioners might not have the professional experience or diverse skills needed to guide them into a profound trance state. That said, many practitioners bring meaningful past-life experience in this work and naturally thrive, or they maintain a dedicated spiritual practice that provides them with remarkable healing capabilities.
Fellow QHHT practitioner Alex Knight has explained the different Levels in an easy to understand way on her website as many clients are confused about the practical meaning of these levels:
The Dolores Cannon company has recently developed a system whereby people can be referred to as level 1, level 2, or level 3 practitioners. Each level involves taking a class — which may or may not be possible for individual practitioners as geographical or financial constraints may determine — at notable expense and/or travel. Levels 2 and 3 must be taken in person and are not offered online, making it difficult for many of us to take those levels.
Dolores taught us in level 1, in 2012, that we need not ever take any other level (there were only two then; the third was recently added) than level 1. If a practitioner has only taken level one but knows what they’re doing, gets good results, and resonates well with clients, that practitioner can be just as wonderful and effective as any level 2 or 3 practitioner. Level 2 is added education; Dolores taught us about her “bag of tricks” that she used for difficult circumstances that sometimes occur during a session. However, experience is also a fine teacher, and level 2 is not required in order to be a good qhht practitioner. Level 3 requires a fair amount of money and videos of our work which are then studied and critiqued by a couple of our peers. A level 3 practitioner is probably doing the pure Dolores method (as opposed to a mixed-method which may include other forms of hypnosis techniques or even other healing techniques in a session).
A dedicated practitioner, also mentioned on the Dolores Cannon website, is simply one who is a member of our support forum, where sessions and issues regarding qhht are discussed and much learning can take place. The forum is a nice place for learning and for helping other practitioners. However, many leave the forum after they feel there is no more they can get from it. Being a member of the forum is not required for being a good practitioner. Membership in the forum is required in order to be listed on the Dolores Cannon website. If we are not listed on the website, all that means is we have left the forum.
If you are considering a practitioner, it would be good to simply ask them how long they’ve been doing qhht. If you want pure Dolores qhht, ask the practitioner if that is what they do. Many practitioners mix it up with other methods. (I do not. I do pure qhht.) Most important, however, is how you feel when talking with the practitioner. Are you comfortable? Uncomfortable? Does the vibe feel right? Does the practitioner seem perfectly fine but something doesn’t feel right? Go by your own instincts, your own intuition, to choose the practitioner you will hire. You can even ask for an in-person interview before deciding. In my opinion, that should not be a problem.