Overcome Driving Nerves, Fear of Driving, Driving Anxiety and Phobias

Do you have a lack of confidence for driving or feel unsafe driving?

Are you looking for help with any fears, phobia, nerves or anxieties with driving?

Dont Worry! Dont Fear! Help is Here!

Changing Anxious, Nervous Drivers In To

Naturally Very Good, Confident, Safe Drivers

AS SEEN ON BBC THE ONE SHOW FEBRUARY 2023

Follow This Link To Watch Michael J Stanhope on the BBC The One Show

If you are suffering or have any issues with driving anxiety, fear of driving or driving nerves or phobias related to driving we will be happy to help you.

The information on this page is for people who currently already have a full driving licence and qualified to drive. If you are a learner driver seeking help for nerves and anxiety follow this link

Our driving therapist can provide help for any of the following:

Driving Nerves - Fear of Driving - Driving Anxiety - Panic Attacks while Driving.

Lost or Lack of Confidence with Driving. Problems or Lack of Confidence following a Motoring Accident.

We can also help with General Lack of Confidence, Anxieties, Low Self Esteem that is not connected to driving

Call or text Michael direct on 07720 396 100 for more information or to discuss your needs or booking a course

Our driving school has two specialist driving instructors / driving therapists who have studied and trained extensively driving, driving behaviour, the mind and how it works, anxieties, nerves and lack of confidence plus have additional therapist qualifications to help you achieve the change you need to become safe and confident driving, anywhere, anytime

We provide a specialist training course which naturally becomes tailored to each persons issues, anxieties, nerves or lack of confidence. The course can be tailored to fit for a full licence holder or a new learner driver

Both have extensive driver training experience and qualifications plus additional qualifications in mind training, NLP, hypnotherapy as well as many additional qualities and experiences that have successful helped hundreds of people who were previously anxious or nervous about driving or related matters

Check out some of the many people who have overcome their problem with driving by clicking this link

Michael J Stanhope BA(Hons)

DSA ADI Grade 6

Certified NLP Practitioner

DHP and DCMT

DVSA Grade A Trainer

Diploma DI

DIA Diamond Master Driver

IAM

07720 396 100

info@mjdrivingschool.co.uk

Transformational Training

Read Some Recent Testimonials

We provide a specialist driver training course combined with mind training and mind changing techniques. We have two highly experienced and very qualified driving instructors / driving therapists that will totally transform how you drive and how you feel with driving.

This course is specifically designed for those who already have a full driving licence and qualified for driving. If you are a learner driver looking for help to learn to drive and overcome fears and anxiety follow this link

We both use top quality expert driver training and coaching techniques, along with using NLP techniques, hypnotherapy and mind training techniques, which can massively help you overcome driving nerves, driving anxieties and panic attacks, phobias or lack of confidence

Using our combined driver training expertise, along with varying techniques gained from being a Qualified and Certified NLP Practitioner, a Diploma in Clinical Hypnotherapy & Psychotherapy and Diploma in Complete Mind Training we can help you overcome your fears and anxieties and become a successful, confident, safe and intuitive driver.

All our work is currently provided in a manual car only (not automatic)

NLP influences brain behaviour through the use of language and psychology. It is a very powerful therapy as it focusses on how we can think, act, feel and process information. NLP can 'recode' the way the brain responds to stimuli to help us get the results we want and lead the life we desire.

The Reviews at the bottom of this page are for the specialist work of anxiety training - the Facebook linked to this website is just for the regular driving school learners

We provide this specialist work for both full licence holders and learner drivers. Both full licence and provisional licence holders will work through the same techniques on the sessions with me - a mix of driver training and coaching, NLP, mind training and hypnotherapy

For learning to drive with nerves or anxiety see the section below for Learners or follow this link

We are fully Licensed Practitioners of NLP. Certified by “Evolve NLP” which is endorsed by “The International Institute for Humanistic Neuro-Linguistic Psychology and Hypnosis”.

We also hold a Diploma in Clinical Hypnotherapy and Psychotherapy (DHP) and a Diploma in Complete Mind Therapy (DCMT)

Help is Here

From our experience we find that a combination of driver training, coaching, NLP and mind training techniques plus hypnotherapy provides the most desirable outcome.

By the time we have finished your course the act of driving, anywhere, will feel and be as easy as walking down the footpath

Don't rely on some sort of treatment, such as CBT or hypnotherapy, for a fear or anxiety for driving in a room or surgery - instead to be individually assessed properly to establish causes, resulting states and desired outcomes and then plan a real course of anxiety / fear treatment while in the environment that you would like to feel better in - the car!!

Combining our coaching skills, excellence in driver training techniques, along with NLP techniques (which are proved to gain high success at fear and anxiety cures) and the use of hypnotic language or hypnosis (if required) and mind training techniques produces a far higher degree of success.

Once we establish the causes and states that require change or improvement for you we can build the mind training techniques in the car, prior to, and while driving, until you (your subconscious) feels safe and confident. I have found the mix of in car driver training along with the NLP to have huge success for many people with fears, anxieties and phobias or lack of confidence related to driving.

Many previous clients have undergone previous help such as CBT or hypnotherapy - this has usually had minimal affect as they aren't fixing your mind while in the car

Please Read Some Recent Testimonial / Reviews Through This Link

From our experience many people who think they have a driving phobia actually don't!

For many previous clients simply changing the way they drive - mostly with how to use their eyes and brain correctly while driving changed their whole perspective and feeling while driving.

Quite often the way in which we were initially trained or style that we have got in to with driving your own brain isn't happy with it so gives you a feeling of not being in control or confident so with the combination of changing how you drive along with any additional techniques required the vast majority of people have become totally fixed - many didn't even have a phobia in the first place when they thought they did

Many instances, some of my driver training techniques have increased confidence alone, and then when you add coaching, NLP, mind training and hypnosis the result is amazing - often in only a few sessions!

Lots of previous clients have found the techniques and work done actually helps and changes many other aspects of their lives as well as their driving!

Read some previous clients stories below to help you decide this will work for you

You Are Not Alone!

We have a very high level of bookings and clients benefitting from this specialist work, with clients coming from all over the UK - so you are not alone - however due to high demand there is currently a few week waiting time to get new clients started - so, don't delay any further - book in as soon as possible - as our demand is higher following the BBC The One Show Programme:

Follow This Link to Watch Michael help a client overcome anxiety and nerves with driving on

the BBC The One Show

Some common statements from previous clients when describing their issues or problems - if any of the following apply to you then simply get in touch

I feel nervous / anxious at the thought of driving or a particular journey

I Just don't have any confidence at all when driving

I can't go on routes or roads I don't know or been on before

I get so nervous on a driving test and fall apart and then keep failing the test

I worry about crashing, or about other people on the roads

I've just lost my general confidence about driving

I don't like or can't drive with lots of other traffic or people around me

I think I am going to get it wrong

I feel scared, nervous or frightened about learning to drive

I can't pass the driving test due to nerves

I can't park or reverse a car

I won't go in a car park or too frightened to park

I don't feel in control or feel really anxious all the time

I hate the thought of driving and avoid it as much as possible

I can only drive a really small car or with a sat nav

I worry for ages / hours / days before driving

I won't or can't carry passengers or I'm even nervous as a passenger

I worry about where to go or getting it wrong or being in wrong place or lane

I am nervous at the thought of learning to drive

I can't park when I get to the other end

I can't drive at speed or fast

I have tried to learn but just feel anxious or panicky all the time

I can't cope with busy roads and all the other people around me

I can't drive under a bridge, over a bridge

I think or worry that I will go the wrong way

I don't like uphill or downhill, or wide open space, or enclosed or busy space

I don't like fast roads, dual carriageways or driving at high speed

I feel so anxious I must have a phobia about driving

I wish I could just get in the car and drive happily, like other people do

In truth all of the above statements are actually not true and you won't have the worries or fears once we have re-trained your mind and your driving style

How the Sessions are Usually Structured

Currently All Sessions are Conducted in a Manual Car so We Can't Provide this Service for Automatic Cars

We have found that most people need to go through the following changes for them to feel happy and confident again: Using my combination of skills (expert driver training, NLP, mind training and hypnotherapy) we get rid of the problems and build your mind to drive fantastically confident

The vast majority of previous clients who can already drive have reached the desired goal and level of confidence around 4 to 6 sessions - some have even been confident by end of 3 ....A new driver or learner driver will require more sessions to include the actual learning to drive

Session One:

Understand the issues and causes of anxiety or nerves and begin to re train / re wire your brain to work correctly in relation to driving and how to deal with and change the anxiety - only a small amount of actual driving on this session however I find that this is one of the most important elements to begin the desired change. Starting to change how your brain works and percieves driving so it starts to see it in a different way

Session Two:

Change your driving style (or learn to drive if a new driver) to work differently / correctly with your newly wired brain - some people have needed totally retraining to drive properly as many of my past clients were not even trained to drive properly in the first place, which is often a big contributory factor to the issues and anxieties that became your problem - changing some driving styles and habits to work alongside your newly 'wired' brain so that your brain is working in different way and sees and feels driving as a different experience from how it was in the past.

Learner Driver: For a new learner driver the process of learning to be confident and in control of a car, ensuring your brain is using the right thought patterns and learning all the skills with the right mind set to become a safe and confident driver down the line. The process continues with extensive mind training through initial learning for the next 2 sessions which then has you prepared for a few regular driving lessons towards a driving test.

Session Three:

Build both your driving and your brain patterns with fairly extensive driving in many situations to prove that the newly re wired brain and new driving styles (or newly learned driving skills) work in any area, any type of road, anywhere - this is where most people start to feel the confidence coming through

Session Four:

Building your confidence and belief in you and your own mind and driving ability and testing it to various situations while constantly improving your driving pattern / style and also how your own mind's patterns and associations with driving (subconsciously) - layering the new behaviour and patterns in your brain in order for your brain to fully believe and anchoring them there for the future

Additional Sessions (if required):

Further building your brain and driving and ensuring that any old patterns and behaviour are in the past - Release the old style, patterns, behaviour, fears and anxieties and leave them in the past and firmly anchoring the new and fully testing in any situations anywhere (or simply building your driving and mind in all other areas if new or learning to drive)

Also, to build belief and confidence and to ensure past behaviour patterns are now extinct and the new patterns are fully in place (or cover new areas of driving for the new driver)

Many past clients have told me that the techniques have also massively helped and improved their overall confidence and reduced many anxieties and stress in other areas of their lives

Alternative Remedies

We have found over the years that many clients had previously taken on other forms of help prior to seeing me, anything from more normal driving lessons, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) or hypnotherapy with not much success or change - realistically you need the mix of driving changes and mind changes at the same time, while in a car for the desired fix

ABOUT US - HOW WE CAN HELP YOU

We are highly experienced, highly qualified driver trainers and will use a combination of driver training and coaching techniques along with NLP, Mind Training and/or hypnosis techniques to assist you.

Michael is a fully Licensed Practitioner of NLP. Certified by “Evolve NLP” which is endorsed by “The International Institute for Humanistic Neuro-Linguistic Psychology and Hypnosis”.

I have been a fully qualified driving instructor for over 25 years. I am one of the very rare, top DSA Grade 6 / DVSA Grade A driving instructors (which is the highest standard of driver training in the UK).

As well as being a Certified NLP Practitioner, Using Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) I also hold a Diploma in Clinical Hypnotherapy and Psychotherapy and a Diploma in Complete Mind Therapy, so the mix of techniques along with my expert driver training and coaching techniques will allow your brain to be retrained to overcome your disposition.

If required, I will initiate your help with a phone conversation or email communication to assess your specific condition, needs and your desired outcome.

I am in huge demand for this work and have clients from all over the UK arriving in Leeds for this training so please plan ahead and book in advance

Specially Designed Training - That Works!

From successfully helping loads of people with these issues and worked varying patterns of sessions and training over several years I have developed training and mind changing sessions that provide the desired change with most people in 4 sessions- even I am amazed with the results! A learner driver can expect to require more sessions of practice once fear or anxiety has been dealt with

The first session aims to dig and work out the causes and start to rebuild / rewire the brain in order to allow the new training and techniques to properly build on subsequent sessions until you become a totally new driver

The first session alone can often begin the process of improvement and benefits may be witnessed at this early stage!

Most people have said that they really start to feel and know the training is working by the end of the second session and they are starting to gain confidence

The vast majority of people have reached a huge turning point by the 3rd session and by the 4th (or 5th) can often be totally transformed, confident and even enjoy driving, although several have opted for a couple more sessions to increase confidence further and also because they find it helps in so many ways as well as driving alone - a learner or new driver will ecpect to require several more sessions

Areas Covered

We can provide help for driving phobias, driving anxieties, fear of driving and other anxieties aside from driving in Leeds, Bradford and surrounding areas.

Due to the very high demand for this work clients simply have to make their way to Leeds and if you don't want to drive your car we are happy to meet at Leeds / Bradford train station or other suitable location.

Many people have come to us from all over the UK

See further below for pricing structure

From experience and experimenting with previous clients I have found the sessions work the absolute best in 3 hour sessions (pretty much half a day)- this provides adequate time for brain to make changes, practise some driving and to work on mind training exercises. Most people have suited and preferred with the best results in 2 x sessions per week over a 2 week period

See below for pricing and discount on block course payment - full licence holders. For learning to drive with anxiety or nerves follow this link

Each session combines a mix of specialist driving training, mind training, NLP techniques, anxiety and nerves release, change of state of mind training and sometimes hypnotherapy

Don't pay £150 - £200 per hour for just clinical assistance when you can pay far less for my treatment in the environment that you want the help - in a car!!

The sessions are conducted in our fully insured vehicles and sessions can be booked Mondays - Fridays either 10am - 1pm or 1pm - 4pm, Some evening or weekend sessions can be arranged however these are quite rare

I often over run the 3 hour and can end up working with you for even longer especially if I find that a new pattern or change is developing - so if you are time restricted please do point that out to me

Pricing of Transformational Driving Course - Full Licence Holders

(For help Learning to Drive & Overcome Anxiety and Nerves click here)

Individual Sessions:

You can choose to pay hourly and take as little or as many sessions as you like until you feel confident again (or check the specially designed 4 session course below - which saves you £40!).

Hourly rate is £55 per hour with a minimum of 2 hours per session:

2 hour session = £110

However, from my years of experience with this work I have found sessions work best at 3 hours per session

3 hour session = £160 (saves £5.00)

Payments to be made by 48 hours prior to session

Full Specially Designed Course:

What is anxiety?

Anxiety is a word we use to describe feelings of unease, worry and fear. It incorporates both the emotions and the physical sensations we might experience when we are worried or nervous about something. Although we usually find it unpleasant, anxiety is related to the 'fight or flight response' – our normal biological reaction to feeling threatened.

We all know what it’s like to feel anxious from time to time. It’s common to feel tense, nervous and perhaps fearful at the thought of a stressful event or decision you’re facing – especially if it could have a big impact on your life. For example:

sitting an exam or test (eg driving test)
going into hospital
attending an interview
starting a new job
moving away from home
having a baby
being diagnosed with an illness
deciding to get married or divorced
driving or certain areas of driving

In situations like these it’s understandable to have worries about how you will perform, or what the outcome will be. For a short time you might even find it hard to sleep, eat or concentrate. Then usually, after a short while or when the situation has passed, the feelings of worry stop.

What is the 'fight or flight' response?

Like all other animals, human beings have evolved ways to help us protect ourselves from dangerous, life-threatening situations. When you feel under threat your body releases hormones, such as adrenalin and cortisol, which help physically prepare you to either fight the danger or run away from it. These hormones can:

make you feel more alert, so you can act faster
make your heart beat faster to carry blood quickly to where it’s needed most

Then when you feel the danger has passed, your body releases other hormones to help your muscles relax, which may cause you to shake.

This is commonly called the ‘fight or flight’ response – it’s something that happens automatically in our bodies, and we have no control over it. In modern society we don’t usually face situations where we need to physically fight or flee from danger, but our biological response to feeling threatened is still the same.

Fears and Phobias

Fears, phobias, panic attacks and anxiety are fairly common and experts believe that approximately 1 in 10 people in the UK suffer at some point in their life.

Phobias and fears related to driving in some way is one of the most common.

Whether it is a fear of the driving test, a fear of learning to drive or driving fears and phobias such as motorway driving, dealing with bridges, overtaking, to a total fear of driving, or if you are suffering lack of confidence driving following a motoring accident or just a long absence from driving there is help available for you.

As well as being one of the most experienced and highly qualified driving instructors in the UK who regularly uses coaching and NLP techniques in every day driver training with fantastic results, I am also a fully qualified and certified NLP Practitioner and have developed some highly successful techniques to assist drivers with any phobia or fear, panic attack or nerves.

Phobias are wonderful things as they perfectly illustrate your capacity to learn. Most phobias are created in an instant, yet last a lifetime. We never forget to have an emotional response when exposed to the subject of our phobia and it takes no conscious effort to retain such a powerful connection. This is learning at its very best, and illustrates how immensely powerful your subconscious mind is.

When we develop a phobia we are creating an association between a stimulus, the object of the phobia, and a response, usually fear. Using NLP techniques, it is possible to break that association very easily, thus eliminating the phobia. It is not necessary to know how, why or when the association was made in the first place and the process used to break the association is fast and easy.

WHAT EXACTLY IS A PHOBIA?

Phobias are fears. Fear is a normal part of life, and there are many things in life which can be dangerous or painful - such as wasps, muggers, car crashes and having operations. Anyone might be afraid of such things - or at least anxious about them. This is normal. Sensible people take precautions to avoid being hurt or injured by things that are genuinely dangerous.

In this sense, anxiety is very useful. It warns you when danger is threatening. Severe anxiety - fear - can also be useful. When we find ourselves in a situation of real danger - like being faced by a robber in a dark alley - the fear reaction is just what we need.

It releases adrenaline and other chemicals into our blood, and these speed up our heartbeat, sharpen our senses and heighten our physical powers. These changes prepare us for what is called ‘flight or fight’ - either to fight for our lives, or to run for them.

A phobia is a disorder in which the body reacts in exactly the same way, and we experience exactly the same feelings of anxiety and fear - but in situations where there is absolutely no need for ‘flight or fight’. It is as if our body and mind have lost all sense of proportion, and internally scream ‘danger!’ at the least little thing - like crossing a footbridge, encountering a cat, or driving across town. But no matter how harmless the feared thing may be, for a phobic person the fear reaction is every bit as real as if the cause was really life threatening. People with phobias usually realise all too well that their reaction is irrational, but this makes no difference to its effect.

The level of the symptoms that people with phobias experience varies a great deal, from mild anxiety to very severe panic and terror. While some people simply feel a bit nervous when they have to drive, others can barely cope with the anxiety.

But there are also people who have full-scale panic attacks at the wheel, and soon give up driving altogether because of the terror that grips them when they try to do so.

In fact these frightening feelings are exactly the same thing that ‘normal’ people feel in situations that really are dangerous. Soldiers in a battle feel exactly that way. The only thing different about a phobia, is that there is no logical reason for the fear.

But phobias aren’t just severe anxiety: the anxiety is turned into a phobia by avoidance.

In the early stages of a driving phobia, the person affected sometimes tries to overcome their fears head on, by brief ventures into the feared situation, usually retreating instantly when anxiety arises. This avoidance brings a reduction of the tension, and rapidly becomes a habit, so that the next attempt becomes more difficult, and so on until the attempts to face the problem stop altogether. Avoiding the situations that make us feel frightened makes us more sensitive to those situations, and ‘conditions’ us to fear them even more.

Avoidance is like retreating from an enemy. We may feel safer to begin with, but we’re letting the enemy get us on the run. And we have to retreat further and further, until we find that a huge slice of our world has been grabbed away from us.

This is why phobias can be such a big problem. Because we tend to avoid the things we fear, the fear can worsen very rapidly. To recover, we need to put that process into reverse.

The fear reaction is virtually automatic, and very difficult to control. In the early period of human development, it was a useful survival trait: as a soft bodied species surrounded by predators, we needed an instant response that would get us out of trouble, something that would not allow our inquisitive brains to let us linger looking for the cause. However, humans learn quickly and we can train ourselves to respond positively to threats, and not to react with terror to things which prove, with experience, to be harmless. Lion tamers, tight-rope walkers, scaffolders and firemen have all learnt to handle potentially dangerous situations safely. If this were not true, we would still be cowering in the backs of caves!

WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF PHOBIA?

Like other phobias, driving phobia can produce the unpleasant physical symptoms of ‘normal’ fear:

heart palpitations
feeling sick
chest pains
difficulty breathing
dizziness
‘jelly legs’
feeling ‘unreal’
intense sweating
feeling faint
dry throat
restricted or ‘fuzzy’ vision or hearing.

In severe cases, people may feel certain that they are about to die, go mad, or lose control of themselves and injure someone, or do something disgusting and humiliating. Most of all they feel an overpowering urge to ‘escape’ from the situation they are in. They also develop an acute fear of repeating these very unpleasant experiences, and this is what really gives the phobia its power.

Of course, these are feelings, not reality. The plain truth is that even the worst panic attacks do not cause any long-term ill-effects, and people simply do not die, go mad, or cause mayhem as a result.

If you need help with your driving, driving nerves, anxieties, phobias and fears, whether you are a full licence holder or learner driver contact me anytime by text or email to discuss your own individual situation and I will happily call you back when I am free - contact details below

For info on regular learning to drive driving lessons Driving Lessons Leeds

For more information or assistance contact me on 07720 396 100 or email info@mjdrivingschool.co.uk

All work and communication is completely confidential

Michael J Stanhope BA(Hons).

DHP & DCMT

DSA ADI Grade 6

Certified NLP Practitioner

DVSA Grade A Driver Trainer

Diploma in Driving Instruction

DIA Diamond Advanced Driver

Institute of Advanced Motorist

Association of Complete Mind Therapists

I am a fully Licensed Practitioner of NLP - Certified by “Evolve NLP” which is endorsed by “The International Institute for Humanistic Neuro-Linguistic Psychology and Hypnosis”.

I also hold a Diploma in Clinical Hypnotherapy and Psycotherapy (DHP) and a Diploma in Complete Mind Therapy (D.C.M.T) and a Full Member of the Association of Complete Mind Therapists (ACMT)

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