The hypnotherapist who helped Chris Kamara go public with his speech disorder has revealed how he treated the pundit and helped him get his "confidence back".
Daniel McDermid, 38, started treating the former Leeds United player and Sky Sports pundit at his Leeds based hypnotherapy clinic in 2022.
The therapist revealed 'Kammy' came to him looking for a "cure" for the speech condition apraxia after he was recommended by one of his clients.
Daniel has said it was he who encouraged Kamara to go public on his disorder which he was "desperate" to fix.
Daniel McDermid, 38, started treating the former Leeds United player and Sky Sports pundit at his Leeds based hypnotherapy clinic in 2022.
The therapist revealed 'Kammy' came to him looking for a "cure" for the speech condition apraxia after he was recommended by one of his clients.
Daniel has said it was he who encouraged Kamara to go public on his disorder which he was "desperate" to fix.
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NewsTranscript
00:00I'm Daniel McDermid and I run Leeds Hypnotherapy Clinic.
00:04Can you just tell us a little bit about the business?
00:06Well, I've been running it for just under 16 years and through those years I've worked with
00:11tens of thousands of people and I've helped many, many people
00:15overcome a variety of conditions from anxiety, depression, lots of OCD,
00:24helped lots of people lose weight and I've written books on smoking cessation
00:29and I've helped many people become non-smokers as well.
00:32What sparked your interest in the business?
00:34Well, I was always interested in human conditions since I was a child.
00:39It always interested me, why do people respond like they do in life?
00:44And I enjoyed history as a child because of that.
00:48And then when I got to college I decided to do psychology and I wasn't the most academic
00:55and that I managed to get through, you know, those years as a child
01:01and I then developed into doing psychology at university.
01:07Now, it was a bit different because I wanted to understand why hypnotherapy works.
01:12I wanted to demystify it in fact when I got into it.
01:15So I'm a bit different from other therapists because of that.
01:17So I went to learn with the London College of Clinical Hypnosis and I learnt a lot there
01:22and I realised there's something really profound about this type of treatment
01:26and I'm going to utilise it and help people.
01:29So that's how I got into it.
01:31Has the industry changed?
01:33The industry has changed.
01:35Like every industry, there's fantastic builders out there
01:40and there's what you call your cowboy builders.
01:44But it doesn't mean architecture is a bad thing just because there's some people
01:48who are not as competent as others.
01:50So it can be quite a saturated industry at times.
01:53So there's lots of therapists out there
01:54and there's some incredibly good people out there who really do life-saving work.
02:01And are you able to tell us a little bit about the work that you've done
02:04or your involvement with Chris Carmel?
02:07Well, Cammy came in and the first thing I want to say,
02:10what a wonderful human being, you know.
02:13He really is an incredible person.
02:16And when he first came in to see me, he was in a desperate situation.
02:22He hadn't told anybody about his condition as he's already told the media about.
02:28And he wanted a cure.
02:32I had to be very ethical and explain,
02:34I can't cure your condition because it's a biological condition.
02:37But I can help you adapt to it.
02:39And I was trying to get him to come out to the public, explain what's happening.
02:47But he felt ashamed of it, which we all know he shouldn't have done.
02:52From day one, he acknowledges that now.
02:55I should have come out on day one and just told everybody what was happening.
02:59So I had to help him build his confidence.
03:02And I hope that I achieve that with him, to help him build his confidence
03:06and feel happy and secure.
03:10And he's doing such incredible work now.
03:12I'm so proud of the man that he's, you know,
03:14taken on board what we discussed in the treatment.
03:16And he's now a pioneer helping other people with speech difficulties.