Over time, the effort to make yourself sleep can actually make sleep more difficult.

Restoring Sleep was created to help you step out of that cycle.

This comprehensive client workbook and therapeutic hypnosis program combines Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) principles with practical cognitive and behavioural strategies, relaxation, regulation, guided imagery, and therapeutic hypnosis.

The goal is not to force you to sleep.

The goal is to help you understand your sleep, reduce the struggle around it, and create the conditions that allow healthier sleep patterns to develop.

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What Is Restoring Sleep?

Restoring Sleep is a structured, practical program designed to help you understand the relationship between:
Thoughts → Behaviours → Arousal → Sleep
The workbook guides you through the process of identifying the patterns that may be interfering with your sleep and developing strategies that you can apply in your everyday life.

You will learn that a difficult night does not have to become a cycle of worry, frustration, and fear.

Instead, you can learn new ways of responding.

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What’s Included?

Your Restoring Sleep program includes:

Comprehensive Client Workbook

A step-by-step workbook that helps you understand sleep and develop practical strategies for improving your relationship with sleep.

7-Day Sleep Diary

A simple sleep diary designed to help identify patterns without turning sleep into another performance task.

Weekly Sleep Review

A guided reflection to help you understand what you noticed during the week and identify the patterns worth working on.

Regulation & Relaxation Strategies

Practical tools for calming physical and mental activation and creating greater readiness for rest.

Cognitive & Behavioural Strategies

Evidence-informed strategies drawn from CBT-I to address thoughts, behaviours, routines, and patterns that can maintain insomnia.

Therapeutic Hypnosis Recordings

A collection of guided therapeutic recordings designed to complement the workbook and help you practice relaxation, regulation, imagery, and a less effortful relationship with sleep.

Nighttime Strategies

Support for common nighttime challenges, including racing thoughts, nighttime anxiety, waking during the night, and difficult sleep experiences.

Personal Sleep Restoration Plan

A personalized plan that helps you identify what works for you and develop strategies for maintaining your progress.

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The Hypnosis Recordings

The accompanying hypnosis recordings are designed to be used alongside the workbook.

They provide an opportunity to slow down, settle the body, redirect attention, and practice the skills introduced throughout the program.

The recordings may help support:

• Physical relaxation
• Mental quieting
• Reduction of nighttime arousal
• A greater sense of safety and calm
• Letting go of sleep-related effort
• Therapeutic imagery
• Acceptance of wakefulness
• Returning to a calm state after nighttime awakening
• Confidence in managing difficult nights
• Positive associations with rest and bedtime

Hypnosis is used as a supportive therapeutic tool, not as a way to force sleep.

You may fall asleep during a recording-or you may simply experience a deeper sense of relaxation and calm.
Both can be valuable.

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Learn to Stop Fighting Sleep

One of the most important principles in Restoring Sleep is recognizing the paradox of sleep:
The harder we try to make ourselves sleep, the more alert and activated we can become.

Instead of asking:

“How can I make myself sleep?”

the program encourages a different question:

“What can I do to create the conditions for rest and allow sleep to happen?”

This shift can make a meaningful difference.

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You Will Explore

The workbook guides you through topics including:

• Understanding how sleep works
• Sleep pressure and circadian rhythms
• Sleepiness versus fatigue
• Understanding insomnia
• The sleep-arousal cycle
• Sleep-related worry
• Sleep performance anxiety
• Racing thoughts
• Catastrophic thinking
• Fear of wakefulness
• Clock watching
• Safety and compensatory behaviours
• Stimulus control
• Sleep scheduling
• Consistent wake times
• Naps and catch-up sleep
• Evening routines
• Technology and stimulation
• Relaxation and regulation
• Guided imagery
• Nighttime anxiety
• Nightmares and difficult nighttime experiences
• Returning to sleep after awakening
• Responding to difficult nights
• Creating a personal sleep restoration plan
• Maintaining progress and preventing relapse

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A Gentle, Practical Approach

This is not a program about getting every night “right.”

Sleep naturally changes.

There may be nights when you sleep well and nights when sleep is more difficult. Progress does not mean that every night will be perfect.

Instead, Restoring Sleep helps you develop:
Understanding
Knowing what may be contributing to your sleep difficulties.
Awareness
Recognizing the thoughts and behaviours that can keep the cycle going.
Regulation
Learning ways to reduce unnecessary arousal and create greater calm.
Flexibility
Learning that you can tolerate wakefulness without turning it into an emergency.
Confidence
Developing trust in your ability to respond to difficult nights.

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Is This Program Right for Me?

Restoring Sleep may be helpful if you experience:

• Difficulty falling asleep
• Difficulty staying asleep
• Early morning awakening
• Racing thoughts at bedtime
• Worry about not sleeping
• Anxiety around bedtime
• Fear of another sleepless night
• Frustration with nighttime awakenings
• Irregular sleep patterns
• Excessive time spent in bed trying to sleep
• Daytime fatigue related to poor sleep
• Sleep difficulties following periods of stress or disruption
• Nightmares or difficult nighttime experiences

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Your Sleep Does Not Have to Be Perfect

You don’t have to force yourself to sleep.

You don’t have to fight every thought that enters your mind.

You don’t have to panic when you wake during the night.

And one difficult night does not mean that you are back at the beginning.

Restoring Sleep is about learning a different way of approaching sleep-one that is informed, compassionate, practical, and focused on lasting change.

You don’t have to force sleep.
You can create the conditions for sleep and allow your body to do what it already knows how to do.

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RESTORING SLEEP

A CBT-I Integrated Approach to Sleep and Insomnia

Client Workbook + Therapeutic Hypnosis Recordings
$170.00

Begin your journey toward:
Better Sleep.
Greater Calm.
A Healthier You.
Available through The Counselling House.

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Why Choose The Counselling House?

• Experienced Providers: Led by Dr. Laurie Ponsford-Hill, RSW, RMFT, RCAT, RP, with expertise in sleep and insomnia support.
• Tailored & Evidence-Based: Therapy customized to individual needs and challenges.
• Safe & Supportive: Professional, confidential, and compassionate environment.
• Flexible & Accessible: Sessions available in-person, online, or by phone.

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Get Started Today

Restore healthy sleep, reduce insomnia, and improve overall well-being with Sleep & Insomnia Counselling at The Counselling House. Contact us to schedule a consultation.

Who provides these services:
Dr. Laurie Ponsford-Hill, RSW, RMFT, RCAT, RP, and trained therapists specializing in sleep and insomnia support.