Are you ready for the psychic challenge?

She says: "I had a childhood and youth of traumatic experiences, and then 22 years ago, despite my financial success, I suddenly hit a wall and had to start thinking differently and learn how I function as a human being. I was given the opportunity to choose a different path through Silva Ultramind, but I didn't know how to go about it and didn't believe in it. Then one night I woke up to see Jose Silva standing at the foot of my bed. He told me to carry on teaching his work and when I woke I discovered that was the night he died."

Deborah has been working with healing ever since then. She began with one to one sessions but then developed the idea of setting up psychic courses for group work. After several years of development, the courses are now starting in the UK. I went along to meet Deborah on an introductory day in Earl's Court.

She tells me: "The theory is that if you use both hemispheres of the brain your healing power will come out, but since we're brought up in the physical world we often forget about our inner senses. We don't remember them."

Deborah runs through the basics of her teaching which she says taps into the level where the biological intelligence is located, or in the Theta level.

"At this level, we gain insight into our patterns and behavior. This is also known as our cellular level. Then there is another deeper level which Jose Silva called the Delta frequency. He called this the doorway to the other side'."

Deborah explains there are three ways in which we access the Delta level. These are visual, through daydreaming and pictures, kinesthetic, trusting to your gut feelings and auditory - intuition and your inner voice.

Deborah says: "It's the times when you say I knew it or I knew I should/shouldn't have done that."

With Deborah on the day is Amanda Hart whom she met on Britain's Psychic Challenge. Amanda will be running courses across Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire in the coming months. Amanda explains that she too turned to her psychic abilities to overcome her daughter's tragic disappearance.

Amanda says: "The main reason for my spiritual awakening, so to speak was that back in 1993 my daughter, who was just coming up to her fourth birthday, went missing. At the time, I thought a mistake had occurred, as she had gone on a very rare trip to her estranged father for a holiday. My instincts told me from the very start not to let her go, but I didn't listen and I tried to make contact to arrange to bring her home but the phone had been cut off and that was the beginning of her disappearance."

Trusting to advice from family and friends, Amanda says she went through a complicated series of legal battles to get her child back.

"Five years on, I eventually got to court but too late and it was recognised that my ex-husband, even though he'd committed a very cruel act by taking her away, would have to take on the full responsibility of my daughter."

Amanda has still not been reunited with her child but she is determined not to give up. She feels that if she had listened more closely to her inner self, the outcome could have been more favourable.

"Up until meeting Deborah, I still dealt with huge guilt and episodes of remorse for our loss," says Amanda. "However, it is through learning these tools that I really turned my life around. My family and I keep more positive than ever as I now know how I can bring her back into our life. This has been the driving force that led me to find my power - even though it took me almost 14 years to find the answers."

Since apearing on Britain's Psychic Challenge, Amanda has gone on to work on high profile cases similar to her own and has made several broadcasts with My Spirit Radio in Maidstone, where she picked her own guests to interview on subjects such as Druidry, angels and paganism.

"It was a spiritually based show to help people bring about change," says Amanda. "I didn't know I was psychic until I did the set tests in the auditions in the pilot show for Britain's Psychic Challenge, but the results were incredible. There were all these things I'd already been doing but I'd never had references for them. I hadn't read them in a book."

Shortly after talking to Amanda, I had recourse to relect on my own psychic ability. One morning I awoke with the name Michael Rosen in my head. I didn't remember reading anything about Rosen prior to that thought, but that very day I went into my office to find Rosen was coming to Watford Palace Theatre. I then recalled my mother showing me a book by Rosen while browsing for Christmas presents. I had to admit that listening to one's inner self probably had some value. But psychic courses still seemed a little far fetched. I ask Amanda what she would say to somebody who said they could get all the information on the course from listening to CDs or using the internet?

"The courses are an extension of the one to one experience," says Amanda. "If they are run by someone who is motivated and inspiring they're far more likely to turn your life around. There's also the opportunity to use examples on a personal level and let people see it's something personal to them. Training in hypnotherapy is also more powerful when you're in the room. We're able to do exercises with people in the classes either in a group or in twos and demonstrate what you can achieve on psychic and healing level. You can't do that at home."

Deborah is keen to point out the courses are grounded in practical advice. She says: "It's not a New Age course - it's not airy fairy stuff, it's about using your brain. You don't have to go to someone to ask for a reading. When you do that and say help me you're giving away your power. We all have the ability to use our gut feeling. We give you the tools to read your own life and make it positive."

Courses in Hertforshire and Buckinghamshire will be starting in the next few months. Details: www.silvaultramindsystems.co.uk