Psychotherapists: Why Train in NLP with Transformations?

Richard Bolstad 1993

Foreword from 2022: 30 years later, this article introducing NLP to Psychotherapists is naively optimistic (about how we are about to change the world of Psychotherapy) on the one hand, and very context-limited (as if NLP was merely a type of Psychotherapy that has wider applications than usual) on the other. It’s historically interesting though! Here’s how we began….

Why did over a hundred New Zealand Counsellors and Psychotherapists train in NLP with the New Zealand / Aotearoa Institute this last year?

I’m Richard Bolstad, and this is an invitation to international NLP Certification training. My own professional background includes training as a psychotherapist (N.Z.A.P.), nurse (R.Cp.N.), and teacher (Dip.Tchg.Tert.). I am a Masterpractitioner and certified Trainer of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (N.L.P.), with the International Association of N.L.P. I am also a certified Instructor of Hypnotherapy with the American Board of Hypnotherapy, and an instructor of P.E.T. and T.E.T. courses with Effectiveness Training Incorporated.

Isn’t N.L.P. Just Another Model of Therapy? I Already Have Models I Use.

Great! You can use N.L.P. skills and techniques whatever your basic model. N.L.P. developers Leslie Cameron-Bandler, Richard Bandler and John Grinder were not intending to create a new kind of therapy. They studied with some of the greatest counsellors and therapists of our time in order to identify what skills these people had in common: people like Fritz Perls, Virgina Satir and Milton Erickson.

N.L.P. thus represents a metamodel (or deep structure) for therapy; but it is also far more. You may know already that N.L.P. is being used by educationalists to enhance spelling and maths ability, and by General Practitioners to enhance rapport, eliminate allergies and other physical conditions. N.L.P. is a whole new field: a quantum leap beyond the separate compartments of therapy, medicine and education to a new world of holistic human change.

I’m Suspicious About Something That Makes The Extravagant Claims N.L.P. Does. Is N.L.P. Real Psychotherapy?

Rather than accepting our claims that N.L.P. can cure phobias in ten minutes, produce high self-esteem in an hour, and so on, listen to what more well known psychotherapists say:

Virgina Satir, virtually the founder of family therapy, wrote the foreword to N.L.P.’s first book. She says “I do something, I feel it, I see it, my gut responds to it – that is a subjective experience. When I do it with someone else, their eyes, ears, body sense these things. What Richard Bandler and John Grinder have done is to watch the process of change over a time and to distil from it the patterns of the how process…. It would be hard for me to write this foreword without my own feeling of excitement, amazement and thrill coming through. I have been a teacher of family therapy for a long time, as well as a clinician and a theoretician…. The knowledge of the process is now considerably advanced by Richard Bandler and John Grinder, who can talk in a way that can be concretised and measured about the ingredients of the what that goes into making the how possible.”

Milton Erickson M.D., who virtually single handedly brought hypnotherapy out of the dark ages said of the N.L.P. book “Patterns of the Hypnotic Techniques of Milton Erickson M.D.” that it “is a delightful simplification of the infinite complexities of the language I use with patients. In reading this book, I learned a great deal about the things that I’ve done without knowing about them.”

John O. Stevens, who edited Fritz Perls’ transcripts for the book “Gestalt Therapy Verbatim” and himself wrote the Gestalt classic “Awareness”, says in the introduction to another N.L.P. text : “I have been studying education, therapies, growth experiences, and other methods for personal change since I was a graduate student with Abe Maslow over twenty years ago. Ten years later I met Fritz Perls and immersed myself in Gestalt Therapy because it seemed to be more effective than most other methods…. When I was first introduced to Neuro-Linguistic Programming I was both fascinated and very sceptical. I had been heavily conditioned to believe that change is slow, and usually difficult and painful. I still have some difficulty realising that I can usually cure a phobia or other similar long term problem painlessly in less than an hour – even though I have done it repeatedly and seen that the results last…. If you are sceptical, as I was, you owe it to your scepticism to check this out, and find out if the outrageous claims made in this book are valid.”

Dorothy Jongeward Ph.D., author of numerous books on Transactional Analysis including “Born to Win”, says of the N.L.P. text “Influencing with Integrity” that “It could well make the difference between success and failure in your personal and career relationships.”

Dale Buchanan is director of the Psychodrama Section at Saint Elizabeth Hospital, Washington, and author of numerous articles in the Journal of Group Psychotherapy, Psychodrama and Sociometry. He has written an article with Donna Little studying the similarities between N.L.P. and Psychodrama. They note “Bandler and Grindler have refined the therapeutic process. Needless to say they have miraculously packaged a process of immense value to all therapists.” (1983, 36, p.114). Well known Psychodramatist E. Eliasoph says in another edition of this journal (1981, 34, p.151) that “Neuro Linguistic Programming offers some of the previous missing links for a methodology for doing psychodrama in the one to one therapeutic relationship.”

Hugh Prather, author of “Notes to Myself” and other books, says of the N.L.P. book “Heart of the Mind” that it “contains a wealth of understanding that can help people become more fully human. It also contains the insight and basic honesty that ensures this knowledge is used wisely and compassionately.

How Can I Use N.L.P. In My Work?

Let’s take Gestalt developer John O. Steven’s comments again. “A few specific examples of things you can learn to accomplish are:

1. Cure phobias and other unpleasant feeling responses in less than an hour.
2. Help children and adults with “learning disabilities” (spelling and reading problems etc) overcome these limitations, often in less than an hour.
3. Eliminate most unwanted habits – smoking, drinking, overeating, insomnia, etc – in a few sessions.
4. Make changes in the interactions of couples, families and organisations so that they function in ways that are more satisfying and productive.
5. Cure many physical problems – not only most of those recognised as “psychosomatic”, but also some that are not – in a few sessions.

These are strong claims, and experienced N.L.P. practitioners can back them up with solid, visible results…. Actually, N.L.P. can do much more than the kinds of remedial work mentioned above. The same principles can be used to study people who are unusually talented in any way, in order to determine the structure of that talent. That structure can then be quickly taught to others.”

Our clinical experience in New Zealand backs up all John O. Steven’s claims. We have seen lifelong phobias disappear in minutes, talked to children who get 100% in spelling tests for the first time in their life after one N.L.P. session, been with people who drop long term compulsive habits after a half hour of therapy. N.L.P. cannot do everything, and does not succeed 100% of the time with every client. It does enhance our choices enormously.

Will Any N.L.P. Training Do?

We at the National Training Institute of N.L.P. do not think so. There are differences. We fully support anyone who teaches N.L.P: after all, the world desperately needs these skills. And we offer the following guidelines which you could consider when choosing where you want to learn N.L.P.

Six Ways To Recognise Excellent N.L.P. Training.

1. Recognised International Certification.

All NTINLP (A/NZ) certification courses are run by certified N.L.P. Trainers. On completion of our training, you will be entitled to membership of the International Association of N.L.P. Because our courses are also taught by a certified instructor with the American Board of Hypnotherapy you will also be entitled to register as a hypnotherapist with the ABH. You receive two internationally recognised certifications.

2. Skilled Trainers.

All the members of the NTINLP (A/NZ) have professional training as counsellors, psychotherapists or related health professionals. We are accountable to the Institute for supervision, and committed to the highest ethical standards. N.L.P. is a powerful technology of change and influence. We believe it is essential that it be used only in the context of such ethical standards as confidentiality, respect for the clients’ goals, commitment to equalitarian relationships, and holistic, ecological change.

Our trainings are not about getting you through the course. They are about transforming your life professionally and personally. You won’t just learn about N.L.P., you’ll experience it. We want your N.L.P. course to be the best training you’ve ever come across. In all these ways, our commitment as N.L.P. trainers is to excellence.

3. Appropriate Size of the Course Group and Individual Supervision.

At the Institute we do not run courses for 80-1000 people, as some international N.L.P. Institutes do, because we believe the experience of meeting with and bonding in a human size group is an important part of your training. Our groups always number less than 30 (usually 24) people, and are staffed on a maximum ratio of one trainer to eight participants, so you receive individual supervision as you learn each skill.

4. Accessibility.

An Institute course costs about one third the amount of most overseas N.L.P. training and you do not have to leave the country. Furthermore, we offer substantial reductions for unwaged participants.

Where possible we arrange comfortable on-site accommodation at low cost.

We’re serious about enabling New Zealanders to experience the transformative power of N.L.P. (which is why we’re directing this particular letter to you as someone who can positively affect the lives of so many others).

Our N.L.P. courses are a full 18 days long and we timetable them to help you complete a full course as quickly and easily as possible.

5. Aotearoa/New Zealand Base.

The Institute of N.L.P. has a particular interest in valuing the New Zealand cultural setting (especially Maori and Pakeha culture). Our training staff have written the first New Zealand based, comprehensive communication skills book, “Communicating Caring”. (Published by Longman Paul, this is a text used by medical, nursing and other helping professional students). Our courses provide a Maori perspective on psychological change, as well as presenting N.L.P. in a Pakeha (rather than American) format.

6. Aftercare.

Anyone who has trained as an N.L.P. Practitioner and Hypnotherapist with The Institute, and is a trained counsellor or psychotherapist becomes a member of our network and gains permanent access to:

• Peer supervision and support with other N.L.P. Practitioners in your area.
• Regular evening training sessions in Christchurch.
• A newsletter with ongoing information about N.L.P. and N.L.P. trainings in the country (ours and others).
• Free advertising by name in national listings of helpers such as the Resource Networking Directory.
• Specialised training for N.L.P. Practitioners, such as the N.L.P. Masterpractitioner course.

These benefits are not just unique in the field of N.L.P. training. As a psychotherapist, I know that there is nothing else like our Institute in the whole field of psychotherapy training… yet. We are setting a new standard for internationally recognised, skilled, personalised, accessible, New Zealand/Aotearoa centred and supportive psychotherapy training.

It’s no accident. We want our functioning as a training organisation to be congruent with our values as helpers. If you like our values, we’re asking you to join us in the most extraordinary leap forward since psychotherapy began.