Neuro-Linguistic Programming: conversations for change

I first encountered Neuro-Lingusitic Programming (NLP) in the 1990s when working at Birmingham Brief Therapy – a practice offering Solution Focused Brief Therapy. I was the practice manager and a practicing counsellor working in the Teachers Counselling Service. Solution Focused Brief Therapy is grounded in NLP and originates from the work of Steve de Shazer, who along with Richard Bandler, studied with Milton Erickson – who many consider to be the world's foremost hypnotherapist.

NLP has been described as ‘the handbook of how to achieve what we want out of life’. The name is derived from: neurology (the study of the mind and nervous system: how we think); linguistics (the study of language and how we use it); and programming (the sequence of our actions: how we motivate ourselves to achieve our goals). It is the study of the structure of subjective experience and how we can use the language of the mind as a motivational tool to consistently achieve specific and desired outcomes.