NLP Psychotherapy, Supervision & Modelling Me

[MichaelM]

Me being Michael Mallows!

Having recently returned from the Northern school of NLP, facilitating 2.5 days of the first (of five over the next two years) five day modules for NLP master-pracitioners who are training , under the eagle and elegant eyes of Penny and James, to qualify as NLPtc psychotherapists.

My brief was to present on other (than NLP) models and approaches to therapy and to the supervision of therapists.

I particulalry tho not exclusively focused on aspects and elements of Transactional Analysis (TA), starting with a brief overview of some 'basic' models or theories e.g. Ego States, Limiting and Liberating triangles, 4 basic power (OK) positions, and Drivers (archaic survival or coping strategies triggered by internal auditory anchors).

Experiental exercises encouraged exploration of TA ideas, which were also referred to in NLP terms, as in the Drivers example above, or Games - see below.

Participants were free to ask questions in what ever way they wanted, including, of course, Clean Questions.

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Eric Berne, the originator of Transactional Analysis and social game theory, defined Games as "sets of ulterior transactions, repetitive in nature, with a well-defined pay off" [Berne, Eric, MD. - What Do You Say after You Say Hello? (New York: Grove Press Inc., 1972)].

The repetitive nature of Games makes them predictable, which is useful, and, like any Games, there are rules, stuctures and sequences. Indeed, there is a Game formula: M+C+G=H+>R=>S=>X=>P

M: mark - the mark in a game is the victim
G: gimmick - the gimmick is some kind of weakness in the mark
H: hook - the gimmick is used by the game-player to hook the unsuspecting mark
R: Response, could be immediate, one off, or played for the length of an argument, a marriage, a life time!
S: switch - the switch is pulled when the game-player uses some phrase which changes the direction of the transaction, hooking the mark
X: crossup - at the point when the switch is pulled, the crossup occurs, i.e. the confusion felt by the mark at having been hooked
P: payoff - the payoff is when the game-player enjoys having scored a point (his/her payoff) and the mark feels inferior (his/her payoff)

Berne takes as an example two possible conversations between a therapist and a client: The client asks, 'Please tell me I'll get better, doctor.' The doctor replies, 'Of course, you'll get better.' The client replies, 'Thank you.' This is not a game.

The client asks, 'Do you think I'll get better, doctor?' The therapist responds, 'Of course you'll get better.' The client replies 'What makes you think you know everything?' This is a game.

Games are played in any context or interpersonal relationship you care to imagine.
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Breaking into small groups, the trainees used the Game formula to determine their individual Game Plans - and elicited detailed information about specific Games they found themselves playing (in their professional capacity). The breadth and quality of the information gathered was, of course, particularly enhanced when Clean Language questions were asked.

On the second day, I did a supervision session with five of the delegates in a fish bowl format, observed by the other students and by James and Penny. Each of the five had two observors paying particular attention during their 'slot' and, although each counsellor only had about 30 minutes, they all felt, said they got something of value, as did the observors.

This was one of my more challenging sessions because I 'had' (chose) to restrict myself mainly to TA references and terminology, although I constantly made cross references to NLP and, of course, asked some Clean Language questions.

The next morning, the students, all Master Practioners, I beleive, were asked first say what they had already modelled - observed about my presentation both as faciltator and as supervisor, over two days, which was then flip-charted.

Then in two segments, between which the students worked in small groups and had opportunities to ask questions of James and myself, James gave a master class in modelling my presentations over the two days, focusing specifically on "How does Michael decide when or whether to go along a line (of enquiry), when to stop or whether to go deeper?"

The participants gained something useful - and for some of them much more than useful!
The whole experience was great fun and incredibly illuminating for me - and I certainly gained greater insight into how I 'do what I do'.

The modelling section on the third day was videoed. I believe will be viewable on the Northern School's website, but may be exclusively available, which, though understandable, is a pity because you might find it as interesting as I did (although perhaps I'm slightly biased!)

Go well

MichaelM