6 tips for selecting an NLP Coach or Therapist
Selecting a life coach or counselor or therapist can be a little daunting. How do you choose? From well-written notices or adverts? The number of qualifications they have acquired? The length of experience they have had? Word of mouth? Learn More about NLP Therapists!
This page offers general advice and 6 tips for finding an NLP coach or therapist – one who has the skill and experience to assist you in dealing with anxiety, phobias, anger, confidence, or other issues that are currently getting in your way.
Find a skilled NLP coach or therapist
So, as mentioned above, how do you begin your search for a therapist with NLP training?
Who do you go to? Is a list of letters after their name an indication of their skill? (It can be – but often it is not, by the way.) Are they insured? Will they ‘mess with my mind’? How long will it take? How much will it cost me? Do I have a right to ask them awkward questions before committing to an appointment?
This page lists some pointers which will help you narrow the search and which will provide some useful questions to ask when doing your research.
Get an NLP-trained expert – 6 pointers
I would recommend you find a qualified therapist or coach who has also trained in NLP to Certified Master Practitioner level. This is because a properly trained NLP Master Practitioner (NB: see No. 2 below) will have learned specific skills for dealing quickly and thoroughly with issues.
(1) Begin with a web search
Begin with the web using search terms along the lines NLP Master Practitioner therapist coach along with the name of your town or locality and see what comes up.
(2) Check the quality of their NLP Training
When seeking a suitable NLP Master Practitioner check whether they have done a full-length NLP Practitioner Training of 120 attendance-hours plus a full-length 120 attendance hours Master Practitioner Training. It is possible to do each of these training in much less time (and it’s even possible to get such a title via an online training course). The NLP skill of your coach or therapist will likely reflect the thoroughness of their training.
A Certified NLP Master Practitioner training in the full-length, full syllabus methodology will have attended around 40 days of training. And many, but not all, will have gone through a thorough certification assessment procedure – both ongoing and at the end of their training. People who have been certified through Pegasus NLP will have had such an assessment. Thousands of people will have the title “NLP Master Practitioner of NLP” but will have acquired this in as little as 8-12 days and received their certificate without an assessment of their skills.
(3) Identify their personal preferences
Recognize that, whatever their qualifications and training, therapists and coaches are human beings and therefore come with a variety of styles and approaches. So I would strongly recommend that you phone three or four and ‘interview’ them.
(4) How do you get on with them?
Remember that your relationship with your therapist or coach is a very important issue – you must feel at ease with them, feel you are treated as an equal, and feel that you can ask probing questions of the therapist – rather than have to defer to their ‘expertise’.
These suggestions apply to all therapeutic approaches. That said, it is often possible for an experienced NLP therapist to estimate how long it will take to resolve a simple issue such for example, a single issue phobia. More complex issues will take longer and it is difficult for a therapist to estimate the time required for issues such as anxiety, self-confidence, or panic attack difficulty.
Nevertheless, even in such cases, you will be wise to manage the process through continually discussing your own assessment of your progress with your therapist or coach and, especially, to discuss the amount of time and money you are investing.
(5) Assess their approach to money
No free sessions: A professional therapist or coach who values their time and their skills is unlikely to offer a free session. Expect to pay for your first visit. But do ask the consultant if you will have the option to cut short the first session, without payment, if you recognize that it is not working for you. It is most unlikely you will need to do this but it is just as well to be sure. And if they are confident in their skill they will happily agree to this.
No advance fees: This is a business model that is disrespectful, unprofessional, and exploitative. It goes like this: after a friendly and rapport-creating telephone chat with the consultant they announce that you will have to pay an up-front fee to see them! This is typically a fixed fee for a minimum number of sessions – usually between 3 and 7.
It is usually at a quite exorbitant hourly rate which, if you were paying per session, you would likely reject. But, because it sounds like it might be worth it to get rid of the problem you have, you might be inclined to agree to it.
(6) Assess their helping style
A good coach or therapist will ask lots of questions. Lots. So when doing your initial telephone interviews you can gauge whether they are of the advice-giving and talk-at-you school.
If they are you had best avoid them. Because they are, quite literally, worse than useless since they will impose their views on you rather than help you identify and evaluate your own solutions. So their approach is, at best, unhelpful…
If, on the other hand, they ask lots of questions that are designed to enable you to find your own answers you’re off to a good start.
CLICK HERE For More Course Inclusions and Our June Main Event
