Two American scientists; one of them was a mathematician who was also a computer expert, and a Gestalt therapist, named Richard Bandler; and the other one was an assistant professor of Linguistics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, named John Grinder, wanted to understand what explained why some people were experts and geniuses in their fields, while others either failed or were barely making it in those same fields. To answer this question, they relied on one of the three major theories of learning and of behavior, known as Social Modeling. They began their research by modeling individuals who were successful in their fields and they studied the patterns those people used to achieve the level of success that made others call them “genius,” or sometimes even “God.” They also modeled others who were consistently great at achieving their desired goals, to then see what was really different between them and others who could not make the same claims.
In the field of medicine and mental health, three individuals who were the best of their time were modeled. The first one was Virginia Satir, known as the Mother of Family Therapy, and the Pioneer of Family Reconstruction Therapy, and Creator of Change Process Model. A researcher with a grant from the National Institute of Health (NIH), Virginia Satir was selected as one of the twelve most influential leaders in the world in the year of 1982, and the most influential therapist in two national surveys.
The second person studied and modeled was the physician-psychiatrist, Milton Erickson. He was the most important hypnotherapist of all time, who worked on establishing scientific rigor in hypnotherapy when it was being widely practiced in medicine and mental health. Milton Erickson’s contributions have also been seen in brief therapy, strategic family therapy, family systems therapy, and solution-focused therapy.
The third person studied was the exceptional family therapist, and Father of Gestalt therapy, Fritz Perls, who was a physician-psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and psychotherapist.
As they studied these experts, Bandler and Grinder identified patterns, that they found to be common among all of them, regardless of which specific field they belonged to. These patterns have been studied over and over, taught to other experts, and replicated until sets of techniques, methodologies, and principles were derived from them. This became known as Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP).
For many years, NLP remained in the hands of the few; used in government, in the military, and in business, mostly. It slowly made its way into academia, and the best academicians and therapists started to take advantage of it. Nowadays, it is rare to meet an expert clinician, therapist, or coach, who does not make use of NLP techniques. However, the majority of clinicians throughout mental health or medicine are neither aware of NLP, nor do they know how it can turn their whole career around and allow them to treat their patients and clients, the most effectively and efficiently.
SWEET’s vision is to ensure effective and efficient tools are placed in the hands of as many clinicians as possible throughout the world, to then help mitigate the suffering of as many individuals, patients, and clients, as possible around the world.
In this spirit, we are starting our NLP Certificate Course this Saturday, September 12th, 4-6pm Eastern Time, for 12 weeks. We urge you to join, to enhance the quality of your life, as an individual, of your practice, as a clinician, and of the lives of your loved ones and of those you serve.
Register now. And we look forward to seeing you on Saturday.
With Love,
Karen and Mardoche